Unless you count one-off hits like "She Looks So Perfect" by 5SOS or "Tonight Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae, guitar-based rock is conspicuously absent from 2010s music.  After pop emo and post-grunge kicked the bucket in 2010, nothing came in to fill their shoes.  I know there is a lot of good alternative rock out there right now, but nothing is making it into mainstream Top 40.  Does anybody expect this to change going into the second half of the decade?

Come to Canada.  We still have quite a few rock bands who maintain the Top 40 from time to time.  In an era where keyboards and synths rule, it's nice to see a rock song slip through every now and then. 

I think it's entirely possible that there will be a backlash against all the synthesized music being produced now, eventually leading to the partial return of guitar rock.  There was a lot of backlash against the heavy use of synthesizers in music during the 80s, and it led to 90s music in general being more acoustic.

That being said, with the increased spread of information and melding of different cultures, I personally expect whatever types of music that overtake synth pop to be a little more than just the typical guitar rock and roll setup.  Actually, I could easily imagine the next decade being dominated by world-beat revival, sort of like a modern and presumably more commercial version of Paul Simon's Graceland.  I imagine that as this decade's incessant computerization of everything causes commoners to feel increasingly alienated, that they'll grow more interested in things that promote their ethnic heritage, while still fitting a modern environment.  It's one thing to already hear African-style chants so frequently nowadays in this decade's EDM music, not to mention a lot of indie rock today toys with world influences, but I think as the social climate of America transforms, that these types of music will start to garner a greater following.  The 2010s have already been a harbinger of the increasingly multicultural nature of music, and I think that it'll come full circle by the 2020s.

I think it's entirely possible that there will be a backlash against all the synthesized music being produced now, eventually leading to the partial return of guitar rock.  There was a lot of backlash against the heavy use of synthesizers in music during the 80s, and it led to 90s music in general being more acoustic.

That being said, with the increased spread of information and melding of different cultures, I personally expect whatever types of music that overtake synth pop to be a little more than just the typical guitar rock and roll setup.  Actually, I could easily imagine the next decade being dominated by world-beat revival, sort of like a modern and presumably more commercial version of Paul Simon's Graceland.  I imagine that as this decade's incessant computerization of everything causes commoners to feel increasingly alienated, that they'll grow more interested in things that promote their ethnic heritage, while still fitting a modern environment.  It's one thing to already hear African-style chants so frequently nowadays in this decade's EDM music, not to mention a lot of indie rock today toys with world influences, but I think as the social climate of America transforms, that these types of music will start to garner a greater following.  The 2010s have already been a harbinger of the increasingly multicultural nature of music, and I think that it'll come full circle by the 2020s.


Um, mainstream music has been dominated by synthesizers since the mid 2000's. Culture doesn't change at the very beginning of a decade or at the very end, it changes in the middle.

Rock has been pretty much dead since the early 2000's. Noticed the diminishing amount of rock songs from 2002 onwards? The death of rock was pretty predictable in the 2000's.

Rock has been pretty much dead since the early 2000's. Noticed the diminishing amount of rock songs from 2002 onwards? The death of rock was pretty predictable in the 2000's.


Post-grunge held its own through the entire 2000s decade.  Pop-punk was popular during the first half and pop-emo was popular during the second half.  It was also a huge decade for modern/alternative rock and metal.  I would hardly say rock died during the 2000s. 

Um, mainstream music has been dominated by synthesizers since the mid 2000's. Culture doesn't change at the very beginning of a decade or at the very end, it changes in the middle.


Not nearly to the same degree as the 2010s.  Yes, technically mid-2000s music used synthesizers, but they were applied much more lightly than they were in the 80s or since 2009.  The predominant sound in pop was still artificial percussion made to replicate acoustic drums (as opposed to a techno beat), with only subtle implementation of synth melodies, as opposed to entire soundscapes fuel by synths.  Also, rock music was still mostly the traditional setup, not like today where bands like Fall Out Boy and Coldplay use synths for everything.

Not nearly to the same degree as the 2010s.  Yes, technically mid-2000s music used synthesizers, but they were applied much more lightly than they were in the 80s or since 2009.  The predominant sound in pop was still artificial percussion made to replicate acoustic drums (as opposed to a techno beat), with only subtle implementation of synth melodies, as opposed to entire soundscapes fuel by synths.  Also, rock music was still mostly the traditional setup, not like today where bands like Fall Out Boy and Coldplay use synths for everything.


