Rock & Roll: Dead?

[Brian]

Jason Isbell comes out with a new album soon. That will make me feel better for a while. But soon I'll be back on my lawn, aimlessly searching YouTube for music that doesn't suck or I haven't heard 10,000 times.

Is it bad that I'm sort of afraid of this album? The bar has been set so high after Southeastern in my mind that I'm actually afraid I'll be let down by even a solid album.

 

[I Should Coco]

With an eighth-grader and a high school sophomore in the house, I'll echo Brian's point about music being something cool to have in the background, rather than a passion for young people.

It's something to play on the iPod while you're multitasking — working out, studying, watching TV ... or even working, for some 20-somethings at my shop.

In the 1980s, we used to hide in our rooms and just listen to albums, preferably with liner notes in hand. We made mix tapes for friends and took it very seriously. We argued endlessly about whether a band could be rock or heavy metal if they used keyboards (correct answer: No )

There are still a few new-generation hippie types who are totally into music, but I would say the average teen or 20-something is not.

 

[YankeeFan]

The thing about Neil Young fans — certainly at this point — is they'll roll with whatever punches he throws at them, whether it's cover versions of songs like "Oh Susanna," 15-minute feedback excursions, or acoustic country-rock.

I went to one of his Greendale Tour shows and, despite all the between-song rambling and actors on stage, Neil Young pulled it off. It was a helluva show, and all the fans around me were into the new Greendale songs, as opposed to sitting passively, waiting for the "hits" during the encore.

But excitement for Neil Young and other rockers from the 1990s and before only proves Mr. Sunshine's point.

Oh, I know. Neil is one of my favorites.

I too went to the Greendale show, but if I recall, the show was before the album had even been released, so I was completely unfamiliar with the songs. He played the whole album, with "actors" acting out various scenes. After a break, he came back and played a short "greatest hits" set.

I eventually came to like some of the Greendale songs, but it's hard to really get into a show when you don't know any of the songs.

 

[YankeeFan]

With an eighth-grader and a high school sophomore in the house, I'll echo Brian's point about music being something cool to have in the background, rather than a passion for young people.

It's something to play on the iPod while you're multitasking — working out, studying, watching TV ... or even working, for some 20-somethings at my shop.

In the 1980s, we used to hide in our rooms and just listen to albums, preferably with liner notes in hand. We made mix tapes for friends and took it very seriously. We argued endlessly about whether a band could be rock or heavy metal if they used keyboards (correct answer: No )

There are still a few new-generation hippie types who are totally into music, but I would say the average teen or 20-something is not.

But, if you ever look at a facebook profile, or any similar place where young people tell you about themselves, they will almost universally declare how important music is in their lives.

And, it's weird. Music's always been important to people, especially young people. But, I don't think we felt it was necessary to say it. It was sort of understood.

 

[I Should Coco]

Another band from the 2010s that comes to mind: Japandroids, out of Vancouver, B.C.

They had a great 2012 album, "Celebration Rock," that included this song:

Still waiting for some kind of followup from them, though.

 

[swingline]

My 6-year-old daughter can pick out Rage Against the Machine when it comes on the radio. Foo Fighters, Nirvana and Metallica, too.

We have to change the channel two-thirds through "Killing in the Name," though.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

Is it bad that I'm sort of afraid of this album? The bar has been set so high after Southeastern in my mind that I'm actually afraid I'll be let down by even a solid album.

I mentioned in a FB conversation about this album that Isbell is at a point personally and professionally that he can do whatever he wanted to with it. Sometimes, that results in an artist's defining work, but more often it results in vanity-based disappointment. I had Sirens of the Ditch out recently and it doesn't hold up well. The next two albums were better and Southeastern deserved the critical acclaim. I used to want him to "return to his rock roots," but I'm not sure if that wouldn't lead to another disjointed album. I think his best bet would be to continue mining the singer-songwriter country soul side of himself, but then I don't know how much another Southeastern would hold my interest. Of course, he also is a power pop fan, and I don't want to hear a Jason Isbell does Big Star album.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I feel this way all the time now. And I'm not even 40 yet:

 

[Brian]

Another band from the 2010s that comes to mind: Japandroids, out of Vancouver, B.C.

They had a great 2012 album, "Celebration Rock," that included this song:

Still waiting for some kind of followup from them, though.

Love their two albums. So much fun. It was funny to find out they made their first album and fully intended to end the band.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I should state that I don't think that music today is "crap." I certainly think that current mainstream country music is utter crap and some of the most horrendous popular music ever made. But a lot of pop music is pretty good. Kanye West is good. Katy Perry is good. The Carly Rae Jepsen song was really good. The Lorde song was incredible. Mumford & Sons is good. Beck is still making great music. Hell, Bob Dylan is still making good music. And so is Tom Petty.

There is good music.

But rock is dead. There isn't very much of it being played, even on rock radio. And it moves the culture needle not a whit, especially with young people.

And popular music in general is largely dead as a major component of youth culture.

