Did rock die or just fragment into dozens of subgenres? In the age of infinite choice, maybe cultural dominance is the real dinosaur. Is the next big thing in music not a genre, but the death of genres altogether?
Lennon apparently didn't like the Abbey Road album, saying it wasn't very rock-and-roll and just bits and pieces thrown together. So I guess there's another potential end date for rock?
For me, it died with Cobain, but that's probably just a factor of my age. I remember how much of a breath of fresh air Nirvana was compared to the hair metal and GnR stuff that came before, which had never interested me, because even as a preteen I could see it was all surface and no substance.
I'm fine in theory with genres falling away (they are subjective and silly boxes to put artists in anyway) but if the end result is a sort of ubiquitous all-sounds-the-same sludge, then that's a real shame.
A key inflection point happened around 1975 - outside the mainstream music industry's global Billboard/Chart/Payola/Radio Play/Record Sales/Hot 100 hegemony.
That was the rise of Music based subcultures (like Disco or Punk) which manifested in other formats. Informing popular cultural movements and lifestyles, in places like discotheques, or mosh pits ; or other media like cinema.
Where consumption of the product didn't automatically corollate or lead to record sales or radio
Very interesting analysis of the rise and fall of commercial rock in the US. Thanks, Daniel.
To add to some of the other comments:
- It may be less the case that artists didn't want to innovate in the 70s and 80s than the music industry was not interested in anything that didn't have commercial appeal, which they defined as "do what you did on your last album that produced some hit singles that made us a lot of money." I read this over and over again in rock autobiographies, seems to be a pattern. Bands were also blindsided by the rise of disco in the second half of the 70s and many did not survive.
- The Hot 100 is the US market, so rock just moved overseas and is alive and well. Charles at Zapato's Jam is documenting this -- https://zapatosjam.substack.com. Even better, whereas playing it was mostly the province of dudes in the US, it is now being taken up by women in other countries -- this Indonesian hijab-wearing, female metal group is playing at Glastonbury and getting a lot of kudos from old metal bands -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPVo_QyS0Hw
- The deregulation of the airwaves and consolidation of radio stations in the mid to late 90s is also a significant factor in killing innovation in music, combined with the rise of music software that imposed certain constraints on how musicians experienced and played with music. So there are others factors involved that have put more nails in the coffin
- As others have said, to survive all this rock fractured and also went grassroots rather than staying mainstream. It's now old bands and tribute bands touring, and tribute bands have become huge business. But have to agree, the golden age of rock in the US is well and truly over!
And just to add, don't get me started on Disney, who have ruined both Star Wars and Pixar! I loved Disney as a kid, so it pains me to see them commodifying everything now. Walt would not be happy!
[It may be less the case that artists didn't want to innovate in the 70s and 80s than the music industry was not interested in anything that didn't have commercial appeal]
Right in line with Frank Zappa's quote on the topic
Interesting post! I agree that rock is no longer regularly found on the Hot 100. Other genres have clearly had more prominence in recent decades. Yet, there is still a LOT of new rock still out there. The difference is that now we have to search it out. I try to do this every week. I've got a friend who loves rock but tends to embrace bands that may have peaked a while ago (Tool, Rolling Stones, etc.) It's not that their music isn't good it's just not heard by the mainstream. I'd love to see more rock on the Hot 100. (I'm old, I miss the days before streaming messed up the charts!) yes, there is some diversity on the charts but not a lot of straight ahead rock songs.
Elijah Wald – How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll:
An Alternative History of American Popular Music
tl;dr - it happened when they stopped touring and morphed from a R'n'R band to a rock band. The part about the Beatles is actually just the last chapter, most of the book is an eye-opening history of pop in America starting around 1900.
Maybe it’s because I’m British, but I definitely feel we’ve lived in rock’s overvextended shadow longer than the US. The Britpop era of the mid to late 90s dragged on, then the indie landfill of the 00s became supremely tiresome. By the beginning of the 2010s I was praying for ‘indie’ music’s dominance to die, and it looks like I largely got my wish.
Being American, I'm endlessly fascinated by the intensity and longevity of the pop and rock traditions of the UK... the festivals, the Top of the Pops, the Christmas singles, the rock press rock inkies?, the clubs, etc.
Maybe it is the compression... everyone in a relatively small space compared to the US... that ratchets up the intensity, but it seems like everyone and their granny has an opinion about music... and the speed of change (or expected change?) of the scene. Any "movement" that lasted longer than two years is disparaged. You can bitch about "indie landfill" but at least they were trying. New Wave was dead in the UK before most Americans had ever heard of it, etc.
I wonder if it was the Beatles and Bowie who set the standard... if you are going to have longevity, you have to show significant change/adaption/development over time. Rock, to remain subversive, had to constantly change and absorb new influences... (Is rock the ultimate cultural appropriation format?)... so much so that rock itself dissolved in the change?