I think mid 2000's music was flooded with synthesizers. The hip-hop was drowned in electronic keyboards. Since 2004, Southern Hip-Hop has been the standard, and it has never gone away. Crunk disappeared. Snap disappeared. Ringtone rap disappeared. But Southern Hip-Hop has always been the standard. There were no organically-produced songs in the mid and late 2000's. 2006-2012 was dominated by auto tune.

The 2000's have way more in common with the 2010s than with the 1990's. The 2000's don't look like a different time and era at all, but the 1990's were a very different time in the 2000's. And the last thing I want is the 2000's and 2010s to be seen as the same. I hate it.

I think mid 2000's music was flooded with synthesizers. The hip-hop was drowned in electronic keyboards. Since 2004, Southern Hip-Hop has been the standard, and it has never gone away. Crunk disappeared. Snap disappeared. Ringtone rap disappeared. But Southern Hip-Hop has always been the standard. There were no organically-produced songs in the mid and late 2000's. 2006-2012 was dominated by auto tune.

The 2000's have way more in common with the 2010s than with the 1990's. The 2000's don't look like a different time and era at all, but the 1990's were a very different time in the 2000's. And the last thing I want is the 2000's and 2010s to be seen as the same. I hate it.

Being specific, I think that late 2006-2009 is defiantly more like the 2010's than the 90s! 2000-2005 indeed looks different than today to me!!

I think mid 2000's music was flooded with synthesizers. The hip-hop was drowned in electronic keyboards. Since 2004, Southern Hip-Hop has been the standard, and it has never gone away. Crunk disappeared. Snap disappeared. Ringtone rap disappeared. But Southern Hip-Hop has always been the standard. There were no organically-produced songs in the mid and late 2000's. 2006-2012 was dominated by auto tune.

That still doesn't equate the mid-2000s with electro-hip hop like Pitbull, post-Monkey Business BEP, and Ke$ha, all of which rap over their songs but do so above juicy, trance-like production traveling at a house tempo.  Auto-tune isn't the same as electropop music.  The south was popular for hip hop in the mid-2000s, but it wasn't the only bastion of urban music, as rhythm-centric Timbaland was one of the era's most popular producers.  There's no way you can compare something as light-footed as Usher's Yeah or Flo Rida's Low to Cascada's thumping Evertime We Touch, nor even 90s eurodance acts with rap like Real McCoy and 2 Unlimited.

The 2000's have way more in common with the 2010s than with the 1990's. The 2000's don't look like a different time and era at all, but the 1990's were a very different time in the 2000's. And the last thing I want is the 2000's and 2010s to be seen as the same. I hate it.


The 2000s didn't have nearly as much social media as the 2010s until the very end, and most mediums of entertainment were done physically, with the online stuff still developing, as was the case in the 90s.  The ubiquity of online services has dramatically transformed everyday life all around the world since the end of the 2000s, as it's affected how information is distributed, consumed, and produced.

Musically, the 2000s are pretty much just a glossier extension of genres that had been mainstream since the mid or late 90s, whereas the 2010s have been all about EDM, trap, and indie, the leftover 90s genres disappearing completely.  Contemporary r&b, post-grunge, pop punk, glam rap, nu-metal, etc. had all been around since 1998 at the latest, and pretty much all died out around the same time in 2009 and 2010.  In terms of music popular at the time, 2003 is really not that different from 1998 (both years were dominated by the same sound and styles except for teen pop not being popular in 2003), but 2008 and 2010 are completely different universes.  Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III was the biggest album of the former, while during the latter, acts like Usher, Ludacris (as a guest star), Enrique Iglesias, and the Black Eyed Peas were recording music that you'd imagine would only come out of Europe a few years earlier.  The only types of music the 2000s produced that were notably distinct from the 90s were crunk and emo, which are basically derivatives of glam rap and pop punk, respectively.  And both of those genres had vanished from the mainstream by the end of the decade, too.

