I'm going to have to explain my entire theory, to explain my outlook. I can really talk about this stuff for hours.
When we look at music, we realize it's always going to change, and a genre will eventually dominate and force the others to merge.
Rock 'n Roll is on it's own though, since it can just revolve around itself. It can keep cycling through all the variations and combine some of the old ones to create a new trend. You notice how in the 50s it was Blues/Soul, the 60s it was Soul/Accoustic, in the 70s it was Accoustic/Metal, in the 80s it was Metal/Punk, and the 90s it was Punk/Grunge. Did you notice a trend?
Lately, it seems that a lot of Rock is a mix of Grunge/Blues. (Emo?) Which seems to represent that fact a cycle is iminent, and we may see more Soul/Punk become popular. Which is what I think everyone considers Alternative. Though, you'll have your current bands that stay in a past genre, either because there is an aspect of loyalty, or they don't find the current trend appealing.
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When it comes to everything else. I believe it's all a variation of Jazz (also believe it's the original music) which seems to likely have begun with people hitting inanimate objects together in a percussive tempo. Our books say that Jazz originated in 18th/19th century New Orleans, but I believe that era was simply another level achieved behind the entire ideal of Jazz. I've evaluated that it went from simple percussion, the intensity and complexity of vocals (Soul), which met it's own renassiance with brass instruments, to the evolution of strings (Classical), and so forth.
Anyway, when it came to Jazz in the 20th century, all I ever saw was it evolving with technology. Blues, is the obviously the Gohan (emotional son) of Jazz (DBZ forum, the best analogy I could come up with), which has lead on to Rock (what I explained above). Unhesitantly, Jazz was proud of it's son, who could adapt and combine with the other levels that Jazz had accomplished in the past, or could recreate itself by combining adjacent levels, able to use these new fusions later on for recently revealed cycle that will keep it alive.
So, Jazz wanted to prove that the seed actually had simply fell short from the tree. Here comes the contraversial genre known as Funk/Disco. It took everything that Jazz had inspired/added to it's power. We all know how it recieved mixed reviews. But, Funk/Disco was like a tree I have mentioned above. It threw it's seeds, then met it's natural end. These seeds include Dance, Break, Hip-Hop, Trance, Techno, Electronica, Drum 'n Bass, etc... the list and future will go on through combinations of the aforementioned.
My theoretical explanations above should have hopefully giving you my grasp at the status.
What are your feelings on the current state of music? By this, I mean how do you feel about the changes that music has undergone in the last decade (1990's to the 2000's).
It's sad when bands like Linken Park and Coldplay prove my cycle theory.
As with the other side of the spectrum. The Rap (Hip-Hop/Techno) birth of the early 90s, the Pop (Dance/Techno) transition of the mid 90s, the Club (Break/Trance) flash of the late 90s... and the new combinations like Crunk (Rap/Trance) or Snap (Break/Rap) (these last two courtesy of my city, Atlanta) reveal it won't stop progressing.