Solo's decended into absolute meaninglessness (is that word?...It is now!) They just became a way of filling a few seconds on the song rather than an expression of the guitarist. Instead of playing to fit the song, a lot of guitarist played to showcase their abilities and (in a lot of cases) simply weren't all that good I've noticed.
Also, if you look at a lot of the band structures, there's often only one guitarist nowadays and in a live situation, take away the rhythm guitarist and often a song will lose alot of its power and drive. I think a lot of people realised it was a lot more important to maintain the riff throughout the song rather than take a 20 something second solo.
Will it continue? I don't think so - at least, I hope not. Some new, more mainstream bands are bringing solos back, while some bands never stopped doing them. I think given a little bit of time, the up and coming "kids" will get bored of what they're getting at the moment and perhaps go back a generation or so, discover what influnced their influences or perhaps just us, the fans of soloing...I guess time will tell!
Anyone any other thoughts?...
Don't worry too much about me, ignore me long enough and I'll go away.
