Where Have All The Guitar Gods Gone?

Excuse an old man for pining for the good old days of rock and roll. This morning, I am struck by the realities of the postmodern generation. The guitar players that they revere and try to immulate just don't play as well as the guitar gods of old. In the old days we had Eddie Van Halen, Robin Trower, Pat Travers, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Steve Lukather, and many, many more. Nowadays, we have the acoustic meanderings of Dave Matthews, Trey Anastasio and their ilk. These guys are good in their own way but it's a far cry from the Jimmy's (Jimi's) Page and Hendrix from our glorious past. It's great that some of the old guys are still around kickin' it old school style. Steve Lukather continues to blaze with Toto. Steve Vai has created a guitar players venue with his Favored Nations label. John Petrucci kills as the lead guitarist for Dream Theatre. Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Andy Timmons and the like are still out there shredding the fret board like it's going out of style. (which it is) The worst thing about this is that since the new guitarists are listening to wimpy licks, their licks are wimpy as well. There's not a single new metal band out there now that has a guitar player that can actually play a decent lead. It just doesn't exist anymore. There's some hard driving stuff like Korn, Creed, Disturbed and that whole genre but you won't find a good lead guitar part anywhere on any of their recordings. Why? Because the guys are power chord jockeys and they can't play lead. They have no one to look up to these days. It really makes me sad and it makes it difficult to find good music to listen to. I'll keep searching and hoping that the guitar gods of old will awaken once more in hearts of the young. Someone needs to carry that torch into the future. Don't let it die, man!