I haven't been able to update this blog for a while, but the "TV is the new rock 'n' roll" comment on the Word podcast made me think. What does this cliche mean?

I think it is this. Rock 'n' roll is to music what the Renaissance is to art or Shakespeare is to drama. It took an existing art form and made it exciting, bold and new, whilst at the same time creating real lasting celebrities. On this basis, TV is not the new rock 'n' roll. However, I think (and Mark Ellen might have to suffer this) computers (or more specifically software) might be.

How so? The IT industry is basically boring, with one or two notable (Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, for example) who might be likened to Caruso or Dame Nellie Melba -- celebrities but a bit too conventional. The kind of innovation that is going on around the internet at the moment is, however, a bit more like what Elvis, the Beatles and punk did for music -- novel, popularising, paradigm-changing.