Rock Is Dead
There....I said it!
A couple weeks back on The Voice, one of the contestants sang a good rock song, after which Kelly Clarkson, one of the coaches, praised the performance, and stated that there aren't songs like that on the radio anymore.....rock is basically dead. Well, before I get slings and arrows thrown at me, I'll refine that: New rock is dead!
Last week, there was a video circulating around from an outfit called "Data is Beautiful", which posted many videos on several subjects, such as "most popular websites", "countries with the biggest military", "most common household appliances", "largest corporations", and so on. They also have something called 'best selling music artists 1969-2019". You can watch the video below. It's pretty much a moving line graph showing the most popular artists over five decades. While some of it is inaccurate (Cher and Pink Floyd are on the 1969 portion, neither of them sold anything that year,and Billy Joel appears in 1972 before he released anything solo), and several 1970's artists are inexplicably missing, it gets more accurate as we head into the 1980's and beyond. What you basically see is the gradual disappearance of rock acts. While Santana, Eagles, Pink Floyd, The Doors, and Led Zeppelin dominate the early years, and which evolve into Queen, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Metallica, Eric Clapton, AC/DC and Nirvana in the ensuing decades, when we get to the 2000's, it's only Linkin Park amidst a sea of hip-hop artists, boy bands and pop princesses. In fact, when Chester Bennington's band leaves the list around 2005, there are no more rockers. That was fourteen years ago, my friends.
So, why is rock no longer "relevant"? Well, perhaps the better question is, "why is new rock irrelevant?" Is it an inside job? Forced out by a new culture and generation by a genre that better speaks to them? Or is it that rock fans are living in the past? Probably all of that is true.
Let's go back to 1979, forty years ago. It was another time that we thought rock got buried, at the time by the throws of disco, a genre popular that decade, highlighted by a repetitive, thumping bass beat. While disco and rock pretty much co-existed much of the decade, and that disco was losing its edge by around late 1977, along came Saturday Night Fever, a movie about the nightlife in Brooklyn, NY, featuring a soundtrack album, mostly featuring The Bee Gees. Needless to say, disco made a comeback, and by the early summer of 1979, disco dominated the scene. Many top 40, and even rock stations flipped to disco, most notably WKTU in New York City, which kicked WABC's ass in the late 1978 ratings. Donna Summer, The Village People, Sister Sledge, Chic, Anita Ward, Amii Stewart and others dominated the airwaves the first half of 1979. Even rockers "sold out"; The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Electric Light Orchestra, The Beach Boys, Kiss and even The Grateful Dead and others released singles with a disco beat.
Rock fans were furious....even though the broad rock genre, which grew and grew during the mid and late 1960's, many viewed it as rather stagnant in the 1970's, permeated by singer/songwriters, glam, and "arena rock", which many derided as commercialized, "corporate rock". While the punk and new wave movements were in full swing, and were played on album rock stations, very little broke through commercially. Classic rockers The Who, one of the bands that didn't "give in", released a single that year, "Long Live Rock", recorded in 1972, originally released the next year, but timely re-released it in '79, making perhaps a statement, proclaiming "rock is dead, they say....long live rock!"
On July 12, 1979, at Chicago's Comiskey Park, the home of baseball's White Sox, between games of a doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers, local station WLUP's Steven Dahl promoted "Disco Demolition Night", and invited fans to bring their disco records, which would all be laid out on the field and blown up. The response was overwhelming...too much so. Needless to say, all hell broke loose as fans were running out on the field, tearing up turf and ignoring requested over the PA system to return to their seats. The field became one big mess and the White Sox were forced to forfeit the second game of the scheduled doubleheader. "Victory over disco", one person announced, and of course the ever-popular "disco sucks" mantra.
It actually worked. Right afterwards, all the number one songs in that genre were replaced by "My Sharona" by The Knack, a new wave, power pop band from Los Angeles. In its wake, some "new rock" artists like Nick Lowe, Ian Gomm (loved his "Hold On" from late 1979), Bram Tchaikovsky and a few others landed in the top 40. With the exception of Donna Summer, all of the other key acts suffered a decline in sales, a big backlash occurred against the Bee Gees (they wouldn't have another hit until ten years later), and even Summer, who changed direction the following year would decline, albeit more gradually. And it just so happened that established rock acts like Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Styx would release albums the last quarter of 1979.
