If Modern Bands were Great Composers...

[eyeresist]

Sonic Youth would be Prokofiev
Nine Inch Nails would be Shostakovich
My Bloody Valentine would be Scriabin
Emperor would be Liszt
Pixies would be Bruckner (except for length)
Some Emo Band would be Mahler

[Valentino]

Mozart=Scorpions

Die Berliner Philharmoniker once did a concert with The Scorpions. How low can you go, as the limbo song goes.

[Dana]

Pixies would be Bruckner.

That is the one and only time that I ever expect to hear this sentence in any context.

[canninator]

Kraftwork=Webern

[DavidRoss]

A few adjustments are in order (not having heard most of the pop acts referenced, I cannot comment):

Radiohead The Talking Heads would be Stravinsky.
Pixies The Moody Blues would be Bruckner.
Led Zeppelin Kiss would be Wagner.

[Dr. Dread]

Led Zeppelin Kiss Led Zeppelin would be Wagner.

Mozart = The Pet Shop Boys

[CD]

If Modern Bands were Great Composers...

... we'd really have lowered our standards!

[eyeresist]

^ Hey, at least no-one's mentioned Britney Speers.

[Dana]

... we'd really have lowered our standards!

      I might lose some respect for saying this, but I'm gonna say it anyways - people who wonder where all of the Earth-shaking composers have gone seriously need to turn to the pop world, and groups like Radiohead, Explosions in the Sky, and Regina Spektor. Sure, there's a lot of dreck out there in the pop world, but for every Wagner & Mahler, there are have always been at least a dozen Meyerbeers.

[Dr. Dread]

      I might lose some respect for saying this, but I'm gonna say it anyways - people who wonder where all of the Earth-shaking composers have gone seriously need to turn to the pop world, and groups like Radiohead, Explosions in the Sky, and Regina Spektor. Sure, there's a lot of dreck out there in the pop world, but for every Wagner & Mahler, there are have always been at least a dozen Meyerbeers.

You are a brave soul. 

[Brian]

Regina Spektor.

Barf! If you can ignore the gender confusion inherent in my analogy, that woman makes Bob Dylan sound like Placido Domingo.

[canninator]

      I might lose some respect for saying this, but I'm gonna say it anyways - people who wonder where all of the Earth-shaking composers have gone seriously need to turn to the pop world, and groups like Radiohead, Explosions in the Sky, and Regina Spektor. Sure, there's a lot of dreck out there in the pop world, but for every Wagner & Mahler, there are have always been at least a dozen Meyerbeers.

I tend to agree, everyone should listen to Godspeed You Black Emperor's 'F#A#∞' and 'Raise Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven' at least once.

[CD]

^ Hey, at least no-one's mentioned Britney Speers.

Well some of the bands mentioned are just as bad as Britney Spears and her peers. If we were to be factual most of these people wouldn't even be on the level of Ethelbert Nevin.

[DavidRoss]

      I might lose some respect for saying this, but I'm gonna say it anyways - people who wonder where all of the Earth-shaking composers have gone seriously need to turn to the pop world, and groups like Radiohead, Explosions in the Sky, and Regina Spektor. Sure, there's a lot of dreck out there in the pop world, but for every Wagner & Mahler, there are have always been at least a dozen Meyerbeers.

I can't say whether I agree with your specific examples, Dana, but the general idea--that pop music of all sorts has attracted many (perhaps most?) talents who in past centuries would have been composing classical music--has long seemed obvious.  The only respect you would lose from this claim is the respect of people whose respect ain't respectable! 

[Brian]

I can't say whether I agree with your specific examples, Dana, but the general idea--that pop music of all sorts has attracted many (perhaps most?) talents who in past centuries would have been composing classical music--has long seemed obvious.  The only respect you would lose from this claim is the respect of people whose respect ain't respectable! 

I know one musicologist said that the 20th-century equivalent of Schubert's Lieder was the Beatles.

[Dr. Dread]

I know one musicologist said that the 20th-century equivalent of Schubert's Lieder was the Beatles.

One musicologist walks into a bar...

[DavidRoss]

One musicologist walks into a bar...

...sees a gorilla and a priest...

[Dr. Dread]

...sees a gorilla and a priest...

[Dana]

The only respect you would lose from this claim is the respect of people whose respect ain't respectable! 

Ah, well that's one of the things that makes music what it is - different strokes for different folks.

Edit: I had to read over that statement about 6 times to wrap my head around it

[Dana]

...sees a gorilla and a priest...

... and says "hey, what's with the rubber duck?"