What happened to the solo?

So after watching the SDMA’s (San Diego Music Awards) on Sep. 12th 2010 I realized that there was not one solo in all of the live performances that night!  Not one bad ass guitar solo.  Not one Horn Solo! Not one scat, harmonica, keyboard or drum solo!  WHERE ARE THE SOLOS???

This amazed me due to the fact that most live acts were rock based music. This is sad when the artistic virtuosity of a bad ass musician is completely gone from modern rock and most music of today.  Is it because those bands or musicians cant solo?  Is it because they feel the modern audience doesn’t want a solo?  I cant figure it out?

Im a huge fan of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Doors and The Beatles.  All Hall of Fame bands!  I always looked forward to the really cool Guitar/Keys solo in almost every song!  Its called IMPROVISATION and most bands of today have no clue when it comes to that!  At the SDMA’s the one time there was a guitar solo it was a sound solo not a melodic solo (loud distorted guitar muted notes played sloppily and loud over rocking out band).  When this sloppy guitar solo did happen the crowd cheered and all the cameramen came up to take a pic of the soloist, so it does seem the crowd is eager for a solo!  This drives me crazy!

Im not saying that all of the bands that played at the SDMA’s are bad, Im just saying I watched hours of music that didn’t include something that should be in Rock music and is part of the equation for almost every great Rock song out there!