Is The Rockstar Dream Dead? - A Pedal Pushers Podcast

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This week we dive into comments made guitar icon Slash about the state of the rockstar and why young people today might pickup the guitar for different reasons than he did. We end up with a rollicking discussion about how the industry has changed with the concept of the "guitar god" waning. Check it out!
#mythospedals #guitarpodcast #guitarpedals

[@jeffball6656]

Rival Sons are a great rock band. They should be far better known. Yet the token ‘rock’ band in the awards shows seems to be Foo Fighters. Even Dave Grohl has made that comment.

[@danielcicalo8225]

i was literally about to make the same comment! Rival Sons is awesome and i love the guitar tones. I would give the title to them over Greta because they have a much more original sound and songwriting IMO.

[@elliotttadanier5971]

Some contemporary bands I’d consider to be “rock” which I enjoy: Elder, All Them Witches, Slift, Russian Circles, El Shirota, Yvette Young, Marnie Stern, Palm, Preoccupations, Black Midi, Wand. I’m not presenting this list to argue that rock is popular, most are lesser known artists, but have achieved success on the KEXP/Audiotree level. People into the stoner rock, post punk, and math rock worlds are going to know some of those bands for sure. I think there are plenty of interesting rock albums getting released if you are willing to look slightly harder. I feel like there are some interesting rock sub-genres bubbling out there below the radar of the larger music press etc. Just my $0.02.

[@MythosMatthew]

Oh agreed. I listen to tons of new stuff that's off the radar - KEXP level is a great way to describe it. Elder and Russian Circles rule!

[@Evy-1988]

there is an interesting paradox going on, where on the one hand you talk about there's no new/young genre defining artists (or scenes) anymore, but on the other hand you mention newer artist and say "but that's not really rock n roll". Not saying I have the answers because at 35 I'm old enough to "not know what the kids these days listen to". Could be that social identities are not so tied to music genres anymore? Yet both are existing.

[@MythosMatthew]

That's a really good point - we used to really be able to label or idendiy ourselves by what we rocked. I was definitely a "metal head" in high school. I bet that's still a thing, but in a much different way.

[@stevenkoppelkam643]

Plush is a good new guitar band

[@Adammorris23435]

Ya’ll are forgetting john mayer who seems to still have a healthy following.

[@MythosMatthew]

Since he's debut came out 20 years ago, I think he's a part of the previous generation who could still produce a star at that level.

[@joeputnam2127]

The Sheepdogs..... great rock n roll band from Canada. Blackberry Smoke is another one. There are still great bands out there, just harder to initially discover them now.

[@GitShiddy]

They've been around 20 years. Go check out Crown Lands you want some legit new Canadian rock. (new=5-ish years) Spectacular 2 piece.

[@gdski]

The Black Keys was probably the last big guitar band, 2010-2014. But famously they had to cancel their stadium tour this year. Not a lot I can think of in the past decade though.

[@johnfoskey7855]

Blackberry smoke

[@TheKissarmygeneral]

That Slash album is dude rock for sure

[@markbyers5569]

You could make an argument for The Marcus King Band being at the forefront of rock and roll today.

[@thedoyleharcavy]

I’ve seen king gizzard and the lizard wizard sell out everything from small venues to a days long stay at red rocks. They’re not traditional rock stars but they put out an average of 3 albums a year and tour almost nonstop.

[@chirbin0nidhogg623]

Matthew did great

[@neilwlevine]

Listening to Tim Henson, Plini, and Tosin really got me back into guitar. Indeed, Quad Cortex seem to have a good eye for guitarists who are the modern stars and are trying to do something different. They may not sell pedals as they are all digital natives but they help sell being a guitarist and that ultimately will lead people to pedals and amps.

