Maybe it's just that every generation wants THEIR Elvis, Cobain, Springsteen or Jackson. Like for them to be properly invested in it and feel part of it their generation needs to be living through it, listening to it. For some people I would hazard calling, say, Elvis the king of rock is not really acceptable as they never got to experience his music firsthand, and so don't feel they had a say in that so they need to create their own? Makes them feel closer to the one they want to raise to icon status? Or they just don't want to be seen looking to the past?
Or as Niles Crane once said, "Oh who knows why anyone does anything?"