 

[Captain_Kirk]

With an eighth-grader and a high school sophomore in the house, I'll echo Brian's point about music being something cool to have in the background, rather than a passion for young people.

It's something to play on the iPod while you're multitasking — working out, studying, watching TV ... or even working, for some 20-somethings at my shop.

In the 1980s, we used to hide in our rooms and just listen to albums, preferably with liner notes in hand. We made mix tapes for friends and took it very seriously. We argued endlessly about whether a band could be rock or heavy metal if they used keyboards (correct answer: No )

There are still a few new-generation hippie types who are totally into music, but I would say the average teen or 20-something is not.

So from a cause-effect perspective, how much of that could be relative to today's music not inspiring that type of passion? Could it be that today's stuff is more disposable, flavor of the week/month type that doesn't generate the same emotional connection as it did in the past?

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

I should state that I don't think that music today is "crap." I certainly think that current mainstream country music is utter crap and some of the most horrendous popular music ever made. But a lot of pop music is pretty good. Kanye West is good. Katy Perry is good. The Carly Rae Jepsen song was really good. The Lorde song was incredible. Mumford & Sons is good. Beck is still making great music. Hell, Bob Dylan is still making good music. And so is Tom Petty.

There is good music.

But rock is dead. There isn't very much of it being played, even on rock radio. And it moves the culture needle not a whit, especially with young people.

And popular music in general is largely dead as a major component of youth culture.

You're the worst.

 

[Dick Whitman]

It's good pop music. It is. It's not my cup of tea, but it's good pop music.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

I am imagining **** and his strait-laced lawyer bros discussing Kanye during their 30-minute happy hours.

 

[MisterCreosote]

Could it be that today's stuff is more disposable, flavor of the week/month type that doesn't generate the same emotional connection as it did in the past?

More disposable than this?

 

[Brian]

I'd argue Yeezus was as much industrial as it was hip hop or pop music. It also didn't make half the dent in the public consciousness as his pop stuff.

And that's where a lot of the old guard music fans are wrong as far as judging modern music as tepid. Killer Mike and Kendrick Lamar aren't comforting or lukewarm. They challenge. That's where the heat and the interesting things in music are coming from. This paradox between truly interesting music with social message mixed right in there with profane, disturbing, juvenile stuff makes it hard to digest sometimes and means the most interesting music of this time period can never be mainstream. Never.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

I'm going to put on my Thin Lizzy Live and Dangerous DVD and run on the treadmill. BRB.

 

[cyclingwriter2]

I am going to take the contrary, but a caveat first:

-- rock and roll as a sound has been essentially gone since the mid 1960s if you want to be technical. Rock and Roll described a beat and style. That is essentially gone and was replaced by ROCK, which was a testosterone fueled parody. At least according to an interview I read with Joni Mitchell, which I can't find on the interwebs, but damnit she said it and she was right.

-- that being said "rock and roll" has since become the brand for "music of young people," which has been attributed to tons of artists.

-- memories are convenient. People like to say "back in my day, music was awesome, we had (insert band names)," yet they forget that the big sellers were the Osmonds, Harry Nillson, Wham, Petula Clark, Tom Jones, NSync, etc. for the most part. Classic rock stations have cut the super pop stuff from your playlists and allow your mind to think, yeah, back in 1974 I listed to Steve Miller and Lou Reed and Bob Dylan all back to back on the radio. You likely didn't. AM Radio would have had Miller followed by the Osmonds followed by Jackson 5 followed by who the **** knows.

-- There are some amazing bands out there right now that have a great sound and if look hard enough, you can find and they have been around. The Black Keys, Kings of Leon, Vampire Weekend, Modest Mouse, the Strokes, Apache Relay are just some I like.

-- Now some of you may say, "well, **** you, get back on your bike, I never heard of those bands," or "**** you, I know those bands, and they suck," or "**** you, that's not rock and roll." However, again, how much of rock and roll was rock and roll? If you were "awesome" in the 1970s, you had Zeppelin, The Who, Floyd, Neil Young, etc....and guess what they were all very different. Neil Young didn't sound like Floyd, who did sound like Zeppelin, who didn't sound like you get the idea.... So, yeah, Apache Relay is as much rock and roll to me as most Neil Young in the mid 1970s.

-- Kids change how they appreciate music. Someone mentioned reading liner notes and the like. I did the same thing. That was "cool" in my day and yours. My father in the early 1960s? Rock was for going dancing and getting laid. My mom was late 1960s and music was lets' all turn on a beatles album, smoke something and feel the world change. They didn't understand why I had to blast Nirvana as loud as I could.

-- end of rant, now get of my lawn

 

[YankeeFan]

Green Day: Keeping Their Edge - Matt Doeden - Google Books

 

[Ace]

Saying rock is dead is like saying classical music is dead.

As long as a kid has a guitar, a dream a voice, good looks, a toothy smile and wholesome appearance, he or she can get a Disney sitcom and go on to become a rock star.