Today's Rock music?? Dead or just irrelavant?

[lather]

Bored at work so I'm on YouTube watching:

Supertramp (give a little bit) The Police (So Lonely and Everything She does is Magic) Yes (Your Move-Seen all Good People), AC/DC (Its a Long Way to the Top), and Maiden (Number of the Beast, The Trooper), among others.

It's occured to me that I cant think of anything out today that comes anywhere close. I guess I'm getting old but everything now sounds like crap.

Is there any band out there now that can write songs, vocalize, and be great musicians all at the same time?

[LegumeOfTerror]

i dont think theres much worth listening to anymore. im 20 and i dont llisten to anything made past the early 80's.

[sandfreestyle]

i grew up watching and making dirtbike movies and they always have the newer stuff in them. i grew to love all metal but i stick mainly to the 90's stuff cause the most recent stuff remindes me of someone with throat cancer trying to sing. i do love the older stuff and it will never get old to me, but when it comes to adding some metal tunes to a hardcore offroad video you can't beat some of the new stuff.

[skife]

listening to rancid right now.

[snoopay700]

listening to rancid right now.

Yuck, i used to love them, now i can't see why, it's all these guys that made a band off of the punk genre without actually playing any punk music. They're hardly better than the casualties.

[trevorjk]

alot of music you hear now adays is washed out corporate crap. to find good music that sounds good you need to go to subgenres or smaller labels.

a band that i recommend to most people that like a rock/punk beat is Social Distortion. older stuff (70's and 80's) is more punk sounding with a rockabilly sound. where the newer stuff (still recording to this day) is very well done with alot of meaning in the lyrics and very good instrumental work.

but then again, its a genre not alot of people like. think Johnny Cash mixed with a band like Greenday and you kind of have there sound. only a million times better then green day. and i would say on par with johnny cash to some extent

a good start when listening to social distortion is the CD Reach For The Sky or White Light White Heat White Trash. then if you like. just progress from there.

[xero28]

I'll have to agree with Trevor (by the way, GREAT name ). Social D is one that has transcended the years and has a great rock n' roll sound with some punk thrown in for good measure. I'm happy to say I've had the opportunity to see them in concert in a smaller venue. I'm 28 and enjoy all types of "rock" music, classic, modern, grunge, punk. But I can understand how many people think that rock music today is a bunch of crap. Much of the stuff you hear on the radio is just that, but as Trevor said, there are many, many bands out there that are 100 times better than those on the radio, but aren't getting all of the attention as one from a big label.

You also have to remember that when you are comparing these bands (classic to modern), of course you're going to have COMPLETELY different sounds, and frankly, I won't say that I'm enough of a music "aficianado" to say which is better. I listen to them all and like them all, although I listen more to the modern stuff, and more punk than anything else. As far as writing songs, vocalizing, musicians...my favorite band right now is Rise Against. I know, many of you who know them might say "All they do is scream", yes, but not nearly as much as so many other bands. They have some great lyrics, awesome sounds, and a wide variety of songs, from slow acoustic types to fast punk-metal.

Ok, I better stop. It's 5:45 on saturday morning, I have no idea if any of this makes sense. I woke up 10 minutes ago, and I have to get going to meet up with my brother 2 hours away so we can go play some ball.

[Empyreal Rogue]

I think the issue is that the standards for what constitutes a rock band today is vastly different from what rock meant 10, 15 years ago. Today rock is pretty much considered a popular genre, so it's played on popular radio stations. 10 or 15 years ago we had channels specifically dedicated to whatever pop radio stations wouldn't play, and that was how MTV2 was originally born, which also proves my point. As the 'rock' genre becomes increasingly more popular the old standards most of us grew up listening to become more and more relaxed.

If you think about it, it's just a cycle that music goes through. Where did we all turn when "popular music" became a fad? We went underground. Unfortunately today what was once underground is turning popular, but that just means we have to go underground again. As long as there are people who appreciate, love, and support the music that will always and forever be good, unpopular, and underground we will have new musicians and bands that spring up for us to listen to.

[Ninjeff]

the problem is that no one is making rock and roll dangerous today.

Rock and roll should be dangerous.

All the greats had an air of danger to them. Even if they are accepted today you can still feel and hear the edge to them.

led zepplin, the who, rolling stones, aerosmith, motley crue (thier new album tries wayyyy to hard though) and on and on and on.

I mean, who is freaking out the soccer moms and tipper gores right now? who i making the good suburban standards quake because they are "worried for little johny"?

i cant think of anyone.......

[tribalman]

the problem is that no one is making rock and roll dangerous today.

I mean, who is freaking out the soccer moms and tipper gores right now? who i making the good suburban standards quake because they are "worried for little johny"?

i cant think of anyone.......

well, not soccer moms, but the terrorists are being scared by Disturbed. i personally like them, Soil, Flyleaf, *** Burners (yes they are a real band). and yes, stuff from today is more hardcore than stuff from previous generations. it's all a matter of taste. i found a good site to LEGALLY download music by the free because of the Creative Commons license. you can find some good stuff. lots of styles, see what you like. i found that i actually do like quite a bit of electronic/trance, just not the american garbage.

[BigEvil]

Disturbed


But if scaring soccer moms is your goal, you really cant go wrong with Slayer. Even their new stuff still kicks serious butt

[devildog]

buy both al ims by Lost Horizon. Everyone who I've shown them to so far has liked them

[punkncat]

I stayed "in touch" with the music scene for a while in the 90's and early after 2k. I started realizing that many artists are writing good single songs and then piecing a bunch of crap together with it to package up an album.
It used to be that you could buy an album, and in addition to the songs that got radio play there were quite a few jems packaged along that were both full of musical talent as well as actually saying something. Too often today you have one good song, a great deal of variations on that same sound, even riff, and says nothing, or is either whining or screaming. That "poor pitiful me" or the alternative "I hate you and everything" genere was lost on me pretty fast.
Don't even get me started on what metal has become. Even old great bands that will remain un-named are sucking wind in a major way in a very weak attempt to recapture the magic of years past.

To be honest, IMO the only type of music that has really gone anywhere and had anything valid to say lyrically and musically is country. Much along the lines of what we used to call Southern Rock. And even at that, so many of these so called "crossover" artists are throwing on a really fake twang, and attempting to cash in on the popularity.

[LegumeOfTerror]

i listen to albums. i don't pic and choose songs. if the album sucks, i wont bother with any of it. i explore music via discographies, downloading a new band when i finished the last one. so much good stuff hidden is on obscure albums.

[Thordic]

There was a bit of a lull between the mid-nineties and mid-2000's, I'll admit.

There are still a number of really good bands out there, though.

The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, Back Door Slam, The Fratellis,

Plus, a few 90's bands are starting to get back together and put out albums. The Toadies just came out with a new album that's pretty damn good, and I believe Candlebox just released their new album as well.

Clutch has been around for a while now and they keep pumping out quality albums. Beck is still around, and continues to put out good stuff.

There are still a lot of good bands out there, the problem is most of them don't get a ton of airtime.