Gear OF THE Decade
2020. It certainly sounds futuristic, but as we approach the dawn of a new decade, it’s hard not to feel shortchanged by the promises of science-fiction that remain undelivered. It’s probably a good thing everything hasn’t come to fruition – some of the more dystopian futures depicted in sci-fi are unlikely to satisfy anybody’s definition of an appealing holiday destination. But on the other hand, whatever happened to flying cars and teleportation? Ideally without getting genetically spliced with a fly, of course…
All that said, wind the clock back to 1 January 2010 and the world was a very different place. Spotify was in its infancy, Instagram was preparing to launch. YouTube was already serving nearly two billion video views each day but ‘influencer’ culture was still nascent and Apple Music was another five years away. What does all that have to do with guitar gear? Well, loads actually.
Over the last decade, mainstream music consumption has shifted to a streaming model that has torn down tribal and temporal boundaries and put Billie Eilish and Post Malone on the same stage as The Beatles and The Stones. The guitar might not be the fulcrum of pop culture as it was in the 50s and 60s, but it’s been ever-present while a whole new breed of players
