Posted on 05/04/2025 7:01:31 PM PDT by DoodleBob
… By its peak in 1983, rock music dominated radio play and accounted for over 60% of the Billboard Top 100.
… In many ways, the rise of pop, rap, and hip-hop can be seen as a market correction to mainstream rock's lack of cultural innovation, aesthetic appeal, and musical experimentation.
In the years leading up to the stylistic shifts of the 1980s, there was a significant disconnect between critical acclaim and consumer music preferences. However, when rock began its descent from the mainstream in the mid-1980s, the association between critic and consumer music preference rebounded and stayed aligned for the next 30 years.
Researchers attribute the critical-commercial disconnect of the late 1970s and early 1980s to widespread "rockism," an era of rock hubris that assumed perpetual relevance and dismissed other genres. During this period, critics maligned the stale output of hair metal bands and the shallow theatrics of acts like Def Leppard, Twisted Sister, and Kiss. The rise of pop, hip-hop, and rap realigned critical and commercial preferences, infusing mainstream music with new-fangled stylings and technical innovation.
The grunge movement of the 1990s, characterized by its low-fi production and anti-capitalist sentiments, is often seen as rock's last gasp at mainstream relevance. Yet there was an inherent contradiction to grunge's ascension. Artists like Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder struggled with their newfound success, which directly conflicted with their rejection of commercialism and rock stardom. The grunge movement effectively ended with Kurt Cobain's 1994 suicide, marking the decline of this ascendent subgenre and rock's best chance at a mainstream comeback.
(Excerpt) Read more at statsignificant.com ...
Great album, but it would be too relentlessly dreary for me to keep hearing it on Repeat. Funny I should say that, seeing as The Cure’s Disintegration and Wish are two of my favorite albums.
For Power Rock, I would pick Led Zep’s Houses of the Holy, or Physical Graffiti. For Melody/Soul/Kaleidoscope, I would pick something by Todd Rundgren, Something-Anything or Wizard.
Hippie type Mantras or Surf Music?
Try “WhiteBird in a Golden Cage” by “It’s A Beautiful Day”
For early Rock and Soul? that LP by Laura Nyro, backed by Patti Labelle and the Bluebells.
My Doorbell just rang, that means it’s once again time for me to STOP rambling about old music.
Those were the days!
It’s all been played a thousand times...It’s all been done. Rocks best times are in the distant past. Ferrrget about it.
We all knew then and we still know now. It was “The Day the Music Died.”
On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and “The Big Bopper” J. P. Richardson were all killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson.[a][1][2] The event became known as “The Day the Music Died” after singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to it as such in his 1971 song “American Pie”.
Best punk rock album ever. Disagree? FIGHT ME!
I’d guess around 1992....frigging grundge showed up, took over the airwaves and when that finally died out traditional pop music was dead.
I would have a hard time picking one of three: Al Stewart’s Between the Wars and Year of the Cat, and Harry Chapin’s Verities and Balderdash.
Saw the Rust Never Sleeps tour c. 1981?
At the old waffle iron, The Omni in Atlanta. Knocked down and now replaced with State Farm Arena.
Good stuff, I agree.
I’ll pass.
“It’s all been played a thousand times...It’s all been done. Rocks best times are in the distant past. Ferrrget about it.”
Listening to old dudes deny the death of rock & roll in 2025 is like listing to old men in the 1960s complain about the end of the Big Band Era.
By its peak in 1983, rock music dominated radio play and accounted for over 60% of the Billboard Top 100.
Now wait a minute...Which one are you talking about? Rock'n Roll and "rock" are two distinctly different things.
Rock'n Roll happened in the 50s and 60s and faded out as rock came into vogue. Typical rock'n rollers are Little Richard, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Barry etc. It had such aspects as more complicated rhythms, walking bass, staccato piano, a quick tempo and vocal harmonies. It seemingly emerged out of swing and blues. (The Blues Had a Baby and They Named it Rock'n Roll)
Rock is typified by a simple 4/4 beat, a thumping one-note bass line, and loud buzzing guitars.
Several quality bands from the 70s and 80s should have had another category name besides rock.
You just have to know where to find it, be in the right place when it hits you, or have friends who clue you in.
"That's How I'm Feeling" (August 2024) by Jack White, the former frontman of The White Stripes
Same with Classical Music. The 'modern' stuff sucks. You still hear classic rock at all the colleges and bars
1975
Quadrophenia
Yeah, Beatles Rubber Soul.
If I had three albums, the other two would be
Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin
September of my years - Frank Sinatra.
The Who’s Next.
My second choice. After Next,
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