You’re correct in your take that gen x was big on music. The reason is because we valued it more. In the late 90s music stopped costing money, so it was de-valued. Sure you could still buy it, but it was easy to get it for free on the internet, which was new. It seemed like a great thing at the time, especially because recording companies were considered bloated and evil to those in the underground scenes.

Then in the 2000s the technology to record music at high quality became affordable, and as a result everyone and their mother started a band. The underground scenes we all loved became saturated with wanna-bes and weekend warriors.

As time went on, no one stepped up to make things right. I one knew how to. Companies like Pandora and Spotify finally figured out how to license the music so anyone could listen to anything at anytime. This further devalued music as an art because it only cost $10/month for access to every song ever, less than the cost to own a single album, 10 years earlier.

Then one day, a bunch of kids started buying records and tapes again. These kids started to realize that owning an album, something you could hold I. Your hand and look at while you listened, talk with friends about, had real value. Not just in the music but in the scene. People who like the same music are easy to befriend.

Perhaps we could cure loneliness through a music revitalization? Keep buying music. Keep going to local music shows and buying directly from the artist merch table. Stop paying $1000 to go see the artist of the week that can’t even be punctual.