"Rock is finally dead."
Earlier this month
Gene Simmons told Esquire Magazine that. Gene is always good for a
quote, because there's usually a root of truth in what he says that's
been contorted until it loses validity. The man's mouth is a
trebuchet for convolution.
He goes on to say:
“It's very sad for new bands. My heart goes out to them. They just
don't have a chance. If you play guitar, it's almost impossible.
You're better off not even learning how to play guitar or write
songs, and just singing in the shower and auditioning for The X
Factor. And I'm not slamming The X Factor, or pop
singers. But where's the next Bob Dylan? Where's the next Beatles?
Where are the songwriters? Where are the creators? Many of them now
have to work behind the scenes, to prop up pop acts and write their
stuff for them.”
Here's the problem.
There are two related but separate parts to his statement: 1. Rock is dead 2. New rock
bands don't have a chance. The first part is completely inaccurate. Take a look at
the top grossing tours of all time. Know what #1 is? U2's 2009-2011
tour. It grossed over $700 mil. Again: this is not a U2 tour from the 80's
or 90's. It wrapped up a scant three years ago, and it made almost a
billion dollars. #2 goes to the Rolling Stones, who grossed over $500
million from 2005-2007. 8 out of the top 10 from this list are ROCK
BANDS, and most of the tours are from the 2000s.
Either a pic of U2's stage or a robo-monster that has a taste for human flesh.
Statement part 2 is open to argument, because it addresses newer bands and the future. For my argument I'll use bands formed in 2000 and onward as "newer bands"; as it wouldn't be fair to judge the state of sports by how rookies perform, I won't base rock on that standard. It's obvious they don't stack up to artists
from other genres, numbers-wise. The newest rock-ish band among 2013's top 10 grossing acts is Maroon 5, formed in '94. Mumford & Sons is the closest thing to a rock band
started post-2000 that's even in the top 20. But it's not as if newer bands are fucking starving just because they're not making
Beyonce money. Imagine Dragons grossed over $9 million last year on
tour. The same year, Halestorm became the first female-fronted band
ever to hit no. 1 on the Billboard Active Rock chart then won the Best Hard Rock/Metal Grammy. The Black Keys earned millions during their 2012 tour.
If you'll allow me to stretch to bands formed in 1999, Avenged
Sevenfold have had two albums debut at no.1 on the Billboard top 100.
This happened.
Veteran rock bands
reign over the touring aspect of music, and newer ones are earning
millions and topping the charts. Numbers don't lie and rock music is doing fine.
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