Musical trends is a peculiar thing. I’ve given it some thought lately, and there really doesn’t seem to be much logic to it.

A major contribution to the shifting trends in music is the innate impulse for journalists to boost acts all the way to heaven with nothing but the highest of praise, only to tear them down unceremonially after a couple of years.

That seems to be the “golden” (not so golden in my eyes, though) rule of just about any kind of journalism - it’s some sort of self-containment: The journalists (or bloggers, for that matter) create their own universe with their little stories and reviews, and when we, the public, read them, they become real.

Think about poor Steve Forbert, for instance. A young fellow who released a couple of wonderful, smart and unassuming records in the late 1970s. The press hailed him as “the new Bob Dylan.”

Oh dear. That’s the kiss of death for any young, aspiring artist. What do you do when the world wants your next record to be “Highway 61 Revisited”, but you’re stuck with the fact that you’re Steve Forbert, 25, living in 1980?

You do the only thing you can do. You release another good Steve Forbert album - but by then that’s not what the public (or the record company) wanted. They wanted the young Bob Dylan. Not even Dylan could provide them with that. So, another two Steve Forbert records goes by with poor record sales and mediocre reviews and then it’s bye, bye Forbert. Sad thing is, his music was good all the way through!

I remember I was actually surprised when I witnessed Phil Collins’ fall from grace in the 1990s. He was pretty cool in the 1980s, and I remember I thought he was kind of immune to criticism because of his self-irony and humour. It didn’t even matter that he had a receding hairline and that he was the same age as my dad.

Besides, in many ways he defined “the modern sound” of the 1980s - the booming drums and the rich, bombastic production which, believe it or not, sounded very fresh to a teenager’s ears in 1985.

But then he went all “…but seriously” on us, and I think that contributed immeasurably to killing his immunity to criticism forever after.

That, and a whole bunch of other factors, it must be said.

In one way, grunge guitars did to him what he did to the soft wisp of Dan Fogelberg and the simplicity of punk rock a decade earlier, when he boomed’em all with his echo machine (Just for the record: I know I’m oversimplifying my case, possibly even misleading you - but it’s my blog and it’s therefore my privilege to do so.)

Nowadays, of course, we’re told that the grunge revolution was totally overrated.

I remember reading Q Magazine in 1990, a well-renowned British music magazine at the time. They summed up the best records of the decade. I don’t think I’m exaggerating too much when I tell you that, according to Q Magazine in 1990, about 75% of the best records of the 1980s were released between 1987 and 1989.

And the poorest year in music in the 1980s was voted, well of course: 1980.

So sorry, Devo, Stranglers, Joy Division, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Echo and the Bunnymen, Talking Heads, The Jam, The Undertones, The Specials. You lost BIG time to the likes of George Michael, Def Leppard, Everything But the Girl, Lenny Kravitz, Madonna, Neneh Cherry and Faith No More.

I’m not totally convinced the result would be the same today.

Why do we have to hate the music we used to love just to be cool? Why does every thesis have to come with an antithesis?

Me, I’m an accumulative music lover. I’ve never really related to musical trends, and I think maybe that’s why I find it such an intriguing subject. It’s interesting to notice how people use music to adapt - to adjust their cool factor.

Consider Facebook, for instance. Why do people remove bands from their “favorite music” spot all the time? And I’m not talking about kids removing Fergie or Nelly after a couple of weeks.

I’m talking about people in their 30s suddenly realising that R.E.M. or Dire Straits isn’t worthy of a spot on their profile anymore. C’mon, guys! It’s been 15 years since the last Dire Strais release! If you love that stuff, you’ll know so by now. Or haven’t you decided yet? Did mr. Knopfler say something silly in the news last week?

I’m not stupid. I know people are adjusting their profile to reflect themselves in the best possible light. We’re all vain. We’re all insecure. But I’m still a little amused every time someone removes the Eagles or Rolling Stones from their Facebook profile.