What Killed Rock & Roll? (Hint: It Wasn't Hip Hop)

[@justincase3320]

I love classic rock. However, I'm sick of FM stations the same 200 songs, over, and over, and over.

[@kevinvitale8980]

I quit listening to FM a very long time ago, because of what you stated.

[@crkmt]

I've heard Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" more today than when it came out.

[@Beaches4749]

If I hear “Stairway to Heaven” again I almost want to throw up.

[@justincase3320]

@@Beaches4749 Yeah, it's a shame that it has been relegated to the same status as "More Than a Feeling".

[@Homer625]

Here in CT all 3 of our classic rock stations play the same 200 songs. It's terrible. I don't even listen anymore. I go out of state on a trip, to Maine, and within 2 songs hear a song I've never heard before. I keep the station tuned in for the rest of my trip and here like 5-6 more new songs from classic rock artists. I don't remember the name of that particular station but perhaps it wasn't corporate owned. We need more stations like that

[@chrismccarter6875]

When the Beatles arrived in the US for the first time a US journalist asked John Lennon "what's the first thing you are going to do in America", John replied "I'm going to see Muddy Waters", the journalist asked "Where is that?"

[@carlosf9278]

Lmao😂 I’m only in my 20s and even I know who he is... tho to be fair I heard of him from my guitar teacher first 🤓📖😂

[@kenkinnally6144]

One of the rare times the journalist had a better quip than John Lennon, even if he was serious and didn't know who Muddy Waters was. 😄

[@MarkWitucke]

He’s painting the walls over at Chess Records in Chicago

[@lynda3860]

saw muddy waters in london in the seventies he was hugely popular in the UK along with BB King they were only ones I saw live

[@ProdigyBowlersTour]

Most journalists at that time didn't know what the Beatles were, either.

[@SingleTax]

What's often overlooked whenever this issue is discussed is the Telecommunications "Reform" Act of 1996 -- a horrendous bill that (among other things) allowed a handful of corporations to buy up radio stations all over the country, and thereby dictate from on-high which songs get radio airplay and which ones don't.

[@michaelalderete9622]

Yours is one of the single most important explanations of how the music declined. Bravo!

[@makemarker]

Yep, and on top of everything: they are now literally mass producing hits (short-term) by digitally sampling patterns that a computer determines as a potential hit (based on past response). They obviously don't care about the process, they need to pump out music quick enough to keep the money rolling.

[@Rushtallica]

A number of very bad bills have been passed in the '90s and '00s era that have been designed, at least in some form and portion, to allow for much more corporate (and thus political) control over the minds of people, up to and including the ability to openly push propaganda.

[@plokiju88]

SingleTax thank you! You sir are correct.

[@christopherlees1134]

Yes, but rock was dead before that.

[@jagzrule1]

Geddy Lee of Rush sums it up nicely: "All this machinery making modern music, can still be open hearted; it's not so coldly charted, it's really just a question of your honesty, yeah your honesty; one likes to believe in the freedom of music, but glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity"

[@zachsmith3]

Those are Neil Peart’s lyrics. Geddy sang them

[@marshallkohlhaas80]

"Shatter the illusion of integrity YEH "you forgot the yeh on the end... lol :)

[@AaronLitz]

There are people out there who actually claim that desiring honesty and integrity in music is morally wrong and makes one a "Rockist."

[@neuralmute]

@@AaronLitz Wow, I guess I'm a proud Rockist for life, because I love integrity in my music. But what the hell do I know - best show I ever saw was only Neil Young, with Pearl Jam and Soundgarden opening for him, back in '93. Hearing the passion from all of them, with no fancy stage show needed, and the incredible level of gorgeous guitar noise produced by everyone on stage that night was inspiring, and the final encore of Neil and Pearl Jam doing a furious 20 min. version of "Rockin' In The Free World" was incandescent. Who would even write songs like "Rockin' In The Free World" or "Spirit Of The Radio" today?

[@MrJohnnyDistortion]

@@neuralmute When was your 1st R&R concert?

[@rtrrzeid]

What killed Rock. To quote Keith Richards, "they forget about the Roll".

[@hawsrulebegin7768]

And he’s right. God bless him.

[@ayhamshaheed7740]

Hawsrule Begin well he’s survived his near endless amounts of drug abuse, so I’d say that god has most definitely blessed him 😂

[@hawsrulebegin7768]

Ayham Shaheed yep. Or he did strike a deal with the devil!

[@hawsrulebegin7768]

Luke sure he’s been lucky. But he also had access to quality drugs and must have a tolerance level beyond Thor. They should put in a Marvel movie

[@ayhamshaheed7740]

Hawsrule Begin they really should lol

[@ceciliakaplan6488]

"Everyone talks about rock these days; the problem is they forget about the roll." - Keith Richards

[@al1976-v7m]

I thought that was a Tom Petty quote...

[@dam7196]

What does that mean?

[@progmeup]

@@dam7196 It means that good rock and roll needs a groove, not just powerful thrashing. In context, he meant that The Stones had a better swing than The Beatles.

[@dam7196]

@@progmeup tnx

[@progmeup]

@@dam7196 Apparently Keith told John Lennon he should wear his guitar in a lower position, and the next time he saw John, it was a few milimeters lower. And then he said "No wonder you can only rock but you can't roll". Or something to that effect.

[@furthermoore1863]

What Killed Rock & Roll? Quick answer: Culture changes. Technological changes. And the music industry being a money machine over a creative machine.

[@jakefoxx7978]

I couldn't agree more. Nicely said.

[@McDougle625]

Music industry has always been a money machine.

[@st105900]

Ditto! Its like in the early 20th century, people would have wondered, "What killed opera?" It all come down to being able to make a buck.

[@boblatzer]

I share your view.

[@betsybarnicle8016]

@@McDougle625 I think the difference now is the same as the change in the corporate world; Now they want the fastest buck possible. Corporate boards will vote for the worst thing for a company IF it can make a fast, temporary profit....then the board member can cash in and leave before the crash. Music phenoms are the same thing....smoke and mirrors.

[@jamesclaydon1000]

I think it would be really cool if Rick made a list of up and coming rock bands that aren’t getting the recognition they deserve

[@Raddrizz]

I'd like that. The only band I can stomach from today is royal blood. Highly suspect sold out this last record

[@StephxUn]

Check The Datsuns, Wolfmother, Reignwolf, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Hives, Danko Jones...

[@juliadplume3097]

Or you could source them out yourself, like a good music sleuth.

[@TheSilvina45]

There's no market in music anymore, unfortunately

[@PM-vv3uc]

Check out Sleep Token!

[@StanAlter]

Jim Morrison predicted that popular music would become one guy on stage with a bunch of machines.

[@guitaryst]

Nah, that was just the set builder.

[@StanAlter]

David Nash um okay?

[@nonyobussiness3440]

Yep he predicted rap and computer based music. He was right

[@itslikethesamebutdifferent8020]

Andy warhol also said “one day in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 mins”. Social media much...

[@smashdalde9713]

Peter Gabriel also predicted that music would be consumed via the telephone,this was back in the 70's.

[@wowbagger68]

What killed rock? Silly question. What killed classical? What killed Baroque? Nothing killed them, they are all still alive, but time marches on and they all become the music of then, and not now. But seriously nickelback killed rock.

[@robotbjorn4952]

😂😂😂

[@diomedestydeus3298]

I guess you didn't listen to Rick. Watch the video.

[@waketfup1268]

Lol

[@RichusRkr]

ya, them and Nirvana

[@CipherSerpico]

wowbagger68 Lmfao thank you so much for this comment. It’s just too good.

[@ericschlebus6488]

This is literally the best channel on KZbin. A nice break from the endless politics and conspiracies.

[@brabiz67]

Until you commented

[@joeyhyland]

@sgt jake speed watching this on the eve of the election. Nice escape from these crazy times.

[@GladRags]

shut up leftie/rightie

[@shimmeringchimps3842]

I'm so confused by your comment, Eric. I'm subscribed to about 50 channels on KZbin and not a single one of them have anything to do with politics or conspiracies.

[@paisleepunk]

@@shimmeringchimps3842 Maybe he finds a lot of politics and conspiracies in his recommendations.

[@monkmchorning]

Rick, I'm of the '52 generation, too, but my influences go back a little further. I became aware of rock and roll in '62 and started listening closely in the summer of '64. So along with blues I heard the influences of country, tin pan alley, minstrelsy, chasson, and all the mash-ups--rockabilly, Texas swing, uptown R&B, soul, surf, Brill Building--and it was all good. The elements that they all had were a sense of the past, an element of fusion or crossover, en element of surprise, and a sense of drama--setting, tension, climax, and denouement. You could turn on the radio and be surprised, and each song had a way of pulling up out in. We've lost that, first with the sense of the past. In those days musicians listened to the record collections of their elders. Elvis had Lonnie Johnson, Bing Crosby, and Bill Monroe. Bob Dylan had Woodie Guthrie and Cisco Houston. And the Beatles had everything, plus Goffin and King. I had the Ink Spots from my dad, Burl Ives from my mom, and doo-wop singles from my Aunt Pat. Second, for worse as well as better, filtered out a lot of chaff. Making and selling records was expensive and you had to have something special to make the cut. Third, public airwaves and limited bandwidth meant democracy on the airwaves. On one hand FM rock introduced a lot of new sounds, but it was also the tart of market segmentation. Last, people really listened to music. We demanded more from it than background noise, accompaniment to occupy the ears while we were busy doing something else. So my theory has many culprits, but maybe the big ones are the decline of vinyl and AM radio.

[@searchingforlostatoms7191]

I'm 67. Have no fear, there was plenty of garbage in the 60s and other decades before or after. The main difference between nostalgic times and now is the forum that technology has provided. In the 60s, music was available through records, American Bandstand, and AM radio, and to a big extent word of mouth. Today, due to the fracturing of the culture by way of available outlets due to technology, there are so many outlets where music is found, the music pool is very watered down. I am typing on a technology that anyone can pigeonhole themselves into a particular genre and never have to come up for air. In the 60s, super groups were marketed similarly, but the number of outlets for the music was severely limited compared to today. Within a minute, I can find any particular kind of music I want and expose myself to something that would have taken days, weeks whatever to seek out. Availability. Rock wasn't as dominant in the popular culture in those times as you may think. The big difference between then and now is the supergroup phenomena. In 1967, when the Beatles unveiled Sgt. Pepper there wasn't a human on earth that had access to electricity that couldn't tell you who the Beatles were. That doesn't mean they liked them, because there was a huge backlash against 'Rock n Roll' then. It just means the Beatles were known worldwide. Who would that group or person be today? We're so fractured now, I don't think that question can be answered. If I want to hole myself up and listen to 2021 Rock today, I could access it and never come up for air, thanks to the availability of extremely narrow bands of genre out there.

