Is Rock Dead?

[mikech]

OK, there were monster threads about best rap albums, best freestylers, yadda yadda. Hip hop is cool and all (I still have tapes of DJ Red Alert on 98.7 KISS FM--now that's old school for ya), but how come there's no discussion of some serious, kick-ass, tear-the-roof-off rock n' roll?

Maybe those people are right who say that rock music has sucked in the decade since Cobain killed himself. Or maybe I just haven't kept up. I dunno, has anybody put out a "Who's Next" in recent years? A "Nevermind"? Hell, how about an "Appetite for Destruction"?

So, which is it? Rock Is Dead? Or Long Live Rock?

[astroglide]

anybody that mentions jet in this thread needs to drop dead

[Dark Force Rising]

Young Heart Attack. Check 'em out for free at beggars.com. Best hard rock I've heard in many years(Datsuns 1st album,too). They are kinda fruity but The Darkness was fun.And what about Velvet Revolver?

YHA rules over all of them,though. Seriously,take a few minutes and check them out.

[sfer]

If you live in NYC and are asking this you haven't spent much time around the Lower East Side. There are 4-5 clubs with 4 garage and postpunk acts like every night.

[Non_Comformist]

whew.....When I read the subject I thought you were talking about the wrestler.

[mikeyp]

Rocks not dead and neither is punk!

[sam h]

[ QUOTE ]
If you live in NYC and are asking this you haven't spent much time around the Lower East Side. There are 4-5 clubs with 4 garage and postpunk acts like every night.

[/ QUOTE ]

Too bad most of them suck. 90% scene, 10% music.

[mikech]

Just checked out YHA on that site--not bad, thanks. Thing is, doesn't seem to me there's much mass appeal (or lasting appeal) to this music. Same goes for most of the bands playing down at Arlene Grocery or wherever. One of the reasons for Nirvana's popularity was the way they married punk sensibility with catchy melodic hooks--maybe they just caught lightning in a bottle.

[billyjex]

I basically listen to rock. I don't like most hip-hop.

Rock is good for the angry white kid surburbia crowd.

I listen to Trapt, Korn, Papa Roach, Velvet Revolver, etc.

I also listen to music like Sublime, Pepper, Slightly stoopid, rock/reggae/surf whatever you want to call it.

Rock is still alive, it's just not that MTV mainstream anymore.

[thirddan]

I think that what used to be rock has not been diluted and moved into other musical genres...Screw Rock, listen to METAL, lots of good metal if you have an open mind /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Stork]

It's all about the rock/jazz/funk fusion baby.

[bwana devil]

[ QUOTE ]
Young Heart Attack. Check 'em out

[/ QUOTE ]

Aint that right? I saw them last year in Austin when they opened for the Breeders. It was 3 bands on that night and my friend got me on the guest list because he was playing in another band opening too.

Never heard of YHA since they just formed, but they blew me away. It's hard to hear a band live for the first time and like them. It pure ole school rock and roll

And while we're talking about Austin bands, how ...And you will know us by the Trail of the Dead. they rock.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
I think that what used to be rock has not been diluted and moved into other musical genres...Screw Rock, listen to METAL, lots of good metal if you have an open mind /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

werd

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
Rock is good for the angry white kid surburbia crowd.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's also who's buying most of the rap and hip-hop.

Nobody wants to listen to their parents' music. Rock slipping from prominence was as inevitable as all the other music styles slipping before it. When the rappers and hip-hoppers have been having kids of their own for a while, those kids will stun their parents by thinking rap and hip-hop are tired just like rock-loving kids shocked their parents by saying there was something else out there that was new and good, and Glen Miller and Frank Sinatra weren't enough. It'll take a while, but it'll be fun to see. People already talk about "old school" rap.

[kyro]

funny. i like all their songs on their radio. but their cd doesn't impress me. hmm.

[sfer]

That still adds up to more than one decent show every two nights.

[Ray Zee]

jerry lee lewis and bill haley and the comets were the ones to invent rock and roll music. its changed so much i just listen to oldies. i think its time for it to return more to its roots. once something strays too far from that it is another form of music. of which i dont know.

[ThaSaltCracka]

Jerry Lee Lewis did not invent rock and roll, he made it popular though.

[Chris Daddy Cool]

hi ray, jerry lee lewis did not invent rock and roll.

muddy waters, bo didly, little richard, chuck berry were there as well.

[nothumb]

Well I read all the replies and I have to say, I think rock is in a bad way. All those hard rock bands that people mentioned mostly suck wild ass. I've been having a hard time finding metal and punk I enjoy that's current, but I haven't been looking too hard.

Best rock (or guitar-driven music in general) is being made by niche bands playing old school music (i.e. Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys - fun group from LA) or by people increasingly using non-rock instruments and sounds (i.e. Radiohead). There is little to no mainstream rock I can say I like or can listen to, and that's a bad sign for rock. Even though most mainstream radio sucks, if rock was doing ok I would still hear a song made post-2002 once or twice a day on rock radio that I could stand.

