Why isnt Rock mainstream anymore?

[Joker]

This is 2009. There's no such thing as "mainstream" anymore. There are acts like Britney Spears that get popular, then the people who go "Britney Spears sucks" are just as popular. As time goes on it'll get even more so like this, as MTV will show even less having to do with music, CDs and sales of such will be totally gone, and everyone will get what they want digitally. I don't see the radio lasting much longer either. Welcome to the future.

 

[The Batman]

where did this myth that rock being unmainstream is a sign of its true spirit?

When Rock and Roll got on the scene, it became popular real quick. The rebel aspect made it mainstream

Then this thread is pointless.

There's the door...

 

[DACrowe]

I wouldn't say there is no such thing as a mainstream anymore. There is still and always will be popular culture. People still go and see Transformers 2 in theatres and then download the new Linkin Park song on it after listening to Boom Boom Pow on the radio home.

There will always be a mainstream, even if we get more and more into the Internet. I also predict satellite radio will replace FM. But not for a very long time.

I agree with your fusion argument Catman. But I still consider Pink and Katy Perry further into pop with some rock influences (more hip hop for Pink). However, there is still very clearly hip hop and rap which are dominant in the culture. Techno dance has been replaced by hip hop club beats which are the biggest thing right now (and terrible, awful trite). And that influences traditional pop like BEP.

But rock, just pure rock? It is either very neutered to the point where it is less edgy than most pop like Incubus or The Fray or very nichy like My Chemical Romance (whose last album actually had some songs i liked for their Queen-influences if not for their cheesy appearances and the emo dripping from half the numbers). It is more the non-mainstream, which I do prefer, and old favorites like Green Day and U2 that maintain more traditional rock. But I want to know what can bring ediger rock or the subgenres of rock back to life in the next decade? The record companies will have to take more chances, but is there a band that can reinvigorate the mainstream's care for rock to where ,there is more than one rock single in the top 20 every week?

I'm not sure.

 

[Catman]

(more hip hop for Pink).

I've never owned a Pink album, but based on singles I'd say she's gotten more rock in recent years. In the early days she was very hip-hop/r&b influenced, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

 

[Anubis]

where did this myth that rock being unmainstream is a sign of its true spirit?

When Rock and Roll got on the scene, it became popular real quick. The rebel aspect made it mainstream

There's the door...

It's locked...are you planning to rape me?

Looking at the billboard top 100, the most successful band seems to be kings of Leon, and they completely changed their style from a more southern classic rock style to a more popish, 80's Springsteen sound. While I like their old stuff better, it's not half bad.

 

[Joker]

I'd also like to point out that The Beatles remastered box sets sold out the first day they were released in stores, on all online stores weeks before it was released, and The Beatles Rock Band has exceeded all of the expectations they had for it, selling 25% of their supply of it in the first week. So, there's a good example of Rock being INCREDIBLY mainstream.

 

[The Batman]

I'd also like to point out that The Beatles remastered box sets sold out the first day they were released in stores, on all online stores weeks before it was released, and The Beatles Rock Band has exceeded all of the expectations they had for it, selling 25% of their supply of it in the first week. So, there's a good example of Rock being INCREDIBLY mainstream.

Thats why part of the reason i think rock isnt that mainstream is because most rock acts today arent accessible the way the beatles or the rolling stones were.

"Miss You" by the stones is a perfect example of a rock song that was accessible in the 70's

 

[Nivek]

Blame radio. I got Sirius over 6 years ago because I was sick of the crap rock being pushed on Clear Channel stations and other stations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and then Florida.

 

[BlackLantern]

Music has phases....one genre dominates for a bit, then it lapses and something else takes its place

 

[Anubis]

There was a time where everybody and their momma was into country. Billy Ray aka Hanna Montana's dad comes to mind.

 

[BlackLantern]

yup...Garth Brooks made the Grammys his prison ***** for a couple years

 

[Nivek]

n the 80's it wasn't a surprise to hear bands like Van Halen, Poison, Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, and etc

Wha? I don't know what stations you were listening to in the 80's, because I never remember those being played on any station. You never heard new Heavy Metal, usually I heard of all my favorite metal bands from mix tapes from friends. Hell, you never heard any original Black Sabbath outside of Paranoid or Iron man on most rock stations. Did you grow up near College Campuses or something and hear it on student radio?

 

[Motown Marvel]

I never said there was successful pure rock artists/bands. No genre, except maybe rap, has mainstream artists sticking to one genre anymore. It's a fusion of genres. That's what I was telling DACrowe. Basic rock is still being used. For example, one of the most popular songs in the past year was Pink's So What. Are you gonna tell me that there's no rock in there? It's not a pop song. It's a pop-rock song.

i was unfamiliar with this pink song, so i went to youtube. i cannot answer your question properly because i had to go vomit after 15 seconds into the song.

 

[BlackLantern]

i was unfamiliar with this pink song, so i went to youtube. i cannot answer your question properly because i had to go vomit after 15 seconds into the song.

and then did you listen to some no name indie band that should be signed but isnt because they are musical geniuses and people don't "get them"??

 

[Eggyman]

Everything works in cycles. It'll be back when b*tches stop getting slapped.

 

[Motown Marvel]

and then did you listen to some no name indie band that should be signed but isnt because they are musical geniuses and people don't "get them"??

no, i listened to the beatles.

by the way, i hate the term "indie" and i've never really cared what other people do or dont get about music.

 

[BlackLantern]

I was joking....

 

[Motown Marvel]

dude, the internet is not a place for joking.

 

[BlackLantern]

I see...but if you don't care what people do or don't get, why would "puke" after hearing music you may not like....you might not like it, but someone else does...music is like that

one mans trash is another mans fistful of awesome

 

[Motown Marvel]

does me not liking a pink song in any way dispute someone else's freedom to like it?

 

[BlackLantern]

does it?

 

[Franklin Richards]

I think it all has to do with record companies recruiting models instead of musicians. When music videos were rare... although they seem to be on MTV these days... musicians were ugly and they didn't care.

Would you see Frank Zappa or Geddy Lee on a music video these days? Hell no. Now of course there are a few exceptions.


But on the whole I think the problem stems from recruiting models instead of musicians.

 

[BlackLantern]

Christopher Cross looked like a drunk hobbit....but he had an Oscar nominated song

 

[chamber-music]

Rocks not dead in the UK

White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys, Interpol, Editors, White Lies, Biffy Cyro, The View, Lost Prophets, Kings Of Leon, The Strokes all sell pretty well.

Mostly due to BBC radio being out of the hands of music corparations so they can't force their pop junk on the masses so easily with less of a market share.

 

[Motown Marvel]

if anyone wants to know how radio operates, and how songs are chosen for air, just read this 11 part article from Salon magazine. its quite in depth, but crazy fascinating (and infuriating):

http://www.salon.com/ent/clear_channel/