Is Rock Dead (in the mainstream)?

Discussion
1

Has mainstream enthusiasm for rock died?

Are there even any rock icons coming up though the ranks anymore?

Is it dead? Did rock die out after those early / mid 90s bands eventually bit the dust?

I think this is the first time in history this has happened. Trends go through cycles all the time, but rock as such was pretty much a mainstay for decades. There’s very little interest in the mainstream with regards to looking for the next big thing in rock. It’s all cult of personality types like Lady Gaga or insta-celebrities being ‘discovered’ on American Idol / The X Factor etc.

(And when I say ‘rock’ I don’t mean twee indie bands with warbling vocals, excited yelping, odd time signatures and sythesizers bubbling and burbling in the back ground either)

Look:

60’s - Hendrix, Beatles, Stones, Who, Cream

70’s Zeppelin, Sabbath, Grand Funk, Kiss, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, ELO

80’s Guns’n’Roses, Van Halen, Billy Idol, The Cult, U2

90’s too many to mention…

now…who is there? who are the rock ‘icons’ who have sprung up in the last 5 years or so?

Whatever happened to ROCK?

2

I don’t think it’s died. ACDC sells out 60,000+ seat arenas. Metallica still packs 'em in. Maiden kills it every time.

So, no. Not dead. But perhaps . . . dying. I mean, all the ROCK bands now (like the ones I mentioned) are 30+ years old. They’re gonna die of old age eventually.

The rock heroes of today are the same as they were 20 years ago. There is no new regime to take over.
And yeah, that’s pretty sad.

I suppose someone can argue that My Chemical Romance or Muse or something is the next wave . . . but that’s just gonna make me sadder.

3

I don’t think it’s died. ACDC sells out 60,000+ seat arenas. Metallica still packs 'em in. Maiden kills it every time.

Yeah but these are all dinosaur bands!!!

You missed the point of my post.

There is no new regime to take over.

Ta-Da!!!

I suppose someone can argue that My Chemical Romance or Muse or something is the next wave . . . but that’s just gonna make me sadder.

Muse huh?!? Well…if that’s what the kids are interested in…But are they huge in the charts? Are they big with the mainstream?

Yeah, kinda does make you sad.

4

Agreed with Peligro; those bands are dinosaurs. Rock is dead because… well, really, that romanticism could be classed as necrophaelia, no? [laugh]

Truth is, I don’t see anything that’s truly interesting, progressive and not entirely derivated that’s at juggernaut status… Muse comes close, and irrespective of what people say about them, the songs are harmonically interesting, the stage show is excellent and they can fill out stadiums.

But, you could argue they came out of the late 90s. I guess they’ve only reached superstar status now… y’know, singer dating a hollywood actress, etc etc.

One other band I thought had the potential to do this was System of a down.

Yep, you can laugh at those bands if you want, but they were the only two genuine contenders who were making music that was commercial and listenable, but didn’t make me want to chunder.

And it wasn’t entirely sanitised, which is more important. Both bands have a happy knack of doing things their own way. Well, SOAD can only be spoken of in past tense… but I digress…

I think all genres of music as we know it are dead.

I think the increasingly globalised nature of the world coupled with the fact virtually everyone has been mobilised via mass electronic media has pretty much smashed all the little petri=dishes of genres and sub-genres and allowed all the styles of music contained within to spread forth and multiply into a pastiche of some of the most unique music I think history will ever hear.

As for being on a mass, superstar Led Zep sort of scale… won’t happen. There’s only so much room to breathe out there.

5

we’re just in a floundering state still, don’t worry, the mega-star ‘acts’ will return. I know no one wants to hear it but shite like Nickelback and radio friendly crap of it’s ilk are still carrying ‘rock’ on the radio.

but who gives a shit about radio? I bet hardly anyone here has hear a ‘new’ band on the radio and then bought their shit in 8-9 years. It’s all about satellite or internet feeding you something more in the vein you already like, mostly.

6

Last week the American Music Awards were on, I think, and literally the only rock group on there was Muse. The rest were a lot of pop acts, country-pop acts, rap, etc.

The closest thing I think I can say that’s on the radio I like as far as rock groups go is maybe Cobra Starship, but that’s pushing it because…shit, I don’t even think THEY are on the radio!

7

EDIT: I deleted my message because I think Dildo mentioned what I was saying. Also, I don’t really have much business talking about the topic to begin with as I’m completely out of touch with what bands are even popular nowadays.

And yeah, like someone mentioned, I can only think of ONE new band in the last 10 years that I discovered I liked enough to buy a new CD. That was Blue October, which I’m certain everyone would think is gay anyway.

8

I think honestly Australia’s been pumping out some cool rock music. The Temper Trap’s Fader is a great example. Otherwise Broken Bells I’d also consider rock.

9

I think honestly Australia’s been pumping out some cool rock music. The Temper Trap’s Fader is a great example. Otherwise Broken Bells I’d also consider rock.