Let's see... popular rock bands right now:
Staind...Trapt...Disturbed...Korn... anyone hearing a trend here? It's a trend towards crap.
The Strokes...Jet...The Hives...The White Stripes... there's another trend... towards pretentious crap.

Yeah, rock's having issues right now.

NT

[Blarg]

Rock used to distinguish itself by being the polar opposite of pop. But now most rock is pretty much pop. Same like society; people are picking presidents because of religion, and even the non-conformists accept all the premises of the conformists. You can't really have good rock in a society that is overwhelmingly on a path of closing down and in which conformity and obedience are becoming things to run toward, not away from. All you wind up with is corporate rock or something like Huey Lewis and The News, and once the promos stop, nobody wants to hear that crap.

[Ulysses]

TV on the Radio
the wrens

That'll get you started.

[thirddan]

[ QUOTE ]
Staind...Trapt...Disturbed...Korn...

[/ QUOTE ]

this stuff is weak [censored] dude...

Check these out for some good heavy music...
lamb of god
meshuggah
mudvayne
slipknot
nothingface
sepultura
slayer
hatebreed

and if you like melodic european metal there are a ton:
arch enemy
children of bodom...blahblah, i could go on

If you want some really insane stuff check out "Cryptopsy"
crazy stuff...

[billyjex]

I like that crap /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Not the Jet/Strokes kinda crap though.

I'm a sucker for the processed rock bands?

[zaxx19]

Hmm I hate to come on here and bash Ray Zee...

But Rock wasnt invented by some white kids smashing keys on a piano take another swing.......

Oh yeah and velvet revolver is Rock music.

[Ray Zee]

no it wasnt invented by those two. it grew from the black and white music starting to merge at the time. and a bunch of groups and individuals all at once started coming out with the sounds. the two i mentioned were the most notable at the time. but elvis, and a whole slew of black groups and singers came onto the scene at the same time. but the hard banging rock that got the revolution started was by those white boys and the likes of little richard. you may have been too but i was there albeit young.

great balls of fire and rock around the clock set it of for the world.

[IndieMatty]

Third..check out the new Dillenger Escape Plan - Miss Machine.

[Bubbagump]

[ QUOTE ]
....anyone hearing a trend here? It's a trend towards crap......there's another trend... towards pretentious crap.....Yeah, rock's having issues right now


[/ QUOTE ]

Comments like this are tossed around every 10 years or so. People were saying the same thing just before Nirvana (The most overrated band in history IMO) broke. Something new is just around the corner as it always is. There is nothing wrong with rock. It is always going to be there in some form or another. You may not like every trend that comes along in the rock world, just like I hated the Alt./grunge thing, but that's life.

I use periods where I sour on music in one genre to go and find stuff in other styles that are interesting. There is a lot of great music that I never would have discovered had Nirvana never gotten as popular as they did.

[ QUOTE ]
I've been having a hard time finding metal and punk I enjoy that's current, but I haven't been looking too hard.


[/ QUOTE ]

If you haven't already, give the Von Bondies a listen. I'm really into their CD, Pawn shoppe Heart right now.

Bubbagump

[KJS]

Amen to that. Who are you listening to right now? Me: Mastadon, Heaven Shall Burn, Caliban, Pig Destroyer, old Lamb of God (new one sucks, IMO), and I still check out The Bleeding by Cannibal Corpse on a weekly basis.

Saw The Haunted in Seattle last week. 50% killer songs and 50% shitty ones. 1 tune had this awful melodic singing and the singer caught me booing him. Had to make a silly comment too (called me the guy from Church of Bob because I have short hair and black glasses) but I was glad I got my point across.

KJS

[thirddan]

[ QUOTE ]
old Lamb of God (new one sucks, IMO)

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, i was disappointed in the newest one, but their older stuff is good, their original cd is ok too, its under the name "Burn the Priest" before they became Lamb of God...I saw them a couple months ago before the new disc came out, good show...

[ QUOTE ]
Saw The Haunted in Seattle last week. 50% killer songs and 50% shitty ones.

[/ QUOTE ]

I like the haunted but haven't seen them yet...a similar thing happened when i saw Opeth live, they decided that for one night they were gonna play only slow songs and none of their good stuff, worst show i've ever seen...

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

New albums this year that I highly recommend (in no particular order):

Melissa Auf der Maur - Auf der Maur
Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
Muse - Absolution
Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
Franz Ferdinand - self titled
Sonic Youth (they're still around) - Sonic Nurse
Travis - 12 Memories

Then, you can always make sure your Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, and STP collections are complete. If you're into best ofs, Blur and Korn are both great. Audioslave's album is awesome, and Queens of The Stone Age aren't any slouches either. The Vines' latest album is better than their first, and AFI's actually isn't too bad. Sprinkle in the plethora of other lesser known bands whose singles have blipped popular success (Interpol, Killers, Von Bondies, Secret Machines, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, etc.) and you've got plenty of good stuff.

[Enon]

[ QUOTE ]
TV on the Radio
the wrens

That'll get you started.

