How rock ruled in 1991 — and why it's dead 30 years later

[jamillos]

Haven't read it yet, but please let's not forget, from the other side, that some fans may also be kind of dead. Look at the motionless zombies with cell phones. No lighters or waving and jumping like it used to be, just staring on and through the screens. Then remember those crowds from the 80s/90s bootlegs. Imagine Axl being 2 hours late in the year 2021...

Rn'R isn't dead, but there seems to be loads of shitty "competition" for the youngins these days.

[drlaban]

39 minutes ago, jamillos said:

Haven't read it yet, but please let's not forget, from the other side, that some fans may also be kind of dead. Look at the motionless zombies with cell phones. No lighters or waving and jumping like it used to be, just staring on and through the screens. Then remember those crowds from the 80s/90s bootlegs. Imagine Axl being 2 hours late in the year 2021...

The biggest problem with that would be the risk of your cell phone battery running out while waiting.

[dontdamnmeuyi2015]

4 hours ago, moreblack said:

Parker said today’s takes on the genre feel too derivative. “I’m sorry — it’s gonna take more than Greta Van Fleet [who are often compared to Led Zeppelin] to save rock ‘n’ roll. I think they’re talented, but what they’re doing is so copyist. It’s not innovative. If rock ‘n’ roll is gonna come back, it’s gonna come back with something that sounds new.”

LOL. that guy ain't heard the new album.

This guy hasn't been to a rock concert. anytime any rock band comes to Dallas whether it's a 70's rock band like The Scopions or Judas Priest of Iron Maiden, the venue is sold out.

Also for any 80's bands. I've been going to concerts since I was a kid up until now both in NY and Texas, the venues are sold out.

I don't feel or think rock is dead. Maybe this person should go to a concert now and then.

[adamsapple]

Rock isn't dead, but music has become more accessable and available and that has broadened people's horizons a bit too, so rock isn't as dominant as it used to be.

Another thing is not many people write really good songs or relateable lyrics anymore. You can have the finest musicians and the greatest production, if you don't have any songs people can play on acoustic guitar at home you have nothing.

GNR had that until Chinese, you can play the entire AFD and most of UYI on rusty nails and the songs will still be there, that's good songwriting right there. Can't say that about something as artificial as Chinese, though I really like that album.

As for Greta Van Fleet being compared to Led Zeppelin...well, Led Zeppelin is the reason I can't take bands like Greta Van Fleet seriously. Anyone remembers The Tea Party? For a time they sounded like Zeppelin with Jim Morrison on vocals, not very original but some crazy good shit - decades ago. Fuck, I'm getting old.

[JimiRose]

1 hour ago, dontdamnmeuyi2015 said:

This guy hasn't been to a rock concert. anytime any rock band comes to Dallas whether it's a 70's rock band like The Scopions or Judas Priest of Iron Maiden, the venue is sold out.

Also for any 80's bands. I've been going to concerts since I was a kid up until now both in NY and Texas, the venues are sold out.

I don't feel or think rock is dead. Maybe this person should go to a concert now and then.

I don't think they're questioning the old classic legacy acts. they all sell out in UK USA and europe. But who will sell out 40-50k + venues in 10 years when these guys are retired or dead? Rock will never be dead because that 60s-90s heyday was so great. But who will carry it on into the next generations is the issue

[MaskingApathy]

6 hours ago, moreblack said:

Parker said today’s takes on the genre feel too derivative. “I’m sorry — it’s gonna take more than Greta Van Fleet [who are often compared to Led Zeppelin] to save rock ‘n’ roll. I think they’re talented, but what they’re doing is so copyist. It’s not innovative. If rock ‘n’ roll is gonna come back, it’s gonna come back with something that sounds new.”

LOL. that guy ain't heard the new album.

Lyndsey Parker is a woman. You would think she would know better though, given that she's a rock journalist who covers all these bands. Kind of sad that the first place her mind went to was GvF. Also kind of sad that most of the quotes in this article are from her (a talking head) instead of some actual rock musicians. Go ask Dirty Honey or someone like that if they think rock is dead 

5 hours ago, Stay.Of.Execution said:

Rock is not dead. There's much more than fucking Greta van Fleet. 

 

5 hours ago, RussTCB said:

Came here to say the same thing. Rock is far from dead. 

100%. I would say in the last 5-10 years there's been a lot of awesome new bands and albums that have come out that I really like.

