Did Rock Music Die in 2010?

[Tokairic]

David Bennett asks the question why rock music is no longer a commercial force on the pop charts in the UK and US and concludes 2010 was the beginning of a possible terminal decline, but offers a vision for rock going forward.



Rick Beato tackles why the decline happened, finding the answer in the loss of overt blues influence in the genre.



What do you think of their arguments?

Rock is Eternal. Just not in the forefront of commercial music. It has always been and always will be a real alternative to the commercial teen fodder churned out by various fly by nights for the 'pop charts'. In my opinion Darkness come into the commercial teen fodder category.
The Stones are still going strong. Led Zep were until fairly recently even after they lost JB. Many famous rock bands rarely had anything in the pop charts but were hugely successful, and their legacy continues with the tribute bands, some of who are very good. Both my daughters are into what could be described as Classic Rock. Its only Classic Rock because the long haired rockers of the '60's and '70's are now bank managers and accountants etc still with a record collection of Deep Purple, LZ, Sabbath etc. My youngest daughter (32) has a tendency towards Metal these days but its all Rock based. (she has a masters degree in Graphic Design -see what I mean about Classic Rock - it has become respectable in its old age).

 

[Tokairic]

I am glad that Austin City Limits plays new and different things. It is not just a rock echo chamber regurgitating the same sound with new faces, sure, but I think that's a good thing.

I like LZ, but let's admit they stole many of their songs. And if you think there's nothing as complex these days, it's cuz you're not looking. LZ is not that complex, but I guess they did steal simple blues songs and added layers to them . . . .

Hardly stolen - borrowed, changed and improved versions of original blues to create rock music. Bands are doing it to LZ now. The original stuff is there too, I believe the whole Physical Graffiti album is original......
Give them some credit.

 

[Tokairic]

Did Rock Music Die in 2010 you ask ............ as far as I'm concerned , rock music died just before midnight , New Years Eve , 1979 . Thank you 1980 for killing all of rock music as I knew it

So what happened - I must have missed it - ROCK ON!

 

[thunder58]

So what happened - I must have missed it - ROCK ON!

LOL......

 

[ldyore]

I agree that rock music as a definition is rather vague. It seems to mean different things to each person. The thing about rock and roll in the 50’s and 60’s was it was also the young people’s popular music also. No matter how old you are now, did you want to go hear a band that your parents wanted to go hear also when you were young? I doubt it. How many cd’s, downloads at actual records do you buy now. Popular music is defined as the music that is currently selling, and the you g people rule that category because they spend their money to download the music they want to listen to. When you are young, you definitely do not want to listen to the same music as your parents listen to. I admit that I see little musical value to most of the music considered Popular by today’s definition. To keep rock music alive it would take people who like rock to buy that type of music in large volume, and most of us would just as soon listen to the same old rock music we loved when we were younger. We really aren’t looking for some new artist that plays the kind of music we call rock, and we rarely download a song from some music sales site (where the current measure of what’s popular is derived from). I left the vinyl age kicking and screaming. I bought into the CD era eventually, but I almost never download music from some online site. My kids don’t use a CD, a Record, or even a stereo system to listen to music on. They listen through headphones or EarPods off their phone. The closest music to rock that is also popular is the new country. They actually play instruments, and demonstrate real talent when they play. No repeating droaning electronic tone that the singer tries to impress you with their ability to sing around any melody with constant scale runs. I hate to say it, but we killed rock music when we stopped buying the new form of measurable song sales, downloads. The music buying public is still, and likely always will be, young people. The real music buying public is between 10 and 15 year old young females. They do not want to listen to their parents music, no matter what. Rock music remains somewhat popular still because we still go to concerts and listen to it, but rarely if ever download those bands new music, or really never download some new bands version of rock.

 

[dspellman]

I think rock was on its last legs when the Billboard charts began filling up with hip-hop artists in the first 10 positions.

Metal has such a small audience that it really doesn't count for anything. Sorry if that made the metalistas glance up from their arguments over splinter genres. Matte black guitars and guyliner guys are on a very small island.

And now even macho hip-hop is dead -- the big bucks are being made by chick singers who can be recognized with a single name who completely dominate both pop and hip-hop charts. Nobody wants to see some guy's booty pop. WAP, really?

It's rare to get a call to play guitar in a studio unless you're a cah-huntry and westrin player. I get calls to bring in my Korg (Kronos and Pa3X) keyboards. Haven't seen a drum set, either.

 

[dspellman]

ACDC made $67.5 million in 2018 or 2019. Being dead sure pays well.

Most of that money came from people approaching "dead." Retiring boomers buy AC/DC.

They're a serious anomaly in an industry that churns out tens of billions of dollars overall. And they are, for the most part, a cover band of themselves given the originals that are no longer with us or with the band. When Angus keels over on stage, the entire management crew will quietly look at each other, grab some souvenirs, mumble, "That's it, then," and fade into the sunset.

 

[mr coffee]

Metal has such a small audience that it really doesn't count for anything.

I dunno, the fests still pack in massive crowds last I saw...Hellfest, 55,000...Wacken, 85,000...Download, 120,000...Graspop, 125,000...and that's just a few of the more well known Euro fests...small?

