With the current trends of the music industry focused heavily on pop and electronic based music it would be easy to think that rock has had its day and disappeared. However, over the course of the last 18 months there have been many signs that there’s a revival in the genre. As Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys predicted with his Winning Brit award speech
‘It’s always waiting there, just around the corner, ready to make its way back through the sludge and smash through the glass ceiling, looking better than ever. That rock & roll, it seems like it’s fading away sometimes, but it will never die. And there’s nothing you can do about it.’ I personally think he is 100% right and as someone who’s grown up listening to rock music I think this is one of the most exciting times to be involved in the genre. The very definition of ‘trend’ is a direction in which something is developing and changing. So for those music fans, like me, who are bored of the stagnant EDM obsessed industry, there could be change right around the corner. Over the course of the next few blogs I will examine how the rock genre is evolving to stay current. How the artists involved are charting and rivalling the mainstream pop acts. How live shows and festivals are keeping the genre alive. And finally come to a conclusion about whether this resurgence in rock music is sustainable or weather it's short-lived.
Nowadays the term rock music has become so broad due to all the many subgenres within it. Having genres such as; Folk Rock, Blues Rock, Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Punk Rock, Alternative Rock, Funk Rock, Pop Punk, Emo, Rap Rock, Rock n Roll, Nu Metal, Indie and Grunge all falling under one category shows how vast the genre of rock music is. You wouldn’t think that musically; Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, The Black Keys, David Bowie, Black Sabbath, Avenged Sevenfold, Green Day, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blink 182, My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park, The Beatles, Slipknot, Arctic Monkeys and Nirvana would have much in common but the music they create all falls under the broad banner of rock. With rock music being so diverse artists have been able to experiment and be creative taking the genre in new directions. However, with a fragmented genre of music it becomes difficult to answer the question what is rock music? For me rock music tends to center on guitars, bass, drums and vocals (And before you ask no I do not accept Coldplay as a rock band even though they fall under that spectrum).
For me the very nature that rock evolves is what makes it exciting though this may also have hindered it’s mainstream success. Every rock fan has their favourite subgenre and some won’t like other subgenres. I think that’s part of the enjoyment of the music, there’s communities within a community. I have a broad music taste but even I can identify more closely with Punk Rock and Pop Punk than I can with the other sub genres. Whatever subgenre, band, and artist you identify with most in rock music you can be sure to find lyrics that provoke meaning, a high level of musicianship and an amazing live show. I am of course speaking broadly they’re exceptions … Nickelback.
So is there really a resurgence of rock music? Well all us fans would say no. Rock never really went away and we’ve continued to follow the genre, buy the music and go to the shows. However, in terms of the mainstream music scene over the last 18 months there has been evidence to show a rock revival. We’ve already seen Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blink 182, Biffy Clyro, Panic at the Disco, Bring Me The Horizon, All Time Low, Twenty One Pilots, Muse, Fall Out Boy and Imagine Dragons get to number one either in the UK or the USA. A few years back that would’ve been unheard of. For me personally one of the most encouraging signs that the mainstream is changing was when Blink 182 knocked Drake off the Billboard Top 200 albums chart. Of course the music Blink produce has a more pop rock sound but it showed that people aren’t just buying singles they’re buying full albums and as someone who bought the album and loved it the feeling was even sweeter. Even those rock artists that didn’t quite get to number 1 have still achieved incredible success through means such as touring. Acts such as Enter Shikari, Deftones, Weezer, NOFX and Good Charlotte have packed out arenas and festivals all over the world. Beyonce, Drake and Sia have all been pushed down the mainstream charts this year by various rock acts and we could continue to see that when bands like Green Day, Metallica, Kings of Leon and Sum 41 release albums later this year.
Why did rock music decline from the mainstream in the first place? They’re many answers to this question the simplest of which is that the mainstream became focused more heavily on pop music. In truth rock music has been on the decline from the mainstream since the late 1970’s. Whilst that decline has been steady and many incredible rock musicians have achieved success in the mainstream during the last 40 years, genres such as R&B, hip-hop, pop and electronic music have taken the driving seat and, rock is no longer the force it once was. In fact since the early 2000’s pop punk is one of the only rock genres that still charts high on the billboard hot 100. One of the biggest problems is that the highest demographic of people who consume music regularly are teenage girls and the music they consume on mass is no longer rock based. We’ve all seen the images of girls crying hysterically at Beatles and Elvis shows but nowadays it’s unlikely to see similar scenes with the latest rock band. Pop music has moved into the forefront with its large audience and acts such as One Direction and Justin Bieber appeal to the mass market whether you like them or not.
When growing up young people usually look for music and artists they can identify with and another reason rock music lost its way was that it wasn’t diverse enough. Despite some of the greatest rock musicians of all time being black in Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Slash and Chuck Berry the rock genre has tended to lack diversity of difference races and genders. Janis Joplin, Blondie, Stevie Nicks and Alanis Morissette have all been major forces in rock music but the genre has been largely dominated by white male artists. Thankfully this is something that is changing. In fact those who are fans of the rock genre will know that bands such as Paramore, The Pretty Reckless, Evanescence, No Doubt and Alabama Shakes are owning the scene at the moment and they’re all fronted by women. For those rock fans that haven’t heard of Babymetal yet they take the stereotypical image of rock and turn it on its head. So check them out!
The rock genre certainly became stagnant towards the end of the 1990’s but it’s image and traction is changing. A new wave of fresh and innovative artists are developing the genre. During the next blog we’ll look closer at how current rock artists have infused genres to achieve success in the mainstream. How this can lead to a rock revival? And how live shows and touring can be a lucrative outlet for the genre.
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