> Personally, I think it's clear that music has declined in the West over
> the last couple decades. If you listen to popular music today, it seems
> evident that the basic genres have fossilized.
I can't agree. I remember the US music scene in 1990: hip hop was tiny, Ice-T had just invented the crime rhyme, mainstream R & B and rock were fossilized relics, swinish oligopolies held musicians in a death-grip.
There's plenty of great stuff being produced in the First World -- the videogame culture has produced magnificent sound-tracks (e.g. Hitoshi Sakimoto's score for "Final Fantasy 12", Harry Gregson-Williams' score for "Metal Gear Solid 4"), and there are artists like Susumu Hirasawa, longtime collaborator of Satoshi Kon. Not that music has any boundaries anymore -- there's astounding stuff being produced all over the world. Brazil's MV Bill, Russia's Serebro, India's AR Rahman, Senegal's Baaba Maal...
-- DRR