Is Rock N' Roll dead?

[Living Dead Boy]

Hey guys and gals. Just something I've been thinking lately. The music industry changes every second. Some artists become popular and last forever, some just fade into obscurity. But one thing I've noticed, is that rock music is slowly becoming less popular, while other genres continue to flourish, such as rap and pop music.

Dave Grohl's (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) acceptance speech recently at the Grammy's sparked this question back up, and it pretty much summed up all of my feelings about the current music state:

"To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what's important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that's the most important thing for people to do... It's not about being perfect, it's not about sounding absolutely correct, it's not about what goes on in a computer. It's about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head]."

Personally, I'm a fan of all genres. There's beauty in every genre, but of course, nowadays people settle for mediocrity rather than true substance. And that's across the board, in all genres. Rock music used to be the most popular form of music for decades, but times are changing. So, is rock music slowly fading away? Or is it becoming harder and harder to find?

 

[brinkster130]

Good rock music is still out there and will probably continue being made but it is harder and harder to find. Like you said the music industry is constantly changing and (un)fortunately a main focus of theirs is money. Just because someone is talented doesn't mean they will be able to sell millions of records; and as proven in more recent years, it takes very little talent to sell millions.

Rock may not be as popular as it once was but I don't see it going away any time soon.

 

[Kean]

I would say rock certainly isn't as prevalent as it once was, but I also think this is merely a phase. It was similar in the early 90s, pop and hair bands were what composed the mainstream and then this band from Seattle came along and blew everyone's heads off. I like to think we are just waiting for that next band who are going to turn everything on its head.

Rock would probably account for the majority of the music on my iTouch but I can't say I have invested in many contemporary bands. Queens of the Stone Age and Audioslave would be two other (modernish) rock bands that I love, but I can't say that either of them have been making themselves known lately. The Arctic Monkey's were great for a minute. Foo Fighters released a beautiful album this year. Has anyone seen the accompaning documentary? They made the album in Dave Grohl's garage. I just love that. The spirit of the music is still very much alive. I don't think anything in rock has excited me since the opening growl of the guitar on Kings of Leon's "Crawl". That had the dirt of rock in it. We need more of that, and I fully believe it will come.

 

[Tyger tyger]

Nah, I just think it is coughing a bunch. I've definitely seen some awesome bands on the local level and rock gods of yesterday are still putting out music. If we are talking popularity... remember Henderix was a one hit wonder by Billboard standards. I figure if cool can survive hairbands (journey not withstanding) than it can probably survive emo and radio Disney too.

 

[ItMustBeBunnies]

I would say rock certainly isn't as prevalent as it once was, but I also think this is merely a phase. It was similar in the early 90s, pop and hair bands were what composed the mainstream and then this band from Seattle came along and blew everyone's heads off. I like to think we are just waiting for that next band who are going to turn everything on its head.

Rock would probably account for the majority of the music on my iTouch but I can't say I have invested in many contemporary bands. Queens of the Stone Age and Audioslave would be two other (modernish) rock bands that I love, but I can't say that either of them have been making themselves known lately. The Arctic Monkey's were great for a minute. Foo Fighters released a beautiful album this year. Has anyone seen the accompaning documentary? They made the album in Dave Grohl's garage. I just love that. The spirit of the music is still very much alive. I don't think anything in rock has excited me since the opening growl of the guitar on Kings of Leon's "Crawl". That had the dirt of rock in it. We need more of that, and I fully believe it will come.

I agree with pretty much everything you have said 🙂

And yes, I have seen the documentary. I have it on dvd 😀

I'm a big Dave Grohl/Foo Fighters fan. I like music from a variety of different genres, but overall I'm a devoted rock fan, and I agree totally with Dave's Grammy speech.

There is some awesome rock music out there, you just have to be willing to sift through the crap to get to it.

 

[Goby]

I love punk. I've loved it since the 80's, and love modern punk just as much.

I've never heard a Kei$ha or Jay-Z or Alicia Keys or Rhiannon song (I hope I spelled those right). I have no interest in commercial music. To me, it's just not real. It's a product made to for the sole purpose of making money.

For me rock is the music of the soul. When I say "rock" I mean guitar driven music. Music that is written by the artists, not a team of song writers. Music that is written to express feelings, not make money.

