I was thinking about how few good new bands have been formed in the past years, and it made me wonder whether making rock music is even worth it nowadays
People don't seem interested in guitar riffs anymore, synthetic and electronic sounds are what's popular and have been for at least a decade. Why would anyone even listen to new guitar music when we already have the greats of old to listen to?
Truth is, all the kids today are just noodling on synths with no music theory or having ever listened to music which preceded you. Take this grid of what Cobain listed as his best/most influential albums. This was back when you couldn't hop on the internet to look this shit up. He actually sought it out. Do you think anyone who isn't a pretentious Anon Babble faggot even knows who half these artists are? Basically, everyone is trying to be a writer without having ever read a single book.
Are you seeking out good guitar-driven music? I guarantee it's out there, it's just not the mainstream focus anymore.
We've had this same exact thread every week and the conclusion has always been at least one of the below, or many combined.
Rent is too high, bands aren't affordable anymore unless you're a "trustfund band"
Social statuses have changed, being in a band makes you look trashy now and you're under societal pressure to catch up financially to your peers rather than making a band
Rock has been "solved", every riff, combination of instruments, and every innovation has been achieved. Making new rock music now would simply be retreading what past bands have done but better
We're in an economic recession, record companies don't like taking risks at these points in the economy. Usually record companies will stay safe at these times and only push their singular pop artists because they are cheap and predictable
There are other theories but they get really into racism and nazi-ish. So I won't be adding those here.
Believe one, or believe all of them. I don't care. Just stop posting the same exact thread every fucking week
>Rock has been "solved", every riff, combination of instruments, and every innovation has been achieved. Making new rock music now would simply be retreading what past bands have done but better
This is the point I'm contending
How could we know if rock has been 'solved' and all the sonic pathways are depleted?
What would a fresh new rock band sound like?
What would a fresh new rock band sound like?
We won't know. In other threads, people have made the conclusion that the youth of today are being inspired by bands such as Metallica, Korn, System of a Down, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, etc.
What happens when people are consistently inspired by bands that get more and more experimental? You get EXTREMELY experimental stuff.
A lot of rock that's made today, from all the hours and days of searching I've done, are really way too experimental for my tastes. They're working with decades of built up inspiration in which they have no grasp on how to further that inspiration to make something conventionally or even unconventionally good. So nothing "fresh and new" in your mind is being made anymore.
It's actually really revolting what they're making, my only assumption is that they're trying to be the next TVU, without any reasoning (The same amount of pretention though, kek).
How could we know if rock has been 'solved' and all the sonic pathways are depleted?
it died. That's how we know there's nothing left. Who knows why the fuck pop and country are still around though, they are rechurning the same slop sound every 5 years
I think one of the problems I see with this is they may not be going far enough back to the actual roots of rock music. I wondered for a long time why the British were so good at rock, and it occurred to me it was really a lot of their traditional folk music, just with upbeat and sometimes aggressive tone. I'm no disagreeing with you, but to answer the question of the OP, they need to go back further than the year 2000 for inspiration.
they need to go back further than the year 2000 for inspiration.
Actually, we are in complete agreement here. I believe they need to go farther back so they don't build off of music that was already pushing the limits of Rock.
Once new bands start getting inspired by far far older bands, then rock music might start to see the light of day again.
They're working with decades of built up inspiration in which they have no grasp on how to further that inspiration to make something conventionally or even unconventionally good
So it's basically just a skill issue?
Even middle class zoomers who wanted to make good music would be incapable of it because they spent their childhood watching streamers and jerking off to hentai instead of obsessively honing their musical skills?
I'd believe it
So it's basically just a skill issue?
Basically, yeah.
As a brain teaser, try and do it yourself. Listen to a Nu-Metal song or some of the last rock to exist before pop took over. Try and think of how you'd continue or build off of that.
It's hard, isn't it? There's so much that goes into the production of a widely acclaimed song that it's extremely daunting.
I'm not giving the zoomies a pass on it though, they should've spent some time thinking about it before releasing their overtly experimental dogshit.
if you had this as your chart in modern day fags would get mad that there's only one rap album
Just give them lyrics that they couldnt have. This is what happens with incelcore. No other genre will write about internet culture.
Emo was another example of that, they just got rock and added "im le sad and gay" lyrics.
Also read
This anon is correct in that Zoomies should probably look further back in rock history if they want to make anything new. They clearly cannot handle modern influences.
I've never thought about it this way and it makes a lot of sense
No other genre will write about internet culture
Internet culture is extremely fast. Every fad, every idea, every new meme is dropped in as quickly as a week now.
