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Gene Simmons [still] Thinks Rock Is Dead

#121
My 17yo daughter made me a spotify playlist for Christmas, packed with current stuff that totally slaps. (slap \’slap\ vt slapped; slap-ping [LG slapp, n.] (ca. 2010) 1. to rock)

There’s good stuff out there, but it’s gone back into underground, where it belongs. Oh, did you think rock’s destiny was for the singer/songrocker behind Nine Inch Nails to write the score for Disney’s latest animated movie? Noooo, my fellow babies. Old guys like us, we’re not supposed to know what’s really cool and edgy. And if it doesn’t sound like “Detroit Rock City,” I would say that’s progress.
 
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#123
A version Rock may have died but it's had many afterlives.
Every time it gets too old and bloated it turns to ashes and comes back stripped down to the core of what Rock music is.
In the 70s it was punk.
Then came the 80s and then "Grunge"
Then that got bloated and fat... It's always a cycle.

But my fave rock bands like Tool still fill stadiums.

What I do want to see though is Young bands killing it. I'm only 42 but want a 22 year old to inspire me!

And who the hell thinks spending 1million on fireworks is ok in our day and age? Like that's EXACTLY what Rock isn't... Or is it?
 
#124
In a lot of ways I think there has never been as good a time for music. All genres are on the table and plenty of young players are working hard and doing good music. Some really young players are doing there homework, bands like "The Iron Cross" and "Liliac" are playing Zep and Who and G&R etc. with spirit and authenticity. Meanwhile groups like "Postmodern Jukebox" are taking rock and pop from the last thirty years and doing them as Jazz era swing and "Scary Pockets" are taking the same era and doing them as funk and R&B tunes. Also there are more different kinds of Metal than I ever imagined ( I thought Metal and Rap would just disappear like thirty years ago). "Gretta Van Fleet" certainly rock and draw an audience.
I mostly listen to A.C. Jobim these days myself.
 
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#129
He's right. Look at your own gigs in the last decade or two. Fewer people at gigs, the money has certainly not kept up, etc. I have had to resort to a light semi-acoustic 3 piece act that can play cheap just to keep working. For me, the last of the good local rock & roll scene died around 2007 -2008ish. The guys that were the top dogs in the biggest most popular rock bands are now doing solo acoustic gigs at pizza parlors and craft beer breweries for peanuts.
Then look at album sales, and concerts for the pros. (and all of this was well in effect pre-covid). Yeah- it's dead or at best on life support.
 
#130
Roland GR 88 said:
I wholeheartedly agree except for the embarrassingly not keeping pace comment.
It’s watching senior citizens try to keep pace that’s embarrassingly cringeworthy.
Click to expand...
that brings up an interesting point....family, kids, work, house repairs, bills, etc etc....make it more and more difficult to 'keep up' the older you get. I am only 45 and completely understand why 'old people' are resistant to 'keeping up.' You just don't have time and if your existing stuff works..then you just say screw it...why bother. Then you realize you are not 'televant'...maybe you try and catch up,or maybe you say 'i dont care'...i am completely fine being the old dude yelling at clouds.
 
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#137
Roland GR 88 said:
I wholeheartedly agree except for the embarrassingly not keeping pace comment.
It’s watching senior citizens try to keep pace that’s embarrassingly cringeworthy.
Click to expand...
Music is music. My preference is old school rhythm and blues/soul but I watched “O Brother Where Art Thou” on tv again recently and while I’m no fan of country music in general, I enjoyed the music in the movie. It seemed to have a soulfulness that I don’t usually get from most of the country music I’ve heard.
If you let your values be guided by what you perceive the world values you’re doomed. I don’t care if the music I enjoy is irrelevant to the world at large as long as it has relevance to me. Gene Simmons is nobody that I care to be influenced by. His fans or his detractors are of no importance in the big picture.
 
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#138
Some truly excellent posts here.
I'll just add that one time-honored criterion for determining whether music is "rock" or not is whether or not it expresses teenage revolt and alienation, and (ideally) terrifies and disgusts parents, in the grand tradition of Elvis, Little Richard, the Stones and, yes, the Beatles. Remember Jefferson Airplane and "Volunteers" ("Up against the wall, m*****f******!!")?
Who were the last musicians to do this? The Ramones? Ozzy? Prince? Marilyn Manson? Nine Inch Nails?
Certainly not Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, REM, U2, Journey...
I have a feeling that parents were laughing too hard to be scared of Motley Crue and Poison.
The only reason to be scared of Van Halen would be if you were worried that your daughter was going to suddenly get the notion to marry a goofy Southern Californian party boy instead of a doctor or lawyer.
By this definition, rock music mostly surrendered the sacred duty to rap music long, long ago, and became pop music with guitars.
 
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#140
I have an idea for Gene: Why doesn’t he put together a band that isn’t KISS that plays exactly the music he would consider “rock”? I bet they could be pretty successful. Lots of good guitarists, vocalists, drummers, producers, etc. would be delighted to work with him. I would probably buy the albums.
 

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