I don't think much pop music will live for a long time in the public memory. Probably some Beatles' melodies are an exception.

Similarly I doubt much jazz music will survive into the future. There will be sub-cultures that will be an exception to the rule, and the same goes for pop music.

Ethnic & folk music I guess by definition are survivors, but again with minorities.

But I think these will survive virtually forever, well for centuries: the music of Strauss, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin

Technically speaking, none of it will live forever because of the temporary nature of taste, culture, and ultimately, existance. But it is a mistake to think that one form of music is somehow superior, and therefore will outlast another. I could easily defend the genres and examples that appeal to me, but all music is symphonic in that it creates or communicates a mood to the listener. The only difference is whether or not one wants to be in that mood.

By rights Heavy Metal should have gone out of fashion by now, but it just will not die. My take is that it taps into some crazy testosterone overload in adolescence which is probably a universal. Much orchestral music (I avoid the term "classical" because its so vague) is only kept alive by financial subsidies. Same goes for opera.

I'm interested in a broad swath of music and musicology, and what I notice is that many musicians have eclectic tastes. Art forms rise to a level of high refinement, experience a short plateau, and then decline through over-familiarity and Hellenistic corruption. If they have worthy attributes, these are taken to heart and survive in certain niches.

If we are talking about what music will live forever in the tastes of the general public, the answer is probably none. To most people, music is only a minor distraction. An indication of this is that there has not been an instrumental in the charts since Peter Green played Albatross fifty years ago, and now all internet musical pieces are called songs. They just don't have the attention span for something without words.

Page even some songs with a different tuning on the guitar called DADGAD.
It gives a mystical sound such as in the song Kashmir.

https://guitarteacher.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/kashmir-dadgad-tuning/

Latin American music will live forever:

Lep Zep must have been huge live.

Forever is a long time.

If we check back in about 500 years I'd say the only music we would find that is played today would be by the most famous classical composers, Mozart etc simply because the music is embedded and perpetuated by institutions such as conservatorium, schools etc and not left to the whims of fashion.

Having said that, my 10yo has a Led Zep poster on her wall.. w00t.

Lord Herbert wrote on Sep 1^st, 2017 at 6:24pm:


Bloody hell Herb, at least post the version by Karl Richter

Lord Herbert wrote on Sep 1^st, 2017 at 7:03pm:


That version is amazing,  and also a pleasure to watch him play.

On my to do list is go get my daughter an organ. They are practically giving them away on Gumtree.

Maybe I'll upload some audio of one of her pieces if everyone behaves themselves

issuevoter wrote on Sep 1^st, 2017 at 9:14pm:



Because I like it.

I think that the classics will live as long as people are alive. The other genres are constantly mixed and changing.

The big bands didn't get there for no reason. I expect that they'll always get an audience.


Radiohead are still yet to be realised.

The classics, by definition.


A classic means something that lives on because it spurs others on and makes them both copy/imitate AND improve on it. A classic is something to have a conversation and dialogue with. Something merely commercial an popular is quickly forgotten and dies without a trace. A fashion, a mania, a trend, a whim.

Not a classic.

greggerypeccary wrote on Oct 8^th, 2018 at 8:52pm:

bugger Orf.

Heavy metal has lasted 50 years. Probably will last another 50.