Since last week’s Real Time with Bill Maher, something has been sticking in my craw.  In an exceptional episode featuring interviews with Oliver Stone and Cameron Diaz, the last guest made the kind of jackassed declaration that exemplifies the generation of our mothers and fathers.  Billy Bob Thornton was relating a story where he took exception to a production assistant calling him a “dinosaur” for his dismissal of contemporary rock.

His reaction was typical:

Look, let me give you a test here.  From 1975 till now, I want you to take a sheet a paper and write down the musicians, singers, artists, songwriters, whatever.  From that time until now who will be known a hundred years from now as legendary, classic performers in any sense.  Start naming some.

This is bullshit.

“Real” rock n’ roll didn’t end in 1975 anymore than “family values” began.  Thornton’s claim dismisses in one broad swath huge, influential chunks of popular music.  Punk rock, alternative, grunge, hip-hop, indie, electronica – they all started after 1975 and they have all shaped Western pop culture – including Billy Bob Thornton – profoundly.

“The List” is something that these pop paleontologists are obsessed with.  “Name a hundred legendary bands,” they say, that didn’t emerge from their era.  They talk about The Beatles and The Eagles, Elvis and Led Zepplin like no other band could be as classic; like theirs is the exclusive province of good tunes.

A hundred legendary bands after 1975.  A hundred bands that could be easily defended as important, influential and timeless as any before 1975.  Well, I think that list is something this community is particularly qualified to produce.  Billy Bob “will give you” R.E.M. and U2.

This is your (d)N0t weekend challenge.  We need to come up with the other 98 in the comments of this post.

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