Genre-blending freedom paradoxically produced cultural stagnation by exhausting combinable styles.

Evidence

But the total freedom of genre ironically engendered a profound sense of stagnancy. Pioneering Black artists had already blended nearly every genre that could be blended. The omnivore monoculture felt complete. By including every possible style, there were no more obvious future avenues for unexpected experimentation or exploration. And with poptimism long discouraging younger artists from pursuing strange, subversive sounds, the culture industry had few exciting subcultures from which to steal. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 631

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The core paradox of the omnivore monoculture thesis: total inclusion destroys the combinatorial frontier that innovation needs.
• XREF: Connects to standing claim that the culture industry steals from subcultures; exhaustion of subcultures kills the industry’s own engine.