I feel bad for Generation X and The Millennial's

It isn't that I feel for GenX-ers and millennials because they missed out on some golden age of music.  I feel for them because they can't or don't care to experience the wealth of live music that we boomers saw.  Because there was no Tidal or Spotify we boomers had no choice but to see bands live.  It's those real performances of yesterday that drives my current attempts to recreate those experiences in my living room.  That for me is the frisson of the audiophile experience.  I suspect as well it's those memories of living performers in real spaces that drive other audiophiles as well.

Why,

they can listen to anything they want on Tidal or Qobuz just like you can.

Listen, the live music scene is vital, you're just dated and perhaps a bit jaded. There are two new 3500 and 6000 capacity live event facilities in Boston to go with HOB and the many smaller clubs who are also shifting to at least a partial live schedule. How about the DJ who gets $500K to play for 60mins to a sold out club in Vegas or Red Rocks in CO. What about EDM and festival culture... Coachella, Ultra, EDC who's going to these two/three day sold out events? It's there, it's all around us. Live shows are back with a vengeance and at every level. Young people are buying LPS at a staggering pace and accounting for 70% of LPs sold. That demo is under 30yo. To say that only boomers experienced "all the great music" is total BS. Ever been to a Bruno Mars show. As entertaining as any show I've seen and I've been to hundreds. How about a U2 concert in '87... Gen X repping those shows, hard. How about Taylor Swift, she sold out an entire tour in what, an hour or something absurd. Who's buying all those tickets? Is she not talented? To say it all died with Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison is just narrow minded. What about Nirvana or Pearl Jam... no talent there? Foo Fighters, Adele... endless. 

I love how a Generation X person on this thread is sad for the next generation coming up and what they'll miss that he experienced. Hmmm, sounds like the Boomer being sad for everyone who came after them, and of course the Greatest Generation feeling sorry for the Boomers. So I agree with the sentiment that some folks are stuck thinking their music/generation is the only good one and refuse to listen/try new stuff. 

I would happily be a 20 year old again in this day and age. Yeah, I'd miss a lot of good stuff, it might be rough, but I also wouldn't have arthritis, thinning grey hair and ED......

Did I just share too much? 😗

I'm a millennial, and honestly there is a lot of truth to what you are saying. My friends and I listen heavily to records from the 60s to the 80s. I remember a lot of cool music growing up in the 90s, and post 2000 you really have to look hard for excellent music. But it still exists.

The difference is that while record companies probably aren't going to own an artist's soul in perpetuity anymore, the economics of music, particularly recorded music are such that few can make it a career. Artist development is not that much of a thing anymore, production budgets are tiny, audio quality is also in a pretty bad state with so many records relying on plugins. I feel more optimistic about electronic artists who can exist exclusively in the digital realm, and that is honestly where most new music that interests me comes from now. Bands tend to be so heavy fried in distortion that I just can't get into the recordings.

People will always defend their turf and get sensitive about generational stuff. I honestly think a lot of it is cope. The reality is that we don't produce true classics like we used to because we don't invest in artists or recordings. I think it also comes with the general decay of culture that happens as commodification and capital eat up everything leaving empty husks. I also wonder as younger people are less likely to own homes, or live in them, that also makes rehearsal a lot more difficult and you might as well become a DJ. This stuff comes in cycles, and I wouldn't be surprised if the next generation of great musicians come from Asia where culture and the economy isn't in such decline.

So yeah, I think you are right that we missed out, but it's always a mixed bag and some things are better now. Boomers had the post-war golden age age where the economy was growing at an enormous pace, a social safety net still existed, homes and education were affordable, and then you had an influx of new drugs etc that made for some inspiration. Our future pretty much sucks, and without that confidence and economic support it is hard to get far in music. But there will always be creative people doing something interesting, and once in a while you get a true genius.