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I have met a small handful of rock stars in person. I will say that, by far, Jon Anderson is one of the nicest people I have ever met.
To say there are no "Legends" or "Rock Gods" today is not only Subjective, it is also a "Biased" claim.
They may not be the prototypical "Rock Gods" of yrs past, but today's youth have more options than just Rock-n-Roll, they gravitate towards Hip-Hop and Rap.
Though I'm not a fan of either Genre of that music, the popular style of music today has its own God's and Legends for those that relate. Like it or not, Tu Pac, Snoop Dog, LL Cool J are just some of Modern Music Royalty
They may not be the prototypical "Rock Gods" of yrs past, but today's youth have more options than just Rock-n-Roll, they gravitate towards Hip-Hop and Rap.
Though I'm not a fan of either Genre of that music, the popular style of music today has its own God's and Legends for those that relate. Like it or not, Tu Pac, Snoop Dog, LL Cool J are just some of Modern Music Royalty
I think @ZAR14 nailed it ^
I would also add that although I think the OP's idea of "rock gods" is a completely silly premise, I would argue that the version of "god" status is mainly based on one's knowledge or familiarity of the music. If you don't know or are not familiar with any artists today, then how can you absolutely state your "no rock gods" theory to be a true premise?
Josh Homme/Queens of the Stone Age? Dave Grohl/Foo Fighters? Metallica? Jack White?
Just to name a few, you get my point, etc ...
I would also add that although I think the OP's idea of "rock gods" is a completely silly premise, I would argue that the version of "god" status is mainly based on one's knowledge or familiarity of the music. If you don't know or are not familiar with any artists today, then how can you absolutely state your "no rock gods" theory to be a true premise?
Josh Homme/Queens of the Stone Age? Dave Grohl/Foo Fighters? Metallica? Jack White?
Just to name a few, you get my point, etc ...
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Seriously, people. God of what? Leather pants? Geez, it's 2018, people. All Rock is Dad Rock. Let's all just admit it and move on.
Some perspective...
In the US, Killing Joke's biggest hit was a song written in the 80s, about the 80s, and called "Eighties". They claimed in the 90s that Nirvana ripped off the main riff for "Come as You Are". Cobain was quoted to have been nervous about releasing the song as a single since it sounded so similar. They resolved any ire over the situation.
That was ~25 years ago. For some perspective, consider that Woodstock II was on the 25th year anniversary of the Original Woodstock. Next year will mark 50 years since Woodstock. Should we have a 25th Anniversary of Woodstock II?
I loved the song Eighties, back in the 80s. Still do, actually (I have it on my 80s spotify play list I made
). I remember thinking that Come as You Are felt a little like Eighties. Incidentally, it's the only Nirvana song I ever really liked.
Not diminishing either of the bands in any way, shape or form. But it's 2018, fer chrissake. These are not warriors. They are artists. There is no war for Rock to wage against. It has become the establishment. Should it war against itself?
I live in Rural Appalachia. Do you know what I heard on the loudspeaker at my local grocery store last night? Talking Heads - Life During Wartime. Ponder that for a second.
There will be never be a rock god again. Rock, as a trend setting, youth oriented, no-holds-barred assault on the man, is dead. Several times over. By extension, there can be no god. At least not one worth worshiping. God of IEMs, maybe?
Some perspective...
In the US, Killing Joke's biggest hit was a song written in the 80s, about the 80s, and called "Eighties". They claimed in the 90s that Nirvana ripped off the main riff for "Come as You Are". Cobain was quoted to have been nervous about releasing the song as a single since it sounded so similar. They resolved any ire over the situation.
That was ~25 years ago. For some perspective, consider that Woodstock II was on the 25th year anniversary of the Original Woodstock. Next year will mark 50 years since Woodstock. Should we have a 25th Anniversary of Woodstock II?
I loved the song Eighties, back in the 80s. Still do, actually (I have it on my 80s spotify play list I made
). I remember thinking that Come as You Are felt a little like Eighties. Incidentally, it's the only Nirvana song I ever really liked.Not diminishing either of the bands in any way, shape or form. But it's 2018, fer chrissake. These are not warriors. They are artists. There is no war for Rock to wage against. It has become the establishment. Should it war against itself?
