There hasn't been a good new rock band to come along in about 18 years, and I'm getting a little tired of pretending The Killers are rock & roll. Rock music is in rough shape when the rockingest song around is from a Kia commercial. You know, the one that first aired during the Super Bowl, in which the toys take a road trip. ("How You Like Me Now" by The Heavy) That commercial comes on and you can't help but shake your head and tap your foot. That's why it's called rock & roll -- it creates a visceral reaction. It makes teenagers freak out and have sex and commit acts of vandalism.
So who carries the new mantle of rock & roll? Absolutely no one. Is this to imply that there hasn't been a meaningful new rock band to come along since Green Day? Yes! And, (stop the internal dialogue) that there hasn't been a truly great rock band to hit the scene since Nirvana and Pearl Jam spearheaded the brief but brilliant Grunge movement of the early 90s.
It's a sad fact that most of what is passing for rock today is actually pop. (see John Bon Jovi) Sorry, sports fans, Coldplay ain't rock. Neither is Dave Matthews, Lenny Kravitz, or The Googoo Dolls. The cheesiest soft rock band from the 1970s (don't say Toto, don't say Toto!) looks like The Sex Pistols compared to Maroon Five.
And enough with these dreadful power dirges! Not to name any names. Creed! And who asked them to get back together? Satan?
So what makes a great rock song? A catchy hook, for starters. like the beginning of Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones -- "Buh, buh, buh, buh, buh!" Just reaches out and grabs you by the lapels and shakes you around. It tells you, like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, "I'm not going to be ignored!"
A great rock song will make middle aged white people at a wedding actually want to dance. A song like "What I Like About You" by The Romantics, or "Dancin' With Myself" by Billy Idol.
Which gets to the second characteristic of a great rock song, an infectious beat. Case in point, pretty much any song by The Ramones. Is this suggesting that the Ramones were better than any rock band formed in the past two decades? Yes! But lets go even further than that. Duran Duran is better than any new rock band. Indeed, The Gogos could eat Nickleback and Crap Blink 182. I'm saying Jim Morrison could snort The Kings of Leon, then vomit Silversun Pickups. I'm saying Jimi Hendrix could chew Snow Patrol like a piece of blotter acid then ... okay, you get the idea.
So where are the next Rolling Stones, or U2, or Van Morrison? Rock, a once great art form, is going dormant, like Latin or Yiddish. Ever since the birth of rock in the early 50s, it has continued to morph and grow; there was rockabilly and the British invasion and Acid Rock and Punk and Grunge and various subsets like Glam, Heavy Metal and Southern Rock. One great movement after another. Then, since Grunge, nothing. So what happened?
After Kurt Cobain's death, Grunge sort of liquefied into "Alternative," and rock withered, like an Ozzy Osbourne brain cell, while younger listeners tuned in to hip hop, R&B and pop. With rock music's slow slide, pop has descended to the very bowels of Hell. The fact that three of the biggest pop icons today, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera, were once New Mouseketeers on TV together, tells you all you need to know about the processed cheese food that is today's music industry.
Perhaps rock & roll isn't dead. Maybe it has a few more surprises for us. Until then, we'll just have to crank up the turn table, dust off a Doors album and get our kicks before the whole sh*thouse goes up in flames.
HEAR AND NOW: iPadding the music industry
Here's a newsflash Phil - you are now the equivelant of some square in the 50s bemoaning Billy Halley or the Big Bopper while trying to make a case at the dinner table for Tommy Dorsey and Glen Miller.
The reason you think the music is dead is because rock and roll isn't forever - it's the music of youth and rebellion and having everything out in front of you,. Its about adolescence and pimples and first cigarrettes and first loves. It's not about you or me. Thats why you love the music you call rock and roll - because it makes you feel that young again. I used to think Chuck Berry was lame - my dad however had it blaring in his 57 Chevy as he was crusing for chicks. And his father hated it.
That's with out the debate that is electronica a form of rock, then you can include Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy...
and that is also with out the debate if Hip-hop is a off shoot of Rock n Roll.
The quote "The fact that three of the biggest pop icons today, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera, were once New Mouseketeers on TV together, tells you all you need to know about the processed cheese food that is today's music industry" shows how out of touch Mr. Phil Perrier
is because that in itself screams 1999. Who listens to Justin Timberlake today, or Christina Aguilera, and Britney's comeback was a flop.
Hey Phil, why don't you find some good college radio stations to listen to, and inform youself of how alive rock 'n roll is, and while your at it, donate to them, because they need your help, or rock 'n roll will be dead.
Long live rock, I need it every night
Long live rock, come on and join the line
Long live rock, be it dead or alive
Rock music should be real, and the people in the genre should be genuinely in it because they love making music and not money. There ARE genuine people out there who make music because they really love their art. You just have to listen to multiple outlets (Internet, satellite radio, etc.) to find it.
And people who are music snobs should really think outside of the box. Listen to everything at least once. There may be something out there that you'd really miss if you don't.
That's just my opinion.
BTW: Phil, you misspelled Jon Bon Jovi.
No good rock in the last two decades? Pick up some Jon Spencer Blue Explosion and the wall of sound will kick you in the gut. Listen to some Rocket From the Crypt, or Fluf, and you'll need a kidney transplant. Give Overwhelming Colorfast a spin, and you won't need alcohol because your head will be spinning enough.
Yes, it's still there, you just won't hear it on the radio, because if it comes to you from the FM dial, someone is probably trying to tell you that it's good music and you should buy it. Nonsense.
what about Modest Mouse? they are prolific, rocking, heart-on-their-sleeves (but the lead singer/git player Isaac Brock has got a face for radio)
what about the Fall? possibly the greatest band ever
what about DATAROCK? oh! not American/English!
what about Liars? yeah, what about them?!
As much as I hate The White Stripes, they have all of those hooks he's talking about.
There area few bands, but you won't find 'em on the radio...anywhere, not even the indy stations like KWRS or KEXP.
Try on some ZEKE. Listen to the song "Chiva Knievel" (off of Flat Tracker) and tell me that doesn't rock, or for the full album experience try "'Til The Living End". Massive, massive rock.
How about the Murder City Devils?
Black Angels?
Bad Religion? (way more ROCK these days)
The Upper Crust (gimmicky, but DANG!)
The Dropkick Murphys (A little more punk and Celtic, but whatever, they rock).
These are all bands that plain ROCK without any arty pretensions or huge corporate support.
The ROCK is out there.
The Rock and Roll business is dying because the audience is fragmented into genres and subgenres ensuring that no one band can have the popularity and influence that the classic bands of the past did..
I think that the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club expertly mixes the past, present and future.
Those inspired simply joined a band and rebelled.
Today there are so many more creative distractions.
Would a 2010 John Lennon pick up a guitar or a video game controller?
Would 2010 McCartney sit at a piano or at a a computer surfing the web?
I am afraid today's creative types are making "Apps" for iPads.
Teens today are not holding guitars,
They have a mouse or a controller or a smartphone in their hands instead.
Lennon/McCartney only had music.
If they were in their teens today I wonder if they would be musicians at all.
So many genres and sub genres have emerged that its impossible for a new artist to have the impact that the Stones or the Beatles did back in the day.
When I was a kid growing up in the 70s, I would sometimes encounter an old bitter fogie who would lament about the rock I was listening to wasn't "real music" and was played by long hair freaks who screamed while banging on their instruments. Now almost four decades later I find that fogies latest personification in "rockist" like Mr Perrier.
My own two words...Mars Volta!