Death of the mainstream?

Great post Andy. Although I think that Gorillaz aren't popular enough to constitute the defining band of our generation, I do think that their qualities as a virtual band melding different genres etc. do hit on many of the defining qualities of twenty-first century pop culture. Alan suggested Outkast as another possible candidate, but we mainly agreed that there just isn't a band like Nirvana or The Beatles nowadays that is so universally popular and captures the mindset of the nation's youth.

Maybe this is due to the splintering of popular culture into so many little niches. In the age of mp3s, netflix, amazon et al, there's so much access to media beyond what's mainstream that it's hard for one dominant culture, musically or otherwise, to emerge.

An interesting statistical idea behind this shift in cultureal representation is that of the "Long Tail." Here's the article from Wired Magazine that first used the term in that sense. It's pretty interesting stuff. Maybe we're truly witnessing the age where nothing exists culturally but splintered pastiche, echoes of former movements. It seems that's part of what you were saying a group like Gorillaz embodies, Andy, which is why I think they are a particularly interesting example within today's popular music.