-m

 

[gretsch-to-go]

I think all the sub genre of rock had either been created and played thru the attention span of consumers by the early 2000's. Pop, EDM & rap seem to be immune & timeless really. For example, today we have Greta Van Fleet, they immediately drew comparisons to Led Zeppelin. What makes Rock what it is is that it's relatively unique and once that new sound is discovered & becomes popular, the close enough sound-a-likes saturates the field of artists. With pop, EDM & rap, it all sounds the same, it's either a hit or it's not. In my lifetime, rock really kind of ended when Nickelback ran it's course. And when I say my lifetime, the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's & oo's, as Beato alludes to that everything has been played during those decades pretty much. Even today's Pop, in Beato videos, he'll point ioyut the progression of chords and tell you exactly what in the past has the same identical progressions. Here they are if you can stand to sit thru today's music, I couldn't. Thank God for the previous decades of music.

 

[pmac11]

No one's writing sonnets in iambic pentameter anymore either. Culture is mutable.

 

[mmannaxx]

I can't really define "rock" very easily. I think there are many shades of it. Tends to sound or have a harder edge to it than pop. Some artists have done pop and rock and blues and other genres. So there is country rock, progressive rock, symphonic rock, hard rock, blues rock, psychedelic rock, etc. Really hard to nail down. Is rock the same as rock and roll? Probably not, but I'll be damned if I can nail either to a satisfying definition. Is rock different than pop? Sometimes. You get my drift. It seems to me that when people say rock is dead they mean they don't hear it on the radio or on the "charts" any more. And for the most part that is true. And younger music fans tend to not listen to it nearly as much as they do hip hop, electronic, and the kind of music you hear played on music stations that play currently popular music. So there is still some "rock" being played by a few big name artists (e.g. Foo Fighters) and probably many lesser known artists. But rock, however you define it, has definitely been in decline for many decades.

 

[Waxhead]

I think all the sub genre of rock had either been created and played thru the attention span of consumers by the early 2000's. Pop, EDM & rap seem to be immune & timeless really. For example, today we have Greta Van Fleet, they immediately drew comparisons to Led Zeppelin. What makes Rock what it is is that it's relatively unique and once that new sound is discovered & becomes popular, the close enough sound-a-likes saturates the field of artists. With pop, EDM & rap, it all sounds the same, it's either a hit or it's not. In my lifetime, rock really kind of ended when Nickelback ran it's course. And when I say my lifetime, the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's & oo's, as Beato alludes to that everything has been played during those decades pretty much. Even today's Pop, in Beato videos, he'll point ioyut the progression of chords and tell you exactly what in the past has the same identical progressions. Here they are if you can stand to sit thru today's music, I couldn't. Thank God for the previous decades of music.

I like R Beato but....... I have noticed there's not a single piece of music ever recorded by anyone, anywhere, in the whole history of music that he doesn't love. He's 100% non discerning

I've asked him this question on his youtube channel ....... hasn't he got better things to do with his time than minutely dissect totally unworthy examples of throw away pop ???

 

[azrielle]

My own definition: Music to drive down the road and stay awake with, usually with a driving beat, and engaging melody. Neither Blues nor Jazz typically feature this, and indeed seem to put me to sleep as my brain equates it to elevator music. Not all traditional rock and roll fits either, as do some other genres such as Vivaldi baroque concertos!

 

[DonC]

My own definition: Music to drive down the road and stay awake with, usually with a driving beat, and engaging melody. Neither Blues nor Jazz typically feature this, and indeed seem to put me to sleep as my brain equates it to elevator music. Not all traditional rock and roll fits either, as do some other genres such as Vivaldi baroque concertos!

I like that definition. My best example for that would be George Thorogood. Lots of other individual cuts like Radar Love, LA Woman, etc.

 

[dspellman]

One of the factors that made rock was its universality for whole generations. Thanks to powerful radio stations, everyone listened to the same music pretty much at the same time. More than entertainment, rock (and specific rock songs) became a sound track for life.

Current music is splintered; everyone has his own mix, with few agreeing on what they want to listen to.

 

[dspellman]

I dunno, the fests still pack in massive crowds last I saw...Hellfest, 55,000...Wacken, 85,000...Download, 120,000...Graspop, 125,000...and that's just a few of the more well known Euro fests...small?

Yup -- it represents a small blip in terms of music money and audience. Furthermore, the numbers you're quoting will barely fill a single college football stadium on any given Saturday.

 

[mr coffee]

Yup -- it represents a small blip in terms of music money and audience. Furthermore, the numbers you're quoting will barely fill a single college football stadium on any given Saturday.

Still enough to tell us rock's not dead.

-m

 

[ramjac]

Teachable moment today. Picked up my kids at school and they were bickering about something that happened at recess. Fortunately for me, Iron Man came on, and I turned it up to 11 to drown them out. Or at least I thought so. They were both quiet when we got home and one of them said “Wow, that was awesome! What was that?” “That,” I said, “That. Is. How. You. ROCK. If anyone ever asks, if it comes up on a history test at school, you will get a VERY high score if you direct them to this song. You may hear that these guys were/are crazy satanic freaks. They were/are. And they rocked people’s brains. End of lecture. Now what happened at recess?”

 

[Gold Penguin]

I don't know if rock is dead, but it sure smells funny!

 

[wabash slim]

My own definition: Music to drive down the road and stay awake with, usually with a driving beat, and engaging melody. Neither Blues nor Jazz typically feature this, and indeed seem to put me to sleep as my brain equates it to elevator music. Not all traditional rock and roll fits either, as do some other genres such as Vivaldi baroque concertos!

MSN just posted a thing yesterday about the top 50 songs to rock out to while driving.
I recognized the names of a couple of the artists, tho not one of the songs.