Rock Isn't Dead - A Feature by Susan Harris and Dave Christy

Welcome to our Thursday Music Feature! Today Susan and Dave share their opinions on Rock Music and where things are today! I LOVE how passionate they both are about this. Can't wait to hear what you think!

Be sure to let us know in the comments!

Susan Says

Rock has always been a genre that faces the claim that the genre is a dying breed. Those of us who have immersed ourselves in that world, in the non auto-tuned pop monstrosities that now plague the airwaves, know this not the be the case. 

I find myself annoyed when you see artists like Machine Gun Kelly & Post Malone attached to the genre that seemingly mocks the great work that established artists such as ACDC, Metallica, Foo Fighters, Black Sabbath, hell even Bowie, Zeppelin and so on built. 

There are those of us who have found solace in the heavy riffs and meaningful lyrics. Who appreciate a singers natural voice, free from this produced nonsense you hear in the charts nowadays. With rock, no matter the sub genre, you know that when you go to a concert, you get to hear exactly what you hear on a cd, vinyl or streaming service.
You won't get any lip synced bullshit with rock music.

Rock music, music in general has saved my life more than once.  While my friends listened to dance and pop music, I made sense of life by listening to Linkin Park, ACDC, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Paramore, You Me at Six, Black Sabbath to name a few.

Rock music isn't dead. It's simply evolving and morphing into something I am proud to be witnessing.  It's a long time coming, considering that even until recently, Spotify didn't have any official podcasts of its own for the rock genre. Now, Allison Hagendorf hosts a weekly podcast that showcases the old and the new, the ones who set the bar and those forging their own path into the genre.

I highly recommend having a listen to the podcast, where Allison is a champion for the genre, and a welcome part of my Friday routine. I love finding new music through Rock This and get a small kick every time I've heard the band or singer before.  

Those who come out and criticize rock music, who claim that a band or singer straying from what rock is deemed to be, if they change up their typical sound, someone has to jump on the rock is dead bandwagon. What the genre needs is more recognition.  
What the genre needs is influence of talent that's shown itself even more in the last two years, as more and more people find peace in music, amid the pandemic.  
What rock music needs is to remember that when a fad of pop music falters, rock will always hold the line.

We are mid way through March and already, in the UK alone, rock bands have held the number 1 spot in the main  charts...not Rock chart...the main charts. 
Those albums include:
You Me at Six with SUCKAPUNCH
Bring Me The Horizon with POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR
Foo Fighters with Medicine at Midnight
Mogwai AS THE LOVE CONTINUES
ARCHITECTS with FOR THOSE THAT WISH TO EXIST
& 
Kings of Leon with WHEN YOU SEE YOURSELF

Now, come and tell me that Rock is dead...

Susan Harris is a writer from Cork, Ireland and when she’s not torturing her readers with heart-wrenching plot twists or killer cliffhangers, she’s probably getting some new book related ink, binging her latest TV or music obsession, or with her nose in a book. She is a proud founding Member of the Muser VIPers and is responsible for Melanie not breaking the Website on an almost daily basis!

You can check out all her books on Amazon HERE

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Dave Says

HEADLINE NEWS: GENE SIMMONS SHOOTS HIS MOUTH OFF. (And this is coming from a huge Kiss fan that actually met him at the first Wizard World I worked.) Well, no, this isn't exactly news. He's done it before. He's said these words before too. "Rock is Dead". In fact, Marilyn Manson uttered these words in 1998 song of the same name from the "Mechanical Animals" album. Do you want to know what I say though? DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE! They say the same thing every few years to get someone else in an uproar. 

There was a time when rock had quite the stranglehold on popular music. But different times, music evolves, other genres become popular. So what? You can't always have the same thing sounding the same, constantly. That would be, well, in a word, BORING! As I mentioned before, I don't mind when bands branch out. I don't want to buy the same record from an artist every couple of years. They are allowed to grow and mature. A couple times, I may not have particularly loved it but if that's what the band wants to do, let them. The term "sell out" is thrown around a lot. And if they are making the record someone else wants to hear instead of the one that isn't in their hearts, that is also a way of selling out.

There are even so many definitions of rock today, who knows what anyone means. Genres, sub-genres, post-genres. Who cares? Stop trying to label everything. Some young, freshly-out-of-diapers, "metalheads" tried to once to tell me that Ozzy Osbourne was not heavy metal. What? You mean the guy that practically invented heavy metal, is not considered heavy metal because there is faster, heavier music out there? Just like there are different genres of music, there are different factions of heavy metal. We can have that. We don't need 40 of them-- post hardcore, emo, nü-metal, and many more that I can't even be bothered to think of that weren't even around when I was in High School (late 80's for time frame reference). But I can relate. (Yes, I am actually capable of understanding). 

Me and a friend had this conversation in high school, after class (or during class. Who actually paid attention in class?). We were talking music and the metal bands we were listening to and he mentioned his dad saying he liked heavy metal. "Really? Like who?" "Steppenwolf, Rainbow, "And we kinda had a laugh like "Those are not heavy metal! Maybe they were back then but not now." So, it kinda harkened me back to that conversation. In his dad's time, they were probably some of the heavier bands around but as time goes on and music expands, we consider them more classic rock now. Obviously, they weren't classic rock when they first came onto the scene. Some of the moves can be shocking. Just like the song goes "When did Motley Crue become classic rock?"

In my years, we had heavy metal, glam metal, speed/thrash metal, death metal. Those were all the versions we really needed. I still considered them more than rock. Rock was more like Tom Petty, The Beatles, R.E.M... I wouldn't lump Poison, Def Leppard, Skid Row, etc in the same genre as them. They may not be the heaviest but they are heavier than those bands.

But, in the end, what are talking about anyway? Opinions. We have all have them, just like something else we all have. You can't really argue over who's opinion is right. Well, you can because some are just stupid. But it will never get resolved. You can't change someone else's mind. Instead, you should feel bad for us old folks now who ruined out eyesight back in the day trying the lyric sheet that came with cassette tapes! I definitely can't do that now! I need my reading glasses to read the lyric sheets that come with a CD....and still have trouble! Google, here I come! 

There are so many versions of rock, it will never be completely dead. Not unless every SMF in the world stops listening to it, and you can bet your Sweet F.A. that I will never stop. "Remember this at least, it’s the nature of the beast".

This was on Nuno Bettencourt's page after the Grammy debacle and how they handled the EVH tribute-- or lack thereof. ---- The writing has been on the wall for decades.
But it wasn’t until last night and it hit hard...that rock and roll has been forgotten and left behind. 
Not by its fans, thankfully. Or the artists keeping it alive and well.
But definitely in our main stream music industry of Auto Tune driven Vocals and pushing buttons chosen over actual musicians playing instruments.
Look there are great young bands coming and some great bands still Rocking.
Rock Is not dead, and will NEVER die, but its respect is hanging by a thread.
And for what Rock and Roll did for nearly a century to get us here to all these different genres... it deserves just a little more respect and has earned the right to be celebrated at the Grammy’s.

Dave Christy loves horror, music, documentaries and more.  He is also the co-runner of several fan based groups including Morningstars (THE Lucifer fan group also run by Melanie), and now is a member of the VIPers Spotlight Lounge team for Melanie's Muses.  Other than "In The Spotlight" Features -check out his "31 Days Of Halloween Movies"