I just want to propose this as a possible way that rock might come back into the mainstream, at least enough so it stands side-by-side with hip hop for a bit.
2000's kids are starting to become adults, and naturally at least a few of those kids might just become musicians, or they might already be.
Now, what game was popular with 2000's kids in the later part of the decade? Guitar Hero.
I can only assume this game introduced many kids to both new (at the time) and old rock music, and because of that specific influence led to them liking that type of music later on in life.
It's plausible that a few of these kids played one of the Guitar Hero games (or any one of its imitators), were inspired to play music, and either got guitar lessons or learned some other instrument on their own. Chances are, after a few years of learning that instrument, they would want to make rock music because they're sick of hip-hop dominating the charts and want to revive it because "muh nostalgia" (although it's kind of weird to say that they'll be nostalgic for music that's upwards of 50 years old by that point). As such, new rock bands, whether they try to imitate older styles or try something new, will start popping up enough to the point where people will take notice and declare it a "rock revival". If anything, it'll at the very least create a freak revival that lasts during the earliest part of the 2020's, and at most will have enough staying power until the 2030's when something new comes along from the, dare I say it, 2010's kids.
Maybe I'm just crazy. What do you think, Sup Forums?
Theory on Rock Revival
Other urls found in this thread:
youtube.com
youtube.com
youtube.com
twitter.com
Rock is filled with numales and roasties. We need a new GG Allin
could happen. i was thinking today that i might start listening to rock again if the lyrics had anything relevant or interesting to say (although i guess it's been 10 years or so since i've checked)
honestly this goes for rap too. where are the *actually* good writers anymore?
I'd imagine fresh faces would bring fresh lyrical topics too. Or not, but you never know.
>listening to music for the lyrics
The mark of a true pleb.
>a bunch of rich kids with purple hair singing about the president
no thanks
i thought i made it clear that i stopped doing this 10 years ago. 99% of lyrics are retarded bullshit
99fag here. That wave of kids who heard of rock through Guitar Hero and Rock Band were the Wrong Generation kids. Those died out like 4 to 5 yearsr ago. Ultimately, there's still a handful out there. Although there were people who truly did love rock and stuck with it - hell, at one point some guys in my school covered Television - the great majority knows some rock but not much, and doesn't care too much for it.
Ultimately rock in the mainstream died out with the post-punk revival scene and people claiming they were "saving rock" - because that implied that rock needed to be saved. Thus, it died out in the mainstream. Were there a few bands? Yeah, there were like three in my high school, I played in one. One guy apparently had a solo project as well. But none of that mattered in the end because while people came to their shows, it was less because of the music and more as a social event.
Yeesh. Gives me chills just thinking about it.
Although, I'd imagine some bands would be conservative - 2000's kids were raised by 70's and 80's kids, after all.
Tru
My main gripe with rock fans right now is that they're all okay with it being tame, and not trying to do anything new; they're generally into "safe" indie emo etc
If anything I could see a post hardcore / emo revival, all those bands everybody cringed at now we're huge when I was in middle school, pretty sure my age group (early 20s) fits the bill for starting this
that's what im saying. i want a kid who looks weird to be able to sing to me about some normal actual shit without trying so aggressively to make some stupid point. but i want them to be modern and honest. and relatable. and smart.
if only somebody could write a song without sounding like an idiot for once
Why the hell would you want rock to be mainstream in the first place? It's perfect the way it is, let these fucknuggets listen to Lil Peep.
>it's perfectly fine the way it is
Considering that many of those 2000's kids grew up with parents who listened to post-punk, we might be onto something interesting here. Hell, what influence they got from older brothers and cousins lands those influences in pop punk, which pretty much leads to a generation that might have an interest in dance punk. Also psychedelia's got something of a revival going, apparently. So there's some stuff going on.
Rock is going to be shit regardless of whether it's mainstream or not.
>But none of that mattered in the end because while people came to their shows, it was less because of the music and more as a social event.
Not bad desu. Arguably one of the functions of art, to mediate a shared socio-cultural space and distinguish a certain meaning making from others. Think of the way punk or hip hop interacts with the ideals of the subcultures and their expression as style and certain behavior.