I'm not a big Foo Fighters fan, but I have a ton of respect for Dave Grohl. He knew he was in the company of a genius, and laid low while the most influential artist of my life made 3 amazing CDs.

If rock is dying, it will be back.

To quote one of my favorite bands:

This isn't business, its our hope and its our voice.
You're not a product, so tell them you can't be bought.
I don't want corporate backing,
Five hundred thousand bucks a year,
That's not what it's about. it's something so much more.

To me the message is the most important thing.
Communication is more important than entertainment.
This music saved my life,
So i'll be dead and f***ing gone before it's bought and sold
Just like appliances and cars.

 

[Taake]

Rock? Dying? Surely you jest, good sir 😉

Nope I have not noticed any decline in rock music, sure there's a lot of low-quality bands out there that all sound more or less the same, but the same goes for any genre these days.

To me, if anything, rock is as strong as ever, whenever I go to concerts they're more or less sold out, the audience is always incredibly varied in age (from 60 to 16, it's great) and enthusiastic. Same goes for the rock festivals and clubs I attend, rock music will never die - if you're in it, you're in it for life, and it's one of those genres where fans loyally keep buying cds from the bands they love (even when you get somewhat disenchanted with them)

 

[JCoatsworth]

I don't think that the rock genre is dying, it's only changing.
But the rock music that I like is kind of dying, unfortunately. There are very few young artists that I like.

All my favorite Bands and musicians are getting really old.
For example Nicko McBrain, drummer of Iron Maiden, is 59, AC/DC singer Brian Johnson is 64, Chickenfoot and former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar is 64 and Lemmy from Motörhead is 66.
If they retire some day and stop making records, I really don't know what to do.


I don't care about the popularity of the music I listen to.
I'm aware that AC/DC is one of the most successful music artists of the planet, having sold 200 million albums or so, but I don't listen to certain bands because they're popular.
To me, music is about having fun, on both the listeners and the musicians side, and expressing something.
Of course it makes me happy if one of my favorite bands achieves something special.
Like the Foo Fighters winning five Grammys, AC/DC doing a Germany tour that's sold out within 15 minutes or Iron Maiden making an album that hits #1 in 28 countries.
This shows me that rock isn't dead. But what will happen if all those guys retire? The Foo Fighters aren't quite as old, but the rest.

 

[Sweet J]

I've been to see the Foo Fighters, and I'm not a great fan, they just don't do it for me.

it's not all doom and gloom, because I'm really liking the Black Keys at the moment.

Though the OP is mostly right, a lot of bands in the Garage rock revival have faded away of late.

 

[Cast No Shadow]

Rock and Roll will never be dead.

 

[Goby]

If only I lived in Europe. 😡

 

[Mr Giles]

Its certainly going through a less popular phase atm. It'll come back eventually, but will be different. Right now boy/girl bands and bubblegum pop are the big thing right now. Rock will never be as it was when FF or Nirvana were around, thats consigned to history.

 

[Living Dead Boy]

[MENTION=11237]Mr Giles[/MENTION] of course, music changes all the time....but does it have to be this shitty? 😛 Evolving is one thing, but artists these days aren't even thinking about their legacy. They just want to make the next hit of the moment and make alot of money from it. They're not putting their heart and soul into it anymore, which is sad, because that's what music is all about.

 

[Mr Giles]

Fame and moneys always been a big influence, form Elvis to Beatles to Gaga. I dunno how you can say and older singer/group puts more heart and soul into it than modern ones like Beyonce or Eminem! Its not their fault music is changing, all they can do is go with the flow and make good music, which they and many others continue to do. 🙂

 

[white avenger]

Yeah, rock n' roll, the REAL rock n' roll is dead. Its final gasp was August 16, 1977, when the King died. Even before that, it had veered so far off track that it was something barely recognizable as having descended, or, more accurately, mutated, from the art form and the artists who really created it. That's not necessarily a bad thing, in and of itself. The problem is that the new form continues to call itself rock n' roll, when it should actually have a name of its own in order to differentiate it from the music that my generation listened to.

My mother listened to the music of artists like Dorsey and Armstrong, Sinatra and Duchin, and it was called either jazz or rhythm n' blues. Then, in the '50's, Alan Freed first made the name rock n' roll popular in order to distinguish it from that older music. The next generation should have had their own name for their own music, but either everybody just plain got lazy, or there wasn't anyone creative enough to come up with that name, which resulted in the situation that we have today.

