Rolling Stone

By Udit Banerjea
Posted November 4, 2005

Fans of rock ‘n’ roll know that something is up. Their genre of preference is in real trouble. And no, I’m not talking about whiny Blink 182 fans or teenybopper Avril Lavigne listeners. I’m talking about real rock fans. The ones who know that Nirvana was not the greatest band ever. Over the last ten years or so, we have witnessed a slow decline in rock, or rather a lack of progress, which amounts to the same thing. Is rock ‘n’ roll dead? No, but it very well could be soon.

One of the essential components of rock music is a certain level of rebelliousness. It all started in the 50’s, with young men with guitars singing about girls and T-Birds and surfing and other things that their parents generally disapproved of. The first rock audiences were rebels who shocked and appalled the adults of the day by shaking their hips, gyrating, and holding hands. In the 60’s and 70’s, rock ‘n’ roll represented a rebellion against the establishment and became a valid medium for carrying the message of the anti-war movement. Led Zeppelin led a stylistic revolution in the 70’s, injecting their music with more power and a harder edge. Rock bands in the 80’s in turn revolted against the messages of selflessness and peace of the previous two decades, using rock to spread their messages of selfishness, hedonism, and materialism and turning their live shows into outright acts of obscenity. From its outset up until this point, any mention of rock ‘n’ roll almost certainly evoked the spirit of youthful rebellion.

This brings us to the early 90’s, which is when the decline of rock began. The last real rock ‘n’ roll movement, grunge, broke out of the underground and became mainstream. Bands like Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and of course Nirvana established themselves as the most dominant forces in music. But the theme of rebellion was much more subdued—the grunge movement focused on individual suffering and angst. Nowadays, this theme is overused and trite, but it truly was original at the time. The new movement, instead of seeking media attention, spurned celebrity status, rejecting the self-importance of its predecessors. But as the grunge movement ended, a wave of cheap imitation bands followed, trying to mimic Kurt Cobain’s depressing lyrics and Eddie Vedder’s grinding vocals (like that guy from Creed whose name no one seems to know).

Since then, there has been no new movement within rock ‘n’ roll. There have been some significant rock bands (e.g. System of a Down), but they are largely isolated and lack the popularity needed to start a broader movement. Rage Against The Machine was very promising, brimming with energy and carrying a heavy political message, but alas they are no more. The rebelliousness of rock has devolved into whining and navel-gazing. Instead of instilling in us a sense of outrage towards the government or society, rockers nowadays seem to just complain about how their girlfriends broke up with them or how their lives are miserable. Frankly, no one cares about either. By and large, rock bands today simply have nothing significant to say.

Rock now also has to deal with something that it didn’t have to deal with in previous decades: the emergence of rap. The dominance of rap and R&B has slowly edged rock ‘n’ roll into a corner. Those controversial messages of self-importance and hedonism once championed by rock are now carried by rap. When looking to rebel from their parents, the youth now turn to rap, which is by far more strongly opposed by parents. The most controversial figures in music—like Eminem, 50 Cent, and Snoop Dogg—are all rap and hip-hop artists. As rock has stagnated, in many ways rap has taken its place.

There has been a great deal of innovation and progress in music in general, much of it influenced by rock ‘n’ roll. Radiohead, for example, is one of the greatest modern bands. Though they have clear rock influences, however, they just do not fit clearly into the rock ‘n’ roll category. Most influential bands have abandoned rock and effectively left it for dead. And it may soon be just that. Even the best rock bands we have today, like the White Stripes, the Killers, and the Hives, are all simply tributes to the rock ‘n’ roll of past decades. After about a fifty-year career, it seems that rock ‘n’ roll is finally running out of steam. Unless a new group of bands can successfully reinvigorate this ailing genre, its demise is inevitable. So enjoy what new rock we have now while it lasts, before it joins the likes of disco and swing in the great halls of music Valhalla.