...Or even say 5 notes.  Give some one 5 notes and ask them to find how many different ways they can be expressed.  I mean, come on now there's only 12 notes, right?  If you give a good drummer a rhythmic figure...it will explode in  into a zillion different rhythmic variations for them...they'll be able to come up with lots of combinations.  That is if their creativity isn't stymied by bad teachers.  If the kids think anything's possible.. then that's what they'll come up with.  If they get  bad teachers they'll think only of limits.  Teach your children well david crosby!

eph221
.....  I mean, come on now there's only 12 notes, right?

Worst cliché ever...
 
Even on a guitar you can play five different E notes.
 
And what about the infinite number of frequencies you can bend a guitar string to before you sharpen it to the next semitone?
 
 

Rain,
I think we probably started at around the same time, and the Widdlie Widdlies were pretty dominant then.
I started playing because I wanted to be Keith Richards, so I focussed mostly on rhythm timing and technique.  But lots of my friends were big hair metal guys.  They all had pointy Ibanez's and practiced scales only for speed and dexterity.  Most of my friends didn't know more than Major, Minor, and Power chords.
 
What you're seeing now isn't new, I just think we didn't recognize it so evidently when we were young (while the old farts were saying exactly what we are now).