It's officially the end of an era—as the age of heavy bass and rap is more prevalent than ever, the days of rock and roll are becoming nothing more but a mere speck in the far-off horizon. Gone are the guitars and the consciously lazy and unkept aesthetic of grunge, gone is the long hair and attitude and ridiculous performance stunts like Peter Townshend's ritualistic guitar-smashing during a show.

We've traded it all in for Gucci belts and Xanax overdoses.

So what's changed? When did we collectively decide we were over the high energy and intensity of rock in favor of the apathetic and uninspired music of today?

Even worse is the way rock culture is portrayed today—dingy Rolling Stones shirts in stores like American Eagle or Forever 21, black and white photographs of iconic artists plastered on the front mainly as a fashion choice rather than a proclamation of one's love for the music. The next time you see someone wearing a Nirvana shirt, ask them to name one of their songs that WASN'T in "Nevermind."

This is not to say that modern music is all pure unfiltered garbage. There remains a lot of potential and talent in all genres—"SZA," "Joji," "Post Malone," and "The Weeknd" come to mind as popular artists with their own individual sound and style and consistently release well-regarded tracks.

And then we have the artistic genius of "Lil Pump," who once stated that it would take you 70 hours to go 70 miles per hour. Jesus fucking Christ.

It's characteristic of every generation's popular music to be widely despised and viewed with revulsion by the previous one. Yet what can we say when our own generation can't relate to the music being put out today?

In any case, rock and roll has died and taken its spark and attitude with it. We no longer have furtively eloquent musicians such as Kurt Cobain where the artist's intelligence is concealed from the audience on stage yet comes out in private journals and notes. Thanks to Twitter, we now have the luxury of hearing whatever happens to cross our favorite artists' minds, and it's usually nothing too riveting.

The lack of privacy for modern artists plays to their disadvantage where the allure of mystery is completely nonexistent as they post the minutiae of their daily lives and their adoring fans hear all about how many bowls of Lucky Charms they had that morning.

The romanticism surrounded by the "good old days" of rock and roll is only amplified by its mystery and troubled heroes. What would The Doors be without Jim Morrison? Sex Pistols without Sid Vicious? Nirvana without Kurt?The narratives for these artists is more often than not enshrouded with tragedy and reverence, and these artists are plunged into legendary status and their private lives are dug into with the fervor and skill of archeologists. I sincerely doubt that any of today's artists would be treated with the same veneration and devotion. The age of icons has come to a close.

The legends of old will live on while the artists of today... well, they'll keep playing.