3 hours ago, jamillos said:

Haven't read it yet, but please let's not forget, from the other side, that some fans may also be kind of dead. Look at the motionless zombies with cell phones. No lighters or waving and jumping like it used to be, just staring on and through the screens. Then remember those crowds from the 80s/90s bootlegs. Imagine Axl being 2 hours late in the year 2021...

Rn'R isn't dead, but there seems to be loads of shitty "competition" for the youngins these days.

Those audiences are the same for most genres though, phones out etc.

 

Let me put it this way: I saw Dirty Honey with Joyous Wolf opening in June, and a very large percentage of the audience consisted of people in their 20s and early 30s (and teenagers too). I was fully expecting the place to be filled with people my parents' age but no, it was mostly younger people. I was standing next to a 19 year old girl who told me that she's into all the same stuff that I am - GnR, SMKC, Dirty Honey, etc. In fact, contrary to Parker's comments, it seems to me that a lot of younger Gen Z kids are getting more into rock, both old and new. I remember when I was that age not too long ago not many of my friends or classmates were into that kind of rock, but now more kids are getting into it.

Another example: I saw London Hudson's band play in LA this year, and at both that show and another one a couple weeks ago the room was filled with teenagers/college age kids. In fact I was told that the latter show had an audience of almost 300 kids. I think it's only older people who don't seek out new bands and music who think that "rock is dead." Yeah it is if your favorite bands are no longer around/half the members are dead but if you look around there's more new stuff waiting to take its place.

[allwaystired]

Just now, Mansin Humanity said:

If I dish it out I gotta take it! I'll give you that IDLES' last album wasn't great, but agree to disagree on the others.

Yeah totally, Different tastes, its all good. I do like Thee Oh Sees- what I've heard anyway. Shame are great live too.....but I'm always disappointed by them on record compared to that. 

[Draguns]

1 hour ago, JimiRose said:

I don't think they're questioning the old classic legacy acts. they all sell out in UK USA and europe. But who will sell out 40-50k + venues in 10 years when these guys are retired or dead? Rock will never be dead because that 60s-90s heyday was so great. But who will carry it on into the next generations is the issue

I think that  Wolfgang Van Halen is part of the  next generation of rock. He was fantastic as an opener for GNR. I also think Gary Clarke Jr is a great guitarist who plays different genres. I do think that women will be a force in rock music. Halestorm is starting to become an arena rock act, which is about time. They are co-headlining the Prudential Center in the winter and then spring 2022.  Additionally, Sophie Lloyd is an awesome rock/metal guitarist. She has videos on YouTube. 

[North Korean Democracy]

Caring about being mainstream is not a rock n' roll thing to do, is it?

[Blackstar]

Rock is not dead in the same way jazz is not dead: there are still artists who create rock music and audiences (still bigger than the jazz audiences) who listen to it, but it doesn't evolve and doesn't have the cultural impact it used to have. The 90s was indeed the last time that happened on a large scale. It's not popular with teenagers and younger people in general, it doesn't generate trends, and young rock bands, as good as they might be, don't have the chance for mainstream success or even to have the impact of a band like the Ramones, for example. That's how things are now, at least, and have been for the last couple of decades. Who knows, maybe they change in the future.

Edited August 13, 2021 by Blackstar

[Cosmo]

Rock isn’t dead. It’s just not mainstream. The stuff that goes into mainstream nowadays is just a product of label R&D. These bands are as much as industry plants as Backstreet Boys, Justin Bieber or Rihanna. It’s just that it’s nieche products. If you want to discover new and amazing bands, it won’t come to you.

You won’t stumble upon it on the radio or on most Spotify playlists, you won’t see an ad for a new release anywhere and you certainly won’t see an article on Loudwire, Classic Rock or Rolling Stone. 

The real authentic new bands are on Bandcamp and Youtube hustling, releasing kickass recorda and touring (pre-covid) their asses off for a living. They do it for the passion of music and not for the music as this shit doesn’t usually make anyone a rich person if you’re not signed to a major label.

Edited August 13, 2021 by Cosmo

[Bitchisback]

Rock isn't dead as it's been stated in this thread there are lots of underground rock bands out there doing their thing.  I do think rock has become incredibly stale and boring though.  I can't even remember the last hard rock band I fell in love with.  I think the alt rock scene is thriving though.  Lots of great alt rock out there.  

