THE BEAT GOES ON

NEW YORK/DETROIT — While we're busy celebrating 25 years of rock 'n' roll, let us not forget that this year also commemorates the first quarter century of rock criticism. That's right, rock critics the world over have their own drum to bang this year— and, if we expect today's musicians to produce bigger and better music during the next 25 years, there's no reason why they can't also be expected to assist today's rock critics as they make an equal effort to upgrade the state of their art a couple of notches before 2004 rolls around.