I heard the Black Keys awhile back, and was quite impressed with them. Sadly it's not that Rock is dying out, it's that the promoters would rather have people listen to shiat, because that's what they like. For at least the last 20 years it's all been about shoving shiat music down peoples throat.

cretinbob: For at least the last 20 years it's all been about shoving shiat music down peoples throat.

yep.
aside from a few good bands here and there, as far as rock music is concerned, i havent heard anything mind-boggingly solid since the mid-90s (with a few minor exceptions). And I don't blame the bands as much as what is shoved out there by the labels

hope they die rapidly, because im dying to hear an album by a new rock band that is so good it send shivers down my spine, its been a while

Pop music sucks? Gasp! But what will I listen to? God forbid I might actually have to look for good music myself.

No Led Zeppelin?

submitter: If it wasn't for bands I like, '09 Awards What Are Worthless Anyway would be all bands I don't like. Onions. Belts. Good times

FTFY

For all the "indie" cred people have, here's one you stat you missed:

Metal has not seen a drop in album or ticket sales for non-festival (I'm looking at your bloated corpse of radio-crap, Ozzfest) shows since 1994.

Go to the Jagermusic tour every year - never disappointed. Who knew that Killswitch Engage only suck in the studio?

I kind of agree except for one thing- Iron Maiden and AC/DC are somehow still kicking ass live! I saw both recently and I was floored. For a bunch of old codgers, neither had any right to sound as good as they did. And yet, when AC/DC launched into TNT, a song that's 30+ years old, the place still went crazy and I was sold.

Black Keys are cool. Will be seeing them shortly here at Coachella. Battles are a good band. And I'm starting to get into A Place To Bury Strangers. TV On the Radio and Yeah Yeah Yeahs (both at Coachella too) are awesome as well, and I've seen them both several times.

Truth be told, the record labels and mainstream radio are responsbile for the garbage we hear every day, while better bands are ignored because they don't have a 'hit'.

The real reason: Adults will withhold discretionary spending if the music truly sucks. Excellent band, but puts out shiatty album? It tanks.

Kids now - they'll buy any old crap that everyone else listens to just so they dont stick out. And these days, kids control the discretionary spending in the vast majority of households.

/so, thank the helicopter snowflake enabling parents

My prediction: the 'Get off my lawn' will be strong in this thread.

/rock is alive as ever
//just because it's not the same as it was in '70s, doesn't mean it's no good

Music is way too commercial now. No more raw or grimey music left. The soul has been sucked out in favor of autotuners.

AC/DC is not metal.

danduran: My prediction: the 'Get off my lawn' will be strong in this thread.

/rock is alive as ever
//just because it's not the same as it was in '70s, doesn't mean it's no good

Sure! For example, there was no death metal in the '70s. I love mah death metal :D

Don't blame old people for Coldplay sucking. The problem is that the good bands aren't getting the proper exposure so stop acting like we don't all know that.

the problem is there are no guitar icons. that's what always has and always will define rock music. the 60's had Jimi Hendrix, 70's had Jimmy Page and a lot of others, 80's was loaded, 90's had Tom Morello, Adam Jones, Cobain...

the 00's has... John Mayer? give me a break. Jack White is a madman. Dan Auerbach play a little and he can sing... thats. about. it.

i know there are talented bands if you go out and find them. but why should you have to do that? somewhere along the lines real talent became unappealing in favor of image and it screwed up the entire rock scene.

Record companies are no longer willing to roll the dice on anything that's not 100% safe. With rampant illegal downloading and declined sales, most bands aren't going to get any backing (plus they'll probably get a bigger slice of the pie if they stay on the indie labels and just tour like motherfarkers)

captainmaxthedestroyer: the problem is there are no guitar icons.

There are plenty of them, just not working the "corporate" scene.

Kenny Wayne Shepard, Walter Trout, Coco Montoya, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Tommy Castro, Derek Trucks and the incomparable Joe Bonamassa.

i know there are talented bands if you go out and find them. but why should you have to do that?

To broaden your musical horizons and tastes. If you don't go out and find good music, you'll just be listening to the spoon fed corporate garbage that you're hearing now and never find the talent you're complaining about not hearing in the first place.

/The grass....your feet.....move it!

sonnyboy11: Truth be told, the record labels and mainstream radio are responsbile for the garbage we hear every day, while better bands are ignored because they don't have a 'hit'.

