Sting has released an album of album of lute music, citing as his reason that rock music today has come to a standstill. The album may or may not be any good, but the argument doesn’t hold water.

First of all, Sting writes his own rock songs. That’s why he left The Police; the band was run too democratically, with the lesser songwriters contributing as many songs to each album as he did. When they pursued solo careers, Sting was the only one to match the success of The Police.

Therefore, even if rock music does stink today, he’s not obliged to follow current trends. He could keep “moving forward” on his own. Running out of ideas for a genre of music after 30 years is understandable, but blaming everyone but yourself is not.

Second, to any true fan of music, rock never comes to a standstill. Radio rock may hit rock bottom every now and then, but someone willing to invest time in finding cutting-edge artists can always do so. If Sting, who considers himself a musician, was willing to get off his rear end and find some good records, he might discover there are several promising trends.

One is a new age of alternative rock, my personal favorite example being The Mars Volta. These folks combine jazz, space rock, Latin, you name it, and pull it off. Another is the resurgence of ultra-heavy metal with new twists. So it’s not that rock has come to a standstill, it’s that Sting won’t turn off his radio and poke around online for something he might like.

Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.