Victory? Hardly.
Forget the fact that many viewed the "disco sucks" movement as racist and homophobic (most of the music were by people of color and the club scene was LGBTQ oriented), that music was gone. Well, not really. And, just a few months later, most of the top 40 stations drifted to "adult contemporary" and played artists that hit a higher age demo. And The Knack itself suffered a backlash ("Knuck the Knack"), and after one more hit, they were pretty much gone.
Seems that in the fall of 1979, an unusual record was climbing up the charts. As a backing track, it sample Chic's "Good Times", one of the last disco hits that summer. Instead of the vocal, it involved several artists "rapping" to the beat. The name of the group was The Sugarhill Gang, and they were the first "rap" record to make it into the top 40 of Billboard. The opening lyrics were "I said a hip hop hippie / the hippie hip hop hop you don't stop". Hip hop you say? Disco may have died, and it would take several years but rock music was eventually going to face its own karma.
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| The Sugarhill Gang, hailing from Englewood NJ, had the first hip/hop song to break the Billboard Top 40, peaking at #36 in late 1979/early 1980. |
That wouldn't immediately happen, as rock did come back in the eighties. You had the "synth-pop"/ new romantic movement and the second, MTV-inspired "British Invasion" (think Duran Duran), and perhaps as a backlash to that music, the rebirth of heavy metal. In fact, the "hair metal" bands as well as the more serious proponents of that genre held sway during the second half of the 1980's. Then there was the burgeoning "classic rock" movement, where rock stations were going back to playing music from its late sixties/early seventies "heyday". And that, my friends was where it started to go downhill.
Disco was gone, but dance music, in other forms, be it new wave, freestyle, acid, house and other forms still ruled the nightclubs. As for rap, there were key artists emerging like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, Melle Mel and Run-DMC which made key inroads. There was 'fun rap" that surfaced with the likes of The Fat Boys, Biz Markie and others. But the rockers still dominated, although the "hair metal" trend was starting to be too much.
The came the 1990's. Grunge. While the emergence of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and the other Seattle bands were considered one of the biggest rock revolution in quite awhile, but in a sense, it was mostly hyped and exaggerated. The punk revival (Green Day, The Offspring), and even a brief foray into swing revival), kept rock afloat for a little while, along with a trend towards the "post-grunge" sound. But it had to share the stage with "gangsta rap", with artists like Ice Cube, The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, and groups like Public Enemy and N.W.A. When Billboard changed its methodology in late 1991, all of the traditional rock groups fell off the charts, in favor of more adult contemporary and R&B, and music, and since single sales were important, many hip-hop artists started dominating. Grunge rock bands thought releasing singles were beneath them, and thus very few rock songs hit the top 10, and those that did were usually usually ballads.
And while top 40 station did lean towards alternative rock in the mid nineties, they reverted back to the dance-oriented music (then mostly electronica, and techno) which followed closely by the "girl groups" (Spice Girls), boy bands (Backstreet Boys, N Sync), and the pop princesses like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Rappers like Jay-Z and Eminem started catching on.
Rock further embarrassed itself with Woodstock 1999, the sequel to the '94 edition which was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the iconic original festival. By then, "nu-metal" was the dominant sub-genre, of which "Break Stuff" was the dominant song (by Limp Bizkit) and mantra and there were reports of rape, sexual assault and tearing plywood from walls, and setting trash (and booths) ablaze. Many feel the spirit of rock pretty much died right there. While the hip-hop scene was violent as well (mostly a war between East and West coast rapper, resulting in the deaths of Tupac and Biggie), by then the relatively new genre was considered more innovative than anything new in the rock world.
