Is Rock Still Relevant?

KTC said:

Sadly, I think Rock stopped as the 80s stopped. Gladly, there is nothing wrong with living in the past. The old stuff will always be relevant. The 90s and the 00s have not, in my opinion, produced Rock.

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The 90s produced Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Blind Melon, Nirvana, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Primus, Filter, Alice in Chains and Rage Against the Machine. Holy crap, KTC. If those aren't rock bands, I don't think there is any such thing as a rock band.

Now go get yourself a copy of Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, listen to it a few times, and come back and explain to me how that isn't rock?

ETA: I'll make it easy for you.

I'll post here, but if I come across as Rock Ignorant, forgive me.

I hated rock. A child of the 60's, 70's and 80's, I loved Beatles, Janis Jopling, Eagles, and Tom Petty--pussy rock, or so my Aerosmith friends were quick to inform me.

I also secretly like Chuck Mangioni (sp).

I HAAATED Led Zeplin..that Stairway to Heaven song...Jesus...could there ever be a longer song? Gag!

I loved pop. Loved it. Danced to it. Inhaled it. It was my addiction.

And then....music changed.

It was almost as if song writers went out in hordes and bought rhyme books...if every other word rhymed, this--THIS was passed off as music. What happened to the days when music told a story? Made you wanna get up and dance? Made you close your eyes and envision it was YOU on that stage, singing, beebopping, shocking your friends with your kick ass skill on the guitar?

And then it happened. Driving home...flipping stations...Led Zeplin...Kashmir...I wasn't just swayed, I was sucked into a vortex of loving this stuff...and suddenly...rock music....I GOT IT!!! I FELT IT!!!

And I was like a junkie! Thank God for Amazon...ordered what's now considered the classics...Led Zeplin, Aerosmith...(forgive the spelling errors..not the issue anyway)...

You know what else...my kids were LOVING this stuff!!!

So, it's not so much that rock is dead...it's that many of us are late bloomers....which I think is why those classic rock bands are still in the high sales arenas to this day...but lets face it...those 'sounds' are hard to match, but I'm grateful for the bands attempting to create a new sound, yet keep to the format of 'telling a story'
Staind
Linkin Park
Nirvana
Others I'm still ignorant of, but don't mind a list...

If you're going to scream, and shred strings, at least give me a story, otherwise, it's just another rhyme book...which is what rap-crap is to me: oooh, loook, he/she can rhyme. Such talent--not!

Oh, and pop?
Fucking hate the stuff! It's so bubble gum. I mean, just that Barbie song makes me want to throw myself from a speeding car...on the autobahn...naked...


ps
I now BLAST Stairway to Heaven on the Bose...and dare anyone to tell me TURN THAT SHIT DOWN!!!

Devil Ledbetter said:

The 90s produced Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Blind Melon, Nirvana, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Primus, Filter, Alice in Chains and Rage Against the Machine. Holy crap, KTC. If those aren't rock bands, I don't think there is any such thing as a rock band.

Now go get yourself a copy of Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, listen to it a few times, and come back and explain to me how that isn't rock?

ETA: I'll make it easy for you.

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I love all of those bands...I would not, however, classify them as rock. Sorry. I lived through the 70s...I refuse to call those most excellent bands ROCK.

KTC said:

I love all of those bands...I would not, however, classify them as rock. Sorry. I lived through the 70s...I refuse to call those most excellent bands ROCK.

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I lived through the 70s too, and suffered through the 80s.

So, what would you call those 90s bands?

Inked one: I was a punk rocker for the first half of the 80s...and even for the late 70s, to be exact. I think it was 79 when I first heard the CURE and became a life long addict...that's when my Sex Pistols punk desire started to falter a bit and I fell in love with the words, etc, of the newing 80s stuff. But throughout, because I was around music as a young kid, I still loved all the 70s rock. T-Rex was, in my opinion, the grand-daddy of 80s punk. They almost had nothing in relation to the Pistols punk...the angry punk...but their glam and glitter birthed the next generation...

Cool that you found the Zep the way you did. It's good to appreciate the classic rockers.

I love the 90s stuff that David listed...but still, not Rock to me.

Devil Ledbetter said:

I lived through the 70s too, and suffered through the 80s.

So, what would you call those 90s bands?

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Listen, bub...you say toemaytoe, I'll say toemahtoe.

KTC said:

Listen, bub...you say toemaytoe, I'll say toemahtoe.

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At the risk of sounding like Haskins, define "rock."

Devil Ledbetter said:

At the risk of sounding like Haskins, define "rock."

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okay. sure. it's a stone. i pick it up. i throw it at you. ROCK.

Rock has always been relevent to YOUNG people.

Maybe you guys are just too old to recognize what the current relevent trend in rock is.

Ya bunch of old farts.

KTC said:

okay. sure. it's a stone. i pick it up. i throw it at you. ROCK.

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And how are you not getting "I throw a rock at you" out of a band like Rage Against the Machine? Because that's what it's all about.

Rock is rock, man. I can't define what it is in my head that makes me go, "That's rock" when I hear it. Those bands don't smack ROCK to me. I might call that shitstain Nickleback rockish...but that blight on Canada is the furthest thing from relevant.

Devil Ledbetter said:

At the risk of sounding like Haskins, define "rock."

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*begins spasmotic shuddering...evolves into full blown quaking...convulsing...*

Cray...Yo! Battery Boy...I neeeed aaa cchhhhaarrrrgggeee......*more shaking ensues...*

I would say Staind is more 'rock' than Nikleback...but I'm a late diehard...I've yet to hear something equivelent to: Stones, Aerosmith, Zeplin, Hendrix....

