Elton John was ecstatic because at 80 years of age, he could still boast a No. 1 hit song.

That was the rehash of his classics “Rocket Man” (1972) and “Sacrifice” (1989) which turned into a hit (2021) in a duel with contemporary pop star Dua Lipa.

It has been a WOW as cross-generation duets: Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, Billie Eilish and Paul McCartney, Ed Sheeran and Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen – converged their talents and fan generations.

The melodies are re-energized, lyrics re-mixed and re-tuned to lure new Gens. So, we might ask if the renaissance of rock classics from the 1970s and 1980s is on track to return - with the music industry trying hard to re-invent itself in the streaming era, and in search of what the next generations of teens will listen to.

It appears so at least commercially, as major record labels: Sony, Universal, and Warner buy up music rights of vintage or classic bands: Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, and Bruce Springsteen among others. Hundreds of million dollar had been paid for future bets.

Songs have two sets of copyrights – one for the songwriting and one for recording or master copy. Musicians usually keep the song writing rights but this is changing too as the old generation of rock stars pass their twilight years.

Commercial apart – the ULTIMATE question many baby boomers are asking is whether the classic songs of their generations will outlast those of the 2000s? The latter is definitely more polished, shorter, more electronic, with increasing AI enhancement. The former were influenced by live instruments, raw artistic creativity and conceptual experimental.

As it is, it will be in the cultural arena that the music will play out. The 1970s and 1980s were rebellious whereas the 2000s are identity centric (Billie Eilish’s grimness is a case to point). The audiences are definitely more fragmented and fans are under social media viral pressure. 

Nostalgia apart, the buyout of music catalogues of 1970s and 1980s signal their returns in one form or another as we enter the AI era. That, the baby boomers can be reassured.

The “Yellow Brick Road” is not yet a “Goodbye”!