To answer the question, there are several reasons why rock died. First was the rockists saying "Go listen to some real music!" People got annoyed and decided to stop listening to rock all together. In this day and age, people do the exact opposite of what they're advised to do.
Second was rock stopped innovating. Notice how whenever a formerly-famous mainstream band releases a new song on iTune it sounds like something from the 2000's? Yeah, they've run out of ideas. Any rock that actually does try something new ends up sounding really weird and is not catchy at all.
Third is that electronic music has become so big that major labels no longer support bands who can play their own instruments and write their own songs. Notice how former big musical stars are complaining that artists have horrible contracts? Major labels are determined to screw their artists over.
Fourth is that a lot of bands just aren't good enough. This past weekend I had a band that played at the place I worked and they were awful. It didn't help that they were super loud and their clothing was out of style.


That still doesn't equate the mid-2000s with electro-hip hop like Pitbull, post-Monkey Business BEP, and Ke$ha, all of which rap over their songs but do so above juicy, trance-like production traveling at a house tempo.  Auto-tune isn't the same as electropop music.  The south was popular for hip hop in the mid-2000s, but it wasn't the only bastion of urban music, as rhythm-centric Timbaland was one of the era's most popular producers.  There's no way you can compare something as light-footed as Usher's Yeah or Flo Rida's Low to Cascada's thumping Evertime We Touch, nor even 90s eurodance acts with rap like Real McCoy and 2 Unlimited.

The 2000s didn't have nearly as much social media as the 2010s until the very end, and most mediums of entertainment were done physically, with the online stuff still developing, as was the case in the 90s.  The ubiquity of online services has dramatically transformed everyday life all around the world since the end of the 2000s, as it's affected how information is distributed, consumed, and produced.

Musically, the 2000s are pretty much just a glossier extension of genres that had been mainstream since the mid or late 90s, whereas the 2010s have been all about EDM, trap, and indie, the leftover 90s genres disappearing completely.  Contemporary r&b, post-grunge, pop punk, glam rap, nu-metal, etc. had all been around since 1998 at the latest, and pretty much all died out around the same time in 2009 and 2010.  In terms of music popular at the time, 2003 is really not that different from 1998 (both years were dominated by the same sound and styles except for teen pop not being popular in 2003), but 2008 and 2010 are completely different universes.  Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III was the biggest album of the former, while during the latter, acts like Usher, Ludacris (as a guest star), Enrique Iglesias, and the Black Eyed Peas were recording music that you'd imagine would only come out of Europe a few years earlier.  The only types of music the 2000s produced that were notably distinct from the 90s were crunk and emo, which are basically derivatives of glam rap and pop punk, respectively.  And both of those genres had vanished from the mainstream by the end of the decade, too.


Usher's "Yeah" and Lil' Jon's "Low" are completely dominated by synthesizers. Not a single natural instrument in them.

I'm not sure. If people were to talk about the 2000's and say "It was a very different time," I think I would laugh. It would make sense to say that about the '90s, but it just doesn't feel like the world has changed since the aughties. People still say the same catchphrases, people still think 2000's music is cool, tattoos and piercings are still everywhere, people still hate Bush, reality TV is still the most popular TV genre, trap just sounds like crunk, and the clothes of the 2000's are still in style today.

Contemporary R&B has been around since the late 1980's, mid '90s post-grunge doesn't sound anything like the mid '00s "post-grunge" (I would just call it pop rock), pop punk was more just regular punk in the '90s, and "glam rap" doesn't exist. I don't think 1998 is like 2003 at all. 1998 is much more intense and hard-edged than 2003, which was much softer and more "pop". I also think 2008 and 2010 are practically the same. Heck 2006 and 2010 are practically the same. Cassie's "Me & U" sounds like it could have been made in the early '10s.

reality TV is still the most popular TV genre,

lol, Reality Tv is NOWHERE NEAR popular as was 10 years ago! The scripted tv shows like the Game of thrones, the breaking bads, the walking dead, have been the most popular this decade!!

I'm not sure. If people were to talk about the 2000's and say "It was a very different time," I think I would laugh. It would make sense to say that about the '90s, but it just doesn't feel like the world has changed since the aughties.

It depends on what PART of the 2000s decade you are talking about!!!

lol, Reality Tv is NOWHERE NEAR popular as was 10 years ago! The scripted tv shows like the Game of thrones, the breaking bads, the walking dead, have been the most popular this decade!!


and there's not many reality TV shows as there was 10 years ago when you had shows like American Idol and Fear Factor.

