On the flip side, do you want to live in a world where the music in 20 years sucks so bad that they yearn for the good music of 2020 ?
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Gene Simmons [still] Thinks Rock Is Dead
- Thread starter Altitude
- Start date
What is "rock"? Some folks think it died with Bill Haley. Others think it disappeared with The Beatles, or pre-Sire Records, or post-Nirvana. Whatever, I doubt that Gene Simmons has been to an incubator music club in 30 years so he should just STFU. One shouldn't pontificate about what's getting kids excited in Kansas City or Portland, ME or Dublin, Johannesburg or Mexico City from the bubble around a deck chair beside your private infinity pool.
There's a lot of incredible talent out there pushing the boundaries of contemporary music, which is what I think rock has always been about... bands like Knower and brilliant artists like Jacob Collier, and probably hundreds more that I've not heard. They may not fit Gene's definition of "rock", or maybe even that of most people, but if rock has any common definition at all it's that it's not a cookie cutter. And you don't have to dress like a clown to play it.
There's a lot of incredible talent out there pushing the boundaries of contemporary music, which is what I think rock has always been about... bands like Knower and brilliant artists like Jacob Collier, and probably hundreds more that I've not heard. They may not fit Gene's definition of "rock", or maybe even that of most people, but if rock has any common definition at all it's that it's not a cookie cutter. And you don't have to dress like a clown to play it.
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We are already living in that world lol! And so did our parents and our parents before them. That's just the way it rolls.On the flip side, do you want to live in a world where the music in 20 years sucks so bad that they yearn for the good music of 2020 ?
How many new fans do the Stones have? How many under 20 even know who they are?
Simmons is wrong about a lot, he's right here (but not for his old-fart-out-of-touch reasons). Rock just isn't the driving cultural force it once was. Neither is big band swing. This is just how it goes. Someday, there'll be 'hip hop is dead' making the rounds.
Although I can certainly agree with a lot of this, I have to disagree with the idea that a genre can't be creatively spent. I think that's a big thing here. How much more can you reinvent rock? We've put in hip hop elements, electronic elements and billions of other things. You can still only take the 'three chords and an attitude' thing so far. You can only milk that so far.
And I don't see this as a bad thing, necessarily. My rock sensibilities lean 65-75, but I more or less checked out of rock in my 20's, as it didn't really have anything to say to me, anymore. Like Zappa once said, it's like a tired old person that just keeps repeating itself.
No genre stays relevant forever. Just ask the ghost of Glenn Miller. And that's okay.
No, we don't know any such thing, none of us do. 2015 was only 6 years ago. None of us can say that a band popular in 2015 won't be popular in 2065.
Rock isn't dead. Rock just isn't what Gene Simmons thinks should be called "Rock" anymore. Every subsequent genre of music is created, informed, and influenced by the genres that came before it. There's a world of difference between Preservation Hall and Ornette Coleman, but they are both called "Jazz".
Any distinction between "Rock", "Disco", "Pop", and "R&B", or even "Hip-Hop", is arbitrary, at best, and likely has more to do with the racism and sexism of the commentator than any other consideration.
Any distinction between "Rock", "Disco", "Pop", and "R&B", or even "Hip-Hop", is arbitrary, at best, and likely has more to do with the racism and sexism of the commentator than any other consideration.
he DOES have a point that much of the current pop and rock music is a rehash of what has been born and growing up since the 1950ies. But I think a lot of that may have to do with the choice of instruments, the technology used, etc and finally the finite system of notes that we have in music these. .. at some point, every melody will have been played, every rhythm will have been pounded out and every emotion will have been realised in music. And we are getting ever closer to that point.
Anyone who lives long enough will eventually watch at least some of the icons of youthful cultural rebellion turn curmudgeon. Goddess, just look at Johnny Rotten and Morrissey. Vomitocious.
The truth is; rock was invented by artists such as Big Momma Thornton, Little Richard, Otis Blackwell, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino.
The music Industry soon realized, that if you took the music that those artists had created, had young white male musicians performing it, they could make a Fortune. And they named it Rock and Roll.
But by the 70’s, it started to lose touch with it’s gritty beginnings. More and more, it surrendered to a middle class mentality. There would never be another Woodstock; to dangerous. Kiss and Twisted Sister could never have been on that bill.
If Rock has loss it high mantle in music, I think it was due to it’s own opulence.
The music Industry soon realized, that if you took the music that those artists had created, had young white male musicians performing it, they could make a Fortune. And they named it Rock and Roll.
But by the 70’s, it started to lose touch with it’s gritty beginnings. More and more, it surrendered to a middle class mentality. There would never be another Woodstock; to dangerous. Kiss and Twisted Sister could never have been on that bill.
If Rock has loss it high mantle in music, I think it was due to it’s own opulence.
Instead of worrying about this, people just need to always focus on writing and presenting music they enjoy- not everyone is always going to like it, but if you take pride in what you do, who cares what other people are doing or that music doesn't sound like it did 50 years ago? I love classic rock, but if I ever sit around complaining that stuff doesn't sound as good as it used to, well... I try and make a song in that style that's new! Or appreciate that people out there are still making music they take pride in.
Apparently not very old...... One of my daughter's co-workers called her a "BOOMER" the other day..... She's 26!
He is also ignoring the fact that Kiss’ music is, in fact, pop music. They’ve sold 100m albums!!
Oh that has been said since mumble rap became popular...
probably dating myself there too...
Exactly - it is all music. Outside of the traditional musics (classical, jazz, blues, folk, country and various world musics), everything that has been genrefied is just a concoction of those elements spit through the technology of the time.
Rock isn't dead - probably the money is gone, but the spirit is still there.
