Who are the next great ROCK (alternative,pop etc) band in the U.S, today?

tonadax

Nirvana seemed to be the last of the great rock bands & Kurt one of, if not the last great Rock icon...am I wrong? Yes, 13+ yrs. ago. Pearl Jam is close. One could say these days that U2 are big...but of course they came before Nirvana & didn't shake the Billboards and rock in the same way, since.
Also, just in case you were wondering my favorite band is PJ. If you kids out there want to get angry at me, and tell me how much you love your Green Days, Offspring, Coldplay etc. then go right ahead and do it. But I think you & I will both agree they are not going to change the world the same way The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Stooges, The Clash, Led Zeppelin etc. did, are they?

Okay, that's it. Now, I'm not interested in arguing back & forth w/ people, just give your thoughts on the question. And if you still want to argue, well then so be it....

intodeep

It does not seem that rock bands are near as popular as they were in the past. Espcially new younger bands trying to break in. It seems like Rap and Pop dominate the main stream.

Because of this it is hard for bands to break through on that level.

now there is a ton of really good music being made in the US by a lot of bands but most of them are not actively seeking to be the "next big thing"

the ones who would love to be the next big thing tend to suck (see nickelback)

TheGossman

there isn't one good band on the radio or MTV right now, its sad, I grew up listening to good rock, and now its all sappy, 4 chord american idot bullshit, I can't believe some of the stuff that I see on MTV, and how people can tell these songs apart, I feel like I'm getting old, in my opinion the best band that is out today besides pj of course is the arcade fire, too bad kids aren't exposed to them! Mainstream rock and roll is DEAD!

Strangest Tribe

Band of Horses

I don't see them getting huge popular...at least I hope not
but I believe they have the talent to accumulate a great cult following.

TheEvolution

I don't think we are going to see another HUGE rock band change the music world the way Metallica/Zep/U2/Guns/Nirvana/Pearl Jam...and so on did. Nu metal was the last real movement in rock that had a huge impact and it only lasted 2-3 years. Emo is not bringing in people at massive rates. Bands like The Strokes, Kings of Leon, TV on the Radio, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are not not getting the exposure on radio or tv to really make them huge. When MTV used to be about the new music and alternative shit it was alot easier for people to see these bands, now we are force fed Nickelcrap and Fallout boy...The music industry is dying right now and the only bands that can draw are the old groups like the Stones, The Police, Dave, Van Halen, and even our boys in Pearl Jam. Live nation and other promotion groups rely on established draws whereas in the past if you hit big you were selling out stadiums in a few years.

glasshouse

personally i think as long as pj release new material and tour they'll eventually be the regarded as the greatest rock ' roll band since led zep broke up. fuck nirvana btw.

Glorified Irish Guy

Personally i think The Answer released one of the best rock n roll albums of the last 15 years but these guys arent huge and probably wont be, bands like zeppelin and the rolling stones are once in a lifetime, i blame mtv but you also gotta blame led zeppelin for setting such high standards :rolleyes:

ScotInAmsterdam

My theory is that the history of rock and music in general is that there are huge great nodes. The points where nothing that comes after is unaffected by that "thing". I kind of see a graphical representation in my head where you have, for example, the velvet underground as a huge big peak and things tailing off around it, to make a musical terrain, so the Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Stooges, The Clash, Led Zeppelin etc are big peaks on a sheet that falls down around them. A long long time ago, you had bach and mozart etc. and these represent huge big peaks with little else around them(not because it wasn't there or because it wasn't influential), but as we learn to communicate things to a wider audience, "ground level" gets higher and things are more influenced by the long tail of what is not as large a node, but what represents a sea of influence pushing future music in one direction or another. With the internet, the space between the nodes and the ground level really shrinks, but you still have peaks of influence. I think the white stripes changed music, but only by reminding us of a few things. The same can be said of grunge(whatever that is), there is very little new about it, it just reminded us how good some of the old ideas were.

Does this make any sense to anyone?

keeponrockin

The Arcade Fire is our Pink Floyd IMO.

And remember, Green Day's been going longer than Pearl Jam.

glasshouse

keeponrockin wrote:

And remember, Green Day's been going longer than Pearl Jam.

uhm, surely quality should also be a contributing factor

harmless_little_f***

keeponrockin wrote:

The Arcade Fire is our Pink Floyd IMO.

And remember, Green Day's been going longer than Pearl Jam.

Arcade Fire are Canadian... otherwise I'd have said them.

Yellow Ledbelly

I don't if there is a "next big thing" in america right now, mainly because I am exposed to so little new music because I feel, like many, that there simply is much worth listening to nowadays...so few bands have anything of any importance to say while also turning out good music..I guess some good messages might go left unheard because the music sucks.

