The Last Great American Rock Bands?

[Dreamer4Ever]

Is rock music becoming unimportant in the US?

At the Grammies last year Chad Smith pleaded to America's youth to get out there and start rock bands. In an interview after the show, he talked about America's rock music scene going stale and the need for new blood. The RHCP were the only rock band nominated in general categories at the 2007 Grammies.

I don't pretend know much about music (I'm here at the Coachella board to learn), but it looks to this outsider like Rock is being increasingly divided and re-divided into sub categories that are increasingly self-contained, with crossover acts becoming rarer. The big rock singles aren't coming from garage bands offering something new, they're 90s acts re-examining themselves as they hit adulthood.

I know this is Coachella so the mainstream can go fuck itself, but what if smaller numbers are the future of rock? Any chance the future of rock is increasingly small, specialized, and cool, and we've seen the last of Super Nova Mega bands? Or am I totally wrong and looking for clues about rock's health in the wrong places?

[kreutz2112]

delete.

[stinkbutt]

spooky

[stinkbutt]

If you want arena rock Hinder said that's what they are trying to bring back so start there

[captncrzy]

Who's Chad Smith?

[Dreamer4Ever]

I didn't say I want arena rock.

And I used the Chad Smith quote as a starting board. Was HE wrong? Why's he wrong?

I can't learn crap if no one explains anything to me.

[captncrzy]

No, really. Who's Chad Smith?

[stinkbutt]

He's right up there he plays drums for RHCP

[Blinken]

And he is also known as Will Farrel

[TomAz]

[Mr.Nipples]

[Sexecutioner]

i agree with chad. the amount of great rock bands these days is sad. all the new bands are just these shitty indie bands that suck ass, but all your douchebag hipsters make them popular anyway cuz pitchfork says.

[gaypalmsprings]

Jack Bruce is a legend, though he is British.

[TomAz]

Let me add some historical perspective. I have been listening to rock music for approximately 35 of my 46 years now. At any single given point in time during those 35 years, I'd say about 90% of the bands out there sucked. That percentage seemed lower to me (like, more like 60%) when I was between the ages of 16 and 20 but I think that was more cuz some shit that seemed new and special to me then was really just retread stuff. In retrospect I think the 90% was the right number all along.

New bands are gonna come along and get hyped up and you're gonna say "wtf these guys are really nothing special" and you'll be right. Vampire Weekend being 2008's soon-to-be-forgotten flavor du jour. In 1980 people (me included) thought the B-52s were revolutionary and were going to change rock n roll.

All of this gets a big 'so what?' from me. I think all you can do is listen to music you like and like the music you listen to and don't worry bout the other stuff. That Who video I posted is from a concert 25 years ago and the song was 10 years old when they played it: "rock is dead" is an old idea.

[stinkbutt]

Didn't they both get busted for child porn? I wonder if that's why they were hangin out.

[TomAz]

all charges against Pete were dropped.

[mountmccabe]

Well said (re: Tom's comments 18 minutes ago.) I don't understand the concern with singles and Mega Bands. The only good from that set-up is a false collective experience bit.

Rock music (used broadly) is better now than it has been at any time in the past. People can listen to what they want; there are a ton of bands out there to be found.

And the line about "crossover acts becoming rarer" is ridiculous; the crossing of genres is what is causing the subdivision of categories. Albums of Southern rock-jam band-funk is not something we saw 20 years ago.

At any rate, those categories and sub divisions aren't important, the music is. Everyone else in the country listening to the band you like (which never happened anyway) isn't important, the music is.

[stinkbutt]

Rock music (used broadly) is better now than it has been at any time in the past.

[mountmccabe]

Any chance the future of rock is increasingly small, specialized, and cool, and we've seen the last of Super Nova Mega bands? Or am I totally wrong and looking for clues about rock's health in the wrong places?

Small, specialized and cool != unhealthy


The Mega bands doesn't happen to the extent that it has in the past because there is more competition, both from Mega bands of the past that people still listen to and go see in concert and from better indie and non-label distribution for what would otherwise be local/regional bands.

And these are both great things.

[kreutz2112]

I agree with John and Tom.

[TomAz]

Rock music (used broadly) is better now than it has been at any time in the past. People can listen to what they want; there are a ton of bands out there to be found.

on top of that: everything that used to be good is available today PLUS all the new bands. hippies got hendrix and the beatles. today we can have hendrix and the beatles and radiohead and bjork. we win.