[@Starlesslight]

I agree. Whether it be TV, movies, and video games as well. The tools are out there that let people make things so much more easily, and there are so many ways to distribute it, that there's too much content out there to ever hope to get through it all. The real job becomes finding the diamonds in the rough.

[@gisellesinclair6811]

This is also true of graphic design. Now anyone without any kind of training can create a layout using a template and make a logo using available graphic components. It’s one reason why “digital” power point presentations, newsletters and sushi restaurant menus look so similar.

[@THEBACKROOMSEXPLORER7]

Well said

[@hman2912]

Nicely put. Thanks for the insight

[@esyone3394]

It's BTS. That Korean band surpassed all of the Beatles numbers. People world wide have heard of them and of course not all of them like them.

[@fresnostatechris]

My wife made a good point as well - losing school music programs. There's so much in the music experience that is lost by not being able to participate in early music education. So what kids end up being exposed to has become largely homogenized.

[@MsAppassionata]

Barbara Mulvaney Yes they did, for the most part and it’s a tragedy. I learned to appreciate Classical music by playing the violin in junior high and high school. It really enriched my overall experience. Studies have shown that kids who study music also do better in other subjects as well. It’s really such a shame.

[@george474747]

They didn't mention welfare cuts and the unemployed being increasing forced to work either. In the better days of music, people had more time and space to develop their skills and become a professional-standard musician without having to worry as much about their future.

[@johnd5931]

No, schools did not stop teaching music. That statement is false. Maybe some schools did, but most still do as they always have.

[@sooneron]

@@johnd5931 No most schools have cut music either completely or drastically back from what it was when I was in school. My kdis barely have 1 time a week and we have a great (top 200 nationally) school system.

[@hongkongcantonese501]

That's a great observation. Prince and his cohorts were products of music education in the Minneapolis school system. These programs are the first to disappear when classes need to be cut.

[@johncollins5552]

The late, great Tom Petty wrote an album about this with his frustration at the corporate control limiting rock music.. There goes the last DJ, Who plays what he wants to play, There goes the freedom of choice There goes the last human voice...

[@johncollins5552]

Universal have killed rock music in Ireland, they only sign the most bland artists and saturate the market.

[@edlawn5481]

Better song from that album, "Money Becomes King"

[@bt8593]

Still weirds me out that he's dead. He can't have been that old.

[@TatersUnited]

@@bt8593 He was 66. Should have been around for many more years.

[@5000rgb]

Yeah, it's not the influences or the sounds that make music good or bad, it's when it got turned into a commodity. The radio figure you are going to listen 20 minutes in the morning and 20 in the afternoon going to and from work. They want to make sure you hear a big hit so they play the same songs literally every 2 hours. They just need you to be engaged enough to hear the commercial for mattress king. It's ridiculous because it's not like exciting music is a big turn off for most people but radio really thinks about the music like your favorite restaurant thinks about their carpet. It's a necessary part of the business of selling ads.

[@kinadabambino6872]

I want rock and roll to come back, it’ll be tough but I’ll learn the style and try my best. We can’t let such an amazing sound die.

[@TheSilvina45]

Multiculturalism is more fitted to talentless form of music such as rap and the fact that no one is really buying music since jewtube appears, during limewire years I know kids who still buy music and go to concerts

[@wazzup233]

I want to hear K-Rock rather than K-Pop music. Seriously!!!

[@MW-dd8vk]

It’s still here just not in the charts

[@BillLaBrie]

50 years from now the top songs played back by people on their neuralinks will be Stairway to Heaven and Paranoid.

[@barkbustin]

Country music is even more awful since the 2000s.Hillbilly tractor rap.

[@Savage1776_]

@@JerseyMiller thanks for the list because after Waylon Jennings Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson era I haven't really like country.

[@jimgsewell]

On the Bluegrass side of Country, I’m liking Billy Strings and a group called The Dead South.

[@monsterguy3851]

@@JerseyMiller dont forget stirgill simpson

[@clicheguevara5282]

I can't listen to any country after bout 1980. ..but the electro-country-hop hybrid stuff specifically makes me want to blow my brains out. Lol It should be illegal.

[@bigrig4385]

@@Savage1776_ if you love Waylon Jennings as much as I do, you need to listen to Sturgill Simpson. There's many other good ones, they are just hiding them from true country fans (Cody Jinks)

[@itsArtificialred]

I think the death of Rock and Roll can best be summed up when in some time around 2010 Rolling Stone magazine had a cover article featuring the Black Eyed Peas with the caption of "The Exciting State of Rock and Roll." When the photo represents a group where no one plays a live instrument live as the main reason to be excited about rock, then it is dead as far as mainstream goes.

[@larrygeetar9309]

I'd agree and say, also, that's just about the time Rolling Stone lost all credibility with intelligent media consumers. They completely sold out to the scum of the music business, not to mention their disastrous editorial choices.

[@MrThistlethwaite]

Even before that Spin Magazine had a cover story saying Public Enemy was one of the top 5 greatest rock bands of all time. Imagine that: a group where nobody sang, nobody played an instrument and none of their songs were rock, yet this rock magazine was hyping them to the max.

[@nathanbauman1579]

Rolling Stone is leftist drivel and about as relevant to rock and roll as MTV.

[@gwapoo]

thats what happens when some liberal sjw leftist sits on top of the company

[@scottferguson3842]

Incorrect. Will I Am plays several instruments. Also, 'rock and roll' isn't confined to people playing traditional rock instruments.

[@stratplayr6997]

Actually, MTV had a lot to do with the death of rock music. What you see with MTV is that in the early years ('81 through '83) it WAS about the music - videos were mostly clips of concert footage or simple band performances. And it was a great way for bands to promote tours, new albums, etc. Along the way, videos became more like short films (Michael Jackson's "Thriller" for instance), so all of a sudden you have an art form that is intended to focus on the audible things such as musical talent, songwriting, etc. and as (possibly an unintended) consequence MTV and music videos made the band's visual image more important than the music. And then over time MTV changed its focus away from music and centered itself more on "reality" shows and other programming. I doubt if they even play videos anymore, haven't watched them in years.

[@steveboverie9432]

I can't remember when MTV changed but it was in the mid 90's. What I heard was that the people who had been running MTV decided that they should turn the channel to the net generation. That was what caused MTV to stop showing music videos and became an extension of Nicolodion and the new demographic was preteen to early teen. I heard that MTV 2 played music video but my cable TV did not offer it.

[@MrJohnnyDistortion]

Can't argue that. Also, they have to develop new younger, impressionable youngsters with something different in order to separate them from their (parents) money as the previous age group's financial priorities and life's ambitions change. The last concert that I attended was the Scorpions in 2018 it think in Tampa. From the mid 70s through the 80s I went to every rock concert that I could and after that I slowed down for certain natural, financial and musical reasons. I wasnt impressed with what was coming out. I was really pissed with Nirvana. Every friggin station was overplaying them and then other bands that I thought were foolish and musically insulting groups began to emerge.

[@robertmackenzie2808]

Video killed the radio star, simple huh.

[@patrickmacleod2415]

Totally agree. MTV ruined rock music. That was the beginning of the end.

[@annihilationallenradio5710]

@@patrickmacleod2415 Ruined rock in so far as it isn't mainstream and pushed down your throat. Rock isn't dead.

[@chrisalcala1396]

MTV abdicated their throne as a launch pad for new music back in 1993 and replaced music with reality (narcissism) TV. I found Santana IV while shopping at Target in 2016. I had no idea this new album existed because the local stations didn't promote it and I was blown away by how great is was/is.

[@ericlindsey7751]

I live in the south, Sweet Home Alabama is heard everywhere, every band, every bar, every radio station, all the time. I usually walk out when a band plays it live.

[@thomaswoosley4821]

Agreed. I totally quit watching MTV when they abandoned music videos...same with VH1 and CMT.

It was 1997 when they crapped the bed but sure.

[@AMRARDvermebrungruppe]

As long as there's four dudes who grew up on their parents stack of Zeppelin and Floyd and Sabbath and the Beatles there's gonna be rock and roll. Question is whether it sells.

[@jeffbuckley4453]

Greta van fleet for example

[@williamfilipovich833]

@@jeffbuckley4453 - Good call! I was hesitant about mentioning them, due to all nonsensical bullshit that are being thrown at them by the haters! That cannot get over their clothing style, & hippesque vibe! When it truly comes directly down to the content of their character & most of all, their ability to write, compose, arrange their "original" music & lyrical content & the ability to recreate it during a live performance! Imo... they score straight A's across the spectrum! "Hey, it's only Rock & Roll... & I like it! Seen them live twice so far here in Detroit & managed to get tix to their tour ending homecoming, at the 1st of 3 sold out shows at the Fox in Detroit on 12/27 They're absolutely fire 🔥 live!!!

[@jeffbuckley4453]

oh yea, gvf is awesome and I love the kiska bros!

[@williamfilipovich833]

@@jeffbuckley4453- Right on bother! Keep on rockin 🤘 "GVF" Is flat out 🔥🔥🔥

[@kainhall]

i was like....13 or 14.... found my moms records led zep 2....ive heard of them...... and zz top eliminator.... it had a car on it my life changed that day...... the ~10 years scene are filled with motorhead, iggy pop, ty segaul......i might be a bit of a punk

[@Phi1618033]

1) People stopped going out to see live music. 2) So it was cheaper for venues to hire DJs rather than live bands. 3) So those DJs started to become music producers. 4) Then all popular music started to sound like club DJ music.

[@larrygeetar9309]

You forgot 5) The invention of the smart phone.

[@dj-h8735]

I resemble that statement. Except for one caveat. DJ's use older music as samples thus bringing the blues back into the mix (haha Get it - DJ joke). But noone follows through as listener to discover more. We live in such a spoon fed world no one really cares. The only blues today is the fact that there isn't any blues.

[@bertpainter8385]

Point 1) People stop going out to see live music because the music being played mainly sucked once it started to change

[@Adam-qs5ir]

There are some very talented electronic artists out there. You just have to put in the research to find them. Same can be said about rock.