[@Airfire21]

So, to give you my input on the first subject (you did ask!), I think that there is a lot of 'rock' stars out there but they're maybe just not playing exactly the music of GnR etc. I think it's really interesting about what Matthew said that 'American Idiot' was the last true Rock album. It's really interesting because what I think that opened the door for was the next generations of Emo bands to work their way in (which I at the time described as pop-punk and I'm sure no matter what genre I list here, someone would disagree with me) to the youth with songs like Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Holiday. These were bands like My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, Paramore, Panic! At The Disco, You Me At Six, A Day To Remember (although some argue they are more on the Metal end of things) - some of the pathway had already been laid by bands like Sum41, Bowling for Soup and blink-182. Those are the bands that are headlining your festivals now (apart from P!ATD who broke up last year - I'm still bitter about it... 😂) and are continuing the 'rockstar' lifestyle. I think since then we've had another couple of developments in that area, (ironically, which was more traditional to the original 'punk movement') where Midwest Emo bands like Modern Baseball, American Football, Tiny Moving Parts started to at the very least gain popularity (and later followed up by bands like TRSH, Mom Jeans, and other such bands) - but rejected the idea of 'becoming famous and doing loads of drugs and sleeping with lots of women'. I think the story that I'm trying to form here is that the music industry, and Rock and Roll, is like a breathing machine. We take a big breath (or huff, if you want to make a drug reference) in of popularity, money, fame, we see the results and the effects that leave on people and we breathe out, rejecting everything that we've just inhaled. Now, we are once again starting to see the machine start to breathe in again, with bands like Dexter and the Moonrocks, Hot Mulligan, Neck Deep, Chase Petra - and I'm personally hoping for Primrose to be the next ones to really make it big as I think the drummer/singer/song-writer has some real talent and I really like their stuff - all "making it" (signing record contracts, going on massive tours, living off of music). Unfortunately, we will see similar, if not the exact same results as the people before them. The industry will chew them up and then spit them out as if they never even really existed, and the young kids of today that love them will see that and begin to reject the idea of being a rockstar, and the machine will begin to breathe out again. I think just to quickly talk about the 'Guitar Gods' conversation, there is definitely people out there and I think you guys would have got here eventually - people like Tim Henson, Rabea Massaad, Manuel Gardner-Fernandes - they're all the equivalent modern day guitar gods. To me at least.

[@daleantoniuk3291]

Black Country Communion and Dead Dasies are some of my favorited new rock recordings I listen to. Older musicians but still pumping out great rock music. 😬🎸👍

[@BrandonShagg]

You know as AI gets more advanced I think that the movement towards live music and the dream to do so will grow

[@paulmoreland]

Whiskey Myers gets thrown into the Country genre a lot because of some of their early songs, but that’s a straight up guitar rock band, with two great guitarist.

[@RobbieF]

Zach, If you need custom cables, check out Runway Audio of Nashville. You can choose length and connector types for each end. At $12 a piece, they are IMHO reasonable in cost. I have Runway patch, instrument and speaker cables and am very happy with all of them.

[@bigbillex]

Dirty Honey, Solid active rock band!!

[@VisualGuy]

Big. Hairy. Projects.

[@tschommer]

Only my opinion of course, but I think The Warning is the best rock band on the planet right now. They seem well on their way to becoming bonafide rockstars too.

[@gejskelly]

There’s guys like Rival Sons, Marcus King, Ghost, GvF etc. who are newer and doing well. I’d give a big recommendation for people to listen to DeWolff, they’re brilliant, their last album was their best yet and they’ve got a new album wrapped up that they just recorded in Muscle Shoals. Royal Blood, Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys etc. had albums hit high on the mainstream charts about a decade ago. The big thing is ‘smaller’, independent artists can get much higher reach thanks to social media etc. Your 2004-ish date is around the cut off between pre-internet label-backed bands being pushed and stuff like MySpace/Facebook/KZbin/music streaming allowing independents to reach their audience. Means the audiences are spread much more into their niches rather than having to like whatever is picked up and pushed by labels with the rest of the bands only being able to stay local and then fading without a label backing them. It’s great cause it allows guys like Josh Smith, Kirk Fletcher, Jared James Nichols to be more than just exist as backing guys for established label-signed artists or pop acts and doesn’t leave them as being ‘local legends’ that never sell-out if they leave their state/country.