But I get that you probably mean the entire thing was empty of meaning and it was literally just hanging with friends. That does seem like the signs of a dead cultural expression, rock ultimately taking the form of an adolescent social group like some kind of clubhouse in the woods, but it's a traditional mass cultural expression in the same way. Like, people doing house music for the first time in clubs is a novel cultural expression that anchors an identity and sense of meaning. But just doing the high school rock band is almost meaningless because it's like a simulation of a simulation of a simulation of the original garage rock bands, highly diluted through decades of media and marketing that tell you this is what you should do as a white, angsty, horny suburban kid.
Never thought of that...
I mean.. their Interests are already Starting to Resurface in the Mainstream with the Emo Revival.
Definite possibility
Considering the game mentioned in the OP had rock from a variety of different genres, there's a world of possibilities.
I know some kids are interested in 80's hair metal, of all things - most likely thanks to both the game and their parents playing those types of songs for them. A hair metal revival would be hilarious, but probably wouldn't last very long.
Yeah, there was this show last year that I went to, it was at a local place, pretty great venue desu, acoustics were great and it acted as something of a pub. Anyhow, over a hundred people from my school came, hell, some folks from other schools came. Besides about a dozen peeps from other bands and jam sessions, no one cared. The show lasted for hours, they did some original songs, quite a few covers... The original songs were actually quite good, they had something of a post-punk thing going on with some riot grrl inspiration (blame the singer) but with actually good lyrics.
Anyhow, besides about a dozen peeps from other bands/projects/jam sessions of that scene, the people there didn't give a shit about the show. It was an excuse to go to a pub with friends and just spend the night talking to one another and even flirting. Basically, the people that cared about it really did care, but the people that didn't care about it went full out "eh, it doesn't matter" - including many former WrongGen kids.
It's become a niche much like jazz has become, but with none of the prestige.
Already happened, Post Malone was a guitar hero player, he talks about it in interviews. Rock revival may happen still, but it's been looking bleak for about 10 years now. And no one wants to talk about why
>your choice is either radio buttrock
>or "cool" hipster nu male indie rock with 0 testosterone, balls, fun, or anything that made rock fun in the first place
Why do you think hip hop replaced it? It was fresh, new, and unafraid to be masculine. You can dance to it, party to it, and it puts fun over navel-gazing. Like rock used to.
Post Malone is still hip-hop, though, so I'm not sure if that counts.
In terms of kick-you-in-the-teeth rock music, Red Vox is kind of that, though to my knowledge the lead singer is around 30-ish.
I'm saying the guitar hero generation is HERE, one of the biggest stars in rap right now is a confessed guitar hero player. Also, people LIKE rock and still want it to win, which just proves they're haven't been any great bands to surface or be pushed by the media. Five finger death punch, while terrible, garnered a huge fanbase of young people. Though, they are basically buttmetal.
Listened to Red Vox, no, they are not "kick you in the teeth rock". They are generic trash.
Hence why I said "kind of".
They might get there at some point, but not yet.
By that I mean, they at least have the potential to be that at some point. Not right now, though.
The future of Rock will not be band based, it will be drum machine driven with one or two instruments being played by the same person.
I'm the guy from - I have to say that my tiny little scene of like 15 people who were in bands and jams with one another pretty much tried a lot of stuff, and none of that stuck with people who didn't care about rock. Those that did care really did.
And it's not like it was full out indie rock or anything like that, the bands pretty much had a huge range of styles. There were dance punk bands and folk rock bands and one which was a jam band with a trumpet, and other which was essentially Ween but on a piano trio.
Nothing stuck. No one cared. Rock is fucking dead and we buried it by accident.
I went to grapevine high school with Post Malone, he was a senior when I was a freshman. Him making it actually influenced me to the point of compulsively play guitar any time I'm not at school or working. I really wanna do something in terms of a rock revival and I've always thought Cobain's rise in the early 90's hinted to the idea of rock being revivable today. If only my buddy and I had a bass player :/
No one cares because good looking virile men aren't putting out on real shows and incorporating new ideas. Metal and hardcore still gets buzz because it's novel. EDM attracts the most because it's novel, danceable, formulaic, followed by drugs, parents hate it, visually dense at shows, accessible, and a myriad of other things. The rock and roll energy is very much there, people LOVE that. Look at Xxxtentacion. I hate him but he's an embodiment of that in hip hop.