[@ethanallen2889]

Space Otter ....🖐️Hi Stupid 😂

[@joefaber1381]

The reason why Rock effectively died is totally because of the corporate takeover of the music industry... record labels, radio stations, instrument companies, etc.

[@birdybutch]

are you nuts?

[@dannyapeshit]

@@birdybutch He has a point. Rock bands are more expensive to pay or produce their music and avoid copyright claims etc. when you can just sign one guy/girl to rap or sing over music that is "sampled'" and never worry about copy right claims. Bands you need to pay 3-5 people and they usually tend to break up, while a pop artist or rapper is just one person who can easily continue their brand name without worrying about others quitting the band or whatever.

[@PearLock]

But there's more independent artists now more than ever before dude... Rock stopped pushing boundaries. That's the reason.

[@dannyapeshit]

@@PearLock All those independent artists are like the lower part of the pyramid scheme of music now. Mostly doing it for free and gaining no money or long term career or success. Rock stopped pushing boundaries because there are no more boundaries to push anymore, it's all been done, just watch the doc Kill Your Idols. Rock will always be around, it's just not mainstream because it's not as lucrative for the companies anymore.

[@dannyapeshit]

@@bacioglobal2200 Then clearly you don't know the history of rock n' roll. It started as woogie boogie in poor black communities. This took place at their bars, speak easies and saloons. And the early blues artists were the furthest thing from corporate, they were dirt poor and sang in the poorest of neighborhoods. In its inception it was purely a cultural movement.

[@usaturnuranus]

First two songs our little neighborhood garage band tried to learn were "House of the Rising Sun" and "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". I had my work cut out for me as the groups drummer. We were all just turned 12 or 13... back in 1970. What a great time to hit adolescence!

[@maryannarep]

Me too!!

[@themelnibonean7017]

Music was much better when ugly people were allowed to make it. That is the real truth. Now its more important to look like a model than be talented or innovative.

[@elyaqui5324]

The Melnibonean True! No one cares how Amazing your songs are...they will only sign you if your model looking talentless Ugly music for ugly people!

[@dustynwilkinson699]

Ugly People Still Make Music Awful Music Rap HipHop Pop Homosexual Their Just Wasn't All These Fashion Statements The Celebrity Diva Mentality Is What Is Ruining Music It's Not Even Music Rap Is Talk No Instruments And Pop Singers Use Pro Tools Very Few Can Actually Sing And Lyrics Most Don't Write!!

[@dustynwilkinson699]

Are You Saying Elvis Was An Ugly Guy? And Are You Saying Lady Gaga Who Looks Like A Transvestite Along With Marilyn Mason Are Attractive? You Made A Really Broad Generalized Untrue Statement!!

[@ProgRockNerd]

Yeah, but a model aspiring to be ugly.

[@DC-js4gk]

Think it's more that the scenes have fragmented. Rock was never really mainstream pop many commercial attempts by rock bands were abject failures as ppl saw through them. It's just that some of the truly great stuff broke througg and became very popular: Hendrix, Led Zep etc Even Black Sabbath had a "pop" song on their first album. Abs crap ("Evil Woman"). The hit parades always have had a few great songs in them, just seem to be less now tx to technology and media homogeneity

[@TheContrarianMedia]

You permanently won me over with your criticism of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which removed the caps on the number of stations a single broadcast entity could own. A+.

[@maxpowr90]

Metallica fighting Napster helped kill rock too.

[@jamescurran9002]

Lee Abrams and Randy Michaels for Clearchannel created something called Formatting. Radio stations that pigeon holed genres based on ratings and revenues rather than any concern of artistry . DJs are no longer permitted to play THEIR own unique tastes, which means less exposure for new listeners. Killed not just Rock, but every Genre except the possible exception of Jazz, which has always been off the beaten path anyway. But they tried with the WAVE or Smooth Jazz which was deliberately designed to commercialize Jazz out of existence. But anyway Rock died by the same thing that killed Country, Blues ,etc

[@erozC]

@@jamescurran9002 I once partook in what I recall was a Clearchannel market study some 15-20 years ago. I was thrilled, because I am into music. Turns out I sat for two hours listening to five second sound bites pressing one of two buttons, one meant I would change radio stations, the other meant I wouldn't. To add, I didn't particularly enjoy any of the music, and the song choices were as generic and bland as anyone could ever choose. As a rock music fan, I specifically remember in those two hours there were two clips that played two or three times: One was Three Doors Down's Kryptonite, the other Metallica's Nothing Else Matters. Rarely have I felt so underestimated and so disillusioned about music.

[@raceyboy]

That was when it all ended.

[@arnieus866]

Hey hey, my my Rock and roll can never die There's more to the picture Than meets the eye. Hey hey, my my.

[@fredpacer2474]

@The Grinderman I was born in 1967. I grew up on rock, starting with the Beatles and Stones, then grew with all of it through my youth. Even though I was disillusioned with most of it by the mid 80's, I stuck with it. When Kurt Cobain died though, I turned off FM rock for about 10 years. Rock was dead to me at that point.

[@ottogofast3882]

The Grinderman I love the fact that Kurt is one of the most famous musicians of all time but he was just punk rocker from a small town, it’s annoying how people don’t consider nirvana to be punk 🤦‍♂️

[@PemTheLoathsomeCasual]

Very late to this conversation, but I think Napster was a big factor in music changing right at the turn of the millenium. Record companies quickly realized they could possibly lose their ability to make money. I think this incentivized them to take fewer risks (than they were already taking, which was not much by that time), do things as cheaply and quickly as possible, and repeat. There's not much room for art in a system like that. Rock, being an art, lost a lot of its power.

[@sambradley2975]

Rock N Roll isn't dead, it just went into the Witness Relocation Program. It's still around to an extent.

[@MrYatesj1]

So true!! There will never be another Stones or Bowie or Whom Ever. Once its been done it's done. Creating something that has not been heard is the Next Big Thing! That does not mean computer generated hog wash, it means creative folks with instruments (loosely stated could mean a computer or a guitar.....they are only tools to express with) expressing their reflections of past, present and future.

[@missingremote4388]

I still listen to music CD's in the car and rock classic on the radio from Beatles to southern rock & guns n roses 🎶♨️

[@LandanChurchill]

John Dwyers name doesn't get brought up enough. He's the one who has changed and added his own touch to rock and roll and I never here his name on these channels.

[@manueldeabreu1980]

I think the only thing they left out of the discussion is the impact of classical music. Yes, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Rush, Genesis, etc.... had a lot of soul that came from classical or fusion.

[@WhoWouldWantThisName]

This is another factor for sure, I think. Those artists back in the `60s largely had a very classical or traditional training in music. They actually understood the things Rick Beato talks about (music theory) and that has been fading away over the years. not that it's necessary to make soulful and good music at all, but it allows for an artist to know how to make their music more impactful emotionally. The more recent music that has really grabbed onto people and made them feel something deeply, not through lyrics but MUSIC, have had that understanding and skill set. It's clear to me that the execs at the labels and now even the producers don't have that going for them. They all need someone like Rick in the studio with them to help make their music more emotionally charged and relatable on a subconscious level. Blues and Soul reach through your mind and body and penetrate right into your soul without being filtered in any way. Classical theory and technical understanding of ones craft allows an artist to better reach into the audience with all that beautiful melody.

[@RTDF516]

@@WhoWouldWantThisName !Hahaha! ...This!

[@fortheloveofpipes8432]

I don’t know that I would label Jethro Tull as more classical than blues. They started as a blues band. Ian was not classically trained on the flute (he describes the moment he learned he was playing the notes with harder fingering than was needed because he taught himself).

[@rhythmstyx1945]

fortheloveofpipes Jethro Tull has Jazz roots. Like the other progressive rock bands mentioned.

[@AsadAli-jc5tg]

They purposely did it, they also didn't clearly said it's Capitalism which is killing all art forms, and replacing it with plasticky garbage, they actually went onto say, Ohhh corporations of 90's were bad but Spotify is good! Spotify will prove to an even greater butcher than Ad agencies of the 90's.

[@frankmason1104]

You know what else? I'm old and we would hear one, maybe two songs off an "album" (yeah it was a thing) on the radio. But we wanted to hear it when we wanted to hear it, not once every two hours on the radio. So we'd buy the LP and suddenly find out that there were 8 other really amazing songs on that album. That made us a fan of the band and I'd ruin that LP picking up the needle and replaying the same riff 20 times in a row to learn it on my Gibson ES 125T. Ah, those were some good times.

[@paulgero]

so very true Frank....I used to drive my Mom crazy playing "Do You Feel Like We Do" on a cheap Columbia Records turntable

[@BangBang-hk4rg]

Exactly! I discovered so many great songs by buying a full album because I knew one song on it.

[@rollinmark8952]

Frank - Im 61. That's is why we used to listen to AOR (album oriented rock) stations. They weren't top 40 and they always went a few cuts deeper.

[@waynecribb4922]

We also listened, really listened to parts of songs much like Rick does, often hearing a riff or background jingle. Listening to music has lost out to lazy performers and lazy listeners!!

[@no1philosopher]

I grew up in the late 80s and 90s, went to sleep listening to Wish You Were Here, Appetite For Destruction, I Against I... I had access to all of my mom's cassettes. I missed the LP era, but cassettes and CDs still offered the same ticket to band fandom in the exact same way. You heard a song like Backwater on the radio and went out and bought this Meat Puppets album and dive in deeper. We can still do that, and I try to teach my young kids how albums are works of complete art, and songs are just part, it's best to listen front to back. I got them a CD discman type thing and headphones so they can jam out. They don't use it much, but they're young. I know they'll flock to the collection eventually, and the music will live on.

[@tomcartwright7134]

Gentlemen, excellent explanation of what became of Rock N Roll. Rock is not dead. I have been watching dozens of youngsters on KZbin discovering the great music of the sixties and seventies, and their minds are blown. Even becoming angry that they were denied the opportunity to hear this music until they were well into their twenties and thirties. Rock is not dead, the blues are not dead. They sleep in repose as this generation and the next absorb the greatness of the past. I believe a new generation is on the horizon who will discover the great blues masters and the great rock artists and will be inspired to create the next generation of Rock music. Great music does not die. Take heart, perhaps we all will live to see the next genius who will burst upon the stage and blow our minds. I can’t wait, but in the meantime I have a couple thousand ancient vinyl discs and as they spin on the turntable become a portal of time and sound returning me to the days of giddy excitement when a new song by my favorite band was played by my local radio station.

