I’m curious why “late” 60’s was chosen as the starting point. There was plenty of good pop and rock from the mid 50’s to mid 60’s, too.
But, let’s face it, pop and rock aren’t that difficult of musical genres to become good at performing or composing, compared to some others (mainly Long-hair). To rise to the top, you don’t need to be born a prodigy and devote every waking hour of your life to music. But, you do need talent and you need to pay your dues to perfect your sound.
There’s no doubt as much talent around today as there ever was, but I don’t think there’s as much willingness to pay one’s dues as there once was (e.g. playing small venues for years with bottles thrown at you till you and your band tighten and perfect your sound). The music industry values quick hit wonders and artists that look as good as they sound for video marketability—and there are plenty of contenders to fill the machine.
I’m not saying there aren’t good bands around anymore; just not as many. And, perhaps the most talented aren’t the ones to be given a chance like they once were. If you have a talented but ugly bass player in your band, the studio is likely to replace him with a pretty boy or gal (they can more easily replace weak instrumentalists with studio musicians like Carole Kaye and the Wrecking Crew for the recordings).
But, to make it big in long hair music composition or virtuosity, you’re got to start early. Mozart composed and performed before royalty at the age of 5. Lizst began his journey to peerless virtuosity at age 7. He wrote some of his music so over-the-top complex purposely, so that he’d be the only pianist in the world able to play it (to this day few can play Liszt well). Talk about cornering the market and shutting out cover bands playing your songs!
I’m partial to passionate Russian pianists. Aforementioned Kissin was a recognized musical prodigy at the age of 6. Lisitsa started playing at the age of 3. I think Liszt himself would be proud of her covers of his music. (Interesting clip discussing how her music was banned in Canada because of political tweets). Seeing her perform at a small local venue inspired my daughter to take piano lessons (that and the fact that her dad likes to brag about once being asked by Chubby Checker to play in his band).
Valentina outputs most of her work on YouTube (it helps sell out her concerts) and she stays very in touch with her fans. I asked her if she would please record some Boogie Woogie music (like Liberace did). She said she’d think about it.
Watch Russian, Boris Berezovsky, put a piano through the ringer playing Liszt’s Mazzepa. And, Claudio Arrau (not Russian) could read notes before letters and made his debut at age 5.
Modern music prodigies include Stevie Wonder (Motown signed him at age 11) and Michael Jackson. The tragedy is that prodigies often lead tormented lives in order to feed the world their genius.
Speaking of Boogie Woogie (aka eight-to-the-bar 12-bar blues), I believe that can still be considered modern music, despite pre-dating R&R by decades. I would love to see that genre bounce back to its former glory. And, it’s another example of an (African) American export that to this day still finds some popularity around the world.