There's still new rock music, whether it reaches top 40 or not is not a concern of mine. 2 of Seattle's FM radio stations play an amazing variety, 99.9 and 107.7, the latter being nore for recent and indie stuff.

and there's not many reality TV shows as there was 10 years ago when you had shows like American Idol and Fear Factor.

exactly!!!

Rock will disappear, or evolve, like jazz and new things will come in its place, whether you like it or not. The synthesizer was on a rise since the 80s. It did not wane in the 90s (house, eurodance, etc.), and it only became more dominant until it was the mainstream as it is now. The only thing bothering me is what will replace it when it eventually will wane. Acoustic? Another, more advanced yet unknown form of sound?

The 2010s have had a few that tick the boxes for rock:

2011
Gotye "Somebody That I Used to Know"
Fun. "We Are Young"

2012-13
Fun. "Some Nights"
Fun. "Carry On"
Imagina Dragons "It's Time"
Imagine Dragons "Radioactive"

2013
Imagine Dragons "Demons"

2014-15
Hozier "Take Me to Church"
Fall Out Boy "Centuries"
Walk the Moon "Shut Up and Dance"
George Ezra "Budapest"
Magic! "Rude"

2015
Fall Out Boy "Uma Thurman"
Nate Reuss "Nothing Without Love"

I'm probably missing a few.

I think mid 2000's music was flooded with synthesizers. The hip-hop was drowned in electronic keyboards. Since 2004, Southern Hip-Hop has been the standard, and it has never gone away. Crunk disappeared. Snap disappeared. Ringtone rap disappeared. But Southern Hip-Hop has always been the standard. There were no organically-produced songs in the mid and late 2000's. 2006-2012 was dominated by auto tune.

The 2000's have way more in common with the 2010s than with the 1990's. The 2000's don't look like a different time and era at all, but the 1990's were a very different time in the 2000's. And the last thing I want is the 2000's and 2010s to be seen as the same. I hate it.

I see what your saying though You don't want people to view the 10s like the 00s, just like SOME young people view the 70s like the 60s!

Usher's "Yeah" and Lil' Jon's "Low" are completely dominated by synthesizers. Not a single natural instrument in them.

To be fair, Lil Jon has stated in interviews that electronica and dance were major influences of his in the development of the crunk sound he pioneered, but his songs are so radially different in their execution compared to 2010s music that it's easily a different genre altogether.  90s eurodance, 2000s trance, and 2010s EDM were all about cheery melodies, atmospheric sound-worlds, and colorful, ironic images.  Lil Jon, by contrast, was repetitive, unapologetically macho, and sonically succinct.  The electronic dance genres I referred to were mostly targeted towards European, gay, and white urban audiences, whereas crunk appealed more towards adolescent males, white, black, and otherwise.  Although Lil Jon made a brief comeback in the mid-2010s with Turn Down for What, the song lacked the brutish lyrics and urban themes that his 2000s work represented.

Usher's Yeah is an incredibly different song from his 2010 hit, DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love.  The former is blatantly urban, both in its production and lyrical content.  The latter, on the other hand, could just as easily be sung by Lady Gaga or Ke$ha and not sound out of place.

I'm not sure. If people were to talk about the 2000's and say "It was a very different time," I think I would laugh. It would make sense to say that about the '90s, but it just doesn't feel like the world has changed since the aughties. People still say the same catchphrases, people still think 2000's music is cool, tattoos and piercings are still everywhere, people still hate Bush, reality TV is still the most popular TV genre, trap just sounds like crunk, and the clothes of the 2000's are still in style today.

The 2000s didn't have much social media until the end, and things like YouTube, Netflix, and iPhones weren't fully established until well after the decade's peak.  LGBT rights, African American issues, and women's rights were not taken as seriously by the mainstream press as they are now.  All of the dominant forms of music from the 2000s were continuations or reincarnations of genres that entered the mainstream at some point in the 90s, while 2010s music was defined by new genres altogether.  People still dislike Bush, but as he's no longer president, nobody really talks about him in the current sense anymore.  Reality TV still has its fans, but it's well beyond its peak, and most people are now far more interested in Netflix shows like Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards, or just other fictional television series like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.  Trap isn't really the same as crunk.  The song structures aren't as repetitive, and the typical lyrical matters aren't as vile or misogynistic.  The only surviving 2000s fashions at this point are neutral ones; things like the emo/goth look, bling bling urban fashion, and Abercrombie & Fitch outfits are long gone, replaced instead by fade cuts, Elsa braids, and dyed hair.  I also think 2010s clothing is a little more patterned and not at baggy.

