Rock is dead

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guitarmike

guitarmike

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Ghosty999's post on how today's music sounds the same from a production perspective got me thinking about Gene Simmons pronouncing rock music is dead. There are no current popular bands that have the ability to craft complex yet easy to digest songs and can play/sing on par with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Kansas, Yes, Styx, The Eagles, Elton John, Queen, etc. I am sure someone can name a band or two that still write well crafted complex music but these bands are the exception and not real popular. There was a perfect storm in the music industry between 1965/1992 or 1993 that will never be duplicated. Part of the reason is because we do not teach music theory in schools anymore. Post WWII United Kingdom education had the study of music and art as part of the core curriculum, I believe this is why so many bands that defined the sound of rock came out of that country. Even in the USA music programs were stronger. Another reason is that the music industry back then was mostly led by people that believed they could make money by allowing artists time to grow. Perhaps most importantly, the baby boom generation in the USA redefined what was popular. The shear quantity of baby boomers made anything they like massively popular.

When the bands from the 70's and 80's stop touring and die off, rock as a popular mainstream force in music will be over.

If you lived through any of that era you hopefully can remember how cool it was. :lol: :LOL:
 
It's not often that I am glad I am a little older @ 48, but I am thankful for the time frame I grew up in.. These poor bastards today don't even get a taste of what it was like to have rock in the mainstream.
 
Yep. Rock shot it's wad. Lot's of reasons for it. It's not dangerous anymore. It's grandpa's music. The electric guitar was new, now its old. The records companies might have been filled with greedy assholes and shafted a bunch of musicians over the years, but they knew how to produce and promote product. Now with everyone recording at home and putting it out on youtube, etc there is plenty of artistic freedom....and not surprisingly, most of it sucks. And the fans killed the music scene by stealing music. I don't know what else you call it when you get something and don't pay for it. People don't really get out to hear live music(i.e. socialize with other people) like they used to either. All socializing is to be done through one's smartphone. I'm sure there are exceptions. Rock is for old farts and hip hop/rap sounds like shit live. This is generally the case when music is performed by thugs with no talent. But hey, it's all about the visual. Of course I've heard plenty of shitty rock concerts over the years as well, but again taken in aggregate...Also, there is a cultural war against maleness in the US. You must apologize for your maleness in every way. No need to really lament the state of things. It is what it is. It's not going to come back. Enjoy the music that we have from that time. If you find a few nuggets of good new stuff to listen to great but don't hold your breathe waiting for it to come back like it was. I hope the current generation gets what they want, whatever that is. As far as I can tell a demasculinized quagmire with no need for a common culture that observes the world through it's cell phone.

signed

Grumpy Old White guy.
 
Dear Grumpy old White Guy

shit... I think you're right.. It's called the wussification of America. You have so many people bitchin' and complaining about everything.. I have songs that are 100% pure 80's.. guess what.. They are about drinkin', sex, and boobs. If I were to put something like that out, I guarantee someone would bitch... so instead of changing the channel and listening to something else, they would waste their time, and mine, bitchin' and telling me how sexist I am. I'll record one in the next few weeks and post it and see what happens..But if it was a rap song... that's O.K.
 
There are tons of bands out there still doing the 80's throwback thing. Some do a great job...others less so. I think the point about music theory is a good one though there are tons of bands which had members who knew very little music theory but still created great music. I think the bands in the 70's, 80's and 90's had a lot of inspiration to look up to from the decade that preceded it. A lot of raw talent and less digital manipulation of music so that you had to have chops. It really does boggle the mind how you will just never see another Queen or Bowie etc.... then again, people might make the argument that a band like the Muse or LAdy GaGa would be this generations version of that very thing? All in all, electronica and new country have taken over RAP and hip hop even. The sampling that Bieber and all the others are doing is now the mainstream. Whatever is popular is what becomes the inspiration. If you look at the metal scene now, the sound they are going for is heavily influenced by the stuff that became popular in the early 2000's. Now throw the fact that everything is produced in the same way now with virtually the same plugins and samples, and you get even less personality from what you are hearing. I think it is a combination of factors. Simply put though, that 70-85 period probably had the strongest written rock material. Nothing will compete at that level.
 
One of the issues is everybody and their fucking brother is playing guitar. The other issue is everyone has a god damn band. There should be a law in place. Your band gets judged by a panel of fellow musicians and they vote. If you are denied, you must dismantle your band. My band, Federal Hog would be the first to be dismantled. But we're not rock, so maybe we get a pass?

The other issue is digital recording. Anybody and their brother who has a DAW is putting out music. This is both great and bad. The major issue is that there are 1,000,000,000 bands putting out material and 99.999% of them can not play the music in a live situation and finally there's just too many god damn bands to sift through to find the good shit. So, people just say fuck it and end up listening to the same old shit they were listening to in their late teens and early 20's.
 
billsbigego":27kjjqlw said:
One of the issues is everybody and their fucking brother is playing guitar. The other issue is everyone has a god damn band. There should be a law in place. Your band gets judged by a panel of fellow musicians and they vote. If you are denied, you must dismantle your band. My band, Federal Hog would be the first to be dismantled. But we're not rock, so maybe we get a pass?

