My apologies to William Shakespeare for borrowing one of his lines and abusing it. I recently read a book Deadlines And Commitments written by Trace Hacquard, in it Trace asks the question is rock dead. So interesting is that question to me, I decided to contact Trace and interview him, you can listen to the interview here.
As a music reviewer I likely have a lot more exposure to the various genres than most people. I’ll be honest with you, I really do not like the direction that ‘popular’ music is taking and just as insidious what is being fed to us in the media. The media is my enemy! It really all started with AM Radio, AM represented the ‘older’ generation, so it never explored the world of rock in any depth, the emergence of FM promised to cure that. FM was going to be the savior, and indeed for a short while it was. However a major shift happened in the late 70’s. The hunt for market share and advertising revenue was on. The FM stations started to consolidate. Consolidation came at a high price for the consumer, at first the changes were subtle, but over time they became profound. Playlists were shortened and standardized, enter the world of the three minute song, the endless commercials and the clueless DJ.
As the song says ‘Video killed the radio star’. That was it! The savior of music had arrived everyone said when MTV hit the scene. Well, that is not quite true, this ‘new media’ has become yet another victim of the rot. I am sure that MTV is part of my cable package, but I could not tell you the channel number under torture. At some point MTV stopped actually playing music in favor of more commercially successful reality TV shows!
Gone were the avenues of opportunity for a band just starting out!
The other music stifling influence has to be the Labels, in many ways the music industry was the forerunner of what has happened in the book world. The big labels demanded complete control over the artists and basically ignored musicians just starting out. If you did not already have a billboard hit no one would even listen to your demo tapes.
Things have improved in the last decade, two major influences have gone someway to leveling the playing field, the internet and the rise of digital music, and bands using either self publishing or small independent labels.
In my mind though, things are still awry in the world of Rock. A surprising number of the monster bands of the 70’s and early 80’s are still playing, sure they do not tend to fill the 60,000 seat stadiums that they used to, well there are exceptions, bands like The Rolling Stones, and a few other iconic bands can still do it, but by and large they are the exception rather than the rule.
Many of the musicians are now in their 60’s, exactly how much longer they can continue to play is an unknown. The question I ask is what happens when they finally hang up their instruments? Who is going to take their place? The 70’s rock bands are legendary, numerous and often prolific in their output. But what happened to the next generation? In my eyes they were short lived and largely forgotten. Oh a few pop up from time to time, but by no means to they have the fan base needed to move forward.
The 80’s saw the advent of punk, disco, and various other forms of what is loosely referred to as music. The 90’s and this decade is equally bereft of any redeeming features when it comes to popular music. I occasionally ride with my 19 year old step son, and out of deference to my aging ears he at least keeps the volume withing my pain threshold, but the stuff that he listens to is horrific with lyrics that are socially and morally appalling. I can name several people who had their career curtailed for using the N word, yet in the Rap genre it is almost expected for a song to be laden with it, and other epithets of a racial and/or sexual nature. Is this the future of music?
Oh don’t get me wrong, I am no prude, you can ask my wife, on occasions I swear like a trooper. I also have no problem with the occasional ‘forbidden’ word in a song. In fact I’ll share some trivia with you, the first time the F word made it onto an album was Al Stewart’s Love Chronicles in 1970. This is not an honor that Al brags about, but is quite open about admitting it when asked.
My love of music covers not just a few decades, but several centuries. Religious chants, 17th century folk music, the great classic composers such as J.S. Bach, I like them all. And all will endure for centuries to come. Three hundred years form now people will still be in awe of Bach’s Tocatas and Fugues. But what will people be listening to in 20 or thirty years from now? Classic Rap from the 90’s and 00’s? Well I don’t see it. In fact I find it hard to believe that anything that has made it big in the past 20 years has any staying power.
I started this article wit a question, is rock dead. My answer is no, it is not dead yet. There are some great indie bands keeping the genre alive, maybe they will be the Saviour, only time will tell. One thing is clear, we cannot continue to live in the past, we must look to the future.
It is my intention to explore this subject further in a radio round table I am hoping that Trace Hacquard, Billy James of Glass Onyon PR, and maybe a couple of other guests. Keep tuned for this program.
Simon Barrett
7 users commented in " I Come To Praise Rock, Not To Bury It "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackExcellent article, Simon!
No! Rock cannot die. It has been around for too long to just be a fad. When we were kids, only our age group generally loved rock while parents screamed “turn that noise down!” Today classic rock has a whole new audience. I work for a group that was recording in the 60’s & 70’s who has been sucessfully touring for the last 14 years. Grandparents are out there with there kids and grandkids enjoying the shows. Age doesn’t matter anymore with classic rock. Rock goes through phases, from Elvis to the early Beatles to heavy metal, but I doubt it will ever die. I think it will not only live but be incorporated into other genres, like we saw with Carlos Santana’s “Supernatural” CD which was a beautiful collage of Latin rock lead guitar with new artists and some rap.
In contrast, today’s rap lyrics, obsessed with gangs, violence against women & killing is not only repulsive, but it makes violence “cool”. As an older women’s libber, I just wonder how long todays girls can continue to listen to women referred to as “ho’s” and “bitches”? If the rap genre does not start to evolve into some more sophistocated lyrics, it will die as the young female generation matures.
