Reading this thread just brought back to mind all the things that were going through my head watching this weekend's American Music Awards...
most of the people on there (nominees, performers, and presenters) were either youth stars or those that started out as youth stars, all products of marketing might and packaging - many of them with the full muscle of the Disney machine behind them are in the case of the boy bands/pop tarts, a similar promotion machine behind them (and how ironic was in to see New Kids on the Block reformed and performing among this mess they helped create)...much of it very disposable and also very emblamatic of what American music has come to represent in this day and age...
...and alongside all of that is a lifetime acheivement style award given to Annie Lennox who represents the exact opposite of all that - a true artist and talent who has a career of doing things on her own terms (and took time off of her career when it came to raising her children...and it didn't go away when she was ready to return)...then not only given the award in the first place but also puts all the flash and smoke and mirrors and pole dances to shame by her stunning performance backing herself on grand piano (just as about 8 years prior she did the same thing performing on American Music Awards as part of Eurythmics doing an acoustic set with herself and Dave on guitar and having the exact same effect and reception) and was considered the highlight of the show and was totally enamoured by the audience in attendance with their standing ovation and tears in their eyes as the camera panned the crowd.
...and who among today's class of artists would be able to claim such a similar award 20 years down the line? Where are tomorrow's true legends today?
Pink probably has the greatest chance. And several other artists that, like Annie, hail from Europe (or other places)...but most will be considered obsolete in five to ten years (if they're even that lucky) once the youth factor and appeal is gone.