Anyone miss the days when rock music was the dominant music genre and rock bands ruled the earth?

brianlux

Lerxst1992 said:

brianlux said:

It may just be a matter of being my age or whatever, but I'll never understand this notion of "rock is dead" or why it is not so popular with younger people.  Is classical/orchestral music dead?  No, it's been around for 100's of years in varying forms.  Are blues or jazz dead?  Hell no, that music has been around for well over 100 years.  So why would something as energizing and exciting as great rock of various styles be dead?
Some people have said (elsewhere) that it's because all of the facets of rock have been explored.  But you could say that about most types of music.  And yet orchestral scores are composed quite regularly- if for no other reason, for movie soundtracks- and news rock songs are written all the time, etc. 

And when I look at the history of rock, I don't see a lot of major changes in that form of music in the first place.  What has always made certain bands and artists interesting to me are some of the components of the music besides the basic form (and rock, in general, is fairly basic in the first place).  The components that set many rock acts apart from the rest include things like:

-Stand out, distinctive vocal sound and quality.  Think of the great rock singers- their voices are instantly recognizable:  Neil Young, Eddie Vedder, Juliana Hatfield, Roger Daltry, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Rod Stewart... all of them.  You hear their voices and almost instantly know who they are.

-Guitar is a major component and guitar stylings are less varied today, not because there is no way to play distinctively, but because too many people try to sound like someone else.  Like the voices above, many guitarists are quickly recognizable.  One of the first things my guitar teacher told me way back in high school was that by listening to as many guitarists as possible and learning a little bit about differing styles, you will be more likely to develop your own style.  I may not be a great guitar player (I'm definitely not), but at least I have a fairly distinctive style of playing. 

-Presentation is also what sets the best apart from the average.  Too many bands try to emulate cliched rock poses and such.  Nobody is going to windmill like Pete Townshend windmills.  Faggedaboudit! If everyone else is dying their hair fluorescent orange or green, try something different.  Like Robert here, for example:

Fripp-tastic pics!

Haha!  Cool, glad you like them!

I'm such a Frippophile.  Man, that guy!  When I went to see the newly reformed King Crimson in Berkeley in the mid 80's I stood outside the venue waiting for it to open and all of the sudden we could hear Robert doing his sound check.  He was ripping shards of musical Frippertronic bliss into the evening sky that sent chills up and down my spine.  Fan-fucking-Fripp-tasctic!