I've always wondered why some bands don't make it big. You list TV on the Radio in your list, why aren't they bigger than they are? They're certainly not obtuse or out there (or not as much as others are), yet they don't have much more than a cult following.


I've come to realise that a majority of the bands I like won't ever have a hit, and i'm fine with that. I can understand that people might not notice the pop hooks buried underneath The Jesus and Mary Chain's songs. But it's just maddening that bands who sound like they should be the biggest thing out there get overlooked in favor of just pure, awful crap.


captainmaxthedestroyer: the problem is there are no guitar icons. that's what always has and always will define rock music. the 60's had Jimi Hendrix, 70's had Jimmy Page and a lot of others, 80's was loaded, 90's had Tom Morello, Adam Jones, Cobain, Kevin Shields...


an addition to add.

I'd say Jack White is probably the closest thing to the standard guitar icon. I think Cobain brought the Guitar Icon to the Everyman, so I would say that is why there's less guitar icons now. It seems like those that generally do fit the Guitar God mold generally seem to appeal to only Musicians (note: capital M) and seem to eb more of the wanky variety.

Rock and Roll is fine. The more you dig the more good stuff you find. If you havent figured out the radio isnt the place to look for solid rock then you are hopeless.

Gunny Highway: Rock and Roll is fine. The more you dig the more good stuff you find. If you havent figured out the radio isnt the place to look for solid rock then you are hopeless.

Amen.
Anybody whining is just old, close-minded and/or lazy.

Young, awesome, active bands: Big Business, Gnarls Barkley, Hank III, Black Cobra, The Duke Spirit, Jubilee, Dead Meadow, Jucifer, Times New Viking, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fight Amp... I could go on. And none of these bands sound like the others.

And I know they're not a new band, but if you haven't heard the Melvins' latest, Nude With Boots, you are missing out on a masterpiece of rock and roll.

captainmaxthedestroyer

the problem is there are no guitar icons. that's what always has and always will define rock music. the 60's had Jimi Hendrix, 70's had Jimmy Page and a lot of others, 80's was loaded, 90's had Tom Morello, Adam Jones, Cobain...

I didn't realize how true the headline was until I read this and thought, "The drummer from the Dave Brubeck Quartet?". Then I looked it up and felt foolish.

/23

Define rock.

This treasure chest of great modern unknown artists that you people speak of seems to be a myth. I've wasted so many hours checking out various bands online and ending up generally unimpressed. I'm not looking for "that's not bad", I'm looking for "holy shiat." And I keep having to look into older bands to find that. I understand the death metal people are pretty happy but I'm not into much of that.

Why do they need new bands? Everyone knows that rock achieved perfection in 1974-it's a scientific fact!

browntimmy: This treasure chest of great modern unknown artists that you people speak of seems to be a myth. I've wasted so many hours checking out various bands online and ending up generally unimpressed. I'm not looking for "that's not bad", I'm looking for "holy shiat." And I keep having to look into older bands to find that. I understand the death metal people are pretty happy but I'm not into much of that.

Ween
The Good the Bad and the Queen
Death from Above 1979
Authority Zero
Gogol Bordello
Ellis Ashbrook (local stuff I love)
The Raconteurs
Mastodon
Scars on Broadway

There is a nice mix of all different types of shiat. If you dont like any that I cant help you. But give it a try who knows.

jvcturntable: The Duke Spirit

I thought Duke sucks....

/kidding; never heard of them but couldn't resist

I like Duffy. I think of her as kind of Lulu-ish.

AC/DC is great? Excuse me. I know I won't fit in. I like jazz and progressive rock, or even music that is more revolutionary being quiet and subtle... (Like Nine Horses stuff) which many would call shait too.

There is plenty good out there. Plenty crap too. Pick a year, it was just as true back then too. You always had to look outside of the mainstream to find the good stuff in general. More people wanted to hear Smoke on the water during the years of Gentle Giant and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway -Genesis.

Talking about music in guild chat in WoW, I'm pleasantly surprised sometimes at how many other people like Nightwish, Epica, Lacuna Coil, and such. Mostly people younger than me. It's refreshing.

browntimmy: This treasure chest of great modern unknown artists that you people speak of seems to be a myth. I've wasted so many hours checking out various bands online and ending up generally unimpressed. I'm not looking for "that's not bad", I'm looking for "holy shiat." And I keep having to look into older bands to find that. I understand the death metal people are pretty happy but I'm not into much of that.