I love all good music, but rock has my heart. You have given me food for thought with your juxtaposing of the original vs. Dinseyfication.
Ironically, but pointedly, I’ll share a quote from the machine “The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.”
Great article, and hits me where I live. Born late 60's, grew up on what is now classic rock, first concert was Yes, high school and college were the '80s. I was basically born and formed in the Rock dominated era... but also grew up becoming aware of shifts... heavy metal, prog, disco and its detractors, punk, post-punk... new wave as MTV aired and brought the second British Invasion over to the states. I became an adult at the height of college radio (97X The Future of Rock and Roll was my local) and spent countless hours arguing the difference between rock and pop and what constituted what sub-genre.
At the heart of it, Rock was EVERYTHING in terms of cultural perception. Maybe you liked the Smiths or maybe you liked Guns 'n Roses, but both were rock. Somehow CSNY, XTC, Kraftwerk and Anthrax were all rock. You could argue what KIND of rock, but they were rock.
At least from an American perspective, IMO the big divide was black vs white. Blues, Jazz, Motown, R&B, Disco, the rise of Hip Hop culture and Rap... all that was kinda parallel to the white dude rock tradition (as much as that stole from Blues). As much as Run DMC put out arguably the hardest rocking album of 1985... you can't escape the 70's and 80's division of white and black as an "either or" kind of cultural choice. (It is my personal opinion that is why electronic music of the cold, sterile industrial sort was more accepted into rock, where as Detroit Techno took it in a much more funky direction).
This is all very simplified, of course, but it has been on my mind that the "demise of rock" really started as the black/white divide cracked and began to shift and merge. Is there any statistical evidence for this? That would be a great read.
I can’t sleep and happened on this article on the Substack app - a good, if not sad read.
I have been a full time musician for nearly 50 years and have seen it all. Sadly, my career started in 1976, just after the peak and always think I should have been born 10 years earlier, but is still a great ride.
Loved this piece. We ambertrap Michael Jordan in much the same way yeah?
Also- Ai is likely going to (try to) give us new Nirvana albums, and it’s very possible that in 5 years these generated songs will be sharp enough to fool the new 15 year old kids who are seeking out grunge for the first time.
Did rock die or just fragment into dozens of subgenres? In the age of infinite choice, maybe cultural dominance is the real dinosaur. Is the next big thing in music not a genre, but the death of genres altogether?
Well as noted authority H J Simpson said 'Rock peaked in 1973, that's a scientific fact.' So anytime after that, really.
I went to Google "H J Simpson," and right before I clicked "enter" I realized you were talking about Homer Simpson 🤦♂️
Lennon apparently didn't like the Abbey Road album, saying it wasn't very rock-and-roll and just bits and pieces thrown together. So I guess there's another potential end date for rock?
For me, it died with Cobain, but that's probably just a factor of my age. I remember how much of a breath of fresh air Nirvana was compared to the hair metal and GnR stuff that came before, which had never interested me, because even as a preteen I could see it was all surface and no substance.
I'm fine in theory with genres falling away (they are subjective and silly boxes to put artists in anyway) but if the end result is a sort of ubiquitous all-sounds-the-same sludge, then that's a real shame.
A key inflection point happened around 1975 - outside the mainstream music industry's global Billboard/Chart/Payola/Radio Play/Record Sales/Hot 100 hegemony.
That was the rise of Music based subcultures (like Disco or Punk) which manifested in other formats. Informing popular cultural movements and lifestyles, in places like discotheques, or mosh pits ; or other media like cinema.
Where consumption of the product didn't automatically corollate or lead to record sales or radio
plays.
Very interesting analysis of the rise and fall of commercial rock in the US. Thanks, Daniel.
To add to some of the other comments:
- It may be less the case that artists didn't want to innovate in the 70s and 80s than the music industry was not interested in anything that didn't have commercial appeal, which they defined as "do what you did on your last album that produced some hit singles that made us a lot of money." I read this over and over again in rock autobiographies, seems to be a pattern. Bands were also blindsided by the rise of disco in the second half of the 70s and many did not survive.
- The Hot 100 is the US market, so rock just moved overseas and is alive and well. Charles at Zapato's Jam is documenting this -- https://zapatosjam.substack.com. Even better, whereas playing it was mostly the province of dudes in the US, it is now being taken up by women in other countries -- this Indonesian hijab-wearing, female metal group is playing at Glastonbury and getting a lot of kudos from old metal bands -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPVo_QyS0Hw
- The deregulation of the airwaves and consolidation of radio stations in the mid to late 90s is also a significant factor in killing innovation in music, combined with the rise of music software that imposed certain constraints on how musicians experienced and played with music. So there are others factors involved that have put more nails in the coffin
- As others have said, to survive all this rock fractured and also went grassroots rather than staying mainstream. It's now old bands and tribute bands touring, and tribute bands have become huge business. But have to agree, the golden age of rock in the US is well and truly over!
