Let’s play a game.

You know the song, “Happy Birthday,” right? Good.

Now imagine Ray Charles singing it.  OK? Good.

How about Bob Dylan? Bruce Springsteen? Heck, let’s even try Celine Dion.

Excellent! Let’s try it again but with different artists.

Imagine Lindsay Lohan singing happy birthday. Make sure you get her distinct vocal style right.

How about Miley Cyrus? Hilary Duff? Jesse McCartney? Heck, let’s try Britney Spears.

With the possible exception of a highly digitized Britney, it’s hard to hear the popular singers of today in our heads.

Why? They are generic, homogenized and mediocre.

When Paris Hilton can crank out an album and actual hit the charts, anyone can be a pop star with the right marketing. (For those keeping score, “Paris” peaked at no. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart.)

When “American Idol” can produce the next “star,” the term “star” loses it meaning.

What’s Ruben Studdard up to? Got married, but his label dropped him in December 2007 – not a star. Taylor Hicks? Dropped by his lapel in January 2008 – not a star. Jordin Sparks? Opening act for Alicia Keys – not a star.

Stars shine for a long time. Madonna? Lying about the status of her marriage, but a star. Elton John? Star. Michael Jackson? Creepy, but a star. Springsteen? Oh, yeah – star.

Music shouldn’t be like cotton candy: an initial rush but then a whole lot of nothing. Music has the power to move one’s soul. “I Kissed a Girl”? Not a soul moving song.

At the end of the 1970s and the early 1980s, critics called the popular rock bands of the day “corporate rock.” Hmmm. Groups like Journey, REO Speedwagon, Styx and Eagles wrote their own songs, put out a string of hits and are still touring today, sometimes without their well-known singers. How is that corporate?

Corporate is when Disney can take anyone and have them hit the charts – hard. Disney owns Hollywood Records, the record company for Hilary Duff, the Jonas Brothers, Jesse McCartney, Corbin Bleu, Vanessa Hudgens, the Cheetah Girls, Hayden Panettiere, Raven Symoné, and, of course, Miley Cyrus. That does not include Walt Disney Records, which puts out the High School Musical and Camp Rock albums.

Hollywood Records currently has two of the top five songs on iTunes. That’s a whole lot of babysitting money.

How many of these artists started as struggling bands playing bars and bar mitzvahs? None. They were created entirely by Disney.

BTW, the top-concert events so far for this year include five Bon Jovi concerts, two Neil Diamond concerts, The Police with Elvis Costello concert and an Eagles Concert. The top grossing concert was by Clouseau. Who? Exactly.

Who will be the Millennium Generation’s Eagles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, AC/DC or Beatles? Who will emerge as this generation’s Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Garth Brooks, Shania Twain or Elton John?

The future looks bleak.

Perhaps that’s why Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games feature so many old songs – they still move the soul: “Free Bird,” “More Than a Feeling,” “Carry On Wayward Son,” “Sunshine of Your Love,” “Paranoid,” “Paint It Black,” “La Grange,” “Black Magic Woman.” Of course, there is “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith” on the way. Aerosmith had their first hit in 1973 – that’s star power.

Don’t expect to play “Rockband: The Cheetah Girls” any time soon and, certainly, not 35 years from now.

Oh, and playing Guitar Hero doesn’t make you a “star,” either. It’s a game.  When you can play “Cliffs of Dover” on a real guitar – one with strings – we’ll talk.

Until then, let hope there is a band in a garage somewhere ready to rock this world.