I'm in Providence, else I'd join you lot in a heartbeat.
Fair point, save for like three guys the group was a bunch of ugly peeps and one of them had as much stage presence as a wet towel.
Hmu if you come to Dallas
Part of what's killed rock as a mainstream genre is that rock has becoming increasingly album-focused in a society that's conversely become more focused on singles to generate sales and attention. And when was the last time you heard a particularly memorable rock single?
Trips of truth. Based on my experiences it's Do I Wanna Know? which still got played sometimes a while back.
>they would want to make rock music because they're sick of hip-hop dominating the charts
That's not why people play rock music.
God, this is so stupid.
I'm the guy who just sperged about going to school with Post Malone, I've always wondered, would a concept album with a really heavy theme and consistency maybe be enough to bring attention to an album even though it's obviously a single oriented format?
>revivals
Are lame as shit. Move on.
Kendrick Lamar sorta pulled that off but people know Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe more than GKMC and King Kunta more than TPAB. It's something of an uphill battle.
I think I agree with that. Arctic Monkeys are probably the last band from the garage rock/post-punk revival period that still has some popularity outside of dedicated rockists or people just being nostalgic. How their new album next year does will be interesting to see.
Why would you ever want anything to be in the mainstream? And no I don't believe it will come back to the "mainstream". Those "Rock revivalist" are probably gonna be making portentous classic rock-esque.
The mainstream is mainly concerned with what can be played at parties and shit. What you can dance, and have for to. NOT how well you can play an instrument. We are seeing a rise of surf/punk-esque music like FIDLAR. The only thing I can see Guitar Hero bringing back is Hair Metal. Who the fuck wants that?
It's an unwinnable battle.
That was definitely played a lot. But I don't think singles are going to "save rock". The Black Keys were, as far as the industry was concerned, a singles producing, throwback summer festival rock band. They were effectively treated like a pastiche of the White Stripes anyways, the names were even the same. Irrelevant bands like The Strokes still try to produce singles. It'll play, but it's not changing the culture or anything.
Also those bands like FIDLAR, and other band are outside the mainstream. Everyone fits their own little niche thanks to the internet and more accessibility to music. OP obviously doesn't go outside, because if he did he'd see this.
Oh yeah, that's a big thing. I'm the local scene guy - everyone listened to different stuff rather than one huge common denominator - if anything the denominator was making music, but the influences were all over the place, from folk to shoegaze to jazz to this one guy that was REALLY into serialism.
I think OP wants a rock movement that unseats hip-hop as the king of popular music. Instead, the graph of rock listeners probably looks like an undulating wave orbiting some steady center of gravity. I don't even know if it is in decline, it seems like it has just stagnated.
It's alive and well in my city. Pubs have bands playing in them almost every night.
Local scene guy too. I see that too. That's why I suspect OP doesn't go outside. Even outside the scene you have people listening rock and rock inspired artist. However old fucks and "Le wrong Geneation" wouldn't see it, because it's not what they saw as "rock".
There's just nothing really new to do with the genre without people decrying it as betraying "rock roots" or sounding overly modern or poppy or something like that. I say that as somebody who's a great fan of the genre in all its incarnations, what more can you do besides go into more indie territory like Vundabar and Car Seat Headrest, pop territory like Alvvays, country stuff like Pinegrove, and regressive buttrock apologetics like the stuff on current "rock" radio?
Jazz usually works - even one of the pinnacles of roots rock, AC/DC, uses some jazzy chords in a few songs. The Beatles have surprisingly jazzy undertones. So, yeah, maybe you could do something like Television which works off interplay or use modes to create unique riffs.
>they would want to make rock music because they're sick of hip-hop
Nobody is going to take up a fucking instrument because of something like this.