And just to add, don't get me started on Disney, who have ruined both Star Wars and Pixar! I loved Disney as a kid, so it pains me to see them commodifying everything now. Walt would not be happy!
[It may be less the case that artists didn't want to innovate in the 70s and 80s than the music industry was not interested in anything that didn't have commercial appeal]
Right in line with Frank Zappa's quote on the topic
Interesting post! I agree that rock is no longer regularly found on the Hot 100. Other genres have clearly had more prominence in recent decades. Yet, there is still a LOT of new rock still out there. The difference is that now we have to search it out. I try to do this every week. I've got a friend who loves rock but tends to embrace bands that may have peaked a while ago (Tool, Rolling Stones, etc.) It's not that their music isn't good it's just not heard by the mainstream. I'd love to see more rock on the Hot 100. (I'm old, I miss the days before streaming messed up the charts!) yes, there is some diversity on the charts but not a lot of straight ahead rock songs.
Recommend this book
Elijah Wald – How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll:
An Alternative History of American Popular Music
tl;dr - it happened when they stopped touring and morphed from a R'n'R band to a rock band. The part about the Beatles is actually just the last chapter, most of the book is an eye-opening history of pop in America starting around 1900.
There’s a ton here. But I’m just overjoyed to find Reggae bottom of everyone’s list. I feel confirmed.
Maybe it’s because I’m British, but I definitely feel we’ve lived in rock’s overvextended shadow longer than the US. The Britpop era of the mid to late 90s dragged on, then the indie landfill of the 00s became supremely tiresome. By the beginning of the 2010s I was praying for ‘indie’ music’s dominance to die, and it looks like I largely got my wish.
Being American, I'm endlessly fascinated by the intensity and longevity of the pop and rock traditions of the UK... the festivals, the Top of the Pops, the Christmas singles, the rock press rock inkies?, the clubs, etc.
Maybe it is the compression... everyone in a relatively small space compared to the US... that ratchets up the intensity, but it seems like everyone and their granny has an opinion about music... and the speed of change (or expected change?) of the scene. Any "movement" that lasted longer than two years is disparaged. You can bitch about "indie landfill" but at least they were trying. New Wave was dead in the UK before most Americans had ever heard of it, etc.
I wonder if it was the Beatles and Bowie who set the standard... if you are going to have longevity, you have to show significant change/adaption/development over time. Rock, to remain subversive, had to constantly change and absorb new influences... (Is rock the ultimate cultural appropriation format?)... so much so that rock itself dissolved in the change?
I love all good music, but rock has my heart. You have given me food for thought with your juxtaposing of the original vs. Dinseyfication.
Ironically, but pointedly, I’ll share a quote from the machine “The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.”
Great article, and hits me where I live. Born late 60's, grew up on what is now classic rock, first concert was Yes, high school and college were the '80s. I was basically born and formed in the Rock dominated era... but also grew up becoming aware of shifts... heavy metal, prog, disco and its detractors, punk, post-punk... new wave as MTV aired and brought the second British Invasion over to the states. I became an adult at the height of college radio (97X The Future of Rock and Roll was my local) and spent countless hours arguing the difference between rock and pop and what constituted what sub-genre.
At the heart of it, Rock was EVERYTHING in terms of cultural perception. Maybe you liked the Smiths or maybe you liked Guns 'n Roses, but both were rock. Somehow CSNY, XTC, Kraftwerk and Anthrax were all rock. You could argue what KIND of rock, but they were rock.
At least from an American perspective, IMO the big divide was black vs white. Blues, Jazz, Motown, R&B, Disco, the rise of Hip Hop culture and Rap... all that was kinda parallel to the white dude rock tradition (as much as that stole from Blues). As much as Run DMC put out arguably the hardest rocking album of 1985... you can't escape the 70's and 80's division of white and black as an "either or" kind of cultural choice. (It is my personal opinion that is why electronic music of the cold, sterile industrial sort was more accepted into rock, where as Detroit Techno took it in a much more funky direction).
This is all very simplified, of course, but it has been on my mind that the "demise of rock" really started as the black/white divide cracked and began to shift and merge. Is there any statistical evidence for this? That would be a great read.
I can’t sleep and happened on this article on the Substack app - a good, if not sad read.
I have been a full time musician for nearly 50 years and have seen it all. Sadly, my career started in 1976, just after the peak and always think I should have been born 10 years earlier, but is still a great ride.
Thanks for the posts.
Loved this piece. We ambertrap Michael Jordan in much the same way yeah?
Also- Ai is likely going to (try to) give us new Nirvana albums, and it’s very possible that in 5 years these generated songs will be sharp enough to fool the new 15 year old kids who are seeking out grunge for the first time.