[@GitShiddy]

So for "the" rock bands my initial thought was Rival Sons, Royal Blood, The 1975 & BoyGenius. And BoyGenius is where the realization was. For me when I think "Rockstar" now....I think Women. Every visible guitarist right now is a woman. St Vincent, Nita Strauss, Yvette Young, everyone in BoyGenius, Madison Cunningham, The Warning, HER, the seemingly endless supply of women who's last name is Wolfe (Emily, Chelsea, Ava, Sarah etc). And that's completely ignoring the various Japanese & Korean genres of rock, metal & pop which bank (in a less than ethical sometimes) way on women. It's every guitar driven genre & more importantly when those non-guitar driven groups want a visible guitarist, unless you're a guy named Matteus, it's a woman. The future is femme....just like it was during Glam Rock but this time they're legit women not men with bad morals in drag.

[@GitShiddy]

Oh and practically every woman I mentioned & many many more besides have signature gear.

[@MythosMatthew]

@@GitShiddy Excellent point - the death of the traditonal "rockstar" has left room for all these great players women players to shine. Love so many you mentioned. Wish they'd be bigger! As big as the old heads used to be.

[@GitShiddy]

@@MythosMatthew The "as big as the old heads" has a myriad of reasons for not happening again. The cultural shift towards the "mainstream" having zero relevance & everyone individually defining what's awesome for themselves instead of being presented/told so by corporate interests that say [insert lame thing] is awesome. That's what I choose to believe is keeping anything from being Beatles "Bigger than Jesus". And I sincerely hope that the women who, for me, define Rockstar now; aren't being held back by the old hateful misogyny. (But it would be foolish to think that's not part of if)

[@MythosMatthew]

@@GitShiddy Really good point, and I think that's what Slash was truly getting at. And what I was agreeing with. We have to shift our brain on what "success" means instead of just lamenting that these bands are not topping the Billboard 200. They are making music as living and thriving as artists. Old heads need to recognize that is success isn't' of worrying about why other stuff is more popular.

[@ChrisTeachesHistory]

This might be a hot take, but the Gaslight Anthem really bridges vintage with modern in a tasteful way. From their choice of gear to lyrical content.

[@thesunabsolute]

The last big "rock" records that were part of the "cultural zeitgeist" were probably Green Day - American Idiot, maybe Kings of Leon - Only by the Night? To answer Matthew's question, whose filling that "Grammy show rock slot", or as I like to call it, the "Foo Fighters spot"... I'd say its probably Greta Van Fleet or Paramore. One reason I never really hear mentioned as to why bands are kind of gone, is the fact its easier to be the sole songwriter and hire a band, than to have 4 or 5 equal contributors. It's also a far better financial decision to NOT have a band these days, and not have to split whatever little income you generate with other band members.

[@PurposefulPorpoise]

I dunno about y'all but im movin to Huntsville AL., becoming a part of the local music scene there, and enjoying the rest of my days playing Prog-Fusion for rocket scientists, sippin on pina coladas and enjoying not paying a fortune just to exist in a studio apartment. Mid City District seems to have potential. Feel free to join me guys.

[@SteveR5954]

Instead of Door Knob, how bout Mythos Door Bell Fuzz? Its a Fine Line :-)

[@deanseaton9647]

JoBo? Halestorm? What about Nita Strauss? Rabea Massad opens up form Stormzy? Cardinal Black (coming to US this year)- and Chris Buck uses Mythos pedals already. Lots of smaller bands coming through - particular favourite Brave Rival. We consume our music in a different way now and it doesnt pay to promote that rock star image.

[@toddtaylor471]

Who is it that makes me want to rock out? Gibsons and Marshall amps? Blackberry Smoke! I agree they are not exactly mainstream but, they should be. 🤘🏻

[@grantbob]

My new band - "Zeitgeist of Musicdom".

