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

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)

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.

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.

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 wrote:

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

uhm, surely quality should also be a contributing factor

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

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 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.

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 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.