But you don't think that that might come off as derivative of new wave stuff like Television and Elvis Costello? I guess I'm getting hung up on finding something that's genuinely never been done before as far as revitalizing the genre goes.
I also just want to clarify that I do love all the bands I mentioned in but I don't see them as being all that groundbreaking, with the possible exception of vundabar. I'm also not somebody that dislikes modern music, I enjoy a good amount of it, but as far as specifically rock is concerned, I'm not sure what can be done besides infusing it into other genres that have more staying power these days
I don't think that'll happen. There are only so many things you can do with the instruments in rock. Anything else would be deemed as Not Real Rock. Anything else would be on the more experimental side, and wouldn't have a mainstream appeal.
Folk rock. Blue collar Whites getting back to their forest and mountain roots.
Sorry phrased weird, but you get the point
I mean, it's either fusing with the present or going back to the past before the breakthrough into the mainstream, I can't think of many more ideas. And, let's be honest, if you fuse with enough stuff and you have the chops to pull it off you'll go down in history - Nirvana being a pretty big example.
I think modality might be one, it might make the songs feel quite fresh compared to most songs today and still feel like rock.
If I got a bass player I would incorporate some of the emphasis on jazz chords and self aware nature of steely dan with the punk and emotionally raw nature of nirvana. I feel like the two influences would either clash heavily or really create something unique. Don't know till I can try it though
You aren't the first to have these thoughts OP, but you're way off. The generation that grew up on Guitar Hero is already in their 20s (like me). There has been no mainstream rock revival and there isn't poised to be. Did Guitar Hero have a massive cultural affect on our generation? Yes it did. It made a lot of kids research and listen to rock music. It made a lot of kids learn instruments (my friend guitar, me the drums). But a popular video game isn't going to magically bestow talents on people. It affected our generation, but not the way you want it to. This rock revival was already due to happen. Game came out in 2005 my dude. It ain't happening.
If anything, the game came out at a time of rock revival. The 00's were indie and garage revival golden years.
If a movement can incorporate rock's musical elements while fitting it to the electronic aesthetics of today, I think it could really take off. As long as the beats and riffs are similar from a music theory standpoint, it doesn't really matter whether it's coming out of an electric guitar or a sampler.
If rock is going to come back it's going to have to be funky and psychedelic. Guns and roses meets the Beatles.
With electronic music being popular now, it's possible.
I think it's gotta rely more on interplay than the chords itself, but if I'm being a bit honest that's pretty much Nirvana.
Psych is making a revival, which I find quite interesting; that's the last genre I'd expect to do such a thing.
Is this the gist of Ratatat? Not that that dries the well there.
I'd also say though that the inverse has been a thing for a while. Think Justice, with an album cover that looks like Electric Warrior, leather jackets and their documentary literally saying "this is the new rock and roll!" or whatever. I also saw Perturbator recently, and his T-shirts were styled as though it was a metal band.
What you point out is true, rock is in a spot where its cultural impact of years before has more impact than rock itself. It's a bit odd now that I think of it.
Also a good point. Rock was in a pretty good spot in the mid-late zeroes. I think Viva La Vida almost went diamond, and it had commercials on TV. Which is probably the biggest a rock record last was. That's without mentioning the burgeoning "indie" scene you mentioned. The Suburbs got AOTY at the Grammys. So yeah, basically rock is even less relevant now so the Guitar Hero theory doesn't hold water. Though admittedly I have had the same theory, it just doesn't hold up to the reality.
Now to be fair, just because rock acts aren't getting radio play doesn't mean there aren't a lot of them or a lot of people listening to them.
Touché
Have you guys heard of Greta Van Fleet? It's literally classic rock and the singer sounds almost identical to Robert Plant and they've been getting radio play over here
What did nirvana fuse with that was mainstream? unless i'm misunderstanding you, in which case there's all sorts of punk and other heavy influences
Nirvana basically fused everything with punk/metal. Power pop, some jazz techniques, post-punk, The Beatles... Cobain's favorite album list is deeply varied and he mixed that into one thing.
This. Guarantee you, if rock does come back, it's going to sound similar to pic related.
