NOW PLAYING with Scott Sowers: What year is this? 1998? 1978?

I'm always one who likes to fancy myself on the cutting edge of the latest in music be it trends, albums or the best places to…ahem…obtain music. I'm the guy my friends go to for new obscure artists they've never heard of that have just been discovered and are on the cusp of stardom.

But as I was looking at a few lists of concerts this summer, one thing really stuck out at me: what year are we living in musically? I know it's 2008, but it seems like we almost could be in 1998 or 1978 and still experiencing the same music.
Take, for example, one of the hottest songs on the radio right now, Madonna's "4 Minutes." When was Madonna last relevant in music? Yeah, she's had a couple of hits here and there but really the last time she was truly making waves was when she released her "Ray of Light" album in early '98.

Then, you have one of the surprise great albums of the year coming from Athens' own R.E.M. with the recent release of their rocking "Accelerate." This band has sort of fallen off the musical landscape, but this has become their comeback album – one that sees them finding an alternative rock sound they helped pioneer in the 80s. This might be considered the second comeback album of their career, when they entered the slow rock phase of their career with '98's "Up."

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