It'd be how like movies integrate internet memes into their scripts. By the time the movie is out, 5 years has passed and all the internet references that it made are cringey by today's standards.
It would be the same with music because internet culture is simply so much faster. If it took you a year to make an album, all the internet issues you were talking about in it would be most likely long gone.
They clearly cannot handle modern influences.
Music Seller, I am going to make an album and I need your most modern influences.
You cannot handle my modern influences. My influences are not fit for a millenial, let alone a zoomer.
Spread the word anon, every time this thread is made people argue about how rock died due to some mastermind overlord. When in reality it got too experimental and modern for its own good, and people couldn't tolerate it anymore.
Maybe somebody in a position to make rock music will hear about how it'd be better to reach further back into the history of rock music, and will jumpstart a new era.
This is what happens with incelcore. No other genre will write about internet culture.
I'm not sure what "incelcore" is, could you give me some examples?
I'm imagining it's zoomer shit like 100 gecs where all the lyrics are just tiktok phrases except in the style of a school shooter manifesto
They clearly cannot handle modern influences.
It's more of that every progression in an art form ends up an abstraction from the previous form and a lot of the time the process is not always linear in the reverse direction, which is why it's hilarious just posted Baudrillard. The word hysteresis comes to mind. I used to be of the opinion if you couldn't play country, you couldn't play rock, which is a statement I still agree with, but taking the idea a step further I realized country and rock share origins.
There is more than memes on the internet culture. After internet everything changed, the relationships with tinder, how we buy stuff, how we find new media, how we earn money, how we discuss stuff.
Rap worked from start because it was the only genre talking about the struggles in the hood (and the easy to produce aspect)..
the relationships with tinder, how we buy stuff, how we find new media, how we earn money, how we discuss stuff.
That's a good point. I'm not sure how people would react to it though, they'd have to tread lightly when talking about modern issues. Otherwise it might go too far and be seen as a meme song.
100 gecs is hyperpop, which also blends together internet culture but the production is the most important aspect.
This is the most famous, genre defining, incelcore song:
youtube.com
but taking the idea a step further I realized country and rock share origins
Actually, the first name for rock was "Rockabilly". It was Country but with more rhythm and blues.
It's more of that every progression in an art form ends up an abstraction from the previous form and a lot of the time the process is not always linear in the reverse direction
That's a very very good point. I should've worded my post better. I just believe the current rock bands cannot evolve rock correctly right now, and should go further back just to make it easier on themselves.
Such as if they took inspiration from "The Fall", well the fall inspired Sonic Youth. So they could try and evolve The Fall's sound but using Sonic Youth as a sort of guide, if that makes any sense.
what would it sound like
music, there is literally nothing new under the sun
since the inception of home music players, music has changed sparsely, and irreverent of its change is that it was not much different from its source, be it actual woodman music, court entertainment, bards, or regular old classical, truly little has changed exempting the ability to loose scorn on authorities and the powers that be, which every day finds itself deeper into the shadows and with lessening means to exact vengeance
Indie rock and the steps leading up to it ruined it. Every teenager now thinks that music is something fun they make with your friends where you pour your heart out about your girlfriend and all your mental disorders, rather than something where you seriously try to communicate with an audience and bring them together. To the modern indie rock artist, the audience is secondary to the holiness of their self-expression.
"aaaaaah i got so TANGLED UP IN you ANGELINA aaaaaah" - Pinegrove
Fuck this shit, so goofy. No attempt at being memorable, just attempts at using the music and the audience as the writer's therapist. Maybe they talked about the stuff they sing about in therapy.
Whereas look at the greatest songs. They're poetic, they're accessible, they might have an expressive element but they're not too self-indulgent, they try to be coherent and cohesive, and they have some absolutely nasty hooks that take risks because the writer's personal experience doesn't absolve them of the duty to create a nasty hook that people remember forever. "I'm Looking Through You!" "Like a Rolling Stone" "Karma Police".
No one attempts that shit anymore. Connecting with people and connecting people with each other is not the goal anymore. Expression is the goal. Expressing yourself is all that is holy.
In a world where no man truly experiences any level of duty to others, any sense of love for their fellow man and woman, every man falls in love with himself. It's exactly the story of Narcissus. No one wants to write Auld Lang Syne anymore, even though they have more machinery than ever to do it with. Every sound at their fingertips but they're just too self-absorbed to use it for good.
Fuck indie rock.
You don't even need to obssesively hone your skill for years, rock is really not that hard. They need to obsessively hone their TASTES, like other anons have said. A good rock musician should know the history of the artform like the back of his hand. Also some good knowledge of other artforms wouldn't hurt so you can have actual good lyrics and aesthetics.
jesus christ you bunch are unbearable faggots.