[@ThePsychicFish]

A-fuckin-men to that !

[@scifiordie]

rock has been dead for 15 years now lol

[@cepherz]

rock never dies, it just took some time off...the cycle will return...

[@jensoncremasco3352]

No it won’t

[@mr.perfect223]

Indie rock has been really popular so rock isnt completely dead....

[@marines.7022]

@@mr.perfect223 ‘rock n roll’ kind of fizzled out a while ago. Genres like you said - post punk, indie/alt rock can be found especially in the English London scene atm but don’t expect to see a new led zeppelin topping the charts because it won’t/doesn’t need to happen

[@neilkendall5499]

In my view, rock never 'took time off' or 'died'. It's still there and has always been there, but it's just outside the mainstream now.

[@amarartemis]

Hey hey, my my... 🪨 🎸💥

[@uneedtherapy42]

My (dumb) opinion Old School: Musicians were ugly (for the most part) and music was beautiful Today: Music is awful and everyone is cute I literally worship this channel!

[@Teleman73]

Steely Dan supports that theory.

[@bxp_bass]

how came that I listen to hundreds of great new albums, released last 5-10 years? Is Insomnium, Alestorm, Powerwolf, Katatonia, Leprous, Therion, Dead Can Dance, etc etc an awful?

[@markk6151]

tru lol

[@MadeRude91]

Haha !! Niice

[@ChadEasley]

Video killed the radio star

[@grfx41]

Hey. Just a simple comment...as an older guy (50) picking up the guitar as a late in life hobby (first instrunent ever), and many of the same influences...I love this channel!

[@YogiMcCaw]

Music goes through cycles like everything else. I have a feeling that we're going to go through a period where the wheat gets cut from the chaff. One thing is that music schools are better than ever now. I live with a 21-yearold whose high school band toured Europe and Australia. His high school has three jazz ensembles because the program is so popular. The local jazz station (independent of course) has a high school DJ night where kids 15-18 yrs old are playing Clifford brown, Art Blakey, etc because they actually love the music. Yes, 15 years old and loves Clifford Brown. So all hope is not lost. The kid I live with can perform Chopin on the piano and won the state championship for solo marimba twice in his age group. He is NOT musically ignorant in ANY sense of the word. He marvels at my jazz improvisation skills. So, my message is - I appreciate what you're saying - but be VERY CAREFUL with the over-generalizations. Don't sell the young folks short - they can surprise you in many ways.

[@jamesdewane1642]

Excellent comment. I'm also blown away by the level of performance to be found in high schools and the professionalism of the instructors. High quality fine arts is more accessible than ever. Instrumentals, vocals, drama, visual arts all are being done to a high level on a massive scale. P.S. Separate the wheat from the chaff, not cut. Might as well maintain the integrity of traditional metaphors while we're at it. ; )

[@MrJohnnyDistortion]

For these young people to aspire and enjoy these artists tells me that the community that you live in must be affluent with very educated parents. Am I mistaken? In the hoodlum school areas its criminal laden rap type music that roiles their minds and destroys their values.

[@raceyboy]

Those schools won't ever have an impact on rock, though. Classical and jazz are great, but not blues influenced which is more about emotion than technical prowess. Rock can't be taught.

[@whatawonderfulworld1118]

I wish i was born in the 1540s, when music was good

[@Peter-sn2wg]

If it came out after 1548, it's commercial garbage.

[@almondjones5267]

Definitely not funny

[@doriankeating1963]

JOSEPH I wish I could give you a million likes for the comment ! Sad that rick is a fairly decent; not great muso and can’t even see the facts ! How does a person that can play so many instruments not have any idea as to why where or how. Maybe he is part of the problem who knows what goes on behind the scenes! And maybe that’s the reason so many top rock bands block him from playing there stuff! Just sayin

[@doriankeating1963]

brad livey your an idiot! Joseph is on the money and you must be a shill or you know nothing about music

[@ludwigvanel9192]

@@JOSEPH-vs2gc I grew up in the 1980s/1990s, did not actively listen to pop music when I was very young, but I did cetch some Wham! etc. then in puberty in the 90s I started actively avoiding it (and I started listening to death/trash metal)

[@manuelsaenz4631]

Great conversation. Let's face it. There will never be another Beatles, another Rolling Stones, another Led Zeppelin, another Cream, another Jimi Hendrix... There's a reason it's 2021 and we're still listening to them over bands from today.

[@Trollificusv2]

Ooh! Let me guess! Is the reason "Because we're a bunch of old farts glorifying the summers of our youth?" I'm pretty sure that's part of it. A lot of what I heard around the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love ('67) really de-romanticized the era for me. Just a whole lotta "Never be another , dammit. These kids nowadays...why I oughta...."

[@spitshinetommy3721]

@@Trollificusv2 It does get old, doesn't it? To say that rock died in 1996 is fucking absurd.

[@darklordish1]

Which bands of today you considered the best?

[@JoeStuffzAlt]

I'm not sure if people would buy their albums. Quite a few older rock bands are still releasing. When Davie Bowie died, it was then when people actually bought his new album

[@Spuzzmacher]

Well it’s weird, you know, because there are japanese 9yo’s that live-perform both the jimmies best guitar work better than they ever did, so it’s not that there wouldn’t be another Hendrix or LZ or Yardbirds because of any technical limitation, and they might even be able to write beautiful, heavy, careening sagas too. But there could be a thousand of them excellent at it and they still won’t be Hendrix or Zep, because they can’t be there in the beginning when blues-based rock was new. …but then that's relative too, bc centuries from now, they’ll look back at the first hundred years of rock as all being “in the beginning”. From Chuck Berry to the schlock of the 2000’s is only 5 decades. I think we’re just in a napster/itunes/pandora slump, bc for a while, the only people still paying for music were people too poor or young to own a computer and steal it, so country, new soul (i remember hip hop & this new stuff isn't it), and boyband pop got all the marketing $ and everything else was effectively defunded.

[@ultrasuede7757]

In my opinion, "American Idol" is the worst thing that ever happened to music, and deserves the most blame for killing rock and roll.

[@fauxnom7735]

Agreed. Pop music is nothing but karaoke. What musicians even play instruments anymore? thoughts?

[@LJ2K2025]

Ed sheeran? And hes pop

[@LJ2K2025]

Gary clark jr, john legend i could go on n on

[@R3TR0R4V3]

What a silly question..really? 'What musicians play instruments anymore'? There's loads of them! ..way too many to list here, that's for sure. Check out the band White Denim, out of Austin, TX.. They're my favorite modern band, with an original, retro touch, playing good ol' Rock 'n Roll. All the members are multi-instrumentalists and are proficient players. They're absolutely amazing live and highly recommend checking them out. 👍

[@Sam-hr9it]

@@LJ2K2025 go on and on

[@marlonb.8243]

I was born in 1961. When I first heard a Beatles tune, it blew me away. I've never heard of music like that before, and rock & roll was totally new to me. BTW, it was "Hey Jude" that I first heard. It was released in 1968 as a "by itself single." It was momentous.

[@kevinbendall9119]

In the last week i have found something new to me: the virtual band. I'm 60, and Yes and Rush, all those bands (All this machinery making my music) that impinged on my classical upbringing are fading away. I don't listen to 'new music' anymore, because I don't care for the feel of it, it's plastic. But these kids I've found on the internet are writing and performing their own stuff, and it's good. I still don't know how much of it is processed, but they seem to have found the roots of rock and blues, and are exploring it in the same way that the bands of the 60's and 70's were stretching the limits of the tech of their day. The fact that the individual artists are thousands of mile apart means nothing to them. One thing you didn't mention was venues, and how where shows were located and ticket prices affected access by younger people. You couldn't go to the local venue and see top acts unless you lived in a major market. Going to see Bob Seger on a friday night with your friends for a few (inflation adjusted) bucks doesn't happen anymore.

[@rke422]

Gr8 point about venues - that deserves an episode unto itself - how it shapes the participation and involvement of folks like you & me = and perhaps what can be done to morph it into a newer, more soulfully informed direction...

[@robertm2000]

To paraphrase Frank Zappa - "It isn't dead, it just smells funny."

[@callumstevenson4824]

I believe he was referring to jazz

[@robertm2000]

@@callumstevenson4824 "I guess that to call it paraphrasing was incorrect - it is a direct quote reapplied. I do think it is applicable."

[@shakeyourguitartutorials]

The phrase is "Jazz is not dead it just smell funny " ; )

[@shakeyourguitartutorials]

Of course he was : )@@callumstevenson4824

[@Charzilian]

You're blind if you think rock music isn't dying.

[@scottwarwick7514]

Rock isn’t dead, you just need to know where to find it.

[@djmozax6069]

That’s accurate, people should dear to find the new riffs and just record them

[@reborn_silence4054]

Well if someone could tell be where to find it I'll be real happy.

[@spht9ng]

@@reborn_silence4054 Alabama Shakes is great if you haven't heard them.

[@RobEverton]

@@reborn_silence4054 Spotify. New music friday and release radar. There are great Rock albums released every week across the globe. It's a great time for prog and prog metal. There are also a ton of older acts still producing (Deep purple, Kansas, for example). It's endless: Petrucci, Animals as Leaders, Leprous, flying colors, neal morse, opeth, big big train, lonely robot, snarky puppy, devin townsend, rpwl, myles kennedy, southern empire, Haken, Riverside, Frost, Novena, Ayreon, Nightwish, Adrenaline Mob, Exploring birdsong, Reign of Kindo, Powerwolf, Muse.

[@clarksmith6850]

Bullet from Sweden. Buckcherry.

[@markrushton5108]

I have done a lot of things in music, including a stint as a DJ. I loved being DJ, and taking people on a journey. Like, this is the Party Bus, I'm the Driver, and I'm gonna take you to Great Place, because I had the Artistic Freedom to do so. But the Corporations took over, and I began losing my freedom to go where I wanted, to play what I wanted. Further down the road the Corporations narrowed the pipes even more. The new listeners had no reference to good music anymore. They just took what was fed them as good, boy bands for example. Most kids don't know the old music. They don't miss it because they don't know it. It's up to us, the Old Guard, to keep the music alive. 🎶

[@mandyharewood886]

My son is nineteen and he knows it. I couldn't let him miss out. What sort of mother does that?????