Or just flat-out not using instruments at all, and having it all be sequencer or sample-based.
we culture. rap is the new rock and roll
I think these guys are on to something. Remember for like a month in '06 when Klaxons, Late of the Pier and New Young Pony Club were the biggest bands in England? I honestly think if those bands were ten years too early, and would fit the current zeitgiest far more than the Pete Doherty/Arctic Monkey obsessed 2000's. The only question is if it would cross over to the us, which I doubt, but even then, how many British bands have legit crossed over in the past 30 years anyway? Coldplay, Radiohead and Ed Sheeran are the only ones I can think of.
Also, for those who are too young or too American, this is what I'm talking about:
>youtube.com
>youtube.com
>youtube.com
fpbp
I just realized - what if one of those "Guitar Hero kids" as described in OP is reading this thread now and getting inspired by the positive posts?
My body is ready for steel panther to hit the radio
The third song was absolutely dreadful
A new Rock Revival, heh? Hmm, new sound, right? Original sound, right? Great production, right?
...
...
...
..
.
I GOT IT!
Say hello to the new, revolutionary genre called...
>drumroll please
(*drums*)
>POST-POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Post-Post, the new breakthrough genre has to be the most original genre in music history! More Meta than Metaknight, more edgy than the Edge, and the god that atheists believe in! It makes you cry in cryogenic sleep, sleep in pee and peas, and makes you go to the mountain Sommit Cuicide to commit suicide!!!
10/10 -Pitchfork Media: Godlike crystals evaporate from the mausoleum of Radiohead
9.9/10 -Piero Scaruffi: The fact that so many people do not consider Post-Post to be the greatest of most significant or most influential music genre proves that music still has yet to become a serious art.
literally me
>I just want to propose this as a possible way that rock might come back into the mainstream
Why the fuck would you want that?
Internet is a thing, you're not a slave to the radio or TV anymore.
Just listened to one of their songs.
If that wasn't hair metal taken to it's logical extreme, then I don't know what is.
Test Icicles were always shit and probably not the best example for me to use, but I remember them being huge with the edgy teen demographic at the time, so something like that would probably be part of the "rock revival" . The first two songs are a better example of the sound I'd hope would come in.
First two were good. If rock revival sounds like third one, let it stay dead
the strokes were the most interesting band that started during the early 00's, but i was born in 97, so i can't recall that well just HOW popular/into the mainstream they got. can any anons remember?
They were a big deal.
91' here. Last Nite was a huge song. I remember hearing it on pop radio, like the same channel that would have Britney and friends, and in many commercials. They were the biggest of the garage-revival bands for sure. The Hives with Hate to Say I Told You So
were probably in second. I think it was in an iPod commercial ?
Reggie Fils-Aime, is that you?
They might have even outshined The White Stripes initially, even though I think The White Stripes were ultimately the more successful band. Fell in Love With a Girl came out in 2001, same year as Last Nite, but I definitely remember Last Nite being played more. Of course, Fell in Love With a Girl isn't even the most memorable early White Stripes song. That'd probably be Seven Nation Army, which came out in 2003.
Seven Nation Army proved to be a bigger song than all of them but that was a couple years later when Hip-Hop had crash landed with Eminem, 50 Cent, and OutKast
It's funny to think, but I was born in '90 and Eminem, 50 Cent, Ludacris and Outkast were way more prominent in my teens. I remember when I was in elementary school my friend's goofy ass white mom would play Ludacris in the car. My mom would never listen to hip-hop, so I'm just sitting in the back of this minivan listening to Ludacris talking about getting ass or whatever and thinking this lady is amazing.
Of course, as far as rock music goes people at school were mostly listening to shit like MCR, Slipknot, HIM, or there were the metal heads, and then the dadrock kids that loved Rush. It wasn't until highschool that I met more kids who were really into a cross-section of 80s stuff like the Pixies, Melvins, Television, Talking Heads etc. and indie rock/pitchfork-core.
Can we take a moment to reminisce about how shitty early zeroes RnB was? Shit like Alivia Keys, Nelly, Usher and friends. Fucking get off my radio!! I only listened to pop radio until I discovered Limewire and hated that shit everywhere
go home Vinny