Why is Rock Music declining in the U.S?

If we're talking Dutch music, then it has to be....
[video=youtube;Abmvoj39Fh8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abmvoj39Fh8[/video]

That album/opera/project/whatever is just stunning. The rest of his stuff is good, but that one is absolute genius (and I don't use that term lightly).

 

Love this, incredible! - it infuriates me we can't get above on main stream on the radio, and get everyone else away from the regular crap! Radio has sold out and is dead, just like MTV.

 

These guys are great.

[video=youtube;Uu4emT6btH4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu4emT6btH4[/video]

 

Yeah, I don't even bother with most forms of media I don't have direct control over anymore. There's just not much point. It's all Youtube and Pandora for me these days.

Can't remember where you're from, but Soilwork's on tour in the U.S. right now with Jeff Loomis (formerly of Nevermore) and Blackguard. Go check 'em out if they come anywhere near you. Amazing live band. I've seen them a handful of times, but it just occurred to me that the last time I saw them was like 2006 or 2007. So I'm due for another one. And they're going to be here in a couple of weeks. SOOOOOOOOOOOO PSYCHED!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Maybe it has something to do with the fact heavy metal and such are too much about male posturing and being rowdy and don't really have much to say anymore.

 

That's just a stereotype, and one that doesn't hold water. There's plenty of 'good time' 'party metal' about, of course, and rowdy male posturing nonsense, and sometimes that's what gets the public attention and radio play, but that's not the whole picture by any means. There are plenty of bands out there exploring all kinds of different themes, with all kinds of different things to say.

 

There was a random news item this morning about ELP and Yes playing on a cruise ship. That sounds like a death knell to me.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22098778

 

It's the latest 'in thing' - it's not bands playing on normal cruises, but a specific floating festival on a cruise ship (chartered exclusively for the purpose, and only full of people who have paid to go to the festival).

There's a few of them about of different types and genres:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2012/dec/28/caribbean-cruise-ship-thrash-metal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/dec/22/coachella-on-high-seas-pulp

Personally I get far too sea sick for any such thing!

It's part of a picture of an increasing diversity of festivals of all shapes and sizes. Of all the newer, non-traditional type ones about, I'd personally stick to the 'Holiday Camp' ones ('Hard Rock Hell', etc.) where they take over the entirety of something like a Pontins holiday camp for the weekend, out of season (either November or February sort of time, usually). I've only done one of them, but it was great, and I would certainly do it again - a relatively small festival with 3 indoor stages and comfortable accommodation (certainly by festival standards!) on site! Big enough to attract some decent names (bands like Opeth, Saxon, Sepultura, Skindred, Black Label Society, Testament, 5 Finger Death Punch, etc. have played such things), but obviously never going to be big enough to attract the Iron Maidens of this world, but that's fine - there's plenty of space in the market for smaller and more tightly genre focussed, festivals as well as the bigger and somewhat more general ones like Download that attract 100,000 people.

In fact, on the subject of the prog stuff (ELP, Yes, etc.) there'll be the second HRHrog festival (holiday camp one) happening next March (the first one featured the likes of Hawkwind, Caravan, The Enid, etc.) - it's all good. Shows how healthy the whole rock music market actually is, for live music at least.

 

I remember Status Quo did a long weekend at Butlins in the nineteen eighties, with a steam train full of fans It might have been their first annual retirement gig!

 

It was one of their anniversary celebrations - they started off playing Butlins in the 60s. It also marked a low point in their career, when their record company had them over a barrel and were forcing them to churn out a load of rubbish cover versions of 'rock & roll classics'. thankfully, they have picked up a great deal since then and started making decent albums again (and they still do big tours that sell well every year). They also did a short tour with their original line up this year, which I didn't get to, unfortunately! I did see them (with their 'current' line up) headlining a small festival last summer, though, and they still rock harder live than many younger people seem to expect they would:

[video=youtube;SwDqKmS6m9Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwDqKmS6m9Q[/video]

Gotta love the Quo!

 

You just don't get the sheer volume, the guy's phone can't handle it!

[video=youtube;ph-GEF7QIu4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph-GEF7QIu4[/video]

They're usually in Bournemouth a week or two before Christmas, I have been known to attend several times!

 

Is? Rock music died in the mid-70's.

 

I sure hope not. Rock music didn't even exist until the '70s. The '60s were terrible.

 

Sometimes it's hard to imagine the Beatles being considered Rock. Even Elvis had more energy than they did.

Also, while we're speaking of metal, have you heard of Otep? Her voice takes some getting used to, but they're not bad:

[video=youtube;36PSBsiSszw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36PSBsiSszw[/video]

[video=youtube;13zcDwerwZE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13zcDwerwZE[/video]

 

+1 to this.

I actually think the 50s produced better music than the 60s. The 60s were a dark period of (*)(*)(*)(*)ty folk rock. I thought the Woodstock generation was terrible. With the obvious exception of guys like Hendrix who were way ahead of their time. I can only imagine how epic that "Star Spangled Banner" performance must have been back then. It's hard to appreciate it in the right context today because there's just been so much since, but if I try to imagine a time where the Beatles and the Stones would have been the hardest thing I had heard and then seeing this dude lighting his guitar on fire with this blistering wall of feedback, it seems like it would be pretty mind-blowing.

I think I might appreciate Otep a little more now. I remember ten years ago when she first came on the scene, I was a big time elitist and I thought she was too nu-metal. But I'm a little more open-minded now. Not so pretentious anymore with my music.

 

'Rock' is a pretty vague term. Before rock there was Blues, Gosphel, Boogie, etc. Jimmie Rogers (1930's) was the 'father' of country music. Guys like Carl Perkins took several of these music genres and (with others) created 'Rockabilly.' Alan Freed coined the term 'Rock 'n Roll' in the main stream media along with Bill Haley and the Comets.

From there 'Rock' has evolved into a myriad of styles as guitar effects, amplifiers and sound coloring circuits have evolved with technology until today the term seems all but outdated to describe Techno, Hip Hop, and other various styles. The guitar has been abandoned in a lot of cases as well OR has been processed to the point of non recognition compared to the sounds of the past.

Also today, it is within reach of individual artists to make pretty decent recordings of their own original music and even promote it to some extent. This fact alone, I believe, will keep older forms of music alive as recording companies will not be able to create the 'latest' music fad.

 

That give me a headace. LOL

 

You could move a building with those Marshall stacks!!

 

I would say that its a demographics thing. My and my friends are all in our late 40s and 50s. We grew up with Led Zep, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, etc. And we never really caught on to what came after that. Most of my peers migrated to country. I can't stand country, but I did fall in love with old Jazz:

[video=youtube;VBxAC4ywaJ4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBxAC4ywaJ4[/video]

 

Well, so much for that. Just discovered this on her Wikipedia page:

So then this part doesn't surprise me:

I'm not trying to support any angry misandrist feminazi bull(*)(*)(*)(*).

 

It went too far for the mainstream. Once aggressive rock got uncomfortable for most to listen to, it became obsolete. Most people want music that they can sing along to in the car, or dance to. Aggressive rock doesn't really meet those criteria.

 

I don't think rock music is dying. It might not be as visible in the "mainstream" as it used to be, but I think that's more a result of the Internet and the diversification of rock music into countless sub-genres.

There's plenty of talent out there, your just not going to hear it on top 40 radio stations.