[@marchristiansen]

RoCK is not dead. It’s everywhere just not on mainstream media. There a millions of new awesome rock bands out there all over the internet.

[@oxyrisin]

marchristiansen Name one.

[@darkfbk]

Bent Knee

[@dijonstreak]

oh....you mean like in Cyberspace.....

[@thanksgivingsandwich]

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, Thee Oh Sees, Tame Impala, Ty Segall, Crumb, Chaz Bundick Meets The Mattson 2, Wolf People, Bass Drum of Death, Wavves, Chicano Batman, Wand, even Ariel Pink. You just have to look. Sure, some of these bands may stray from conventional and normal Rock, but the roots are cemented in Rock. There are prosperous communities everywhere (especially where I live, Los Angeles) that contain local Rock acts that play Rock and have audiences. Rock isn't dead, it won't ever be - though, it is evolving.

[@Zoltan1251]

+VITATIV... the fact that i dont know one band you just named proves that rock is almost dead in mainstream.... i can also name you dozens of bands you dont know but what does that prove?.... that proves the point that rock is not interesting for masses anymore.... Ghost can be described right now as the most mainstream successful rock band and they are not nearly big enough to chart very high in Hot 100 i just listened to few bands from your list and its really nothing interesting....

[@blakethomas5637]

I almost always cite the 1996 Telecommunications Act as the dividing line for "before" and "after." Great video, glad to see there's some like minds out there who get it!

[@tom80]

The music industry wanted consistent revenue and it was not about the music. Just crank out the crap as cheap as possible. This has happened in pro sports as well to create more scoring and generate more revenues. Money runs everything

[@raceyboy]

Greed.

[@princekadeem8689]

I love that you directly addressed the allusion to rap music’s impact on rock’s popularity. Your content is truly golden and I have been exposed to so many fantastic artists. Thank you immensely for what you’re doing!

[@dtpugliese318]

Are you using “blues” synonymously with passion and feeling? Because that’s what I am gleaning from this video. Rhett makes a good point that much of the pop music of today is polished and plastic, and that’s because it only exists to make money. Musicians that make music for the love of the actual music are still out there and you can hear the passion in their music. It’s similar to the movie industry where they pump out sequels because they know it’s a safe return on investment, regardless of quality. Aversion to risk is the enemy of passion and innovation.

[@PaperMario64]

No. He means blues music.

[@zingleraster9124]

Great comment. Safe punt to ensure profit vs creativity & innovation. All in all music is just another brick in the wall, pardon the pun…..

[@kipwilliamson5737]

He isn’t using blues synonymously with passion but he is relating how music that is the derived from the blues from the 20s onward you can feel the passion in that music. Nowadays pop music is devoid of blues and by proxy has a lot less passion and feeling.

[@KathleenMcCormickLCSWMPH]

Good analysis. Back in the 60s we had Motown, pop, rock, jazz, folk and blues predominantly. Oh, and classical if you were a bit more cultured. Most of us gravitated to one or two of these genres,the more sophisticated of us having broader tastes. The discovery of new and old music was the rub; you had to spend a lot of time in record stores, have cool friends who shared their collections with you or be able to get the signal for an underground radio station. I did all three. Music was hard to access and, consequently, we took it very seriously and it transformed our lives. I’m not saying that still doesn’t happen for young people now but there is something to be said for having grater appreciation for something when you have to work hard to get it.

[@iceqtip2764]

Classic rock also exists soley to make money. If re releasing a top selling album 40 years after its release isn't a blatant cash grab by the record companies, idk what is.

[@ReidStefanMusic]

your passion for music is contagious!

[@JackLeeTheFirst]

Wow its reid stefan. Big fan!

[@zq9m3xh8]

CONVERSATION between people has died!!! It's only natural that music, movies, and basically everything else would be in decay. What you're saying about rock & roll is true across the board in all facets of life.

[@Luis-mg5kc]

The Strokes are incredible started in 2000s and Depeche Mode are amazing and still selling out stadiums and are electronic rock

[@johndotcue]

@Danny Dorito the solo from last nite seems pretty bluesy-ish to me, just faster

[@joeybrazil2024]

@@ebee3522 Personal Jesus? 🤦

[@drwrap3431]

You can't send your local DJ a tape anymore and ALL airplay is determined by the mega media corporations.

[@rev1595]

But airplay is less culturally relevant. Streaming services have democratized music alot. That's why the whole concept of the music megastar and big musical movements are becoming passe. Everyone has a world of music at their fingertips with Apple Music, Spotify, and Napster. They no longer have to rely on radio to discover music.

[@rockstar450]

Man you are seriously out of touch... really? You had to schmooze a DJ to maybe play your song on one station versus all the streaming platforms which have massive artists. Soundcloud has arguably given rise to rap due to its accessability

[@drwrap3431]

@@rockstar450 I was referring specifically to over-the=air radio.

[@glenerickson358]

I can't listen to FM radio anymore. Even the classic rock stations ignore the great artists and songs. You will swear groups like Queen, Zeppelin, Idol, etc, were one hit wonders. Like these guys say, the DJs don't have the freedom to control what songs they play.

[@carlostejada1479]

DrWrap Spotify gives you some cents even if your song has a million heards... in the past, that million would be at least one million dollars if your LP/CD cost 1$ you can easily pay a good record production with that. today, you can't. besides Dj's won't play your song no matter what. Why there's no new good music?? if you make chairs and tables free, you won't have any carpenter out there

[@Stardust.Wonder]

I was born in 2002, and in Asia, with none of those cool music, but hey, I'm here, following your channel, listening to Rock N Roll, I think there is hope.

[@Rossturnerphoto]

It's interesting you mention the shift taking place in the mid-90s. That's when I started to not like most of what was on the radio. I never made the correlation before but this is interesting information.

[@jonathanreich6360]

For some of us, what is happening with the internet and spotify is not much different with what happened in the 70s when the album oriented music disappeared and there was the payola scandals with corporate take overs of radio stations. Music went underground for us in the 1980s with a few bands peeking up like REM, The Smiths, The Cure, U2, The Replacements etc. When grunge broke, the corporate world didn't understand that there was the huge frustrated base of people who wanted good music and so Nirvana's popularity stunned them because we weren't part of their previous purchasing demographic. Then Nirvana breaks and all of a sudden companies are signing anything that remotely sounds like Nirvana (which is good for some really good bands like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden but then there are tons of bands that come up with one song which is even close to be any good and the sound gets watered down and slowly goes back to being underground music. What it takes is one band with some universal appeal like U2 or Radiohead to open things up for a while because the audience is there. Until then, I'll keep searching the internet for cool stuff. I stay away from spotify as I'm not going to support this corporate structure. This is a period in time where really good artists, for example, Aimee Mann, Bad Bad Hats, Beach House, and Wolf Alice can do their thing and build a following via the internet and touring. The internet taketh away but it also giveth for those who look for good stuff.

[@Drdogbite]

I appreciate you framing the history and “recession” of rock music. I now understand why I’m bothered by the sound of music produced after about 1990. I find myself going back to all the bands/musicians during the 60’s 70’s and 80’s. If I had not found and listened to your channel I would not understand that “blues music” is at the very heart of all of the music I enjoy. I have really enjoyed all the videos I have watched on your channel. Thank you for all the effort you put into making your videos. Dr. Dave

[@Raddrizz]

I'd say 96 as the title suggest. Linkin parks first few albums were an exception

[@Quatermain98526]

That's probably more your age getting in the way than the music. I'm guessing you were born in the early 70s?

[@seans4893]

“Spotify, the one station to rule them all.”, great line. Love the LOTR reference.

[@spellerlittlewing]

Spotify the biggest rip off to date they pay all that well they ripped off a lot of artists read it for yourself

[@sambradley2975]

In the late'50s, people wondered if rock and roll was dead, in the early '70s,after The Beatles demise & the passing of the great rock and roll triumvirate, people thought rock was dead, every so often, people prematurely write Rock's obituary, but rock got stronger as it metamorphosized.

[@8rr725]

@Mikie E It's not dead. It's just not popular. Jeez, people, man. Don't you get the difference?

[@scherryvalentine9673]

Swans. Will give you hope. You are right about the metamorphoses.

[@vashna3799]

It ran out of ideas in the mid 90s basically. Went through every genre (folk, blues based, psychedelic, hard rock, progressive, glam, heavy metal, punk, new wave, indie, alternative, grunge) . After 1995 it was just recycling the same old stuff.

[@GoldStandardGames]

In 1969, John Fogerty's Creedence Clearwater Revival preserved the genuine American rock and roll and blues at a time when the Brits lay claim to American rock and roll. He inspired many Americans to appreciate American rock and roll, blues, country during the british invasion.

[@sheldonscott4037]

Bob Dylan, the Band ?

[@christophertaylor9100]

Yeah I think its kind of overstated here how America was no blues and England brought it back; there was blues in the R&B Soul stuff from Motown, there was blues in some American bands like Creedence and others.

[@chuckm4540]

CCR was a hit machine who rivaled The Beatles on the charts. Their sound was born out of southern blues - not a bad comparison for boys out of Lodi, CA.

[@GoldStandardGames]

@@sheldonscott4037 but CCR was the world's biggest blues band in their hey days.

[@innis52carra]

The Beatles inspired John Fogerty .

[@johnhauschild5681]

You guys nailed it dead on! Even the younger dude gets it. I was mentored by Willie Dixon for a short while when I was a kid; worked with Solomon Burke as a singer starting around 2001 and in the studio a bit. Solomon and I met singing gospel and anything could pop up in one of his shows, we even did "Mojo" together at a Seattle birthday party for one of the Microsoft dudes. Soul, Blues, Rock'n Roll, early RnB and even some country, all born of the same mother! It's too expensive for me to get into the studio these days so I try to use Superior Drummer in PT but I'm just not a midi guy or an engineer and having a live drummer making his own choices really sets the creative pulse in motion. These days you're supposed to be a one man band-studio-record company...I'm a frickin' singer, player and song writer, that should be enough, eh? Long live folks makin' real music, Amen!

[@dantierney5563]

Man, I feel for ya.