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| The White Stripes (Meg and Jack White), helped lead a garage-rock revival in the early 2000's. |
In the new millennium, rock tried its hardest to reinvent itself, but it was ether ignored (the neo-garage movement with bands like The White Stripes, The Vines, The Strokes, etc), or reviled (Emo) or widely criticized (bands like Nickelback). There were some rock hits in the 2000's, but you probably could count them on two hands. By then, the kids who were growing up on the Spice Girls were now embracing artists like Spears, Aguilera, and eventually Beyoncé, Lada Gaga, Rihanna and Katy Perry. The rock fans, instead of searching out new bands (and there were plenty to choose from if you dug a little deeper), were now getting older and going back to the eras when "music was great", be it The Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, U2, Nirvana or Green Day. Those into the nu-metal were now embracing hip hop stars like Eminem, Jay-Z. Drake, Kanye West, among others. Even the current pop songs have the same, sparse hip-hop beat to it. And disco, which has morphed into the current EDM (electronic dance music) is still present, with several EDM hits over this decade. The last top 10 hit that I remember being a true rock song was "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon (2009).
In this decade there is rock. If you've been following my blog, you'll know that it exists. But it is increasingly tough to find it. There was the "indie folk" trend around 2012 or so with bands like The Lumineers and Mumford & Sons, and while they're both still around (with new current product out), they, and many other bands are "under the radar" now. As a substitute in our local school system now, I notice that kids are talking about the current Post Malone and Drake albums, rather than The Black Keys or Cage the Elephant. And while there is an occasional "rock crossover" with bands like Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Portugal. The Man, Capital Cities, they are usually compromised with the current hip-hop oriented nature of pop. This is especially true with bands like Imagine Dragons, and Twenty One Pilots, which have had multiple Billboard Top 10's but their rock sound is barely noticeable as a rock song, although Alternative stations play them. In fact, Billboard recently named the Pilots, Dragons (along with Mumford & Songs) as the rock acts of the decade.
Pop music is all over the map, but as myself and others keep on saying, "there is great rock music out there, you just have to dig deeper", but it seems to be costly in doing so. While there are stations at the left of the dial including WFUV, and WXPN (and some good alternative or Triple-A stations, like Albany's WEQX and Woodstock's WDST), it'll cost you a small fortune to listen to other outlets, or even access a website devoted to that music. Sirius XM, as, along with many rock channels, "Alt-Nation", and "XMU", but you need a subscription for it. There is an independent website that lists "alt nation's" Alt 18 list, but you have to subscribe to get that current listing. Billboard's website lets you look at the Hot 100 for free, but you now need to subscribe to see the Alternative, Triple-A (and for that matter, country, Hot AC, etc) list.
If it's that much work to try and access music, why try, when you have a lifetime of classic rock to re-explore? And Gen-Z is hooked on hip-hop and pop. And any new bands that exhume the spirit of the band are usually ridiculed for doing so; witness the reaction last year towards Greta Van Fleet, whose style is similar to Led Zeppelin. The only other relatively new band that seems to have been played on mainstream rock stations is Halestorm, who have been around since 2009.
Another possible reason why rock is "dead" in this era is that there really isn't any new trends or styles. After sixty-five years, has every possible sub-genre been exhausted? Much of the music I have listened to on my blog these last ten years owes a style to that of the past. The bands and artists I listen to these days are pretty much a throwback to an earlier style be it blues, soul, garage rock, funk, or power-pop. In the immortal words of 1990's band Barenaked Ladies, "it's all been done".
Will rock come back? I should correct that to say, will rock come back as a popular form of music. Has it been away too long to ever become relevant again? Rock is still alive with the public but only with artists who have contributed to its legacy, who had originally put out product decades ago. Classic rock is a lot like the classical music we grew up with now, in a way Very little "new" product but the old stuff still rocks, thought an increasingly number of "composers" are no longer with us As much as I am sad that little of the new stuff gets heard, go to a bar or club and it's always great to hear the rock classics.
I still haven't made a decision on whether to explore new music in the 2020's (or at least blog on it), but at least I know there's a wealth of rock and other genres had have been etched in my memory over these last sixty-three years.
