reflecting on America's cultural output while digitizing my CDs
I'm nearly done digitizing my CD collection. I'm at 40 CDs, or 13GB. All FLACs. Only a few CDs were unable to get read; I'm gonna clean them and try again later.
Going through my classic rock albums made me realize that the cultural boom of the 60s-80s was largely due to strong economies, robust social safety nets, and global liberalism fostering cross-cultural communication between nations.
People are so caught up in clinging to this golden age that they've chosen fascism over policies that would usher in a new era of economic and creative freedom, this time with women and minorities also at the forefront of artistic innovation.
The fact that America in particular has been able to coast on its cultural output for decades is impressive on its own. Obviously we are finally exhausting the reserves, what with shitty streaming shows and reboot after reboot.
It isn't missed on me that most of our artistic exports over the past twenty or so years has been largely forwarded by women, POC, LGBT artists, etc, or otherwise directly inspired by them and/or collaborated with them. These groups are unable to ride the coattails of the acts that came before them, and are thus incentivized to take risks. With nothing to lose they might as well be themselves. That level of confidence and individuality pays off.
This is just a long-winded way of saying that Lady Gaga is the penultimate American Superstar, succeeded by the likes of Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan.
Also, Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf continues to be one of the greatest albums of all time. It's camp for straight men.