 

[Summerlilly]

[MENTION=10790]Goby[/MENTION]

For me rock is the music of the soul. When I say "rock" I mean guitar driven music. Music that is written by the artists, not a team of song writers. Music that is written to express feelings, not make money.

Yes, I must agree. When I think of Rock n' Roll I think Classic Rock. Led Zepplin, The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Doors..... and so on. Music with soul, birthed from Blues, the ultimate soul music. Music that meant something and inspired feelings in others. Music that was created for the love of music and artistic interpretation of life that could move you, make you feel something real when you listen to it. Music that can transport you to another place or time and always remind you of how you felt when you first fell in love with it.

To quote one of my all time favorite movies and Rock n' Roll tributes, Almost Famous:

Jeff Bebe-"Some people have a hard time explaining rock 'n' roll. I don't think anyone can really explain rock 'n' roll. Maybe Pete Townshend, but that's okay. Rock 'n' roll is a lifestyle and a way of thinking... and it's not about money and popularity. Although, some money would be nice. But it's a voice that says, "Here I am... and **** you if you can't understand me." And one of these people is gonna save the world. And that means that rock 'n' roll can save the world... all of us together. And the chicks are great. But what it all comes down to is that thing. The indefinable thing when people catch something in your music."

So the question is; Is Rock N' Roll Dead? No, I don't think it will ever die as long as there are people to listen. Has music changed today? Yes. IMO, there doesn't seem to be the same love and appreciation for the process of making a good, solid record. The artistry is dying. Today, they record albums to sell singles and make the pupeteers rich. Of course there is still a lot of great music out there, you just have to dig a little deeper to find it! 🙂

Long Live Rock N' Roll!!!!😀😀
P.S. Thanks Dad!

 

[ILLYRIAN]

All types of music keep returning, and probably always will.
It could be said that some groups only play or played a certain type of music. Most bands will play different types of music, for example Led Zeppelin were classified as a rock band, but to me they were a Rhythm and Blues group that tried other forms of music from ballads to reggae to rock n' roll.
Some of the early Black Sabbath lyrics would be better suited as gospel music, yet because of the tunes they were considered to be satanic. So calling Elvis a rock n' roll singer ignores a lot of his records.

 

[Tyger tyger]

If it helps some summers I spend more on rock show attendance than on food. It is amazing what one can accomplish with just a hoolah-hoop and a dream. Seriously, saw some pretty awesome things on the festival circuit last summer that make me retract my earlier statement and say rock is alive and well... except Ben Harper ... he should pack it in... he played burn one down three times and it still felt forced. That is what he gets for going on the day after Bassnecter.

 

[ItMustBeBunnies]

Rock? Dying? Surely you jest, good sir 😉
To me, if anything, rock is as strong as ever, whenever I go to concerts they're more or less sold out, the audience is always incredibly varied in age (from 60 to 16, it's great) and enthusiastic. Same goes for the rock festivals and clubs I attend, rock music will never die - if you're in it, you're in it for life, and it's one of those genres where fans loyally keep buying cds from the bands they love (even when you get somewhat disenchanted with them)

I go to alot of festivals and concerts aswell 🙂 I went to a festival last weekend, and like you said, the ages and types of people in attendance was really varied.

I forgot to mention, when I went to the Foo Fighters concert a few months ago, Dave gave a similar speech to the one he gave at the Grammy's. I can't remember his exact words, but it was something along the lines of how happy it made him that thousands of people had turned out to see them, and that it gives him hope that there will always be a place for rock music 🙂

 

[sisterofmercy]

People have been saying this for years and I've never really taken it very seriously. Yes things are more corporate than free spirited now, but that's true across the board- music is a huge commodity and it is a business just like any other. It's harder to be a musician and play without considering supporting yourself, it's not really realistic in this day and age.

As far as quality goes though there's still good music to be had. There's always good music to be had if you look hard enough, i,e. past the radio stations and into the blog sites and the pub gigs and festivals and support slots at big gigs. There's a hell of a lot of good rock and alternative music out there at the minute, you only need to go onto the Rough Trade website or to any independent record shop and see that. They just don't get the media attention as their music isn't as shiny and contrived as bands like The Vaccines (not that I'm saying they're bad as I love them).