The other night I had an hour-long conversation with my 13-year-old brother about the life of rock music, in particular the journey rock music has made within the past few decades.

We established that music is no longer the same, Eric Clapton is the best guitar player ever to have played and KISS never should have taken off its makeup … ever.

We covered every form of rock music under the sun, from the moptop Beatles to the Casualties, hitting The Allman Brothers Band and The Doors somewhere in between. After I flashed back to 1993, recounting every minute of delight I spent watching Steven Tyler shriek into the microphone at my first concert, I felt old. I also felt a bit distressed.

So what does music today have to show for itself? I am disturbed that my brother and sister, or better yet, my generation’s children will be left calling people like Ashlee Simpson “rock stars.”

Sure, there are the occasional talents, and more so recently with the gradual rise of real bands getting public acknowledgement over pretty-faced teens singing someone else’s lyrics.

But in all seriousness, where will music be in the next 30 years? Are we really going to be left inducting Britney Spears into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the likes of U2 and Buddy Holly? Will we really be giving a tribute at the Grammy’s for the lifetime achievements of Avril Lavigne and Sean Paul? Because these are the people we are recognizing as today’s talents.

Last year the Grammy Association nominated Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera in the same category as Bon Jovi and Sting. Pink and Christina Aguilera were nominated in the rock category with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, two of the greatest songwriters of all time.

No matter how objective I try to be, it is impossible for me to look at these names and see them as equals. How can anyone begin to compare Pink’s “Let’s Get This Party Started” to Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane?”

It’s needless to say that today’s music has lost its luster. It has lost its ability to shake a listener to the core, the same ability that left people not only singing a tune all day, but also contemplating its lyrics.

Ultimately, it has lost the thing that made it so special to the previous generations. Sure, some of these radio hits are fun and catchy, but it is as if we are completely neglecting quality. Instead we keep this steady flow of garbage pumping through the system.

There’s a difference between entertaining music and music as an art form. Sure, I’ll go to The Boot and dance with my friends to this music, but I would never consider these entertainers to be masters of their craft. Music used to take talent, and musicians used to be both performers and artists. But today it is a very different story.

My father listened to Bruce Springsteen’s heartfelt lyrics, soulfully executed, while I turn on the radio and hear Nelly’s request for me to shake my tail feather.

How did this become the music that symbolizes our lifetime? Better yet, what are we willing to do to keep music off this path of destruction?