[@CraigDeubler]

We have the opposite problem, there's an over abundance of really really great new music out there,but there is so much competition. Not only with their peers, but with streaming they're competing with nearly 60 years of rock music. as a snapshot of the stuff, just on my playlist today: Royal Blood The Beths All Them Witches Wet Leg Metz DZ Deathray IDLES Sprints Dead Poet Society.

[@MythosMatthew]

Love a ton of that stuff - IDLES and Wet Leg are terrific. Just wish they'd be even bigger, but that might not be in the cards anymore. But still very successfull.

[@stigwartwillis]

Foals are pretty big in the UK

[@stahliwood8755]

Foo fighters, you have bands like periphery and polyphia that inspire the youth. Billy strings. You might need to move genres from rock to metal. Sleep token ,failing in reverse , spiritbox

[@iyork28]

Turnstile is crushing right now. Mk.gee isn’t a rock star but is for sure a guitar hero. The 1975 is a guitar band. Paramore released an incredibly creative guitar album. Bleachers is like a pop Springsteen revival. They aren’t in stadiums but the women are killing it right now too, squirrel flower, soccer mommy, Julien baker, waxahatchee, madison cunningham etc. If rock is dead I’m cool with it

[@Digosaurus]

You guys gotta sling some Mythos to Ben McLeod from All Them Witches. Bluesy stoner gat lord 🔥 He got the flava both MT and ZB would love.

[@Angus.Maclean]

I agree that "Rockstars" can market products, but Rockstars and (poor) gigging musicians do not amount to many sales. The day-job musicians and "blues lawyers" [accountants, doctors, Josh Scott😅] who can afford it, thankfully keep the industry alive, ensuring wonderful products are available for everyone.

[@stanislavmigra]

Jared James Nichols is Da Man

[@pete3189]

Keep the what you selling what you buying segment…

[@LA3Music]

A double dose of dosa

[@Digosaurus]

MT needs a Sunn 0))) Model T

[@reverb508]

And a black robe. And a fog machine.

[@Digosaurus]

@@reverb508 🤘🏻💀0)))

[@fgcapps72]

Would Rival Sons count as modern rock band. Maybe not a headliner, but they could be.

[@Frankie_Holt]

The rockstar dream ended for me 30 years ago

[@kere92]

I like a lot of the bands mentioned here, but they aren't mainstream. The one I can think of right now is Maneskin, not much of a fan though

[@jamesmarkham7489]

Sleep token is probably the biggest guitar band right now?

[@zumthobelhobel2266]

king gizzard is the only modern rock band that has that kind of huge cult following

[@davidrustad2084]

Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium was the last one. 2006. Just after American Idiot, but in general agreed on the era of transition.

[@jonathandulin8753]

I like the new band Nirvana

[@HALWASRIGHT]

Big "rock band"...Ghost.

[@ianwoolley6963]

The Warning are one of the new bands I listen to.

[@JamalHRA17]

Maneskin sells out i think…???

[@b3pahunter546]

Slash says it's cool to make music and not make money. So cool of the old music millionaire to say YOU shouldn't be worried about money as he sells another overpriced run of guitars.

[@yammak2004]

Way to come across as self-obsessed and victim mentality. Entitled much

[@b3pahunter546]

​@@yammak2004Do you have a bank of standard insults that you just copy and paste? That makes no sense. Try to find another insult that fits the situation.

[@yammak2004]

@@b3pahunter546nope, I just see an entitled baby so I respond. Go cry somewhere else

[@b3pahunter546]

​@@yammak2004You come across as someone who wants to attend Slash's Orgy of the Damned and bend over. See, that insult has more relevance. Go ahead and try again.

[@b3pahunter546]

@@yammak2004 entitled? Crying? Come on, Mark. Pretty weak. You are guessing way too much. Like your thinking of someone close to you. Like I said, standard insult, assuming too much about your victim. Your insults don't work because they're untrue.

[@__dormant__]

anti-doorknob manufacturing propaganda!

[@caro_lam]

rock music kinda sucks to be fair

[@MythosMatthew]

mom?