As it stands now, it may look like it, but I personally don't think it has. There are still millions of rock fans, young and old, and while hip hop has given birth to a host of great music, it just isn't as diverse or powerful as rock. In the future (likely near future), I believe the two will learn to coexist as the duo-dominant forces of trends and music, as both have showed time and time again that, while dance and pop fads may die, these genres evolve as time progresses (though MAINSTREAM rock and rap are both currently at stand-stills - and they have been for years - but the underground scenes of both are gaining ground by the minute).

This is my opinion though, and I may be wrong, so what does everyone else think?

With the recent blockbuster success of the Bret Michaels reality show on VH-1, I am predicting that we are going to see a revival of the "hair band" phenomenon.  I have no idea how long it is going to last though.  :-\\

With the recent blockbuster success of the Bret Michaels reality show on VH-1, I am predicting that we are going to see a revival of the "hair band" phenomenon.  I have no idea how long it is going to last though.   :-\\

Bite your tongue! :-X ;D

The OP makes some good points. If you're talking about the era when rock (and basic pop) seemed to be the dominating "cool music" choice for youth, I'd say that's been over for awhile...probably spanning from Elvis to the grunge era (like 1955-1995), with hip hop taking over, especially by the early 00s.

I think you're probably right about there being more open fans of rock and older music now, especially kids/teens and younger adults. In the sense that oldies are no longer purely thought of as being only liked by people who were around then. Rock might not be as universally liked as hip hop, but certainly lots of people listen to it, and there's more retro kids now than in past generations.

I wonder when hip hop will become yesterday's fad, and I wonder what will take its place???

Rock never dominated music like hip hop is now. There's a monopoly in the music industry led by a few people, that never happened at any point in the 20th century.
Ah rock was very commercial in the late 80's/early 90's with the hair-metal bands. I think Hip-Hop was very commercial from 2003-early 2006, and 2007-early 2008.Thats where my Glam Rap and Hair Metal comparison comes in. Now Hip-Hop has to go up against pop artists like Leona Lewis, Rihanna, and Natasha Bendingfield which is something they didn't have to do before. Now Hip-Hop has to share popularity with other genre's.

Is Hip-Hop more popular than Rock now? I would say yes but how could rock survive the 00's Glam Rap era? They couldn't. I mean for Rock to compete with Hip-Hop they would have to go back to something materialistic like Hair Metal and who wants to see that again?

It's true hair metal was very popular around 1989 but it didn't have the DOMINANCE hip hop does now. If you look at a chart from 1990, it's much more diverse than a chart from 2007 that's 80+% hip hop.

Only the most popular music can sell now because of downloading, and hip hop is the most popular music.
I would have to look at a musical chart from 2007 because I don't think it was 80% of Hip-Hop. I mean Beyonce had like the #1 song of 2007 but to say she's 100% Hip-Hop I mean? No. I know Hip-Hop was popular a year ago but I'll have to look at the year end charts that Billboard has.

Hip-Hop is the most popular music? I would have agreed with you a year ago.

In America?  YES! :(

In the UK?  Sort of half and half :-\\

In Canada?  NO! O0

Today's hip hop being a dominant force in any way is nauseating, unless its good underground, like T-Rock from Atlanta. Now he can rap, and he hasn't forgotten the "real hip hop" that got him there.

Hopefully a rain will wash the scum away - but I think pop music is the rotting corpse of a horse. I really don't care for its welfare anymore, it's beyond saving. I've always been a grass-roots music fan anyday, people enjoy playing music for music's sake not for publicity or money. Those kind of parasites disgust me.