In the end and acknowledging that today's music sucks in general, I believe there will come a time when some band(s) say fuck all this crap and turn the music world on its ear much like our heroes and their contemporaries did all those years ago. They drove the death nail for the 80s hair metal that I loved so much and one day, hopefully, someone will do the same for the nu metal and the poppy every-song-sounds-the-same direction music is taking now. I hope so anyway.

I'm not saying by any means there is no good American music out there now....just not very much. I have yet to come across one I believe to be GREAT

glasshouse

harmless_little_f*** wrote:

Arcade Fire are Canadian... otherwise I'd have said them.

as far as i understood the question, Arcade Fire (American or not) won't ever get remotely close to the status of "next great ROCK" band.

i mean, 70% of people listening to Radio and MTV probably aren't even aware of their existence after the release of their second album.

we're talking about a world wide phenomena here if i'm not wrong. the likes of

beatles
led zep
stones
floyd
bowie
dylan
u2
rem
nirvana (yawn)
chilli pepppers
greenday (yawn)
.....

RockKing

Well, to be honest, I kinda take issue with the whole premise of this thread. Being a big arena rock band does not make a band great. I think the next GREAT rock band in the US is Dead Confederate. Just an absolutely stunningly powerful band. I doubt they'll ever have a platinum album or headline an arena tour, but they will probably have a more powerful impact on the people who listen to them than most arena rock bands. Anyway, that's just my opinion.

glasshouse

RockKing wrote:

Well, to be honest, I kinda take issue with the whole premise of this thread. Being a big arena rock band does not make a band great. I think the next GREAT rock band in the US is Dead Confederate. Just an absolutely stunningly powerful band. I doubt they'll ever have a platinum album or headline an arena tour, but they will probably have a more powerful impact on the people who listen to them than most arena rock bands. Anyway, that's just my opinion.

well, the beatles were never considered a "arena rock band" , maybe even REM don't fit that mold entirely. i agree with your argument, but in order to be "GREAT" you need to sell yourself to the general "dimwit" as well as to the "informed" music fan. this is where the power of arena rock lies - fair or not, let's call it marketing.

RockKing

glasshouse wrote:

well, the beatles were never considered a "arena rock band" , maybe even REM don't fit that mold entirely. i agree with your argument, but in order to be "GREAT" you need to sell yourself to the general "dimwit" as well as to the "informed" music fan. this is where the power of arena rock lies - fair or not, let's call it marketing.

For sure, there are GREAT arena rock bands. Hell, Pearl Jam is a great arena rock band who is obviously still very important to a lot of people. However, a band like Dead Confederate who will likely never be pushed to the mainstream, is still a great band and the best new band I have heard in probably the last 5 years or so. I just hate to limit this list to bands who are fortunate enough to click with the mainstream US audiences.

glasshouse

btw i'm assuming the original poster had a "commercial" constant attached to his question, otherwise the question is probably impossible to answer.

ScotInAmsterdam

I thinkthe truly great are defined by their legacy. How long do people keep listening to them etc. Only time will tell what has survived from recent times. The truly great influential bands of their time were not really that big at the time. I think the velvet underground are one the most influential bands of all time, and very few people knew who they were until they'd split up. What will stick around..... and what won't. I think that's a more interesting question. What will our grandchildren think about the 90's and really admire us for being around at the time? You never really know. There was a lot of stuff in the 60's and 70's that was hugely popular at the time, but had pretty much no impact 10 years later, and the 80's, well most of the popular stuff is a footnote in histroy with the real innovative stuff ebing the only stuff that has stood the test of time.

Duder5k

This decade is mostly a shitfest when it comes to mainstream rock, hell, just mainstream. I don't see it changing, but I'm not gonna sit here moping about it. I'm just gonna stick with the 80's and 90's and try to ignore this decade's horrible music as best as possible.

glasshouse

Duder5k wrote:

This decade is mostly a shitfest when it comes to mainstream rock, hell, just mainstream. I don't see it changing, but I'm not gonna sit here moping about it. I'm just gonna stick with the 80's and 90's and try to ignore this decade's horrible music as best as possible.

it's not all been bad mate. get dino jr ~ beyond (if you don't have it yet) to remind you of what the "good times" sounded like.

drew0

i don't think the 'next' band is out there yet. music goes in cycles...and right now it's dominated by shitty pop, rap, and fake rock. i think, give it time, and once bands like pj, dmb, chili peppers, aerosmith, u2, etc. start to stop touring, there will be bands that break out into the spotlight.

the fans are here...the bands aren't.

