Is rock done?

[SchenkerFan]

I grew up in the 00s. We still had plenty of rock, whether it was nu metal, pop punk, emo or indie rock. Not my cup of tea but it was still rock. Now it seems to be going the way of funk, jazz, blues, etc. It has become a niche. The bigger acts can rely on their fanbase and may still attract some younger people, but there are no new acts with that amount of popularity anymore.

Could rock make a comeback? Or is it definitely a thing of the past?

[krisholmes]

Rock's been declared dead by "experts" more times than Gene Simmons has lied about how many women he's fucked.

It'll be fine.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Rock or at least the 70s and 80s rock that I like and grew up on has been done since 1993. Groups and artists continued and soldiered on. But it was not and never has been the same.

MTV and the record labels colluded and killed it. The journalists finally got their way and won.

[Spongie]

[Spongie]

Define “done”.

If you mean commercially popular in America, it’s been done for 30 years.

If you mean non-existent, then absolutely not. Not even close. There’s infinitely more quality “new” hard rock and metal than I could ever hope to consume. And wildly popular in every other part of the world except the U.S. (Well maybe not Africa).

[HueyRamone]

(Well maybe not Africa).

Botswanans love their death metal.

https://www.noorimages.com/the-hellbangers-of-botswana

[Rocker4Real]

It's been done in the mainstream for a while. Look: https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/

How many of those songs are Rockin' to you?

[LAglamrocker]

Oasis reunion killed rock..once and for all
Let it die
Who wants to be in arena with all people over 50..with horrible attitudes - horrible tattoos that didn’t age well-
It’s better to spend cash on Only Fans girls and those “influencer girls “ at Urth Cafes

You can already smell the fans from Pantera ..Forum show few weeks away…let it die

[FreddyFender]

So imagine the state of football if there was no NFL and college football didn't pay.

How many kids would still take it up? 10%? 30%?

Of course football wouldn't be dead. Kids would still play football for fun. There would be local weekend leagues and whatnot.

That's what rock is now - something people do for fun. It's no longer serious or important.

And that's okay.

[SchenkerFan]

It's been done in the mainstream for a while. Look: https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/

How many of those songs are Rockin' to you?

I see Crazy Train in on there.

[Nate S Axel]

https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/
https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/
https://www.billboard.com/charts/country-albums/

Meanwhile... Morgan Wallen has SIX songs in the Top 25 of the Hot 100 and his last three albums in the Top 25 of the Billboard 200 (including #1 for the last 11 weeks).

Wallen, Luke Combs, Zach Bryan, Chris Stapleton... all are massive now. Zach Top, Ryan Bingham, Nate Smith, Charlie Crockett, Dylan Scott, Gavin Adcock, Koe Wetzel... tons of new talent and different sounds -- classic country, 90s country sound, country rock, and whatever fat-ass, wannabe-WWE superstar Jelly Roll does, etc.

Much better live (and more fun!) than seeing the corpses of Don Dokken, Vince Neil, or anything having to do with KISS in 2025. It's over! When your live show and vocals didn't revolve around the high notes, it's much easier to stay relevant and not embarrass your fans, which is why country is king now.

There's even a Vince Neil (Emerson) in country music, kind of a fatty like Motley's Vince. Could be a distant cousin of HMZ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHC9f5ICNJ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqwaVg6o8gg

You still had a great childhood. Don't cry and act like life is over because your favorite bands are finished.

Less HELL YEAH and more YEEHAW!

[Wiseacre]

Who cares? “Rock” was popular for longer than most forms of music. Things always change. Take a band like MUSE, for example. They came along after many people were calling rock “dead” and are and have been huge for a very long time now (and they’ve always been amazing). even country music and rap have changed pretty drastically throughout the decades. Do people want shit to stay stale for decades? Can you imagine being born on the 60s or 70s and complaining that big band music is “dead”? Even that had a revival with the swing resurgence years ago.

My brother plays drums in a neo-classic country band. Half the bush are around 60 and the other half are in their early 30s. A lot r the stuff they play is by newer artists who sound like “classic” country from the ‘50s thru the ‘70s. There have been metal bands like that for quite a while now too.

Consider this…Sha Na Na were doing a nostalgia act in 1969 that celebrated music that was from the mid-‘50s thru the early ‘60s. And here we are craving about music that is 40-50 years old.

[PhrozenInferno]

Fontaines DC just had one of the biggest albums of last year that sent them to arena level and higher in Europe. I’m not sure of their stature in the US.

In London they just headlined Finsbury Park.

They’re certainly the biggest rock act to come from Ireland since U2.

Also look at Idles and more recently Wunderhorse.

In the US? I’m not sure … I really like MJ Lenderman’s last album. It’s a great alternative record in line with 90s alt rock.

Not dead at all

[krisholmes]

Consider this…Sha Na Na were doing a nostalgia act in 1969 that celebrated music that was from the mid-‘50s thru the early ‘60s. And here we are craving about music that is 40-50 years old.

I hear that argument all the time... even from the CEO, if I'm not mistaken. But I would definitely argue that music has changed a lot less in the last forty years, than in the 25 before that.

Back the The Beatles were considered a relatively long-lasting act, and the very concept og a band lasting ten years (or more!) war considered unlikely.

[Jason Jennifer Leigh]

I think Gene’s been misunderstood, he says rock is dead but what he really means is rockstars are dead … they’ll never be another rockstar like Elvis, Slash, Ozzy, Beatles, Gene, Micheal Jackson, etc. … they’ll never be another Beatlemania or any euphoric domination by a band again.

Anyway good music is pretty much dead from what I hear … although Halestorm is still killing it!

[Ralph2]

1000000000 %

Dead - DOA -Done

It's really "old people music" at this stage.

Kids (under 25) are only into electronic music.

Its not a bad thing, but the run is long over.

I was at a huge fest recently and there was one "rock" related band there out of probably 200 bands.

Folk - Huge, Country - Massive

Electronic is where the cool kids are though......................

Look at the crowd shots -

Rock bands = Bald and fat audience

Electronic - Young and happening

[Whatever Happened To…]

Fontaines DC just had one of the biggest albums of last year that sent them to arena level and higher in Europe. I’m not sure of their stature in the US.

In London they just headlined Finsbury Park.

They’re certainly the biggest rock act to come from Ireland since U2.

Fontaines are a good band but they're more indie/alt/post punk than rawk.

Idles and Wunderhorse are post punk/alt/indie.

There's just nothing around with serious visibility that fits the Sludge framing, unless you include joke bands like Ghost and Steel Panther.

I never even considered that rock would just die out because I grew up with it and it was always there. The absolute backbone of my life. Weird how such culturally significant movements can just drift and vanish.