Sometimes I wonder if this is partly due to our access to music. In the digital age, music is readily available on streaming platforms like Youtube, Spotify etc, and I've always wondered if this easy consumption ruins some of the magic for us. I'm an avid album listener, but I'm listening to one or two different artists a week. Recently, I've even been making the effort to just enjoy the album longer and ponder on it more so I'm not just consuming and moving on. It's an honor honestly to be able to enjoy so much music at once, but at what point is this just consumption.
When you look specifically at bands like the Grateful Dead, for example, sure they had recorded stuff and records for sale, but their live shows were where the magic was. You had to be there or you missed the 20-minute improvised guitar solo or whatever else they had planned. Fans used to share recordings of different shows with each other by physical media such as CDs and vhs. It was less like a buffet and more like a 7-course fine dining experience.
And also, I'm a pop lover and avid defender, but it's significantly easier to spin out a single artist's pop song as well as more accessible. Like you said with a band, its multiple people interacting and trying to get the music to sound perfect. That's a lot of opinions to put together into a 3-minute song. In Geese's GQ interview, they spoke a lot about creative differences between the band; the crew hired to help them, and with the label. It's a lot more effort that a label has to in to get a new album on the charts.
I just really liked all of your thoughts and I think this is such well put together essay. You're so articulate! I also miss rock bands :( but I'm excited to see what the next wave or "rock stars" have to show us.
This is such a great point. I think all music is best enjoyed live, but I feel like rock especially lends itself to a live setting compared to pop, let alone bedroom pop, which feels almost exclusively engineered for streaming.
Oh! Of course!! <3 I also totally agree with the bedroom pop sentiment! It's definitely easy listening, but it doesn't have the same power live as the classic rock bands I loved as a kid!
I was really surprised when Spotify released their 'most streamed' list and AM by Arctic Monkeys was in the top 10. Olivia Rodrigo's sound also suggests that people enjoy the aesthetics of rock/punk, which at this point has pretty much been distilled to 'music with guitars'. And of course everyone loved the Oasis reunion last summer. But until we get more kids of all classes playing instruments I fear bands as a mainstream are out of fashion for now.
maneskin is such an interesing counterpoint example in terms of a rock band that emerged in what is perhaps the least 'rock' institution on the planet (eurovision) and somehow ended up being one of the biggest rock bands in the world. but then damiano went pop, victoria went electronic, the whole thing quietly dissolved into exactly the genres they were supposed to be the antidote to. which is darkly funny given that damiano's whole post-victory thing was "rock and roll never dies." part of me thinks that a rock sensation simply can't survive such scale today, although i can't put my finger around the 'why'. maybe rock didn't die. but it has nowhere to go when it gets too big.
Pop is already dead. The dance floor is dead. Scrolling YouTube on stage will never compare with a Jack White solo. People are starting to feel things again. The smart pop stars get it instinctively. Olivia Rodrigo is dressing like Courtney Love and her next single is called "The Cure".
I'd say look for the unsigned bands at local folk punk shows. Here in the deep south, the folk punk band scene is amazing and their recordings are so lofi that the discrepancy between invigorating and soulful live shows and their streaming recordings are an ocean. It's entirely DIY but not necessarily amateur. The song Madeleine Pt 2 from The Great Beforetimes literally stopped me in my tracks and it's a band that will never see a big stage because the lead is queer and immunocompromised and only plays small mask-required punk shows in Richmond, VA. For several years, the only way to hear one of Marbleberry Seed's (Raleigh, NC) most iconic songs, I Am The Sin, was live. And the recording can't hold a flame to seeing it live now that it's finally online. Or I was going to a show to see X Dirty Fingers (Orlando, FL) play and their opener was Confession Kids (Gainesville, FL), who has such a classic rock band vibe that people started to mosh. These bands are all very queer, politically left, and still take many pandemic precautions (because community care is non-negotiable) and I have no doubt that trifecta plays in their ongoing obscurity in this social climate.
That’s so cool to hear. I’ve seen some smaller, more DIY bands in NY, and they’re amazing. In a similar vein, I’m also quite tapped into the smaller contemporary dance companies in Seattle. I do not doubt that rock will continue to thrive on the periphery/in smaller settings even if it’s not the mainstream “sound.”
Really good! It's interesting you mention feeling rock would be bigger in your adulthood. When I was growing up in the 00s/10s rock was "dying" and we needed to save it. I wonder when the dynamic changed?
I think part of the reason for the Bandocalypse is that kids don't hang out any more. For a band you need 4 people who meet up in person regularly. But loads of young people report having only 1 friend or maybe 0. Covid hasn't helped this, and I don't know how you fix it.
Thank you! So true about the lack of casual, irl hanging out leading to a lack of bands. My younger sisters and their friends don’t just show up at each other’s houses with nothing to do, everything is a meticulously planned out hang, typically in a public place.
Sometimes I wonder if this is partly due to our access to music. In the digital age, music is readily available on streaming platforms like Youtube, Spotify etc, and I've always wondered if this easy consumption ruins some of the magic for us. I'm an avid album listener, but I'm listening to one or two different artists a week. Recently, I've even been making the effort to just enjoy the album longer and ponder on it more so I'm not just consuming and moving on. It's an honor honestly to be able to enjoy so much music at once, but at what point is this just consumption.