I live in Rural Appalachia. Do you know what I heard on the loudspeaker at my local grocery store last night? Talking Heads - Life During Wartime. Ponder that for a second.
There will be never be a rock god again. Rock, as a trend setting, youth oriented, no-holds-barred assault on the man, is dead. Several times over. By extension, there can be no god. At least not one worth worshiping. God of IEMs, maybe?
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OK, I'll play, too.
Your points are popular but most are utterly out of context. People at that time made a lot of their own entertainment and live shows by paid musicians were special occasions, not the weekly or daily fare we're now accustomed to. The recording industry then worked nothing like it does today so comparison is not really doable.
e.g.
While the price of a concert ticket was [numerically] low compared to now, so was our take home pay so "cheap" doesn't apply. You should judge ticket prices as a multiple of take home pay, i.e. how many hours do you work to buy that ticket? Illustration: in 1967 ticket tiers that year were $4.50, $3.50 and $2.50, which was up a dollar from the year before. (In 1968 they went up another dollar.) We in the grocery store had to work just under four hours to buy a $4.50 concert ticket, assuming the price included tax and fees, which it normally did back then. How many hours do we work today to buy that same tenth row ticket?
e.g.
"Lavish" is a word not associated with record company support of any rock act in the 60s and 70s. All of the "massive promotions and huge recording budgets" was only for already-successful bands and it was paid for out of record sales so overspending came out of the bands' share before it was doled out to them. It's an advance against sales.
People discovered that playing rock doesn't make you a god. Once that myth had been debunked it was all over. The rock god was some kind of weird patriarchal relic even in its time. There was this manly myth that you have to go down to the crossroads, blah, blah, blah. We should have known that there were 13-year-old girls in South Korea and Japan who could do it just as well as druggie messiah. Now, thanks to YouTube, we know for sure.
Rock gods? pft
Back in my day we had Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, real musicians.
Back in my day we had Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, real musicians.
I don't understand this. I guess John Mayer is a pushover if you assume the only thing he's ever done was "Your Body is a Wonderland", but it's not. He's an acclaimed guitarist and very well respected by many of the typical "rock gods" including Clapton himself.
When it comes to rock and blues guitarists, he's undoubtedly going to be remembered as one of the greats.
"Cheap" is certainly a relative term, but they were certainly still affordable by most people who had even a minimum wage income...
That said, are you denying that the cost of tickets (among other things...) for concerts haven't outpaced wages? That's not a matter of opinion. it's a matter of fact.
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$35 today does not buy you a 10th row ticket to a top-of-the-heap band.
Mozart was the rock god of his generation. If the chainsaw had been invented he would have used one to trash his hotel rooms.Rock gods? pft
Back in my day we had Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, real musicians.
This is so ridiculous that it bares repeating.
I was a teenager in SoCAL in the 80s , smack dab between the broadcasting ranges of two of the most prominent and ground breaking "Alternative" stations in the US (not called alternative then. But you get the picture). These were the only stations to play Talking Heads, much less this particular song.
I worked in a grocery store ~86-87. It was MUZAK. All. Day. Every. Day.
Once again for posterity...
MUZAK SOCAL 1987 versus TALKING HEADS WV 2018.
But, please tell me again that we need a new rock god.
But they really weren't the equivalent of "rock gods," even of their own era, because the entire music world was different. Not only was there no internet, there was no mass media of any kind, and not really mass audiences (well, more so for Bartok and Stravinsky than Bach and Beethoven). They worked under patronage arrangements with churches and princes. The phenomenon of "celebrity" is really only meaningful with the appearance of the mass, ticket-buying audience, which in turn is a product of industrialization and urbanization and only really emerges in the second half of the 19th century. You could argue that Chopin was a celebrity, and thus a precedent for the 20th century "rock god," but not Mozart.
Cross posted! Exactly the kind of thing I was alluding to a minute ago - one of the very, VERY first actual "celebrity" musicians.
In 1970 I told my dad "Jimmy Page is incredible!" and my dad said "who?"
In 2018 my son told me "Kendrick Lamar is incredible!" and I said "who?"
It's the circle of life.
In 2018 my son told me "Kendrick Lamar is incredible!" and I said "who?"
It's the circle of life.
