"Turn off that crap! Now Dizzee Rascal, there was an artist..."

The evolution of music is something that has baffled me ever since I became conscious of the phenomenon. Mozart, to the Beatles, to the Black Eyed Peas. Chopin, to the Rolling Stones, to Meshuggah. Berlioz, to the Beach Boys, to The Prodigy. Put in those terms, it's unbelievable isn't it?

I'm not sure about anyone else, but many times over the past few years I've had the music I listen to ridiculed by my parents as "noise". Their tastes include bands such as Dexie's Midnight Runners, Westlife and Madness, so that comes as no surprise to me when I'm blaring Devin Townsend at 1a.m. Yet, as I progress into manhood, I begin to wonder if I'm going to end up taking this attitude towards my own children's tastes.

Which then begs the question, how will music have advanced in twenty years time? Can metal get any heavier than it is? Can techno get any more annoying or less musical? I honestly cannot imagine a parent in twenty or thirty years time shouting up to their little sprog: "Turn off that crap!", while citing someone such as Dizzee Rascal as more musical than what the child is listening to. How is this possible unless the music they're listening to is just mechanical beeping?!

OK, I digress. I'm letting elitism seep in. But seriously, what is next? If we compare the Beatles to say, Lady Gaga as idols for respective generations, and then translate that another 40 years into the future, what exactly will we be hearing? Or have our generation heard all there is to hear? Has music changed so radically over the past decades that it really has nowhere else to go? Will our children be listening to pretty much what we're listening to, in complete contrast to the musical relationship between our generation and our parents?

I honestly can't imagine metal getting any heavier anyway. When a band like Sunn 0))) can get away with making entire albums out of low tuned drones and feedback (I'm not hating, I actually quite like them) it puts the whole question of musical progression into doubt.

However, up until now I've only been really speaking about periphery genres pushing their own boundaries. Pop music will probably always be around, not exactly reinventing itself completely but nevertheless generating (just about adequately) unique material as it trods along.

I can't really see music being that drastically different by time I'm the uncool dad. In fact, I think some of the stuff I listen to at the minute will still be regarded as experimental at that stage.

I'll leave it up to you readers to think upon this; musical stagnation - good or bad?