When you look specifically at bands like the Grateful Dead, for example, sure they had recorded stuff and records for sale, but their live shows were where the magic was. You had to be there or you missed the 20-minute improvised guitar solo or whatever else they had planned. Fans used to share recordings of different shows with each other by physical media such as CDs and vhs. It was less like a buffet and more like a 7-course fine dining experience.
And also, I'm a pop lover and avid defender, but it's significantly easier to spin out a single artist's pop song as well as more accessible. Like you said with a band, its multiple people interacting and trying to get the music to sound perfect. That's a lot of opinions to put together into a 3-minute song. In Geese's GQ interview, they spoke a lot about creative differences between the band; the crew hired to help them, and with the label. It's a lot more effort that a label has to in to get a new album on the charts.
I just really liked all of your thoughts and I think this is such well put together essay. You're so articulate! I also miss rock bands :( but I'm excited to see what the next wave or "rock stars" have to show us.
This is such a great point. I think all music is best enjoyed live, but I feel like rock especially lends itself to a live setting compared to pop, let alone bedroom pop, which feels almost exclusively engineered for streaming.
Oh! Of course!! <3 I also totally agree with the bedroom pop sentiment! It's definitely easy listening, but it doesn't have the same power live as the classic rock bands I loved as a kid!
Thank you for your kind words and thoughtful comment :D!
I was really surprised when Spotify released their 'most streamed' list and AM by Arctic Monkeys was in the top 10. Olivia Rodrigo's sound also suggests that people enjoy the aesthetics of rock/punk, which at this point has pretty much been distilled to 'music with guitars'. And of course everyone loved the Oasis reunion last summer. But until we get more kids of all classes playing instruments I fear bands as a mainstream are out of fashion for now.
The class divide in instrument access is such a big one! Public school music classes in America are so important
maneskin is such an interesing counterpoint example in terms of a rock band that emerged in what is perhaps the least 'rock' institution on the planet (eurovision) and somehow ended up being one of the biggest rock bands in the world. but then damiano went pop, victoria went electronic, the whole thing quietly dissolved into exactly the genres they were supposed to be the antidote to. which is darkly funny given that damiano's whole post-victory thing was "rock and roll never dies." part of me thinks that a rock sensation simply can't survive such scale today, although i can't put my finger around the 'why'. maybe rock didn't die. but it has nowhere to go when it gets too big.
Pop is already dead. The dance floor is dead. Scrolling YouTube on stage will never compare with a Jack White solo. People are starting to feel things again. The smart pop stars get it instinctively. Olivia Rodrigo is dressing like Courtney Love and her next single is called "The Cure".
people do not understand the art of hateful collaboration anymore, and it shows.
I'd say look for the unsigned bands at local folk punk shows. Here in the deep south, the folk punk band scene is amazing and their recordings are so lofi that the discrepancy between invigorating and soulful live shows and their streaming recordings are an ocean. It's entirely DIY but not necessarily amateur. The song Madeleine Pt 2 from The Great Beforetimes literally stopped me in my tracks and it's a band that will never see a big stage because the lead is queer and immunocompromised and only plays small mask-required punk shows in Richmond, VA. For several years, the only way to hear one of Marbleberry Seed's (Raleigh, NC) most iconic songs, I Am The Sin, was live. And the recording can't hold a flame to seeing it live now that it's finally online. Or I was going to a show to see X Dirty Fingers (Orlando, FL) play and their opener was Confession Kids (Gainesville, FL), who has such a classic rock band vibe that people started to mosh. These bands are all very queer, politically left, and still take many pandemic precautions (because community care is non-negotiable) and I have no doubt that trifecta plays in their ongoing obscurity in this social climate.
That’s so cool to hear. I’ve seen some smaller, more DIY bands in NY, and they’re amazing. In a similar vein, I’m also quite tapped into the smaller contemporary dance companies in Seattle. I do not doubt that rock will continue to thrive on the periphery/in smaller settings even if it’s not the mainstream “sound.”
My favorite rock band is palaye royale and I’m so glad they are keeping the scene alive
I just subbed to your after reading this I truly love it
I’m a metal head and I love rock music also Charli’s song I feel like her style fits the vibes of rock music already
Really good! It's interesting you mention feeling rock would be bigger in your adulthood. When I was growing up in the 00s/10s rock was "dying" and we needed to save it. I wonder when the dynamic changed?
I think part of the reason for the Bandocalypse is that kids don't hang out any more. For a band you need 4 people who meet up in person regularly. But loads of young people report having only 1 friend or maybe 0. Covid hasn't helped this, and I don't know how you fix it.
Thank you! So true about the lack of casual, irl hanging out leading to a lack of bands. My younger sisters and their friends don’t just show up at each other’s houses with nothing to do, everything is a meticulously planned out hang, typically in a public place.
Oh my god, now that you say it - where ARE all the rock bands?! As a former Kings of Leon devotee, bring back the bands!