[@peterbetts858]

Buddy you knew the Big Man on the bass ! too Cool .im a big fan of all his work . Without Musicians Music Dies , and We CAnt Stand for That , I love What Neil Young says between cuts on Hawks n Doves ,before Union Man , = Live Music Is Better ,Bumper Stickers Should Be Issued ! =

[@drbassface]

I played Bass on a Session...putting the right amount of “swing” to a classic funk classic riff. Then:The Grid! The young engineer, after my take, immediately pulled up “Beat Detective” and removed every bit of swing and grease I had put on my bass line. The guy had no idea of “the feel” and what he was removing, until I explained it to him. Great video Rick, on the homogenization of recorded music.

[@PapaWheelie1]

drbassface - somewhere it became better to remove the players from the music but that blows me away

[@nebraskadean9656]

Thats it The way music is mixed today just takes all the enjoyment out of it. take an mp3 and just run a good EQ edit on it in Audacity and what sounded uninteresting before sound great after if you know a little about where to cut and where to color. plus you can see that nearly everything produced after the 80s is maxed to the red which the normal human ear just doesn't want to take in all the time.

[@robaerto71]

I love Adele but it would have made even more sense if you had brought up AMY WINEHOUSE!!! When here voice, here personality and ironically (closely) here name isn't blues, what is?!?

[@danielhillwick8430]

I no longer listen to "corporate radio"... it was corporate radio that killed rock and roll! You all set it super polished and super safe. There are still extremely great artists out there that cannot get their stuff on the radio due to corporate bullshit "super polished" "super safe"

[@CAguyinTX1]

Another winner. Deregulation of the media allowed large corporations to buy all the radio stations in one market, or many markets. They did so, and made every region sound the same!

[@ArnoldVeeman]

true

[@lotuswebteam]

It was Nickelback wasn't it?

[@tangogrrl]

X Scripps Now that's funny. NIN fan by chance?

[@lotuswebteam]

I like them ok. I don't own any of their records.

[@KCLProd.]

I wish I could upvote this comment a thousand times.

[@gabriellefagan1014]

X Scripps for christsakes mate,your right.

[@nicolasnicolas5238]

😂😂😂😂

[@amysedai]

Wow, spot on about the radio and programming. I work ten hours a day at a factory where no personal music is allowed, so I'm stuck listening to the radio all day and I have to say I can't even stand it anymore! I was such a huge music lover, and still am in my free time, but as soon as I am working alone I unplug the radio because I would rather spend ten hours listening to saws and cnc machines than have to hear it. Every station, rock, pop, country, alternative, whatever, has about 6 hours worth of music that starts to repeat eventually and it's the same exact Playlist in a different order every day, so you hear the same 8 AC/DC songs and the same 8 Pink Floyd songs, and the same four Metallica songs, (all from the black album), etc. every single day. I used to really love that album, but I can't stand it now. Iheart Radio is a giant corporate mediocrity machine that makes me hate most of the music I once loved because they decided what's acceptable to play on a rock station, and they shove it down your throat until you never want to hear "Thunderstruck" or "Sweet Child o' Mine" ever again. I live in Oregon, the Portland metro area and there is no station here that plays rock music that was made after the early 90s. There's plenty of it out there, but no place for it on the radio here. Lots of "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Don't Stop Believin'" though...

[@amysedai]

Duane Allman okay, I will check it out . Thanks.

[@danrose9493]

No Kidding , I've actually heard the same playlist the same day 4 hours later every song in the same order ... too bad D.J.'s don't exist anymore , you know , Trivia, Call ins , local Band interviews , an in-depth block of a particular band , deep trax , tickets for shows , songs covered by several bands back-to-back , extended stuff, reaching wayyy back , sheesh ... ... nothing is local anymore ... just sad ...

[@Seth9809]

Did you hear they went bankrupt? Hmmmm

[@mikemadden2729]

I listen to 8 or 9 different alternative stations & switch between them. That works pretty good to keep things fresh. One is in Moscow, Russia so when everyone's playing "morning music" they are playing afternoon stuff. I'm spoiled rotten by Little Feat, Dixie Dregs, Hellecasters, Phish, etc.

[@mikemadden2729]

Dan Rose - DJs exist on most of the stations I mentioned.

[@billyboyer]

I've always said rock and roll died in 1995 after The Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. And it wasn't rap or country that killed it off. Those genres were freaking co-existing with rock and roll. Snoop, Tupac, Garth, Massive Attack. It was a great time to be alive. I was in radio for 7 years during that awesome time and witnessed rock's death. It was like losing a parent.

[@mab7175]

Where you drum up these fairy tale stories from.

[@MW-dd8vk]

Rock is not dead. You just don’t see it in the Top 40. There’s plenty of bands out there making great music but people aren’t looking in the right places and then say that all modern music is complete garbage

[@billyboyer]

@@MW-dd8vk most of it is complete garbage. The lyrics are lacking quality and the auto tuning has taken away the most important instrument of all, the human voice. I've listened to the new stuff. Spirit Box is pretty good. But where are the Guitar heroes? Where is that powerful rhythm section? Or that unique voice that propels the song? And if you sit down and listen close to the new stuff, will it be played 30 years later? No it won't. That's the key.

[@westernartifact4163]

Rock coincided with Hip Hop when Hip Hop was an independent category. Hip hop stopped being a genre and became a "sound". From there, it took over everything and made other genres hybrids of Hip hop.

[@jackwezesa1081]

@@MW-dd8vk Agree. College radio is still awesome. You do have to search . I do have to agree with Steve Lukather from TOTO though . He states that there are talented musicians out there but they just aren’t making great songs !

[@paulcallender2106]

The dude on the right looks like what H3H3 will look like in twenty years

[@paulallen575]

lmao i think he looks like a mixture of h3h3 and fat mike

[@punkgrl325]

Mitchell Hawthorne LOL

[@MajorMorrozov]

Paul Callender who?

[@andocobo]

That’s exactly what I thought when I first saw him

[@SkeeterMcBeater]

that's what he looks like now

[@BeastieBoiseIdaho_RK]

Auto-tune and reality tv shows like "American Idol" and "The Voice" killed rock.

[@geofftayloruk]

How?

[@bryanjacobsen5005]

How? Lack of new and inspired material for one. The corporate music world decided they could shove pre-written, uninspired music. All music that get pushed is written by a few insiders, and then performed by for hire musicians fronted by a chosen singer who may or not be able to sing, but has a marketable image. "Naturally" formed bands who make it on the basis of their talent have been pushed to the side. Use of computer technology has often removed the human element. Etc etc. The list goes on...

[@stevenwebber2614]

@@bryanjacobsen5005 woodstock 50 is upon us....ppl are waking up from religion, and we finally have a gutsy president again for a change. rock is coming back with a vengeance.....ROCK NEVER DIES! U like rock? grow your hair...ditch the football games....sober up....get to know Jesus.....i did. get ready for a big surprise....gonna be kool!

[@stevenwebber2614]

and...vinyl is back too

[@albertwjoell]

Hey John those shows are the RESULT OF the death of rock. Generations of kids not wanting to learn an instrument, or learn to sing, because technology (Auto-tune, etc.) makes it easy to create a sound by pressing a button. The "sampling" of real music to create revenue, by not having to pay musicians. Remember those shows are a bunch of people doing covers. So the (rock killing) music they're doing already existed. Nowadays a "concert" is people looking at someone standing on a stylised platform, in a halloween mask "playing" a computer!! I could not believe my eyes the first time I saw that! I have pictures of a "headliner" on stage with one guy spinning a CD!! The most uninspired "karaoke" I have ever experienced. Luckily I was in the real band that played so I didn't PAY to see that :-) Rock on, man!

[@juanitadaleslusher9628]

Pulling music out of the schools!!

[@celtjim994]

Being in band, orchestra or choir made us appreciate both the music itself and what was required to create it. Understanding rhythms and knowing what harmonization was made listening to any kind of music so much more than just a catchy melody.

[@jazzbecausejazz]

Exactly.

[@ambling100]

Trouble is, these days there is little chance of any band making it through without their sound and image being shaped by the record companies

[@-108-]

These days? Hahahaha That started many decades before "these days."

[@michaelreinhardt7137]

I was born in 72. My first recollection of rock music that hooked me was on my Dad's reel to reel player and recordings he made while on board the aircraft carrier the Hornet. Recordings of Cream, CCR, and Iron Butterfly but the one that stands out the most is "Time of the season" by the Zombies and I was hooked. 👍

[@neugey]

Another huge contributing factor was the American Idol and reality TV craze. The music industry became much more focused on celebrity and vocals. People quit caring altogether in pop/rock about the instruments and quit writing good hooks/riffs to go with the vocals. And you can't discount grunge's hand in the problems to come - that scene had riffs that were more subtle and nuanced, not as direct or very important to the overall song.

[@diybikeguy6804]

You are 100% right. Every time a new one of these singing and dancing show with the idiotic scripted drama comes on, I want to smash my TV. Let's see a band show. Or will they just ruin it by writing in some fake drama as well.

[@999gremlins]

Excellent point

[@SRHMusic012]

I remember the day in the late 1980s when MTV had a new show about some guys forming "a band." It was when "a band" started to mean some people that sang and had some dance moves while the musicians were in the background or on tape. Ugh. Fortunately there was still some good music being made, just ignored in the mainstream (Jeff Beck, SRV, STP, Perl Jam, the Chili Peppers, ZZ Top, etc. all kept going or were starting).

[@ytubeanon]

+Mike N "grunge's hand in the problems to come" dumbest music opinion I've ever read, grunge/alt/punk moved rock forward, made it relevant to newer generations and revitalized a stagnant form

[@inphanta]

Mike N I disagree. I think people overestimate the influence of pop and idol shows. Pop music has always been around and coexists alongside rock and other forms of music. If rock had been in decline, it’s not because of the existence of other types of music.

[@batteriefarm]

If rock is dead, why do they have to keep trying to convince us? I've been hearing this phrase ad nauseam for 30+ years.

[@nkw1985]

Rock & Metal have been the primary music genres i've listened to most of my life and while that style of music isn't completely dead it's definitely on life support and closer to being dead than ever before. Every decade since the 1950s had major rock phases and musicians that dominated culture until Nu Metal died out in the mid 2000s. There's many reasons for it including the Telecommunications Act, the internet which brought Napster and digital music to the masses, MTV transitioning from rock music to hip hop and reality tv shows, and generational/culture changes.

[@8rr725]

+caffine8ed It's not that it's dead. It's not popular anymore. I'm sure you can see that, can't you?

