The past 20 years has seen the onset of a cultural dark ages. Anyone disputing this simply has not been following the Whitney biennials of the past 20, maybe 40 years. It is obvious that pop/conventional tastes have deteriorated to the level of "digesting with the stars". Be that as it may, in the world of high art, particularly 'classical' or high culture music (which includes forms of improvised music such as some jazz, IMO), the case id quite different. There has been a tremendous amount of achievement in the past 20 years, despite its difficultly in being recorded, and recorded well. Dylan was speaking about his area of knowledge directly: rock/folk/pop AMERICAN music. He still speaks with authority about american culture, and knows it better than almost anyone. However do not think that this applies to the high culture of the world in a more general sense.
In the past 20 years art has fallen to the realm of the people, instead of being a tool to raise people up to the level of high art.
In the past 20 years art has fallen to the realm of the people, instead of being a tool to raise people up to the level of high art.