I can only recall 2 other songs back in the 70’s that had the F-word: The FISH chant of Country Joe and the Fish, which turned into another F-chant, that started the anti-war song “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die” and a Harry Neilsson song “Your Breakin’ My Heart.”
Simon great article.
Beleive it or not some of th oldschool guitar rifts and classical violins can b found in beats created for rap songs. Being a indi music producer I encorperate all music into my beats. From sharp piano to flickering harps. I’ve produced a couple of rock song for an amazing rock band. As a matter of fact I saw th Rolling Stone at Church Hill Downs and it confermed tht they r th best band ever. My father has seen The Doors, Simon & Garfunkle, Jefferson Airplane, he’s even seen Pink Floyd several times. Not to mention a thousand other bands. Funny enough he can still get into some Eminem.
Rock, music in general is very well alive. Rap music even more, and
tht is because of it’s way to reach it’s audience. It screams th words most of us wish to say. It takes you on journeys, whether it’s through th crack world or th ghetto life or even their own struggles which mostly connects with all of us. It’s been stereotyped because of th liberal tree huggin donut hole punchers who can’t open their minds enough to see where another person is coming from. But yet we paid attention to Stevie Wonder when he said we are th world, yet he’s never seen it.
In th words of Biggie: “Picture me being scared of a man who breathes th same air as me…”
In th words of Mick Jagger: “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away…”
in th words of Armando: “Music is my air, period”
…don’t judge rap music for what they say. They’re not th only ones to refer to women as bitches and hos. Most of what they say is real. Maybe not to some who live in nice neighborhoods and live th rainbow life. Th truth is some people live in th worsts of conditions. And they speak abt it. It’s th only genre of music where u can actually learn from anothers struggle. If u just pay attention with out judging th way they express thmselves. Rap songs are on th top charts for a reason. Sales!!!!!!!! Rap has never slowed down and it will never die. Th young girls and th faint at heart are just gonna have to retreat to AM radio if they can’t face reality. It is pure poetry in motion.
My book is extremely drug centric and it refrences alot of sex and destruction, and it has sold very well. I listen to rap and produce th music with a great deal of apreaciation for th influence is had on my life. Rap music
is th best way to release ur hidden angers, almost therepudic. IMO
Obama listens to Lil Wayne and Wayne sold more thn any rock band ths year!!!
+ who cares how th use th”N” word in rap. I care hoe th KKK uses th “N” word. How racist skinheads use it, not how Rick Ross says it.
Armando – I have nothing against the sound of rap, in fact I love the music. I feel that the bottom line is that since the lyrics are offensive to many of us – don’t inflict them upon us at intersections, parked outside our houses, on the beach, etc. When you talk about the different uses of the N-word, I was brought up with one meaning: hate and racism. Watching the civil rights movement I found the meaning of this word one of the most highly offensive of all terms, and you don’t just get to be in your 50’s and form a new definition or meaning to it. The original term remains offensive to me, and it bothers me to find kids thinking it is OK to use, when there is still prejudice against Blacks. The term belongs 6 feet under. I do not want racial equality to just be a fad – it needs to be real, not just the “cool” thing which is what motivates kids today, not social ethics.
I understand that rap is an excellent way to communicate the injustices of living in the worst conditions. I have no problems with that, but women are not pieces of property to abuse, and obsession with that in any form of music is repulsive. What do you call a male “ho” anyway? Get my point?
Linda
I get ur point! But not all rap is th same. There are worthy songs in th business for all. When they talk abt women as hos or whatever they’re not talking abt good homesome women tht r respected in life. They reffer to th hos, there are plenty. They talk abt th strippers and th ones on th street.
Trust me I have 3 little girls and whn someone is playing th music loud while cursing. I just drive on or raise my windows. There’s alot of things I have to protect my girls from. Like child abusers and kidnappers. Drugs and rape. Not a rapper calling a ho a ho. IMO. I respect yours truly. It does some times get out of hand.
As far as th “N” word it is offensive. But in rap it becomes almost a term of endearment. It has been separated into 2 terms. I have friends tht say tht to me and I’m Hispanic/white. I take like thm saying what’s up homie. No offense. Now if a KKK member says it, it carries hate and years of struggle for blacks. It’s just a street term for th kids saying it losely. Most rappers are actually limiting th use of th word on records. But a ho is a ho, male or female
same thing lol
Armando wrote: “When they talk abt women as hos or whatever they’re not talking abt good homesome women tht r respected in life. They reffer to th hos, there are plenty. They talk abt th strippers and th ones on th street.”
Armando – What percentage of rap songs are about a good respectable women? Why not write about men who have sex with anything that moves? Is there a derrogatory term that defines them? Why demean strippers -it’s a job…a job that only exists because of men. What I am trying to say is that there is something very wrong with wanting women only as sex objects and then demeaning them for it, or even advocating violence against them while ignoring worse behavior in men.
A word that has carried such hatred against a person’s race can be a horrible reminder for those who have been on the receiving end of that hatred and racism. IMO, these terms are just used for shock value to impress friends. It is hard for this old hippy to accept that subsequent generations are as aware of racism and social injustice. I think that rap lyrics represent the current state of mind of those listening, which indicates a serious lack of leadership on the part of the parents, by not instilling morals ethics, consideration and compassion in their kids, which is so painfully obvious today.
Just my opinion, Armando. :o)
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