In a monophonic musical world begun of the religious traditions of Gregorian Chant in the 7th century, which developed polyphony through Machaut, Dufay, Palestrina, Monteverdi, reached it's height through Handel and Bach, simplified and became homophonic through Hayden, reaching it's clearest expression in Mozart, beginning to burst it's seams with Beethoven, that became excessive with Wagner, was utterly destroyed by Stravinsky and Bartok, being resuscitated through polyphony, by Schoenberg...and along comes Cage, the Samson that brought the temple down and left us this post-apocalyptic pluralism.
There is no more monolithic Western Music tradition to either follow, or rebel, against.
It is gone...The North Atlantic hegemony, European, and then American, has died a perfectly natural death, after 1400 years of vigorous, spectacular and sometimes tragically flawed life.
The good news is that, in a pluralistic world, like after nuclear war, the many cultures that existed, but were not dominant, become respected and listened to...just because they survived. We are inclusive, now...