The always interesting Steve Sailer

writes about The Decline and Fall of the American Teenybopper

UPDATE: I am the reader who emailed this to Sailer:

My personal theory about the decline of rock-- record company profits are not perfectly correlated with record sales. If a group becomes too popular (say Led Zepplin circa 1976) they can get a better deal for themselves and reduce the margins of the companies. Ergo, record companies pursue a series of disposable acts rather than nurture those of the highest quality. (Nothing wrong with it, just smart business.) Disco, boy bands, and rap are producer driven and hence ideal forms for the record execs. The Clash, Stones, and Grateful Dead are bad investments.

And on the decline of the sitcom in favor of "reality" shows:

Wouldn't the economics also explain why cable loves criminal trials? Pretty cheap TV to put four lawyers in a studio talking about Scott Peterson.