DECADE-END AWARDS: While 2019 (and the 2010's) still has about a month and a half left to it, Billboard has already published its top 10 songs of the 2010's. While it may seem on the surface that most of these songs I would never have heard of, or at least reluctantly put them on my blog, that, obviously is not the case. In fact, eight of the 10, I added on my blog, and all of those hit my top 50. The rejects? "Party Rick Anthem" (LMFAO), and surprisingly, "We Found Love" by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris (what was I thinking there; these were two of my favorite pop artists of the decade and both hit my top 3 with other songs).
On the other side of the coin, half of these songs, hit either #1 or #2 on my weekly blog list, and three of them were my #1 songs of a particular year.
Here is Billboard's top 10 for the 2010's, with my SNS peak position and, if applicable, year-end position (my year-end and/or weekly #1 blog songs are highlighted in bold).
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| Mark Ronson (L) and Bruno Mars, have Billboard's #1 song of the 2010's with "Uptown Funk!" |
1. "Uptown Funk!", Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars (#2, 2015; year-end #30)
2. "Party Rock Anthem", LMFAO ft Lauren Bennett and Goonrock
3. "Shape of You", Ed Sheeran (#1, 4wks, 2017; year-end #1)
4. "Closer", The Chainsmokers ft Halsey (#44, 2015)
5. "Girls Like You", Maroon 5 ft Cardi B (#48, 2018)
6. "We Found Love", Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris
7. "Old Town Road", Lil Nas X ft Billy Ray Cyrus (#1, 4wks, 2019; year-end TBD)
8. "Somebody That I Used To Know", Gotye ft. Kimbra (#2, 12wks, 2012; year-end #1)
9. "Despacito", Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber (#21, 2017; year-end #79)
10. "Rolling In the Deep", Adele (#1, 1wk, 2011; year-end #1)
I will shortly be coming out with my own decade-long list which encompasses my blog era, along with the 2019 list.
CURRENTLY: Back to the SNS 100, we have a new #1 as Shannon Marsyada garners her second blog chart-topper with the awesome "The Message" from her album Oceans. It's the third top five song from that album, following the title track, and "Caught Falling", both of which are still on the list. It's the Hazelton PA native's second #1, following "What You Do To Me", which held the summit position back in January 2014, almost six years ago, when she was billed as the Shannon Marsyada Trio. "My Cheating Heart" by Love Fame Tragedy drops to #2 after two weeks at the top. Andreya Triana, Wilco and Grace Potter round up the top five.
Molly Burch has a big mover as "Only One" vaults from 16-6 in just four weeks, followed closely by ScreenAge and Delacy. Women are killing it on my top ten list, as half of those positions are filled by females. Another huge mover is Michael Kiwanuka's "Hero" (35-12, Impact award).
TWENTY ONE TANTRUMS: Their latest album is turning out to be a bust, but Fitz and the Tantrums remain hot on the SNS 100, as "I Just Wanna Shine", their fourth from All the Feels, moves 25-17, becoming the band's 21st top 20 hit on my blog. Nick Waterhouse also enters for the seventh straight time with "Man Leaves Town" (36-18), from his self-titled fourth set. Rounding out the top 20 is Irish lass Soak, with her second in the elite circle, "Knock Me Off My Feet" (30-20).
Debuts are led by Tame Impala's "It Might Be Time" (#69), which will be from their upcoming fourth set, The Slow Rush, which will also include the current "Borderline" (#57); the latest from SNS stalwarts Broken Bells, and Silversun Pickups, and Billie Eilish's follow-up to her Billboard #1 "Bad Guy" with "All the Good Girls Go To Hell".
COZY JONAS CHRISTMAS: We have our first holiday song on the charts this year, "Like It's Christmas" from the Jonas Brothers. They must have taken a page from two of last year's big winners, Katy Perry's #1 "Cozy Little Christmas" as well as Sia's "Candy Cane Lane", as this one is a merry, uptempo, bouncy romp of pop heaven. Once again, why can't artists do similar songs during the rest of the year?
