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Chris:
Awesome!...a very perceptive essay!
thanks for the input.
DP
--- Chris Sutor <> wrote:
>
> On Thursday, August 12, 2004, at 01:27 PM,
> wrote:
>
> > What is the current state of "Rock"
> > music?
>
> I already voted, but I wanted to toss in an opinion on
> this, as well.
>
> I chose the Huey Lewis quote, as I felt it best fit my
> own feelings on
> the subject. The heart is still beating. It's out there,
> and it's
> alive. It's been kicked around, scratched, and beat on -
> but it's still
> breathing. Biding it's time, somewhere outside the
> spotlight of popular
> culture.
>
> Rock and Roll has really had a hell of a time, in the
> past few years.
> The recent loss of Ray Charles being just one example. (I
> still get
> misty-eyed when I remember Joey Ramone is gone, too) but
> I'd like to
> think that for every Ray Charles, and every Joey Ramone
> we've lost,
> we've gained at least two more potential replacements,
> even if just by
> osmosis. (I'm pretty sure that everybody here can name at
> least one
> song, as being "the one" that made them want to pick up a
> guitar and do
> something with it.)
>
> While some will wring their hands, and declare "Rock is
> dead!" while
> pointing to the festering behemoth, that currently passes
> for "pop
> culture"... it's important to remember that the two are
> mutually
> distinctive. Rock and Roll did not start out as pop
> phenomena - it
> started out as a subculture.
>
> And it wasn't exactly popular. Just playing it on the
> radio could get
> your station picketed, or even worse - burnt to the
> ground.
>
> Yes, after awhile, big industry found a way to tame it,
> corporatise it,
> and finally brand & package it, but there have always
> been upheavals,
> where the sound was reclaimed. (the punk movement of the
> 70's, for
> example, was a deliberate harkening back to the early
> days, when you
> didn't need a stadium, gold-sequined outfits and a laser
> show, just to
> be considered a band)
>
> Considering what's been happening to the pop mainstream
> recently, ( by
> which, I refer to the tidal wave of cookie-cutter
> "celebrity stars
> hired more for their looks than any actual talent, or
> bands riding
> solely on shock value, or even the "songs" manufactured
> in-studio out
> of racks of drum sequencers, and parts of someone else's
> old records)
> it's probably no bad thing that Rock and Roll is
> defecting from the
> crowd, once again.
>
> It's not dying out, it's just returning to it's roots, as
> a musical
> subculture. And, with the advent of online mp3 swapping,
> things are
> actually better for Rock and Roll than they ever have
> been -
> distribution of "the sound" has become as easy as
> point-and-click.
> Anyone can record, press, and sell an album online. No
> need for
> kickbacks, bribes, payola - and no need for a bloated
> Industry, which
> wants 99.999% of the take.
>
> Long after Big Industry's ruins have blown to dust, and
> the RIAA have
> finally sued their single remaining customer into
> oblivion (for failure
> to bow deeply enough, while purchasing), Rock and Roll
> will still be
> out there. Living, breathing, and carrying on.
>
> I'm happy to be a part of it.
>
> -c*
>
>
>
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