The other issue is digital recording. Anybody and their brother who has a DAW is putting out music. This is both great and bad. The major issue is that there are 1,000,000,000 bands putting out material and 99.999% of them can not play the music in a live situation and finally there's just too many god damn bands to sift through to find the good shit. So, people just say fuck it and end up listening to the same old shit they were listening to in their late teens and early 20's.
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That's why I post my shit here.. to gauge where I'm at, and what people think.. where like minded musicians hang out.. I just posted something and see some people looked, but no comments.. I'm tellin ya.. I'll go to country, southern rock and hillbilly punk.
 
We need another SOD album. Speak English Or Die II. Fuck The Middle East part 2.
 
Kapo_Polenton":5vhzmost said:
Simply put though, that 70-85 period probably had the strongest written rock material. Nothing will compete at that level.
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+1,000,000 :rock: :rock:
 
HilltopExplosion":g41o1oom said:
Dear Grumpy old White Guy

shit... I think you're right.. It's called the wussification of America. You have so many people bitchin' and complaining about everything.. I have songs that are 100% pure 80's.. guess what.. They are about drinkin', sex, and boobs. If I were to put something like that out, I guarantee someone would bitch... so instead of changing the channel and listening to something else, they would waste their time, and mine, bitchin' and telling me how sexist I am. I'll record one in the next few weeks and post it and see what happens..But if it was a rap song... that's O.K.
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This!!!!!!!!!!
 
Can't disagree with anything here. 45 and I feel fortunate I was young when i was. I bet it wasnt too shabby being born in 1950 either. Late 60s, early 70s would have been a good time.
 
I'm not sure it even matters whether rock is 'dead' or not. It's certainly no longer backed by the tons of PR money that it used to be.

Whether it's popular or not by some arbitrary standard really doesn't matter at all. The folks who want to carry the torch forward will do so, the folks who want to evolve the genre(s) will also do so. I'd consider it a blessing that it's not competing on pop radio stations to be honest.
 
There's a lot of new shit I like, but listen to these guys and everything else can just climb the fuck back under the rug. I listen to a lot of lighter older shit when I'm not listening to Heavy shit. But this stuff just gets me every time. There's not a lot of shit I can listen to over and over, but these guys I can. Multiple instruments, in sync and you can tell they're just locked onto that magical space that we all try to get into.



And of course these guys.



And then listen to this shit (not really rock I know) and EVERYTHING can climb back under the rug.

 
I think that rock is dead as far as mainstream music goes and that makes me sad. With that said, I still find new bands every year that I love and I don't see that changing. By that I mean, there are tons and tons of bands, whether death metal and it's infinite sub genres, "nu" hair metal bands out of Sweden and Europe, throw back thrash bands out of SoCa, or power metal bands pumping out new releases. I listen to hair nation on XM and it's amazing to think, man I remember when this song was huge (whether it's Tesla, GnR, or even Nelson) and then I think, wow, that was popular. It would have been great to have been playing on the strip back then, but these are the times we're in and I'm too old to play in my own town, much less the strip.
 
Atropos_Project":2surqli5 said:
I'm not sure it even matters whether rock is 'dead' or not. It's certainly no longer backed by the tons of PR money that it used to be.

Whether it's popular or not by some arbitrary standard really doesn't matter at all. The folks who want to carry the torch forward will do so, the folks who want to evolve the genre(s) will also do so. I'd consider it a blessing that it's not competing on pop radio stations to be honest.
Click to expand...

I do not care about how popular it is per se, I care about the quality and the craft. Nobody in the rock space is writing well crafted music. They may have good songs, maybe good lyrics, but I have not heard anything with the complete package in a long time. If there were new bands that were that good they'd displace all of the dinosaur rock still out there. There is a reason young kids still listen and relate to music from the 70's and 80's.
 
Illegal downloading really hurt music badly IMO. The record companies will no longer take any chances. If it's not mainstream or something they think will sell to the masses then it's a no go.

The big corporate record companies of old screwed over a lot of artists but without their promotion and help this is what music has become at the moment. IMO there are still a lot of great new rock and other genres of music out there. It's just that most of it will never get heard or catch on to the masses without help. Trying to self promote on the internet with places like YouTube, etc... is almost futile without big resources.

Cycles do tend to change though.
 
Then you end up like Dave Mustaine, selling used guitar strings.

$366 and these are yours

images
 
guitarmike":zyjwq65v said:
Atropos_Project":zyjwq65v said:
I'm not sure it even matters whether rock is 'dead' or not. It's certainly no longer backed by the tons of PR money that it used to be.

Whether it's popular or not by some arbitrary standard really doesn't matter at all. The folks who want to carry the torch forward will do so, the folks who want to evolve the genre(s) will also do so. I'd consider it a blessing that it's not competing on pop radio stations to be honest.
Click to expand...

I do not care about how popular it is per se, I care about the quality and the craft. Nobody in the rock space is writing well crafted music. They may have good songs, maybe good lyrics, but I have not heard anything with the complete package in a long time. If there were new bands that were that good they'd displace all of the dinosaur rock still out there. There is a reason young kids still listen and relate to music from the 70's and 80's.
Click to expand...

The other thing is this. New music, is based on old music. Older bands use to listen and be influenced by say 10 different really good bands. Bands nowadays have like 2 influences and the same stuff just gets regurgitated over and over.
 
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