Rock is Dead? No, It's Just Being Suffocated
You've probably heard people talking about rock being dead for a while now. If you take this statement at face value, it would lead you to believe there are not any good rock bands out there, that the rock music is stale, or just plain irrelevant. Well, rock isn't dead. It's being suffocated, and unfortunately, you're probably one of the people to blame.
Now, you may be asking why it's your fault. After all, you haven't done anything. This is precisely my point. Like most people, you are probably a casual music fan, or you're too lazy to look around and explore. If you're one of those people who rely on the local pop music station for new music, then you're to blame. If you listen to one of those stations, what do you hear? My guess is Beyonce Knowles, Chris Brown Jason Mraz, Britney Spears, etc. I don't see any rock there. Just more of the same mind numbing pop music.
At this point, you're probably combing your memory trying to think of rock music that is played on your local station, and you've come up with bands like Maroon Five, Coldplay, and Daughtry. If you consider those bands real rock music, then it's no wonder you probably don't like it much or you think it's dead. Rock was much more popular 20 years ago. It wasn't uncommon to turn on a pop station and hear Motley Crue, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, or Whitesnake. Now they're relegated to rock stations exclusively. The "rock is dead" statement seems to imply that something happened in the genre that reduced the quality, but this isn't the case. Rock didn't leave the mainstream, the mainstream left rock.
If you're reading this and you're still convinced that there aren't any good rock bands out there, or that rock is dead, I have a homework assignment for you. Turn off the pop music station and check out some of these current bands: Buckcherry, Theory of a Dead Man, Against Me, Kill Hannah, or Saliva. Or better yet, why not actually put some effort into looking for good up and coming bands. But whatever you do, stop relying on pop stations to tell you what you should be listening to.
Now, you may be asking why it's your fault. After all, you haven't done anything. This is precisely my point. Like most people, you are probably a casual music fan, or you're too lazy to look around and explore. If you're one of those people who rely on the local pop music station for new music, then you're to blame. If you listen to one of those stations, what do you hear? My guess is Beyonce Knowles, Chris Brown Jason Mraz, Britney Spears, etc. I don't see any rock there. Just more of the same mind numbing pop music.
At this point, you're probably combing your memory trying to think of rock music that is played on your local station, and you've come up with bands like Maroon Five, Coldplay, and Daughtry. If you consider those bands real rock music, then it's no wonder you probably don't like it much or you think it's dead. Rock was much more popular 20 years ago. It wasn't uncommon to turn on a pop station and hear Motley Crue, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, or Whitesnake. Now they're relegated to rock stations exclusively. The "rock is dead" statement seems to imply that something happened in the genre that reduced the quality, but this isn't the case. Rock didn't leave the mainstream, the mainstream left rock.
If you're reading this and you're still convinced that there aren't any good rock bands out there, or that rock is dead, I have a homework assignment for you. Turn off the pop music station and check out some of these current bands: Buckcherry, Theory of a Dead Man, Against Me, Kill Hannah, or Saliva. Or better yet, why not actually put some effort into looking for good up and coming bands. But whatever you do, stop relying on pop stations to tell you what you should be listening to.
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