[Stress Fracture]

It was going so well until Nevermind came along. The definitive word on the shift in 1991:

Nothing wrong with Nevermind but it’s why rock is ‘dead’.

[MaskingApathy]

Honestly a lot of 90s rock wasn't all that great.

[mystery]

I hear constantly in discussions like these that "rock is underground" now and that there's so many great bands now. That may be the case but are you telling me that these bands prefer to be that way and wouldn't jump on the chance to be more mainstream if they could?

I feel like rock music just kind of dropped off at the start of the 2010s. In the mid to late 2000s you still had a few mainstream bands getting radio play or views on YouTube or MTV. The emo scene then with Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco, and MCR is a quick example. Green Day, Weezer, Avenged Sevenfold, All American Rejects, and even Nickelback are other examples.

[El Guapo]

13 hours ago, RussTCB said:

The band I heard about most recently that I've really been digging is Green Lung. 

Never heard of them so I checked out the Woodland Rites album. It's really good, I would have loved it in 1996. But I gotta say, for me personally it's almost impossible to get excited about that kind of rock, it all sounds SO familiar. I hear Monster Magnet, early Sabbath in their music, all great stuff of course. But it's all been done over and over. Maybe that's why I dig Absurd.

[SoulMonster]

33 minutes ago, El Guapo said:

Never heard of them so I checked out the Woodland Rites album. It's really good, I would have loved it in 1996. But I gotta say, for me personally it's almost impossible to get excited about that kind of rock, it all sounds SO familiar. I hear Monster Magnet, early Sabbath in their music, all great stuff of course. But it's all been done over and over. Maybe that's why I dig Absurd.

Yeah, rock needs a revitalization. Like Guns when they launched Appetite and Rage's debut album. Something new and fresh. 

[t-p-d-a]

16 hours ago, felixGNR said:

can you recommend some bands?

 

 

[felixGNR]

17 hours ago, RussTCB said:

Any specific subgenres you're into? 

 

haha like all of them. the only new bands i know are

The Struts

Greta Van fleet

Royal Blood

Dirty Honey

[Stay.Of.Execution]

18 hours ago, felixGNR said:

can you recommend some bands?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[batatadoce]

17 hours ago, RussTCB said:

The band I heard about most recently that I've really been digging is Green Lung. 

Listened to them today, so far they're awesome, thanks 

[RussTCB]

4 hours ago, El Guapo said:

Never heard of them so I checked out the Woodland Rites album. It's really good, I would have loved it in 1996. But I gotta say, for me personally it's almost impossible to get excited about that kind of rock, it all sounds SO familiar. I hear Monster Magnet, early Sabbath in their music, all great stuff of course. But it's all been done over and over. Maybe that's why I dig Absurd.

That's fair. I just dig the overall sound, not the greatest band ever or anything lol

[JimiRose]

17 hours ago, Draguns said:

I think that  Wolfgang Van Halen is part of the  next generation of rock. He was fantastic as an opener for GNR. I also think Gary Clarke Jr is a great guitarist who plays different genres. I do think that women will be a force in rock music. Halestorm is starting to become an arena rock act, which is about time. They are co-headlining the Prudential Center in the winter and then spring 2022.  Additionally, Sophie Lloyd is an awesome rock/metal guitarist. She has videos on YouTube. 

Halestorm are great, Gary Clark JR is very cool too, but they'll never be up there in terms of appeal or popularity. I think it's important when people like gene simmons say rock is dead, they're not saying there isn't good rock music being made (coz there is) it's just not culturally important and not as popular as the heydey. rock isn't dead if you want to listen to new good rock music. Rock is dead if you expect a band as big as led zeppelin GnR acdc nirvana etc to break into the mainstream, be magnets for papperazzi and have significant influence on culture again. So it shouldn't be taken literally

[dragan1978]

On 8/12/2021 at 6:15 PM, Mansin Humanity said:

shame, IDLES, Fontaines D.C., Post Animal, Kikagaku Moyu, Black Midi, Thee Oh Sees, Pond, Pottery, King Gizzard - most of the innovative and exciting new rock these days is in the post-punk or psych space. Pretty much every band that is hailed as the new rock-n-roll saviors are mad boring to me.

 

send me some more bands like this, or similar, I would appreciate it cause I am in search for new things

PM if you want

 

[dragan1978]

6 hours ago, Stay.Of.Execution said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Auuuuh, definitely will check this!

she looks like she could be a granddaughter of Bon fckn Scott, godamn

great voice!