Is Rock Dead?

Is Rock Dead? When I think back to bands I would love to see live or eras I’d like to go back to experience the music, the last ten years never enters my mind. In fact, when I think of the state of Rock music today, It seems like some post-apocalyptic world with only a few remaining survivors from times gone by. The last remaining icons of the greatest era’s in music history are slowly dying, figuratively and literally. Bowie’s gone, two of The Beatles have passed, Lemmy died. We still have Robert Plant, Keith Richards, Ringo, Paul McCartney, Iggy and a few others left. They are starting to hit their 70’s now. Keith Richards will probably live until he is 189 though, upon which time scientists will cut him open and make a scientific breakthrough of some kind. And what about when they all go? What then? I think I’ll go into a deep depression. It’s a sad state of affairs.

When you say Rock’s dead music lovers tend to argue. One argument is that it is still alive and kicking. The people arguing cite the Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Arctic Monkey’s still making albums as evidence. They also mention the names a few old crusty rockers or say ”oh such and such is getting back together” (such and such being a band who hit their prime 40 years ago). To me, this is missing the point. A few 30-year-old somethings reliving their high school days at a Foo Fighters concert, mixed with some 20-year-olds who bought The Pretender single when they were 13 in 2007 doesn’t count. Someone in their 50’s reliving the 80’s with their wife at an AC/DC concert every three years isn’t cutting it for alive, in my books. A father and daughter (whose dad got her into them) attending a Rolling Stones concert, in a seat, 45 rows back, with their shirts and merchandise, isn’t convincing me either. Don’t get me wrong; these things are fucking great, and I get happy they are going on in the world. A few fans crawling out of the woodwork for bands from previous eras doesn’t classify as Rock being a living, vibrant, breathing, beast, though. Rock’s just clinging onto life.

Rock being alive starts at the grass roots level with kids starting bands in their garages and making music. From there it grows and one day ascends into the charts if they are onto to something amazing. This is only after years and years of work. You never hear of kids starting bands anymore. I mean, I am not a kid anymore, so I am not speaking from an informed position, I am sure there’s a few, but they are getting fewer and far between as time goes on. They’d feel like fucking Aliens in their generation too, with everyone around them listening to DJ dickhead. And the sad thing for them is, they wouldn’t have bands coming through that they could relate to. No, live soundtrack of their generation that represents the things they are thinking and feeling. Things they can directly relate to. No movements are happening amongst the youth of today that is being fuelled and followed closely by music. I don’t know what kids who play Rock listen to these days, but my bet would be their music collection is comprised of the majority of bands that have come and gone. There’re a few bands floating around that are decent nowadays, and I am sure there is a vibrant underground scene in certain places. But, there are no plethora of great bands cracking the charts that this generation can grow up with and relate their teenage angst like previous generations could. Even the few that are decent today are remnants from eras gone by.

Once upon a time, you could make a decent living being just a local band. You could gain a following and some notoriety in your home town or city being a rocker, and even climb your way to stardom. The odds weren’t that stacked up against you. Those days are well and truly gone. Now, even being the optimist that I am, I would say that it’s impossible. It’d be as likely as winning the lotto. Iconic venues are closing the doors. The floors that were once drenched with the sweat of hundreds of sweaty rockers enjoying the best nights of their lives are being torn up. Those local bands that are still kicking and doing it for love are struggling to get their friends to come and see them. The big concerts that saw iconic performances and all-star lineups are now a thing of history (The Big Day Out etc.). And those legendary concerts that are standing the test of time are being invaded by the over-produced, cancerous ooze that is leaking in from the popular culture of today. It’s heartbreaking to see.

Why has this happened? Are rockers just clinging on to a dying art that couldn’t stand the test of time? The technological age that we find ourselves living in undoubtedly played a hand in dishing a few fatal blows to Rock. The increase in file-sharing websites, torrenting and the ever increasing availability of music online for FREE was also a major contributing factor. The rise of the aforementioned correlates perfectly with Rock’s demise. As a culture, we don’t value music like we used to. No one is standing in line for hours to get tickets to a concert. No one is heading down the to local for a few froths and a bit of a rock-out. There’s no one camping out to get their hands on a band’s new record. No, not much of that anymore. If you tell someone to pay for music – even $10 for an album – the majority of people look at you like you are insane. Paying any money for music is seen as almost criminal today in our society.  This shows, to me, that Rock music as an art form and all that it stands for has been devalued – as well as music’s monetary value.

