There's plenty of big rock bands, but no revolution.  Is rock in a vegetative state for good, with Rap and all?

There are DOZENS of good indie bands, dude. Theres still great rock n' roll, its just not being heard by the masses for the most part. Mainstream rock mostly sucks, true, however there are lots of people who buy it and listen to it. I think rock is far from dead. Not to say it couldn't die in the future though. What will kill rock is if they don't allow all these good indie bands into the mainstream fold, and they refuse to change. By the end of of the 80s, people were getting sick of the anthem and big hair pop rock. The rock music industry finally came to a point where they realized they would have to let all of those great alternative bands in from the cold, or risk becoming comatose as a genre. They chose the former, Kurt Cobain exploded onto the scene with Nirvana, and the rest was history.

But I think now we are getting close to a similar impasse where the industry must bring in all of these talented underground bands, or risk becoming irrelevant.

There's plenty of big rock bands, but no revolution.  Is rock in a vegetative state for good, with Rap and all?


Definitely not. It's not what it once was, but far from dead.

There are DOZENS of good indie bands, dude. Theres still great rock n' roll, its just not being heard by the masses for the most part. Mainstream rock mostly sucks, true, however there are lots of people who buy it and listen to it. I think rock is far from dead. Not to say it couldn't die in the future though. What will kill rock is if they don't allow all these good indie bands into the mainstream fold, and they refuse to change. By the end of of the 80s, people were getting sick of the anthem and big hair pop rock. The rock music industry finally came to a point where they realized they would have to let all of those great alternative bands in from the cold, or risk becoming comatose as a genre. They chose the former, Kurt Cobain exploded onto the scene with Nirvana, and the rest was history.

But I think now we are getting close to a similar impasse where the industry must bring in all of these talented underground bands, or risk becoming irrelevant.


I think people are really getting tired of Grunge.  I know, people associate it with the early 1990s but I think 2006 is the tail end of the Grunge era the way 1990 was the tail end of the Hair Metal era.

Rock will either die, or '90s indie will go fully mainstream.  We need more Postal Services.

Rock is still very much alive ...

There's alot of great Rock bands still out there like Supergrass, Texas, Manic Street Preachers, Feeder, Super Furry Animals and Ash  :)

There are DOZENS of good indie bands, dude. Theres still great rock n' roll, its just not being heard by the masses for the most part. Mainstream rock mostly sucks, true, however there are lots of people who buy it and listen to it. I think rock is far from dead. Not to say it couldn't die in the future though. What will kill rock is if they don't allow all these good indie bands into the mainstream fold, and they refuse to change. By the end of of the 80s, people were getting sick of the anthem and big hair pop rock. The rock music industry finally came to a point where they realized they would have to let all of those great alternative bands in from the cold, or risk becoming comatose as a genre. They chose the former, Kurt Cobain exploded onto the scene with Nirvana, and the rest was history.

But I think now we are getting close to a similar impasse where the industry must bring in all of these talented underground bands, or risk becoming irrelevant.


I agree with you, especially on the latter part.

In fact, if you think about it, the same kinda happened with MTV, after the 70's started  fading away, and before the 80's took off (roughly 1979-81 and maybe 1982 too).

As a result of "underground" bands, especially new wavers like Duran Duran, having a place for exposure, the true 80's was born. Some of that music wouldn't have been nearly as big as it was without music videos, since Top 40 radio was reluctant to play it.

Around 1981 it was the remnants of disco, REO Speedwagon, Christopher Cross, Journey and Foreigner. That's good stuff, but at the time, people felt it was really stagnant.

The same has kinda happened today. In fact, it's sort of a paradox since "alternative" music is now so mainstream. Now "mainstream" rock music has almost become alternative, LOL.

I agree with you, especially on the latter part.

In fact, if you think about it, the same kinda happened with MTV, after the 70's started  fading away, and before the 80's took off (roughly 1979-81 and maybe 1982 too).

As a result of "underground" bands, especially new wavers like Duran Duran, having a place for exposure, the true 80's was born. Some of that music wouldn't have been nearly as big as it was without music videos, since Top 40 radio was reluctant to play it.

Around 1981 it was the remnants of disco, REO Speedwagon, Christopher Cross, Journey and Foreigner. That's good stuff, but at the time, people felt it was really stagnant.

The same has kinda happened today. In fact, it's sort of a paradox since "alternative" music is now so mainstream. Now "mainstream" rock music has almost become alternative, LOL.


I know, The Darkness, who are really straight rock and roll stuck in the 21st Century, are considered very different than the now-mainstream Grunge rock.

^ It seems they've got a good fanbase, but couldn't really break onto radio or MTV, since people probably view it as almost purposely retro.

They've got some good songs though.

I know, The Darkness, who are really straight rock and roll stuck in the 21st Century, are considered very different than the now-mainstream Grunge rock.


I see what you mean. Because basically what all these indie bands have in common at heart is they are just good, old-fashioned(well in a way), straight up, real rock n roll. Its not genre rock, like hair metal, or death metal, or nu-metal, or pop punk, or grunge, or emo etc. Rather, its just plain rock like we had before the 80s. If you'll notice the 80s was when rock really started to splinter into different genres. THAT is what REALLY f'ed up rock now that I think about it. It was seperating different elements into specialized genres. We need to bring all of these influences back together and meld them in a musically pleasing and artistically creative way.

I see what you mean. Because basically what all these indie bands have in common at heart is they are just good, old-fashioned(well in a way), straight up, real rock n roll. Its not genre rock, like hair metal, or death metal, or nu-metal, or pop punk, or grunge, or emo etc. Rather, its just plain rock like we had before the 80s. If you'll notice the 80s was when rock really started to splinter into different genres. THAT is what REALLY f'ed up rock now that I think about it. It was seperating different elements into specialized genres. We need to bring all of these influences back together and meld them in a musically pleasing and artistically creative way.


The '80s, I think, are closer musically to the 2000s than they are to the '50s, '60s, and '70s.  They're also when bubblegum pop really took off, with drum machines and all.

I love them though.  :D

Only if you allow it to die.