I teach about Mitski in my college music course, as one of a collection of non-classical performers who deserve recognition, but who will never get it because it is easier and cheaper to produce and promote mindless druglike songs to ignorant audiences.
One of the reasons the 60s feels like the golden era of rock is that the conduit for music had not yet become controlled by oligarchs, and performers could be heard through FM radio and tape copies of vinyl. You can still find diamonds in the musical dirt today, but you have to know where to look, and care enough to look there.
There’s enough good music to be discovered by myself that is better than the horrible unlistenable bulk of music today.
What other artists do you include in your course?