If you can't find good new music (or even good old music not played to death on classic rock radio) with an internet connection, then I feel sorry for you. There's always been a treasure trove of good music, but it seems like lately the mainstream has been almost completely immune to quality for the past 15 years at least(though I think that's slowly changing). Not to mention the only way to find good, obscure music was to buy the band's album with almost no knowledge of who they are or what they sounded like or if they were any good at all.

cretinbob: I heard the Black Keys awhile back, and was quite impressed with them. Sadly it's not that Rock is dying out, it's that the promoters would rather have people listen to shiat, because that's what they like. For at least the last 20 years it's all been about shoving shiat music down peoples throat.

Big time. LOVE the Black Keys (and most artists from Fat Possum).

A few of my favorite albums from 2008:
The Black Keys' Attack and Release
Dax Riggs' If This Is Hell Then I'm Lucky
The Duke Spirit's Neptune
Hellogoodbye's Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! And More!
R.E.M.'s Accelerate (hmmm, maybe not the best example of good new music :0 )
Toadies' No Deliverance

BigGary_: captainmaxthedestroyer: the problem is there are no guitar icons.

There are plenty of them, just not working the "corporate" scene.

Kenny Wayne Shepard, Walter Trout, Coco Montoya, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Tommy Castro, Derek Trucks and the incomparable Joe Bonamassa.

i know there are talented bands if you go out and find them. but why should you have to do that?

To broaden your musical horizons and tastes. If you don't go out and find good music, you'll just be listening to the spoon fed corporate garbage that you're hearing now and never find the talent you're complaining about not hearing in the first place.

/The grass....your feet.....move it!

Who in the hell are any of those people? I was already hip to Kenny Wayne and Joe B but the rest of them are 45yo bluesmen who I hardly identify as a guitar icon. They all sound the exact same - just like a band playing at a big bar in Texas. When I see them perform on stage, I know they are enjoying themselves and are talented (I appreciate that) but there is nothing about them that makes me say, "I want to be HIM."

There are a couple of young bands that are riding the corporate ladder for exposure and still pumping out good albums. Kings of Leon, Slipknot, Disturbed, Black Keys come to mind. But that is hardly enough to represent any sort of rock movement.

captainmaxthedestroyer: Who in the hell are any of those people?

Try listening to them before you decide they are insignificant. Derek Trucks is insane and is only 29 years old. Check out his album Already Free which came out last week.

captainmaxthedestroyer: Disturbed

If you think Disturbed is significant you really have no place to be telling people the music they enjoy is insignificant. You must me a Hinder and Seether fan too. You watch Disturbed and "I want to be HIM" pops into your head? To each his own I suppose.

God I hope I just got trolled.

I didn't decide they are insignificant. Everybody else in the universe did. Also, I said that I could appreciate the talent of the guitarists you mentioned but they are hardly rock. ACDC/Iron Maiden was reference point to any of my original thoughts. The people you listed, whether you like it or not, are talented coffee shop music.

Disturbed is significant in the rock scene. They've been around 10 years + and consistently put out good albums. They are tight live. Jammed with Pantera. You don't have to like them but they're cemented in the community.

Hinder/Seether are irrelevant image rock. They are like The Goo Goo Dolls with tattoos.

It's not just radio/cd/tv that rock is dead. There aren't even any good stateside festivals anymore.

Lets agree to disagree.

captainmaxthedestroyer:

Who in the hell are any of those people?

That's my point. You don't know because you're relying on "Music Co." to provide you with your music.

I was already hip to Kenny Wayne and Joe B but the rest of them are 45yo bluesmen who I hardly identify as a guitar icon.

Eric Clapton would like to have a word with you.

I'm sorry, I missed where you said a guitarists age was a factor.
Mike Zito is in his 20's or 30's. Derek Trucks is in his late 20's if that meets your guidelines. If not you can turn to Eric Steckel, he's not even 20 yet.

You have to look around man, move away from the Corp Crap...Disturbed proabably won't even know the difference.

Who said there were no guitar heroes in the 2000s?



/link as hot as his playing

It's not so much the state of rock, it's the audience. Since before I was born rock fans have been so goddamn conservative that by and large they'd rather cut their own head off with a blunt spoon than listen to a band their dad's not a fan of.