KTC said:

Rock is rock, man. I can't define what it is in my head that makes me go, "That's rock" when I hear it. Those bands don't smack ROCK to me. I might call that shitstain Nickleback rockish...but that blight on Canada is the furthest thing from relevant.

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Nickleback isn't rock. It's, it's ... yeah, shitstain pretty much covers it.

I guess I see the 90s stuff as rock because I grew up in the 70s listening to what we both appear to agree was real rock. Then the 80s came and there was nothing but corporate crappy dreck on the radio. I mean Billy Squires and Starship. Ack! We had no underground or college radio stations in my area. So we took refuge in our older siblings record collections. The Who, Neil Young, Hendrix, Todd Rundgren, Old pre-sucky-era Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop, Bowie, The Doors, etc. And we listened to this stuff like it was new.

So when that wave of 90s music hit, my reaction was "wow, they're finally playing rock again."

Inky said:

I would say Staind is more 'rock' than Nikleback...but I'm a late diehard...I've yet to hear something equivelent to: Stones, Aerosmith, Zeplin, Hendrix....

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Sweetie, get thee some Pearl Jam.

Aerosmith's first four albums rock, but after that I've no use for them.

ETA: If you're looking for a blistering live rock album that's current, I recommend My Morning Jacket, Okonokos.

The 80s were just corporate dreck?

What about Talking Heads? U2? The Cars? XTC? The Squeeze? The Stranglers? The Police? Men at Work? Joe Jackson? Graham Parker? Nick Lowe? Elvis Costello? The Pretenders? The Clash? The Boomtown Rats? Ian Dury?

III said:

Part of me is scared that's true, but I try to listen to and search out new rock constantly. If the next great rock movement is out there, it's hiding under the ground waiting to be discovered. Of all the popular bands on the radio right now, I think System Of A Down is probably the closest to making truly revolutionary rock.

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I like some of their stuff, but overall. Eh. I'm liking My Chemical Romance.

Shadow_Ferret said:

The 80s were just corporate dreck?

What about Talking Heads? U2? The Cars? XTC? The Squeeze? The Stranglers? The Police? Men at Work? Joe Jackson? Graham Parker? Nick Lowe? Elvis Costello? The Pretenders? The Clash? The Boomtown Rats? Ian Dury?


I like some of their stuff, but overall. Eh. I'm liking My Chemical Romance.

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Sorry, Ferret. Not wanting to write a dissertation, I didn't make myself clear. I know very well that a lot of fabulous stuff came out in the 80s. The Smiths and the Cure are at the top of my list. However, I'm talking about what was getting airplay on so-called "rock" radio in my hometown. Especially in the early 80s, when I was a teen, it was mostly craptastic pap like Eddie Money and corporate stuff like Journey and Foreigner. And cheesiod rock like Cheap Trick. There wasn't some easy way to "find" new music - this was before MTV or the internet.

I forgot about the cars. Crap. When I was in highschool, my nickname was Candy-O.

Devil Ledbetter said:

However, I'm talking about what was getting airplay on so-called "rock" radio in my hometown.

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Air play? Screw air play! The best rock has never gotten air play. Top 40 crap always gets air play. Very few of my favorite bands in the 70s ever got airplay and those were the days of AOR and more experimental radio than today.

I'd even argue that the 60s, with the Beatles and Stones, were a fluke. Because even then, a lot of Top 40 was Neil Sedaka, Englebert Humperdink, and other adult contemporary artists with songs like "Downtown" and "Fly with me in my beautiful balloon" and crap like that.

I think that you guys are addressing the new way people listening to music, but not looking at the music people listen to in that real way. The music that is the undercurrent of a culture is not being played on the radio. Look at some of the more "indie" groups: Bright Eyes, The Decemberists, Arcade Fire, Neutral Milk Hotel, just to name a few.

There are a lot of groups doing some innovative things, Rush and Radiohead seriously bringing out irregular meter, (sorry, but the constant 4/4 of a lot of the great groups mentioned gets really boring,) new harmonic progressions and lyrical themes. You want a song that tells a story? Try "The Mariener's Revenge" by The Decemberists. There's a lot of really good rock that is defining cultural changes, but as our culture gets more individualized and less mainstreamed, the music switches to defining smaller sub-groups.

But as far as mainstream goes, no one mentioned Greenday. I think they're worth noting.

Shadow_Ferret said:

Air play? Screw air play! The best rock has never gotten air play. Top 40 crap always gets air play. Very few of my favorite bands in the 70s ever got airplay and those were the days of AOR and more experimental radio than today.

I'd even argue that the 60s, with the Beatles and Stones, were a fluke. Because even then, a lot of Top 40 was Neil Sedaka, Englebert Humperdink, and other adult contemporary artists with songs like "Downtown" and "Fly with me in my beautiful balloon" and crap like that.

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Ed, all I'm saying is that the stuff being passed off as "rock" in the early 80s pretty much sucked.

I don't know why you want to argue.

Yes it did suck. 80s rock was a wash. But 80s music, other than rock...I loved quite a lot of it. I was into Bauhaus, Siouxsie, Cure, The Glove, Nightmares in Wax, Nina Hagen, etc, etc, etc...But I loved pulling out the 70s rock and educating my batcave friends.

KTC said:

Yes it did suck. 80s rock was a wash. But 80s music, other than rock...I loved quite a lot of it. I was into Bauhaus, Siouxsie, Cure, The Glove, Nightmares in Wax, Nina Hagen, etc, etc, etc...But I loved pulling out the 70s rock and educating my batcave friends.

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The girl across the hall from me in college brought her Cure LP into my dorm room and demanded I play Close To Me, which she called "the breathing song." You could say we bonded over Head on the Door. All these years later, she's still my best friend. And I may even let her stay my best friend, if she'll hurry up and finish beta reading my novel.