Rock is dead. Those words have been uttered so many times over the years to the point that they’re now a cliché, but never in rock’s history is the genre’s death as imminent as it is now. Over the past decade the entire genre of guitar-based rock has practically faded away as a commercially viable art form, taking a backseat to hip hop, electronic music, and pop. From the mid-1950s into the early 21st century rock reigned supreme in America as the dominant form of pop music, but I’m afraid we’ve seen this reign come to an end.
Initially nobody would have envisioned rock ‘n’ roll lasting this long. During its early heyday, when Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others tapped right into the rebelliousness and libidinous energies of American teens with their new brand of music, most assumed rock would be a passing fad. This seemed especially so in the late 50s when a series of events seemed to spell its death.
In late 1957, Little Richard experienced a religious conversion while on tour in Australia, leading him to renounce rock ‘n’ roll and devote himself to gospel music. Just a few months later, in March of 1958, less than two years after his seminal performance on Ed Sullivan, Elvis Presley entered the Army, placing his music career on hold for the next two years. Only two months later a British newspaper revealed that Jerry Lee Lewis’s new wife (his third) was also his first cousin, once removed, and, as if that wasn’t bad enough, informed everyone that she was a mere 13 years old. The resulting scandal effectively ended his career. And then eight months after this, a plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson crashed in a field in Iowa, killing everyone on board.
With this quadruple-punch taking so many of its founding figures out of the picture, by 1959 it certainly appeared possible that rock ‘n’ roll had come and gone. The next few years would see artists continue to produce rock music, but the music being produced was a little different than that produced by the first generation of rockers, and it certainly didn’t capture the imaginations of American teens the same way. The charts were dominated in these years by softer, folk-inspired groups with vocal harmonies like the Everly Brothers and Peter, Paul, and Mary, “girl groups” like the Marvelettes and the Shirelles, and countless acts trying the capitalize on the Twist dance craze started by Chubby Checker. All the while the Founding Father of Rock, Elvis, was more busy making movies than making ground-breaking music. Looking back there was some great music that came out of this period, but there was a prevailing thought that rock’s best years had passed.
The Beatles of course arrived from England in early 1964, launching the British Invasion, breathing new life into rock ‘n’ roll, and ensuring that this music would not die but live a long, prosperous life. This is an oversimplification, of course. The Beatles didn’t single-handedly save rock, and there were other artists who helped them transform rock ‘n’ roll from a seemingly short-lived teenybopper craze to a more mature music with artistic and intellectual credibility. But this change did indeed occur during this time, and the Beatles were the first artist to get the ball rolling.
There would be other times in the following decades that people declared rock dead, but it always seemed to catch a second wind. A new artist or new style would always come along to shake things up, to give it a second (or third, or fourth) life. In the mid-70s, one could have made the argument that rock had gotten too far away from its roots. Bands performing in giant arenas with 20 minute dueling guitar solos followed by 20-minute drum solos, vocalists singing lyrics inspired by Tolkien and Ayn Rand, and prog-rock bands bringing in influences of classical music and avant-garde theater didn’t exactly pack the same immediacy and energy as early rock n roll. And disco was threatening to spell the end of rock’s relevancy as rock acts like the Stones, Kiss, and Rod Stewart began incorporating disco influences into their music. But of course punk rock entered the stage, bringing rock back to its basics, 3 chord songs and rebellion, and a few years later MTV would arrive, giving rock (as well as pop and new wave) a much needed commercial boost.
Similarly, in the early 90s you could say hair metal had made rock grow stagnant. There’s only so much hair spray, cheap double entendres, and formulaic acoustic power ballads people can tolerate. Enter Nirvana and grunge. Then in the late 90s and early 2000s you wouldn’t be alone if you thought the wave of post-Grunge nu-metal bands were ruining rock.1 Enter the Strokes and the White Stripes and the “rock revival” movement they ushered in. Over and over again rock has found a way to save itself.
However, more and more it seems like nobody is going to step in and save rock this time. I keep waiting for the new Beatles, Ramones, Nirvana, or Strokes to arrive but it just doesn’t happen. On this week’s Billboard Top 40 there is not a single rock act on there.2 But if you were to look at the Top 40 from 30 years ago this week you would find INXS, Aerosmith, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, White Lion, Foreigner, Toto, Bryan Ferry, and Def Leppard.
Since the arrival of The Stokes and White Stripes (and the various Rock Revival groups they spawned, like The Killers, Jet, and others) there has not been a rock act to make a dent culturally. There have been a few here and there who managed a hit or two, like Kings of Leon or Muse3, and you’ve got a few 90s bands like The Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, and Weezer, who have managed to parlay past success into a hit from time to time, but rock acts on the radio are a rarity. Perhaps the one exception is Coldplay, undoubtedly the most successful rock band of the 21st century. But even they have abandoned rock of late for pop, scoring a huge hit with their collaboration with The Chainsmokers. Perhaps they saw the writing on the wall.4
This is not to say there aren’t still outstanding rock bands making music. There are plenty, but they do not have the popularity or cultural impact that rock artists had in past decades. Or, like Jason Isbell or Chris Stapleton, they have too much of a country influence to be considered truly rock. Likewise I am sure there are plenty of outstanding jazz records being made, but how many people can name a single jazz musician who debuted after the 1970s? (Kenny G doesn’t count. Neither does Branford Marsalis or anyone you’ve heard of because he played with Sting.)