Rock has been devalued as an art form, because of the rise of computer generated music and technologies overall involvement in the creation of modern music. No one appreciates the skill and creativity that goes into making a great tune anymore. The brilliance of a riff, the composition of a song. The emotive solo and the subtlety of the drums or their thunderous roar. The poetry in the lyrics, or just the dirtiness of a rock chord from an old Fender amp. No one can even decipher a real instrument from something that was made on a computer program. Nor do they care. It’s as though music has been bastardised in a sense. Just like inflation works with money – an overabundance and availability of anything, and it becomes worthless.

What Rock stands for – however murky that might seem – has been devalued because of the rise of technology and the way that our society is now so hyper-connected. No large-scale cultural movements are happening in our society, and amongst the youth anymore, that are fuelled by music. Once Rock served as an outlet for expression and the megaphone for generations to vent their frustrations. It was a great source of venting angst and one’s disenchantment with social, political and cultural constructs. It could be a soundtrack and voice for generations. A respite and a place to feel part of something, for those that seemed alienated within their generations. Whether this was the early folk movement, free love or the grunge era of the 90’s. Or it could just be a great outlet for someone to sweat their frustrations and beer out in a crowd with other sweaty rockers at a local gig. No one needs Rock as a megaphone for all these things, though when you have Facebook and the internet. It’s like culture was once made up of separate streams that were at one time fuelled and changed by Rock. With the information age, it’s now all a big sea. Rock’s stream has been drowned out by an ocean of bullshit.

On top of these factors, popular music doesn’t seem to be created like it used to. I’ve noticed that society no longer has a hand in determining a hit song for the larger part. It seem’s hits are created for the masses with just the right brainwashing melody, a cancerously ”catchy” chorus. They are spewed out into the world through all the various channels we completely saturate our existences with. I don’t feel record companies are in any way going to be finding the next biggest band in the world in a dingy Manchester music venue. That can’t happen anymore. While it’s not all about making it big, it paints a picture of the state of Rock music as a whole.

Neil Young said in his iconic number ”Hey Hey, My My” that Rock will never die. I don’t know if I agree with Neil though.Will there ever be another Beatles? Who will be the next Led Zeppelin? Who will be the next Nirvana? Hell, who will be the next Oasis? The answer is no one. There won’t be another Bowie coming up through the ranks. Or another Iggy Pop or anyone like that. That might seem like a disingenuous statement, as they were anomalies and products of their time – but surely you get what I mean. The last big wave of great bands died in the 90’s that represented something similar in notoriety and influence. You have a lot that trickled through and made the 00’s at least promising. A few of them trickled into the 2010’s, but they weren’t exactly plentiful. Year by year, though, it gets bleaker and bleaker. It started drying up.

While there is a vibrant underground, and many people are still keeping Rock music as a whole and everything that murky, and somewhat vague term encompasses at least existing. The movement is dying as a whole. Rock used to start in the bedroom of young kids and extend from local pubs, basement gigs – all the way to the charts and the biggest concerts and festivals the planet has ever seen. These defined generations and had the power to produce change, whether it be cultural or political. Those eras are gone now, and there won’t be another repeat shortly, as far as I can see. That’s not to say that one should just give up. It’s important to support and keep Rock’s heart beating, however, faint that might be. Just for the love it. Find those that share your tastes. Go down and see a band. Buy a local bands record. Be thankful you got to experience at least some of the greatest eras of music. The prosperous times that saw the deified names and concerts that will be remembered for all of human history (at least I’d like to think). Be thankful you got to be alive at the same time as some of the Beatles, Zeppelin, David Bowie and all those other legends. Keep the legacy going, by continuing to keep it coming from your headphones and your speakers. Play your instrument. Teach your kids and pass down the greatness. Who knows, maybe Rock music will wear the crown once again, move our society and influence our culture somewhere in the future like it once did. Maybe I am an over-hill curb muncher who won’t let go or a pretentious dickhead, but I will keep on Rockin in the free world regardless \m/.