Contemporary R&B has been around since the late 1980's

It died completely in 2009.  Its surviving representatives like Usher and Rihanna all moved on to EDM or other forms of dance/electronic.

mid '90s post-grunge doesn't sound anything like the mid '00s "post-grunge" (I would just call it pop rock)

I don't know, are you sure songs like the following couldn't just as easily be performed by Nickelback, Hinder, Daughtry, or Three Days Grace with slightly posher production?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m0bI82Rz_k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjNn4bbbgSw

Let's not forget, either, how popular the Foo Fighters still were in 2007-2008, their style hardly having changed since their 1995 debut.

pop punk was more just regular punk in the '90s
Blink-182's Enema of the State came out in 1999.  Green Day's Nimrod has very similar production to American Idiot.  The Offspring signed to Columbia in 1996 and released the multi-platinum Americana in 1998.  I'll agree that pop punk was not as commercial in the 90s as it was in the 2000s, but it was still very different from 80s stuff like the Misfits, Black Flag, and the Dead Kennedys.

and "glam rap" doesn't exist. I don't think 1998 is like 2003 at all. 1998 is much more intense and hard-edged than 2003, which was much softer and more "pop".

Really?  You don't consider all of the blingy, financially obsessive, blatantly radio-geared pop rap from Puffy's Bad Boy Records that dominated 1997 and 1998 glam rap?  The poppiness doesn't even stop there; just look at Will Smith's Men in Black and Gettin' Jiggy with It, Jay-Z's Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem), and Pras' Ghetto Superstar.  Those tracks are about as light and commercial as you can possibly get.

2003 was the year crunk broke into the mainstream, thanks to Lil Jon's Get Low.  Although this also marked the point when 90s music started to feel truly distant, it doesn't exactly mark a shift towards "softer" hip hop.  It was also the year that 50 Cent was on top of the world, and he was no less thuggish than the No Limit Soldiers, DMX, and the like, all of whom were popular in the late 90s.

I also think 2008 and 2010 are practically the same. Heck 2006 and 2010 are practically the same. Cassie's "Me & U" sounds like it could have been made in the early '10s.

Post-grunge, pop punk, nu-metal, and snap were all still the dominant forms of music in 2008.  By 2010, every one of those genres was dead, excluding a few pop rock songs at the beginning of the year, which were otherwise drowned out by bands like Muse, Phoenix, and Neon Trees.  EDM's breakthrough was with Lady Gaga's The Fame, but that album didn't truly catch on until 2009, not to mention the genre was still developing its presence throughout that year.  It was completely ubiquitous by 2010, even amongst 2000s urban artists.  Compare Usher's Love in This Club, from 2008, to DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love, from 2010.  Even OMG sounds entirely different from Love in This Club or any other significant urban song from 2008.

Cassie's Me & U is typical crunk & b, with minimalistic production and extreme urban influences.  It reminds me a lot more of Mariah Carey's It's Like That, the leadoff single to The Emancipation of Mimi.

There hasn't been much angsty, hard rock in the mainstream in awhile. The closest I can think of would be Radioactive, but that song was also very electronic. But there's been a lot of more mellow, indie, hipster-y rock songs over the years, like Somebody that I Used to Know, and Pumped Up Kicks. Not exactly rock imo, but more acoustically-oriented.

There hasn't been much angsty, hard rock in the mainstream in awhile. The closest I can think of would be Radioactive, but that song was also very electronic. But there's been a lot of more mellow, indie, hipster-y rock songs over the years, like Somebody that I Used to Know, and Pumped Up Kicks. Not exactly rock imo, but more acoustically-oriented.


I think the most poppy songs entered mainstream. "Pumped Up Kicks" is a chill song, but FTP have better songs. Just like for example All-American Rejects "Gives You Hell." Annoying song to my ears. It happens to many times a mediocre song enters mainstream, while underground better songs are available.

I think the rock song most memorable from this decade until now might be "We Are Young" from Fun.