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
November 10 - 17, 2019
This Week
|
Last Week
|
ARTIST-Title
|
Weeks on List
|
1
|
2
|
NUMBER ONE:
Album: Oceans
|
10
|
2
|
1
|
11
|
|
3
|
4
|
9
|
|
4
|
3
|
15
|
|
5
|
5
|
10
|
|
6
|
16
|
4
|
|
7
|
12
|
7
|
|
8
|
13
|
7
|
|
9
|
7
|
17
|
|
10
|
6
|
15
|
|
11
|
11
|
16
|
|
12
|
35
|
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"Hero"
Album: Kiwanuka
|
3
|
13
|
9
|
21
|
|
14
|
8
|
16
|
|
15
|
14
|
10
|
|
16
|
15
|
11
|
|
17
|
10
|
15
|
|
18
|
27
|
5
|
|
19
|
38
|
4
|
|
20
|
30
|
7
|
|
21
|
26
|
5
|
|
22
|
32
|
6
|
|
23
|
23
|
5
|
|
24
|
17
|
22
|
|
25
|
18
|
21
|
|
26
|
24
|
9
|
|
27
|
25
|
6
|
|
28
|
29
|
7
|
|
29
|
31
|
5
|
|
30
|
36
|
7
|
|
31
|
19
|
10
|
|
32
|
63
|
MOVER OF THE WEEK:
(Single Only)
|
2
|
33
|
41
|
6
|
|
34
|
20
|
21
|
|
35
|
22
|
20
|
|
36
|
21
|
19
|
|
37
|
28
|
18
|
|
38
|
48
|
5
|
|
39
|
42
|
11
|
|
40
|
34
|
10
|
|
41
|
33
|
18
|
|
42
|
55
|
14
|
|
43
|
37
|
15
|
|
44
|
61
|
3
|
|
45
|
40
|
18
|
|
46
|
43
|
17
|
|
47
|
39
|
11
|
|
48
|
60
|
4
|
|
49
|
47
|
8
|
|
50
|
59
|
4
|
|
51
|
65
|
4
|
|
52
|
58
|
7
|
|
53
|
71
|
3
|
|
54
|
44
|
12
|
|
55
|
53
|
13
|
|
56
|
46
|
13
|
|
57
|
49
|
20
|
|
58
|
54
|
9
|
|
59
|
57
|
18
|
|
60
|
76
|
3
|
|
61
|
51
|
23
|
|
62
|
86
|
2
|
|
63
|
50
|
13
|
|
64
|
62
|
22
|
|
65
|
77
|
3
|
|
66
|
69
|
4
|
|
67
|
75
|
4
|
|
68
|
70
|
31
|
|
69
|
---
|
TOP DEBUT:
Album: The Slow Rush
|
1
|
70
|
52
|
17
|
|
71
|
56
|
8
|
|
72
|
64
|
18
|
|
73
|
79
|
4
|
|
74
|
67
|
25
|
|
75
|
80
|
6
|
|
76
|
82
|
3
|
|
77
|
90
|
7
|
|
78
|
85
|
3
|
|
79
|
91
|
2
|
|
80
|
92
|
1
|
|
81
|
95
|
1
|
|
82
|
73
|
20
|
|
83
|
88
|
2
|
|
84
|
---
|
1
|
|
85
|
68
|
19
|
|
86
|
---
|
1
|
|
87
|
78
|
24
|
|
88
|
94
|
2
|
|
89
|
66
|
18
|
|
90
|
81
|
23
|
|
91
|
72
|
32
|
|
92
|
89
|
32
|
|
93
|
97
|
28
|
|
94
|
---
|
1
|
|
95
|
83
|
18
|
|
96
|
74
|
14
|
|
97
|
---
|
1
|
|
98
|
84
|
8
|
|
99
|
93
|
19
|
|
100
|
100
|
9
|
|
|
Songs with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs with 25 or more plays on my iPod/iTunes.
▲ Songs with 50 or more plays on my iPod/iTunes.
¨ Songs with 100 or more plays on my iPod/iTunes.
The “Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100” is a list of current and recent song playlist which I am listening to.
