Where The Fuck Are All The Bands? • Page 2

I agree to some extent but holy shit the author sounds really out of touch lol.

 

Its just right now. Period. There's no way that because a large number of arguably 13-30somthing year old (possibly a little high on the ladder) prefer electronic hip hop/rap/edm/whatever you wanna call it, that bands are this dinosaur of a blueprint. Just no. Human beings, playing real instruments, creating real songs, will always have a place.

 

Rock music isn’t as popular as other genres. It’s that simple. If you want to get more rock acts into major festivals, you have to push that sound harder into major label discussion.

 

According to Wikipedia, five singles charted in the US on the dance charts. Their highest charting album in the US reached #25 or something.

They’re on that Stone Roses level for me; just far far bigger overseas than they are in the US but have some obvious die hard fans without having a ton of mainstream success.

 

I agree. That place just isn’t at the top nearly as often as it once was. That’s all I meant by end of an era.

 

Literally everyone I know loves ODESZA, so all of his joking about that sounds really out of place. I did go to the school they're from, so maybe that's it, but it's not like they're some big secret.

 

If the only place you're going to see bands is a giant festival like Coachella, that's the problem right there. Bands survive by touring, not by playing one huge desert festival. Articles like this drive me nuts because they act like "bands" and "rock" or whatever are disappearing when there's literally a huge scene around them all the time. They just can't be bothered to be involved.

 

Oh Christ

 

"I am 38 years old. You think I’m getting on a plane to see fucking ODESZA? Come on."

 

I kinda think rock's time as a cultural movement has passed, it's smaller and more niche now, sort of like when jazz lost its popularity in the sixties. It'll always be there for the people who share a passion for it, such as those on this forum, but the mainstream culture moved on a while ago.

 

But we're still seeing odd exceptions. Yes, Portugal. The Man is poppier than they've ever been, but they still are rooted in rock, and they've gotten huge. Now I'm not suggesting you're wrong in that rock is less prominent in pop culture right now, I'm only saying that rock is still capable of being chart topping, and I think there's a real chance of it reestablishing itself at some point in pop culture - wherein jazz doesn't have a chance.

 

Chris*

 

Portugal has a lot of difference influences, including hip hop and electronic music, probably why they've been able to crack into a larger audience with their big song. Pop music has always been a defining factor of what bands are most popular, self-explanatory I guess. When rock bands were dominating the charts they were also heavily intertwined with pop music. Now the trends in pop music have shifted, and some of those changing elements can be seen in a huge song like Feel It Still, but the rooted in rock factors in Portugal are probably the least evident that hit.

We're speaking in big sweeping generalizations tho, anything is possible. There are jazz elements in a lot hit songs, hell, Kamasi Washington has a pretty big font on this festival, and he is straight up jazz. He probably won't ever top the billboard charts, but he might play on a song that does, for Beyonce or Kendrick or someone else who finds value in his high level talent and vision.

So what exactly defines a rock band, or rock influence? Is it just heavy use of guitar, a certain style, a certain look? The cliche caricature of "rock band" definitely seems out of date, gimmicky, less cool than ever before, but also "rock" is so vague. The Beatles are a rock band, while also being so innovative and poppy and diverse song to song, and they sound nothing like modern rock bands. I don't know what people mean anymore when they want a rock revival, realistically it is just a pop hit having more guitar than synth, and I don't see the point in that distinction.

Also genres are dumb, jazz guitar is sick.

 

I made a snarky comment about them playing in the thread on the tour forum. I'd love to see them, and I'll be a tad pissed if the only date they play over here is fucking Coachella.

Add on to that the numerous amount of small festivals that cater to genres:

Hardcore? You've got the Rumble that's coming back this year.
Metal? You've got a number of smaller festivals throughout the year: Invoking Black Death, Gospel of the Serpent, Chicago Domination Fest, etc.

With all that being said, I think that's an artifact of being a major metropolitan area as opposed to having a festival catering to each specific niche. I'm not going to do the research on it but you could likely point out something similar for SoCal/NYC/other major metropolitan areas.

 

I don't care who is on the lineup - I am grateful to any multi-day event that briefly clears out LA's roadways.

 

Yea I thought about that, but when I thought of New York, all I can really think of is Panorama, Meadows, and Gov Ball, which all are pretty similar in terms of the types of acts they bring, just varying in size. Panorama is a little more like Pitchfork.

And it just seems more spread out in Cali. Obviously some bias here from me. Not trying to put any other cities down or anything, I just feel very lucky haha

 

Yeah y'all do it smart. LA puts their festival in the desert and gets people traveling away from the city, while Austin TX is like "You know our regularly gridlocked downtown? Let's have every musician ever play in it!"

 

I agree with a lot of what you're saying about the intersection of rock/pop, which always existed to some extent, but this is a very current take and doesn't speak to what those "rock revivalists" want. There was a time when rock music as a format, whether it was alternative/grunge/hair metal or whatever, existed outside of the pop format as a thing itself, where rock music was distinct from pop and yet still mainstream.

These are antiquated notions in 2018, so much has changed and for the better (I think), but they did matter not that long ago and older music fans struggle with it. Coachella isn't meant for them, but neither is Lollapolooza, which used to be almost entirely a rock concert but of course isn't anymore. Warped Tour, FWIW, is done now too. What those rock revivalists want isn't a radio hit, they want more than a scene too, more like that culture import the genre used to carry, but its just antiquated now - too white, too masculine, too derivative.

 

If you have use "fuck" or some variant of it throughout your work (especially the cringe-worthy "How in the motherfuck..."), it shows how weak of a writer you are. I assumed the author was in his young 20s based on his writing, but 38? Jesus dude, get it together.

 

I guess I'm confused as to what they want. Obviously there are metal scenes and punk scenes, and indie scenes and other weird niche scenes with tons of bands that roughly fit into the rock genre. But as far bands really driving cultural discussion and having a huge impact and huge sales, there just have to be more elements involved than a standard rock band. And even when grunge or metal or whatever did have mainstream appeal, it was all heavily tied to pop music influences. Nirvana blew up because their songs were mixed liked pop songs, Kiss was basically a power pop band with an edgy gimmick, this idea of popular rock purity really just seems like nostalgia for something that never really existed. I'm not saying you're saying that I'm just speaking generally.

 

Anyone thinking rock is a dying genre just because it's lacking on a few major festivals are crazy. Look up the highest grossing tours of 2017. The top 3 are all rock bands (U2, Guns N' Roses and Coldplay were the 3 highest grossing tours in 2017).

 

None of this matters because the Bonnaroo lineup drops 1/9.

 

No, see, this is actually the problem, it's all nostalgia. Those are all old artists, with old fans, who can afford expensive tickets and bring their kids along if they want. Those tours aren't meant to get new fans, those kids tagging along won't save it. It's an indication that rock is dying - those acts are cashing in while they can, but who will replace them when they're gone?

 

For sure. I’d say the average person at the U2 and Guns and Roses tours were there for the old hits only

 

Ha yeah, the U2 one was a tour for an album released in 1987 - not for the new one they just put out. Speaks volumes.