Albums of Southern rock-jam band-funk is not something we saw 20 years ago.

[Cdubby]

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndID=164674399

such a great band, could be the next great american rock band, from england.

[mountmccabe]

on top of that: everything that used to be good is available today PLUS all the new bands. hippies got hendrix and the beatles. today we can have hendrix and the beatles and radiohead and bjork. we win.

Yes.

Oh, Tom. That was thirty years ago.

[stinkbutt]

on top of that: everything that used to be good is available today PLUS all the new bands. hippies got hendrix and the beatles. today we can have hendrix and the beatles and radiohead and bjork. we win.

Oh I get what you are all saying now yeah you guys are right. I thought mountmccabe was saying popular music now then it ever was.

[Dreamer4Ever]

People can listen to what they want; there are a ton of bands out there to be found.

How do you find them?

Not sarcastic: serious question.

[mountmccabe]

Oh I get what you are all saying now yeah you guys are right. I thought mountmccabe was saying popular music now then it ever was.

I agree with what Tom said but that isn't quite what I meant.

Also I didn't mean anything about "popular music" or "music on the radio" or anything like that.

I do mean that the current musical output - taking into account availability of recordings and shows - is better than at any time in the past.

I do not mean that there is a higher percentage of quality music, I do not mean that there are bands now that everybody should be listening to.

I mean that there are a thousand bands touring so it doesn't matter if 700 of them aren't worth my time and another 200 aren't anything to rave about.

I mean that each Tuesday there are albums I want; there are too many albums released for me to keep up with. And that's just the stuff I know I want to listen to.

I'm not saying _____ released this year is better than Blonde on Blonde or Sgt Pepper's or War or whatever. That's not at all what I'm after. You can't judge this shit on the freaks of nature.

What is awesome about Coachella isn't that all 120 bands are worth seeing; it's not that there is one headliner that everybody has to see; it's that there are a ton of options so that a huge variety of people can be happy. It doesn't matter that some bad bands play Coachella, what matters is that a lot of great and amazing ones do. And it's better for everybody involved when we all want to see a different selection of bands.

There's better selection now than there ever has been.

[mountmccabe]

How do you find them?

Not sarcastic: serious question.

Compilations and mp3 mixes. Friends/people on the internet talking intelligently and informationally about them ("____ are the best band ever" is neither intelligent nor informational.) mp3 blogs. Reading a variety of album reviews (go to www.metacritic.com/music.) Allmusic.com has an extensive set of reviews and a good set-up, showing influences and related bands and similar bands and descendant bands and such.

By listening when friends/venues/bars/record stores are playing music and asking about stuff you like.

Label and band websites often have free mp3s to download and/or videos to watch (matador.com and subpop.com are good at this.) Many bands will have a MySpace page with music and sometimes video. Some online record retailers like Insound.com have additional free mp3s to listen to.

Web 2.0 sites like Pandora.com and Last.fm both allow you to explore bands and listen to music. There are other online music listening options like Rhapsody and such. There are (I've heard) good radio shows available on satellite radio. And some cities/college towns even have decent radio stations... and many of these are available to stream online.

Buy CDs. Many (real) CD shops have listening stations and give away free compilations with purchase and have in-store shows and knowledgeable staff.

Go to shows and pay attention to all the acts performing, even/especially the local openers. Which is another thing - huge arena tours generally don't have local openers and are hell of expensive and overblown. Go to the small venues with lots of cheap shows. Check their upcoming shows lists and look into those bands... and if they sound interesting/different/promising/amazing then go see them live.

Serious answers.

[woogie846]

And he is also known as Will Farrel

I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one who thinks this.

[menikmati]

Who cares who is the next "big" american rock band, or if there are any, or what makes em one.....just listen to whatever bands you like/catch your attention, you'll find a lot of treats out there. Explosions in the Sky are 10x better than say the fuckin Foo Fighters these days.

[RotationSlimWang]

If there were a "last great" band it would have to be one I started, naturally. And there's a shitload better American rock music out right now than any other fucking country in the world which is new--it's been England for decades now. There's fucking tons of great music coming out right now in America, the dumb cunt from RHCP who hasn't been relevant for over a decade and a half should just shut the fuck up.