"The biggest artists in the world are female artists at this point, and that's because of video games," Rundgren said.
He suggested that the music industry responded by focusing more heavily on young female consumers, citing Swift, Lady Gaga and P!nk among the artists who emerged in the decades that followed.
But Rundgren drew a sharp distinction between Gaga and Swift.
"Lady Gaga, she's a real musician," he said, pointing to her abilities as a piano player. Of Swift, however, Rundgren declared, "She doesn't do anything particularly great except grow hair."
He continued by criticizing Swift as a singer, songwriter and dancer, although he acknowledged the enormous cultural connection she has built with generations of women.
"She's a role model for what was a very young generation of women, and now for those women's daughters as well," Rundgren said, noting that mothers and daughters now attend Swift's concerts together."
"Earlier in the interview, Rundgren discussed the way younger listeners are increasingly discovering music made decades before they were born.
He said he now sees second- and even third-generation fans at his own concerts, including people whose parents or grandparents first introduced them to his music.
"There's a percentage of people in any particular generation who just get tired of listening to what everybody's listening to and want to find something different," he explained.
"You can't travel into the future, so you go to the past."
excerpts
Meh... he just wants more gas guzzlers on the road to sell more gas... because that's what makes sense to him