Right, but who the heck ARE they? I’m sure lots of people here can think of some band that they and 30 other people like and think are the saviours of rock, but in general, no one gives a crap so, with respect to Peligro’s original query, it still doesn’t matter.

10

Well, lets not forget that the last two times rock got too diluted and poppy, it just created a void for hungry, new bands to come in and revitalize the genre (I’m thinking of punk and grunge). Lets hope another one of these eras is coming soon.

11

(And when I say ‘rock’ I don’t mean twee indie bands with warbling vocals, excited yelping, odd time signatures and sythesizers bubbling and burbling in the back ground either)

Oh…I thought you liked Animal Collective?

WAKA WAKA WAKA!!!

Rock didn’t die…it just got real stale.

I may be an old fart but I don’t think we’ll ever have as cool rock bands in the future as we did in the past.

12

If I were to put on the rock station this second, I’d find Nickelback, a dozen if other bands just like Nickelback, some NIN (probably head like a hole), more bands that try to come off as angry and repetitive, and over-produced. More bands exactly like that, but different names. Some Linkin Park. Back to the Nickelback. Jane says. Back to the “angry” stuff. Repeat cycle.

13

I think the question is less “Is Rock Dead in the mainstream” and more “Is the sort of Rock you like dead in the mainstream”. Nickelback is rock, so is Coldplay, Muse, Linkin Park, etc. etc. It’s just not the sort of rock many of us would like. A few years ago we had White Stripes and I’m sure in the next year or so we’ll get some other new hungry kids.

I will say garage production hasn’t really been big like it used to. Computer recording programs with tons of effects do tend to change the flavor of rock a bit. Will that last?

14

I hope we’ve moved past the age when we need rock “stars”.

15

I hope we’ve moved past the age when we need rock “stars”.

Could not disagree more.

I think if everyone was humble and dull wearing boring tshirt on stage with ugly bearded audience it would suck.

Yes Broadrick I’m looking at you.

Not one vagina in the fucking room.

(DISCLAIMER: I AM A SHITTY ARTIST AND A FAILURE AT LIFE AND I AM SORRY TO EVERYONE FOR DARING TO DISS THE GENIUS GOD JUSTIN BROADRICK)

That said I just hope some cooler shit gets back into the mainstream so “rockstar” doesn’t mean leather pants wearing hick fucking douchebag like that shithead from Nickelback.

But come on. You have to have those entertainers who are basically just big Peter Pan kids living a fantasy doing cocaine all the time it just makes life better and more colorful.

16

(DISCLAIMER: I AM A SHITTY ARTIST AND A FAILURE AT LIFE AND I AM SORRY TO EVERYONE FOR DARING TO DISS THE GENIUS GOD JUSTIN BROADRICK)

In that case apology accepted.

17

Oh…I thought you liked Animal Collective?

WAKA WAKA WAKA!!!

They’re…mmm…not exactly what I had in mind when I started this thread.

.

I may be an old fart but I don’t think we’ll ever have as cool rock bands in the future as we did in the past.

As funny as it sounds - this sums up what I was trying to put across better than anything so far.

People laugh when I say I like Kiss, but at least Kiss came from the streets, did it their way, never compromised, turned rock music on it’s FUCKEN HEAD and carved an everlasting niche in the wall of rock history - which is about a hundred million times more than what these iGeneration dimwits are achieving these days. Now it’s all good looks, expensive videos and soap opera headline grabbing lifestyles…but where’s the ROCK? Is it hiding somewhere. Must be, I can’t find it.

I can’t see us ever witnessing another golden era of rock music (like from '67 to '72) ever again. Unless of course there is a nuclear war and society has to start all over and we have to start from scratch and work out what it was that made rock so great in the first place.

I’d say the last rock band who made any kind of global impact on the mainstream were The Strokes.

18

Bieber!!!

Bieber is rock!

Oh well…I can dream can’t I?

Wolfmother are roaring up the charts and have all the kids in the palm of their sweaty lil’ hands. Whatever you may think…oh boy, I’m really clutching at straws here aren’t I?

Yeah rock is dead. There’ll never be another Zeppelin. And if the best we can do is Wolfmother, then I give up.

19

one guy who’s a true rock star these days but for some reason just hasn’t hit the mainstream is pop levi. on record he has some of the catchiest stuff and live he puts on a HELL of a show with guitar playing channelling the spirit of eddie hazel. that’s about the only new “rock” that I can think of, but it’s not fully rock all the time.

edit: and, love them or hate them, I gotta also say the white stripes too. they may not be the stooges or mc5, but they are real roots rock and roll.

lenny kravitz had a song called “rock and roll is dead” in '95 and it seems it’s the case for the majority these days.

good. music needs to be constantly evolving, returning, etc.there’s plenty of old stuff to dig about, and plenty of other genres new and old to get into.

20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFkhDwquBsE

This is a fucking abomination.

How can I be so sure?

My mother and her sisters LOVE it. [:|]