[@samwatkins75]

@@SweetPablo972 ...Royal Blood , 21 pilots, Artic Monkeys, Cage the Elephant, The Black Keys, Jack White, Highly Suspect... just to name a few that are newer, active bands still putting out great albums... Of these, Royal Blood and Highly Suspect are the newest. Royal Blood is super heavy and have put out two great albums! Thier first album is amazing but there isnt a bad track on any of thier albums...Check out thier video for Out Of The Black...

[@mrburns366]

@@samwatkins75 Royal Blood are great but i lot of people haven't heard of them. If they'd dropped in the 90s they'd be huge like Nirvana was. Instead the have stuff like Miley Cyrus dominating culture

[@AnarchistMetalhead]

@@nkw1985 after nu Metal the leading new genre became Metalcore in the early to mid 2000s, then Deathcore in the late 2000s, and after some years without a mainstream recognized style Djent became the one, although that didn"t make any bands big

[@shawnwhisenhunt2984]

I love live music! The music from the 60s, 70s,and the 80s seems to be endless. The movie and tv industry seem to use music from those eras constantly. Our music seems to have heart and soul.

[@fotoman91]

College stations are a major force in exposing our country to new music that isn't mainstream. That's how U2 and Nirvana came to the attention of the public.

[@josesbox9555]

fotoman91 Yeah. AC/DC was a college band.

[@Adam-qs5ir]

They're being bought buy the big media corporations. A station I used to listen to out of Lawrence Kansas is now a top 40 station. I was introduced to The Dead Milkman, Sioxsie and the Banshees so forth through that station.

[@arthowardmusic3209]

WRAS in Atlanta was a 100,000 watt college station that gave REM their start. Now it just rebroadcasts NPR (and we already have an NPR station!).

[@butterman2205]

Check out RED CAN, you might like them ;) Lyrics are awesome

[@howie9751]

U2 came to the public's attention by MTV.

[@gaetano5669]

“Video flagged for copyright. Warner Bros. owns the phrase rock and/or roll”

[@garyfrazier5414]

And here I thought it was Reverend Lovejoy.

[@PPhelan9]

Rock isn't dead, it's dormant like a snow-covered volcano. One day it will erupt and spew molten rock all over the world like it did in the 60s. Blues power!

[@bachrocktheamericahatersan5799]

PPhelan9 the same was said about vaudeville.

[@jamesrichard5290]

I like the ejaculation metaphor. I am down to money-shot rock music all over the interwebs!! lol not mocking you. i share the same sentiment. just trying to lighten the mood cus the state of music now breaks my heart

[@bachrocktheamericahatersan5799]

banks true but the last time rock got a much needed shot in the arm was when Van Halen 1 hit the airwaves and that was 40 years ago. If rock returns it will have to be reinvented to the next level.

[@brkfstchmp]

Music goes in phases, but rock as we know it is totally dead. Electronic and DIY influences are gonna take over. Look at Mac DeMarco, War On Drugs, etc. Rock but lo-fit and synthesizer based

[@ZiddersRooFurry]

Burlesque, Vaudeville and rockabilly have been enjoying comebacks. Swing, too. Maybe not on mainstream radio but there are plenty of bands out there touring and playing that music/performing.

[@paulbyrne2035]

Hi Rick I’m 63 still playing my own songs in a power trio, The Razed. Influences from hardrock and punk. Alternative/Grunge style. Had a gig last week after 3 years hiatus due to Covid. It was great! Even got an encore. I will keep rocking until I’m sick or no one claps. My question to you is: Do you think we will get another mega artist/band like Bowie, Sex Pistols, Prince, Nirvana etc. Or are we doomed to listen to formula pop that has a 1 week shelf life? Enjoying your insights. Cheers, Paul.

[@foxmatte1914]

Only a new generation of musical ears and mind can tell. Either they’ll raise rock&roll back to life or continue to make it a fabric to tailor a new genre of music to fit their time...the spirit of rock and roll is looking down upon us waiting for the right time to reveal itself once again.

[@jml-rj5re]

"Before there was Pro-Tools, there were Pros" - Jay Graydon.

[@guysaltis1668]

Doctor Mu Yeah yeah. Now there are just “tools”

[@ElectromagneDikk]

Doctor Mu and we have a winner. Your statement is so significant and people don't even fucking realize it

[@ahmednajmuddinmutadil3712]

The pro "Pro-tools"

[@nathanpapp432]

I think the punk movement would have something to say about that. That sentiment is just elitist bullshit.

[@thethrashyone]

Nice elitist snap-back, but it ultimately falls flat. Takes a lot more skill to independently write, record and mix your own music nowadays than it was to be a record label slave 30 years ago, having the sound engineers in the recording studio do 80% of the work _for_ you. Sorry, but artists who were backed by record labels in those days were essentially pampered shits who could've stood to learn a thing or two from the grueling work that goes into sound engineering. Perhaps OP should try it himself instead of shitting on it.

[@jshackelford31]

In New York City there was a station named K-Rock that no longer is around.

[@LogieT2K]

60’s and 90’s rock will always be my favourite It will never die in my heart We have a dedicated rock staion on the radio here in NZ and it can get a bit repetitive but they also provide a platform for up coming kiwi bands and its really great to hear fresh stuff from local bands

[@JohnDoe-od7ye]

My two favorite eras of music, especially rock, are 1965-1970 and 1991-1996 (my coming of age). These two 5-year spans are really magical. Sure, a lot of good music outside of these eras but these 2 movements are the pinnacle of what music, especially rock, can be. Sadly, I don’t think we’ll ever see anything like it again.

[@jal051]

There's a whole universe of wonderful 80s punk that is mostly unknown to people. Specially the Aussie bands!

[@gazza625]

I listen to that station here in Oz. One of the best!

[@elduderino3995]

But the 2000s had the garage rock revival, although it didnt last long, i think it was pretty significant.

[@mattgilbert7347]

EL DUDERINO Indie isn't dead. Arcade Fire proved that.

[@elduderino3995]

Matt Gilbert but they're more art rock, when i say garage rock, i mean more of like the traditional rock sound or vibe.

[@elduderino3995]

Slacker101 ok, tell me, dont the white stripes and wolfmother sound like led zep, The Darkness andFoxy shazam are reminiscent of Queen, The Libertines are like a less aggressive Sex Pistols, this is what i mean by the traditional sound

[@elduderino3995]

Slacker101 the core element of rock, the energy, the hugeness of in it all, the aggressive sound, all these things. Arcade Fire imo sound more like a coss between Bowie, Lou reed or Pink Floyd or something, a more avant garde, experimental sound. When i say garage rock revival i was talking about what these guys were referring to, the simple back to basics rock music of the 60s, 70s, brought back through a modern feel, i don't think Arcade Fire are the beat representation for Rock as a whole, i know is a large and dynamic genre, but what comes to your mind first when someone says "rock"

[@80sOGRE]

but not new. if anything, many of those bands were fortunate to ride the wave were actually the result of more organized corporate models now fabricating music trends which is why many of those bands sound like sanitized versions of other bands from the past. in short corporations repackaging the past on their own market terms. heck even Nirvana became big not because of those of us raised on 80s hardcore but rather 16 year olds who hadn't heard that sort of music before. how easy is it to become a major successful street rock grunge band when your surrounded by boy bands, hip hop and RnB ballads in the charts ? you stick out like a sore thumb. if Nirvana had of been 10 years earlier they would have been just another band swallowed by the likes of Black Flag , Dead Kennedys Etc.

[@pgvv643]

Man, you guys hit the note when you said "taking chances". There is no art when that ain't there.

[@michaelquintana1178]

ya cause we like that when musicians go out on a limb...we are like ooh man hes doing what is not the advised way to do it .. but when it works it kicks ass ….u got to not be afraid to fail. we can feel the excitement when they buck the system or the norm..

[@kitano0]

While shopping the other day, I could not believe the stuff I was hearing via the piped-in music service. I don't ever listen to modern pop, so it was a shock to the system. It honestly sounded like "Kidz-Bop" to me, or stuff that wasn't far from that. It was depressing. I knew it wasn't my thing...but I didn't know it sucked that bad.

[@hangaroundrecords4761]

Blues music is just so full of resilience! I think that’s what we all love about it. No matter who you are you can connect to that. It’s just so human.

[@tampabaybuccaneersfan7904]

The music industry should have seen the internet coming, they were not prepared at all.

[@deanroddey2881]

What would they have prepared for? They aren't in the IT business. The internet in the mid-late 90s wasn't anything like it is today. Changing their entire business over to an online scheme would have been a huge gamble, and once they were done they'd still have to deal with the fact that a huge percentage of people were just going to steal it anyway. And, about the time they had spent a huge amount of money on that, streaming services would have been next. How do you prepare for that? Other than firing most of your employees and cutting way back on investment in new acts and stopping taking chances because you can't afford it anymore? And of course everyone ignores the fact that the music could not have become the sellers of the product. They would have gotten into all kinds of anti-trust problems if they had set up themselves up as the sole outlet for their own product.

[@gooble69]

The music industry's whole business model is based around the control of distribution of information. How do you do that on the Internet instead of shipping boxes? Exactly like Spotify or Amazon or Netflix did...

[@deanroddey2881]

Like they did a couple decades later, when the internet was a vastly more mature system (it's still basically a piece of crap, just less so than it was to begin with.) People have to keep in mind that in 1998, the internet had been public for a whole three years. The concept of something like Spotify (and the many devices out there capable of streaming that information and the infrastructure required to do so) weren't even remotely available at that time. Netflix makes their money shipping physical product. Amazon makes it's money shipping physic products. Spotify is the only one that doesn't, and it has struggled to survive in a world where even the wee bucks they bother to play for the music they stream is hard to compete against free.

[@gooble69]

You are confusing the Web with the Internet which was invented in the 70's. Spotify's market cap is higher than Universal Music, but apparently that is struggling to survive? Netflix could buy all the music labels combined and have change. The music industry dropped the ball when the Internet revolution came. Now they are paying the price (literally paying in commission to Apple and Spotify)

[@lopezb]

Nobody "foresaw" it. It developed organically, and quite quickly. We are all swimming in the water, and it feels wet. Try to describe "wet" to someone who has never seen water. What will things be like even 5 years from now? We may think we know, but we have no idea.

