Is Rock...Dead?

First Publication Date: September 27, 1998 - 9:07 PM

This is a question that has been asked by fans, critics, a musicians alike. Yet there always seems to be a "big" band that, again, ressurects it. When it happens, who makes it happen, and how it happens is always a question. Nevertheless, whoever (that is, the band) makes it big, seems to be the "unexpected" one.

Let us go back a little over twenty years ago. What kind of rock was it then? Well, that depends. The disco-era's days were numbered. So what did we have? Yet another British invasion, led by the Sex Pistols (which was one of Kurt's influences). There were other bands like Black Sabbath, Black Flag, and many more.

So after the Sex Pistols broke up, it was around 1980, the year John Lennon was assassinated. Punk rock was still around, thanks to bands like The Germs..which Pat was in, Flipper, and Devo. Nevertheless, music in the 1980's was a continuation of punk, however it was much more light. This was the Hairspray era. Bands like Guns 'n Roses (bastards), Poison, Ratt, and a lot of others. Metal music was making a mark, due to the works of Metallica.

However, the 1980's lacked something that record labels and fans were looking for: bands with long-term potential instead of "one-hit-wonders." Every era of music (or rock) had it's share, but the 1980's seem to have had much more.

By the late 1980's, there was an underground music in the the northwestern area of the United States. There was yet another form of punk music, informally called "grunge." Bands throughout the area started touring. Cities like Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia, Washington; to name a few. Sub Pop was the label to be on for indie bands.

And no, Nirvana was not the big northwestern band. It was really Sound Garden, Alice and Chains, and above all...The Melvins. Nevertheless, this kind of movement did not get noticed, if at all, except in places like England and a few newspapers in the country. But no one thought seriously of it.

Around the fall of 1990, Scream, a Washington, D.C. punk band, broke up. Nirvana needed a new drummer and the "right" one, which turned out to be Dave. This was probably around the time that Nirvana became more noticed in the audience. Their shows were beginning to be sold out, and major record labels had contracts in the faces left and right.

They finally signed with Geffen in April of 1991, thanks to some encouragement from Sonic Youth. They recorded Nevermind in the early summer, and..well, you know the rest of the story. ;)

1992 was the official year that "Punk Broke." Where as all the eyes of the music world were looking at the Space Needle. New bands started to derive, and again, rock was alive and selling well. In 1994, although still strong, Kurt died and then, rock changed. This was a major, if not fast, change in the music industry. Whenever a band breaks up or a member of a significant dies or leaves, then something will change.

Enter the ever-popular copying phrase (I'll leave the bands up to you). This was around 1995. Then hip-hop became popular, then techno and swing music. A lot of folks say that rock is still around, "just in a different form."

Let's be serious kids: rock is drums, bass, guitars and vocals. Nothing more, nothing less. That's all it needs and that is all it will ever need. I am not attacking any other form of music, as long as people can relate to it, that's OK. There has never been a time period in rock that did not consist of those components. Just my two cents.

What is going through my mind? Well, I'm rather nervous to be honest. To know in a few years that there will be another big rock band, a band that will change the industry for several years, excites me.