come on now Lizzie, are you really comparing the likes of JLS (or Just a Load of S*** as some of us oldies may refer to them
) and No Direction to the Stones and the Beatles? As for the longevity bit, well the Beatles only ran for about 8yrs proper from 1962-69 and as for the Stones or Bowie, Im not sure that longevity is really such a good thing

No I am certainly not!

But JLS and their like are the closest modern youngsters will ever get to seeing contemporary "greats", poor souls!
The other point is that the old great groups went through a form of 'apprentiship', travelling around in battered vans and going from one dodgy venue to another, with a little sex, violence and rock 'n' roll. The Beatles, after going through various changes of identity and personnel mix from The Quarrymen in 1957, appeared near to their final line up in August 1960, and just kept going until 1970. Who of the current "pop stars" go through that artistic development?
When modern groups go, I agree that they are 'a product' that has reached it's shelf life and run out of ideas!
