Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Doors, AC/DC, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Rage Against the Machine, and Boston are just a few bands I can list of the top of my head. These bands defined and set the bar for what rock n’ roll is meant to sound like. Although, a few of these bands and bits and pieces of others play now, they have not created any new songs since their reign of time. Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd in the 60’s and 70’s, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana in the 80’s and then came the 90’s….What happened? Unless I’m deaf, the rock genre died completely. Alternative, emo, and indy was born out of the corpse of rock. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to bash any other type of music. I listen to Incubus (Light Grenades is a very good album by the way) and other alternative bands, but what happened to the greats? The unreal guitar solos like free bird (Lynard Skynard), Sweet Child of Mine (Slash for Guns n Roses), or Voodoo Child (Jimi Hendrix) not the three cord solos by Green Day. Has musical talent gone down the drain? Voices are synthesized, solos kept to a minimum, and instrument talent withered (Compare Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Paige or Eric Clapton to Dave Matthews or any other guitarist today then come talk to me). What happen to the music world we know today?
3 comments:
I'm too old to answer this question, but I think the topic is a good one. How about it, everybody? Is Plunky right that rock music is second rate these days? And if so, why?
I see that no one has responded to this post yet, but it's a good one and I invite you all to my blog where I continue the discussion with Plunky in my post for Dec. 2. There is a link to a New York Times article on Plunky's subject, so if you would like to get deeper into a discussion of this topic, I suggest you follow this link and then respond to either me or Plunky.
After reading the article in the New York Times, I can definitely see where perhaps we lost that classic rock n roll. As Brooks states in the article, "at some point toward the end of the 1970s or the early 1980s, the era of integration gave way to the era of fragmentation." I also find Brooks's point that there are bands that can sell out arenas but they have no following and no longevity compared to the Rolling Stones or Jimi Hendrix. So, your concern is a valid one Plunky. American music has been fragmented into all these sub genres. There are countless genres of just rock n roll its self. For example, afro-punk, alternative rock, black metal, alternative metal, indie rock, heavy metal are just a fraction of the thousands of rock genres there are today. Hopefully someone left some bread crumbs so music can find its way back.
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