[/ QUOTE ]

You just got like 10x cooler in my book Diablo.

I'd like to add 2 of the best underground rock records of the year so far:

The Arcade Fire - Funeral

Interpol - Antics

[CardCuda]

Rammstein
Seven Mary Three
Linkin Park
Twelve Stones
Tool
Disturbed
Nickelback
Lifehouse
OffSpring (Starting to strain here).....

[Six_of_One]

[ QUOTE ]

I'd like to add 2 of the best underground rock records of the year so far:

The Arcade Fire - Funeral

Interpol - Antics

[/ QUOTE ]

I love The Arcade Fire...and I don't mean "love" in the sort of dismissive way that you love a sandwich or something. This is "love" in the change-your-life sort of way. Absolute genius.

I don't know if you can call Interpol an "underground" record, though, considering I hear them on mainstream radio pretty much every day.

[plaster8]

The Darkness was a TON of fun. I still laugh when I listen to their stuff just because of the guy's voice, but I love that CD.

Two bands I like a lot: The Black Keys and The Donnas.

[daveymck]

I saw the haunted last year, were pretty good, but on record have been dissapointed with them never lived up to the promise of their debut.

Rock is not dead never has been it just tends to go more underground then comes back to the surface, in the UK we had to put up with years of dance music, the kids are back playing instruments and there is a new wave or rock/indie coming through.

Through Europe metal is still pretty big, everyone says its dead every few years yet there are still huge festivals going on every year, commercial media may be ignoring it but its still there.

[thirddan]

[ QUOTE ]
commercial media may be ignoring it but its still there

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a good point, a lot of rock and metal isn't very media friendly...And people that are into rock aren't the same demographic that goes with big numbers on television and radio...Also the bands don't seem to be as visually appealing as a lot of more mainstream type stuff...

I don't think Tom Araya (Slayer) would have the same draw as Carson Daly or Justin Timberlake on TRL...

[daveymck]

Well take Slayer they are on tour in the US at the moment I assume playing to 2-3000 a night, they did two nights a decent type venue in the UK that I think holds 4,000.

Dimmu Borgir also filled that same venue and anyone outsidee of metal wont have even heard of them. We had the dopwnload festival here last year 70,000 poeple at that with very little media coverage.

Things have improved here we now have 2 metal channels on Sattelite plus MTV2 that is metal/rock orientated. Also a number of metal radio stations as well. These stations of course are playing a lot of commercial stuff but also a lot of stuff like Dillenger etc etc.

Nu Metal is dying Korn etc are in decline but a new breed will come out of it, personally I think the metal scene (certainly in Europe) is the most diverse and vibrant it has ever been, this might not be reflected on college radio in the States but it is in the live acts and albums coming out.

[bugstud]

[ QUOTE ]

Nickelback
Lifehouse
OffSpring (Starting to strain here).....

[/ QUOTE ]

Right about here the vomiting became uncontrollable. I highly suggest Three Days Grace, Shinedown and Breaking Benjamin. If Velvet Revolver or Audioslave had lived up to the hype I'd recommend them, ut their efforts were not up to my hopes.

[banditbdl]

[ QUOTE ]
Rammstein
Seven Mary Three
Linkin Park
Twelve Stones
Tool
Disturbed
Nickelback
Lifehouse
OffSpring (Starting to strain here).....

[/ QUOTE ]

So you're saying Rock is dead...

[jagoff]

Check these out for some good heavy music...

lamb of god
meshuggah
mudvayne
slipknot
nothingface
sepultura
slayer
hatebreed




I don't see my boys from Killswitch Engaged in there anywhere. Or Mushroomhead (from right here in Cleveland which by the way coined the phrase ROck N ROll) or Chimara (another Cleveland metal band). Check them out yo!

[johnnycakes]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
TV on the Radio
the wrens

That'll get you started.

[/ QUOTE ]

You just got like 10x cooler in my book Diablo.

I'd like to add 2 of the best underground rock records of the year so far:

The Arcade Fire - Funeral

Interpol - Antics

[/ QUOTE ]

Diablo continues to impress.

I agree that the Arcade Fire album is the best of the year.
But the Interpol album completely bores me. I love Turn On the Bright Lights.

The other best album of the year has to be the Futureheads s/t.

[thirddan]

killswitch engage never really impressed me when they came out, i was told they have a new lead singer but haven't listened to them yet...I listened to mushroomhead a bit when i listened to korn and such, not bad its good for some variety...I have seen chimaira twice and wasnt impressed either timee, they were opening for other acts...

[zephed56]

[ QUOTE ]
...The White Stripes... there's another trend... towards pretentious crap.

Yeah, rock's having issues right now.

NT

[/ QUOTE ]
White Stripes are very popular, but they still play good blues based rock. I didn't give 'em a chance at first because I usually find that most popular bands suck overall, but I enjoy their albums, except that crappy one.

There's always a lot of rediscovering old gems that you can do. The Sonics are a pretty good 60's garage rock band.

If you like Led [censored] Zeppelin, buy their new live DVD and the CD "How the west was won"