TheEvolution wrote:

Bands like The Strokes, Kings of Leon, TV on the Radio, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are not not getting the exposure on radio or tv to really make them huge.

to be big...a band needs to do something unique - they need to stand out. zeppelin, rage, nirvana, metallica, u2, dmb, dead, zeppelin, etc. all were different - they all made their own sound. those bands are good, but they are just too...bland, at least the the general public, to make it big.

keeponrockin wrote:

The Arcade Fire is our Pink Floyd IMO.

they're good...but i would never go that far. 'dark side of the moon' is, literally, in a league of it's own. i would love to be proved wrong, but there is no way in hell they'll put an album out half that good. they may pave the road for a band to, but no.

whulmef

This thread reminds me of the Rolling Stone cover of R.E.M. in 1987 that declared them as "America's best rock and roll band." Going on this notion, I think there has always been at least one American band that was popular (maybe not the most popular but mosts people knew who they were) and in their prime. Before R.E.M. I guess it was Springsteen, before him The Band, Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and then Elvis. Going further back the big greats tend to be jazz folks like Duke Ellington. In the 90s it was Nirvana then Pearl Jam I suppose more in the mid 90s. Now I would have to say Wilco is in their prime and are gaining popularity. Since rock became more popular than jazz, there has not been a huge jazz star. In the 90s rap and pop have taken over. So will there be another huge rock star?
By the way RockKing, I saw Dead Confederate at a frat house in Chapel Hill a couple of months ago. They rocked my brains. Imagine a room full of bourbon soaked frat guys jumping up and down for over an hour. I heard the band was passing around a handle of bourbon in between songs. They had a whole bunch of smoke, loud drums, and loud guitars. They were straight rock and roll.

RockKing

whulmef wrote:

By the way RockKing, I saw Dead Confederate at a frat house in Chapel Hill a couple of months ago. They rocked my brains. Imagine a room full of bourbon soaked frat guys jumping up and down for over an hour. I heard the band was passing around a handle of bourbon in between songs. They had a whole bunch of smoke, loud drums, and loud guitars. They were straight rock and roll.

Fuck yeah. That's what I'm talking about. They are straight balls-to-wall rock and roll at its finest. To me, they feel like they're leading a revival. It's bringing back a connection to the music itself that is lacking in today's bands. There's no shtik, no gimmicks, no peripherals.....just straight forward rock and roll at its finest. I really, really love that band and am so jacked up for the full album to come out.

Evensolo05

Music has changed and so has the way in which people access it. The main rock genre at the minute is probably indie music. Music promoted through websites like pitchfork, bands promoting their own music on myspace. Look at how Radiohead released their latest record. I dont think there will ever be another HUGE selling rock band simply because these days there is now so much choice for the music listener.

alpitt

People saying this decade of music has sucked are partially right but also very, very wrong. Just because the mainstream radio/mtv/etc. (which could have thread upon thread about how awful it is), hasn't embraced the good music out there doesn't mean its not there. There just isn't a big, new arena rock band putting out quality material right now that can capture people's attention. But there have been (and are, obviously) a multitude of great bands throughout this decade putting out excellent stuff. See: wilco, the strokes, my morning jacket, arcade fire, spoon, sigur ros, pete yorn, etc. etc. I could go on and on.

At this point the closest thing to a big influential rock band that puts out good stuff is easily Radiohead.

DriftingByTheStorm

The Flaming Lips

Brain of J.Lo

whulmef wrote:

Imagine a room full of bourbon soaked frat guys jumping up and down for over an hour.

Wait. Are you trying to say this is a good thing?

locked

if Incubus can produce one more CD on par with "Morning View" they would get my vote!

Igottago

alpitt wrote:

At this point the closest thing to a big influential rock band that puts out good stuff is easily Radiohead.

Yes, they are pretty much the modern day Pink Floyd status band, and they will be remembered for years, and highly influential. Bands like Arcade Fire haven't had the same mass popularity that Radiohead has, and it will affect their long term status I think. Plus, who knows, they may have peaked already, they've only put out 2 albums. Radiohead wasn't widely heralded as genius until their 3rd album.

Pearl Jam will be the band that everyone will pretend they listened to all along. They will be like the Rolling Stones in another decade, and all these old people who only bought "Ten" will go to their shows and try to pretend they were always huge fans.

PJGARDEN

Evensolo05 wrote:

Music has changed and so has the way in which people access it. The main rock genre at the minute is probably indie music. Music promoted through websites like pitchfork, bands promoting their own music on myspace. Look at how Radiohead released their latest record. I dont think there will ever be another HUGE selling rock band simply because these days there is now so much choice for the music listener.

I agree with this to an extent. I refuse to believe there will never be another GREAT rock band. I think one of the factors that will make them a GREAT band will be their ability to appeal to the masses despite these things.

Several people in this thread have mentioned several really good bands but I think, to truely be an influential band, they have to be mainstream and they will have to stand the test of time. Not that I don't think some of the bands mentioned can't be influential but to I pave the way for a future movement or change music they have to be heard.

Odin

The next revolutionary rock band won't reach stardom until at least the 2010s, and it won't happen until the standard guitar, bass, drums, singer format gets played out.

The closest thing right now is Sigur Ros. If they become huge, they have the potential to take music in a whole new direction.