Poltards will whinge at me but I think that there's a wealth of new cultural synthesis to be unlocked by combining the rock and roll mentality and instrumentation of Paul Weller, Buzzcokcs, the Nerves etc. with the influences and experiences of minority demographics re: race, LGBT, etc., I want to see an all-tranny equivalent to Joy Division and see where that takes us, I want to see an all-black equivalent to The Jam and see where that takes us, etc.
Great post. I have to admit that I've assumed that music was just that, a form of therapy for the artist, because that's the meme everyone says it is.
Thanks for your insightful words anon
Is rock as a genre out of ideas?
Stop looking only in America. I just listened to some new Rock today because I looked outside of America.
Europe is making great new rock, look there. America's music industry has been chained up by popslut whores for a decade or so now.
I agree and I wouldn't be surprised if the next big sensation in rock, if it ever comes, will be from a songwriter who isn't a middle class white person
I think arguments like these even though there might be truth to them are really fucking gay. Not that you're not right but that's how gay modern culture and zoomers are. They're the biggest hypocrites. Like dumb electronic pop isn't boring as fuck? Like anything is affordable anymore?
1. You can buy a cheap as shit guitar and keyboard and make music at home cheaply. Maybe it takes more to get a band together but come on now. It'll be tough financially to be a solo artist not just a band
2. Like slut pop and rap is not super gay and trashy? It's so funny the hypocritical shit that makes up this culture. It is embarrassingly bad and makes no sense
3. Like pop music and rap isn't the same bullshit over and over? Every genre now is "solved" but they will still make mediocre bullshit anyways and that's fine somehow
4. This probably makes the most sense which is why companies just shill the most safe easily consumed bullshit possible. It makes sense that rock isn't really around anymore and they won't try to shill a comeback for it right now because they don't know the reaction it'll be for it.
because they don't know the reaction it'll be for it.
Bingo. Rock has splintered into so many different genres now. The splintering is now to the point where if you say "Rock" to a hundred people, each person will get a completely different idea of it in their head.
Release one type of rock? 50% of your listeners are angry. Release another type? The other 50% are angry. Nobody can decide what's good or not anymore because everyone is in their own little rock bubble.
Like dumb electronic pop isn't boring as fuck? Like anything is affordable anymore?
I completely agree with what you're saying, I was just showing OP what the most agreed upon opinions were to get him up to speed.
Currently the biggest conclusions are what you're agreeing with, and also that current rock artists are just not skilled at all.
Here's some replies to guide you to the latter consensus:
That is so true and that's the problem with modern culture in general. Everyone has to have something to get angry about on both sides of the political spectrum. You can't even talk about any important issues anymore because they'll make a big deal about some useless faggot online getting outraged about it and instead of having music that people can relate to, about REAL issues people care about and want to talk about, it is now "problematic" because of some arbitrary reason.
The fact they keep shilling artists that are either all female or Trans or something and THATS IT is suspicious to me too. I hate to get all poltard like that that DEI is involved but something about modern culture with that shit just nags at me and it seems incredibly biased to certain groups that have to be in the mainstream now
I think there's plenty of room left for rock music, so long as faggots don't ruin any attempt at including other instruments because then it's "not rock". Fuck these people, who cares what genre it is if it sounds good? I say let loose with fusion. There was a time when people found they liked the combination of jazz with Latin American rhythms combined with funk. And then in the late 70s through the mid-80s people found they liked brass with their rock music and even a few electronic synths. New Wave.
I think if the songs are good enough, rock or rock adjacent music could get a significant following. There’s no good singer-songwriters anymore. Where’s today’s Dylan or Brian Wilson or Warren Zevon or whatever? Most of today’s artists can’t even read music, couldn’t compose a song on piano. I guess Lady Gaga can? There’s hardly any men in music besides rappers or EDM producers and that sort of shit. I kind of like MJ Lenderman and Cindy Lee. King Gizzard sucks.
Being in a rock band is no fun anymore, you're not allowed to get pussy or do any rock n roll antics without being cancelled
rockfag tacitly admits that rock music is shit and not worth pursuing for its own sake
Actually it will come from middle class white guys who live in the third world. Because the first world is exhausted with itself and you guys are proof
the problem with rock these days is the lack of good songwriters.
Yeah maybe. I think rock kind of needs to be middle class white guys.
rock music just went back to country. rock acts are gonna sprout back when the country craze is over and rap singers don't need 5-piece backing bands anymore.
I'm mostly over rock music anyway. Jazz and electronic music is where it's at. Buttrock just makes me wanna gouge my eyes out.