Jazz actually provides a pretty nice analog to understand the decline of rock. Jazz emerged in the 1920s as a dominant form of music and continued its relevance and commercial viability into the 1970s. Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Mingus, Miles, Coltrane. These names are as iconic as any produced by rock and their music continues to inspire musicians and fans alike. But I think it’s safe to say we’ll never see jazz produce another iconic performer on par with these. Jazz’s time as a relevant art form is over. It had a good sixty year run but its time has passed.
Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats’ “Rocket 88” was released in 1951 and is often credited with being the first rock n’ roll record ever released. If we then consider 1951 the birth year of rock, that puts 2011 as its 60th birthday. Rock today is therefore in the same stage of life as jazz was sometime in the mid-80s. Some of the icons were still around but making forgettable music (does anyone actually still ever listen to Miles Davis’s 80s albums?),5 its influence could still be felt in popular music, and its primary fan-base were people like Cliff Huxtable6 who waxed about how much better music was back in the day. But here we are thirty-some years later and not a single jazz musician of note has emerged to save the genre.
Once again, I am sure there are plenty of fantastic jazz musicians still making music, but neither I nor the average music fan is aware of them. They belong to a niche genre and perform music for a small and devoted subset of fans. This is where rock is heading. I am confident of it.
I will continue to listen to rock music, both old and new, and just as Cliff Huxtable and his dad would occasionally head over to the Blue Note to hear some jazz, I will continue to pay to see rock music performed live. But I have no illusions about this music ever being relevant again. I don’t expect my kids to develop the same love of rock that I did, and I don’t expect that joining a crappy high school rock band will be the same rite of passage for them as it was for me and my friends. Like the parents weaned on crooners who saw their kids develop a love of rock in the 1950s and 60s, I must give my kids space to develop their own loves, accepting that the times have changed and we’re never going back.
Footnotes
1.Isn’t it funny that arguably the three most reviled and maligned bands today, Nickleback, Creed, and Limp Bizkit, all came out of this period?↩
2.One could make an argument that Imagine Dragons are rock, but I don’t buy it. Their current single, “Whatever it Takes,” has vocals that sound more like rap than rock, and the sound is so over-produced, with electronic beats, modulated vocals, and echo effects that it just doesn’t sound like rock to me. I’ve developed this test for what is and isn’t rock: If a group of talented high schoolers with 2 guitars, a bass, and a drum set can produce a reasonable approximation of the song then it’s rock. Imagine Dragons fails this test.↩
3.Looking at Wikipedia I see that Kings of Leon have had four albums chart in the top five, and one that went all the way to number one. However, they have only managed one top ten single. My impression is that a top selling album isn’t what it used to be. I do not know enough about the ins and outs of the recording industry to say this with any certainty but I suspect that with the changing landscape of the music industry, the fall of the CD, the rise and fall of mp3s, the advent of streaming services, and the revival of vinyl, the Billboard charts do some strange things when it comes to albums. I remember back in 2007, the Shins’ album, “Wincing the Night Away,” debuted at #2. At the time Shins fans such as myself were astounded. How did this semi-obscure indie band with no radio hits score such a big hit album? The explanation I read at the time was that album sales were simply different now. The huge pop acts were selling mostly singles, opening the door for album-based acts such as the Shins (or Kings of Leon) to score surprise hits.↩
4. Although I’m not optimistic about rock’s future commercial longevity, I imagine its influence will continue to be felt in pop music for some time. Pop radio today seems to be all about cross-pollination of genres. A hip hop artist paired with a pop diva. A bro country act paired with a pop diva. A bro country act paired with a hip hop artist. The possibilities are endless! I believe we’ll continue to see rock influences mixed with others, but I doubt we’ll see true, unadulterated rock on the pop charts ever again.↩
5. To me one of the most peculiar things about Miles Davis’s 80s phase was his clothes. How did a guy whose clothes in the 50s and 60s epitomized understated grace turn into a guy who looked like the proprietor of a futuristic candy factory?↩
6. Yes, I know the actor who portrayed Cliff Huxtable (I’m not even going to do him the honor of mentioning him by name) is a serial rapist and as close to a monster as a human being can get. However, I know I am not alone when I say that the show he created and the characters he populated it with are a cornerstone of my youth. I suppose one appropriate reaction to his sex crimes would be to cease any mention of that show and cease reminiscing with my wife about our favorite episodes (something she and I have always enjoyed doing). But why should we let him rob us of those small joys? Screw him. But Cliff is okay.↩
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