[@gunnerdee84]

In the early days of Rap, in the 80's, their was a lot of sampling of classic rock. Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin immediately come to mind. If it wasn't a direct sample it was heavy guitars, thick bass and drums. As with most things, time changes things and the 90's brought a different sound. I didn't really appreciate the connection until I started playing guitar in my 40's and started listening to old classic rock mainly from the 60's and 70's. It had a blues feel and at times a funk groove. That is my favorite rock and roll, it is hard for me to get into the more modern rock/metal. But maybe I'm just not giving it a chance.

[@spb7883]

This resonates with me. Another difference I hear is that a lot of rock players in the 60s and 70s - Hendrix, Zappa, Page, Clapton, many others - sounded *brighter* than players have since metal and punk became prominent. Especially from the 90s on, rock guitarists to me not only sound too thick, they sound too dark. The result is a muddy sound to my ears, which isn’t helped by the fact that much rock since the 90s has also been simpler musically compared to 60s/70s stuff. The earlier players, a lot of them had *ideas* !

[@gunnerdee84]

@@spb7883 I agree with your points I think the more modern let's say 2000's on, metal has left the blues and it is a different sound, the blues does not have to be very hard heavy and thick. Yes groups like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath put a hard Edge on the blues sound but to me that is nothing compared to the heavy metal of the modern years. Your point about sounding brighter, I really didn't think of that but I have to agree that it is a important point

[@spb7883]

Derek Jennings I agree with you. I think another component to this may be that among some the 60s/70s groups we’ve cited, rock and roll was a primary influence, but it wasn’t the only influence. A lot of rock musicians - especially in the 60, but also in the 70s - listened to a lot of music apart from rock, and one can *hear* the results *in the music* . I can hear James Jamerson in John Paul Jones’ bassline to “What Is and What Should Never Be.” I can hear the jazz influences in the changes to “Michelle”. By contrast, by the 80s the overwhelming influences I could hear in rock were earlier styles of rock, a tendency that increased in the 90s. It’s as if rock musicians stopped listening to other styles of music.

[@hotrodjones74]

You'll eventually get into metal and new rock. This taste takes a while to develop. I used to not like metal, but now I do. You should listen to Metallica, Opeth, Agalloch, Bathory - Hammerheart. This is essential metal listening. Strangely enough I got back to the roots, I started to listen to some blues.

[@larrymixer144]

The change to all the computer synthesis and auto fill of riffs and beats . It took the human out of music and you can't get very excited that you can load to your computer and just play with the programmed parameters and say hey this sounds alright and think you just made a new song. You can even get an app for writing your vocals.

[@grajmahal]

Just because music is "devoid of blues" does not mean it's not rock music (think Deep Purple, Metallica- more classical based than blues). Quite honestly, what you are all missing is the fact that "popular" music isn't really popular music. Since the dawn of digital downloads, music has become very fragmented in it's genres. And rock music is this giant classification of a whole lot of genres and subgenres. It's not dead, it's just fragmented into a bunch of pieces. And there is an amalgamation of digital music and roots type music that is happening now, whether you recognize it or not. Take a look around, I see a lot of very successful bands that are really rock bands with influences spanning from a lot of places. Queens of the Stone Age, Kurt Vile, The Decemberists, My Morning Jacket, Radiohead, Wilco, Mark Lanegan, Dinosaur Jr., Primus, Mastodon, I can keep listing them.

[@wowomah6194]

One thing, Deep Purple was probably A LOT more blues than classical. If anything Deep Purple was a heavy blues band with classical moments in the solos.

[@wickedlee664]

grajmahal metálica and deep purple are blues based.

[@grajmahal]

You can maybe make an argument for Deep Purple- but Blackmore was definitely inspired more by classical music. But if you think Metallica was blues based, you don't know anything from Metallica. Just listen to Ride the Lightning or Master of Puppets- especially the acoustic parts and you tell me how much blues music you hear. The very basis of their sound came from taking classical music elements. Cliff Burton was especially influenced by this.

[@Reno_Slim]

Space Ghost 54 Primus sucks!

[@jackmckenna8410]

prime example... Deep Purple's "Wring That Neck", blues structure with classical style licks. If you don't know this song, you need to put away your Machine Head for a while.

[@TurqoiseHexagonSun]

My fav part is at the very beginning when Rhett sits down and immediately hits a chord that compliments Dave's blues licks

[@theairships5113]

I think rock n roll used to be huge because it empowered kids. I think kids from the late 90s onwards began being empowered instead by the internet, the new freedom of cell phones, major advancements in video games, and then, finally, smartphones in 2008. The kids no longer needed rock for empowerment or rebellion. It stopped speaking to them in the way it had in the past. In their heyday, rock musicians did more than make music, they made statements that the masses needed made. Now it's just another musical genre, no statements made, and no statements needed.

[@Zoltan1251]

this.... people forget that major technological advancements did put music down from pedestal.... back then only thing you had was TV and record player and you controlled only record player and it was exciting to listen to new bands.... now you download, listen and back to video games

[@aavila1206]

This is probably the most accurate comment in the entire internet explaining modern popular culture

[@CAguyinTX1]

Winner winner, chicken dinner. I've been saying the exact same thing. Smartphones are the biggest reason teens are no longer interested in learning to play - they would rather have the heads down looking at a tiny video screen.

[@ElectromagneDikk]

TheAirships what an interesting insight

[@debbiewasshername]

good points. music doesnt mean as much as it used to in the olden times due to technology

[@burkholdst.rudderberg3574]

When MTV came out in 81, the music business started to focus on MTV's audience which was 13 year old girls. Since young teenage girls could care less about Canned Heat, Humble Pie, Foghat, Ten Years After, and the late Jimi Hendrix, Rock & Roll's output was smothered by the influence of the Pop Stars and Boy Bands the girls desired! Later, when rebellious teenage boys had no radical musician to speak for them, they grabbed on to RAP -- burying Rock & Roll even deeper! Rock & Roll ( much like an honest man ) is not dead, just a little harder to find!

[@rjmilitante2787]

'Find people that can write their own music' -- these people have record contracts because they are good looking, not because they're the best songwriters.

[@conniethesconnie]

The rest can be corrected. They can have someone else write the songs, compose and record the music, sing background harmony, autotune and fix the timing on your singing, lower your volume in the mix in favor of those background singers. They can have your pictures and photoshopped but eventually you will have to face your audience. Almost every band has a backing track when they play, they can turn your mic on and keep it so low in the mix no one actually hears their live sound. But no amount of makeup and padded bra's can hide ugly they have to look somewhat attractive on stage and live TV.

[@billypilgrim7838]

RJ Militante especially women

[@TheJoemm]

@@WhoWouldWantThisName so true

[@exactemphasis]

I've always said Britney Spears killed music. Once large record companies realized they could take a pretty face, write them a catchy song, pay radio stations to play the heck out of it and make money it was all over. Once they start falling out of favor, replace them with a new face and start over. Britney Spear's songwriter and production crew moved from her to Kelly Clarkson to Katy Perry to Taylor swift and now Ariana Grande. Looks like Camilla Cabello's gonna be next

[@miguelpereira9859]

@@conniethesconnie You can always use crazy costumes and lots of make up. Lady Gaga and Sia are plain looking women and they managed to find ways to hide that fact

[@jmayer29]

I have a number of friends in their 20's and 30's (I'm almost 58) and I'm constantly introducing them to classic rock and classic country. Boston, Stones, Pink Floyd, Bryan Adams, Alabama, The Highwaymen, Garth, Glen Campbell, etc. I also throw in generous helpings of Sinatra, and all sorts of stuff from my dad's generation. My one big regret is not taking up guitar as a kid...

[@Unmarked_1]

Rock isn't dead, it's in the bar scenes across America. I'm in a 70s rock band and we get more gigs than ever before. Club Owners are tired of the same old hip hop beats.

[@Unmarked_1]

Play we're an American band by Grand Funk and see what happens

[@michaelquintana1178]

that's nice to know.... but I don't do bars anymore......

[@sgtcreasegrease]

Believe it or not, so are some Hip-Hop artists. Trap is thankfully starting to die out

[@donlebo6824]

@Trumpenstein HAHA, yeah, I can see Hell's Angel clubs, cranking out EDM moozik. That'll be the day.

[@diatonicjon]

Dude. Hendrix got me and blew my mind when I was 4 years old, 1993 or 94, in the back of a 1985 Chevy K-5 Blazer listening to All Along The Watchtower (THANK YOU MOM!!). It wasn't my "must play guitar" moment, but it was more like a spiritual moment. The blues is a spiritual thing, no doubt.

[@julianmorrisco]

Cultural change killed popular music as an art form. To be clear, plenty of people are still producing rock etc as an art form, it just doesn’t matter to young people. It was always young people who drove the cultural tsunami that was 60s, 70s, 80s and early 90s music as an important part of the zeitgeist. Music was identity, comment, art and protest. Music just doesn’t matter as much anymore. Ironically, or perhaps not, there’s more music everywhere but it doesn’t capture the imagination of young adults like it used to. Why? I don’t know for sure, but the internet, Hollywood and the rise of gaming all play a part. I agree that quantisation, and a reduction in the opportunities for musicians to play live again and again and again reduced the number of people who could play in a particular way. The Beatles played 6-7 nights a week for months in Hamburg but with DJs this stopped being common. Records were like precious artefacts, hard to get (the cool, interesting ones) and expensive for teenagers. Nobody battles in the streets based on their music style identity, not that this was a good thing but it showed how important music used to be. Mods vs Rockers, Skins vs Punks etc. Perhaps that time has just run its course.

[@viciousattackvideo]

Yup exactly, it ran it's course. It had a good run. Even if world class creative talents materialized out of thin air, it wouldn't matter much because of the vast amount of noise (endless supply of music everywhere) and countless other avenues to entertain oneself, from phones and everything on them, the entire internet, games, etc

[@awickedtribe]

Rock Radio and the Industry behind it is what killed rock music. Between 65 and 75, you could hear Black Sabbath followed by Jim Croce and then Sly & the Family Stone all on the same station. I knew rock was dying when a new station popped up that only played Metal. Stations became specific to a genre, which resulted in listeners losing interest in anything but a particular music, which meant they weren't exposed to any other types. We started out eclectic but then the Industry funneled exposure which narrowed what we heard. I was with a female friend on our way to go party and I was excited for her to hear my new tape... Gene Loves Jezebel's 'Immigrant'. That albums rocks and I put it in. After a song or two, she asked me to put on something else. I asked her if she didn't like GLJ and her response was "I've never heard it on the radio"