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 ...
The Law Of Diminishing Returns set in, at some point all the good rock songs were already made.
David Lee Roth has rejoined the band looking more like Barry Manilow than himself.
But in all seriousness something happened in the 90s. We had bands like Blur and Nirvana then nothing.
Now all we hear is foul mouthed rap and smell skunk weed everywhere.
I got an FM stereo adapter for the 8-track tape player in my 1962 four door Impala in 1970. Among the first songs I heard on KSHE was “John Barleycorn Must Die” by I don’t know who and “Casey Jones” by The Grateful Dead.
It felt like I had made contact with a strange, exciting new world.
“No chicks were throwing off their clothes in the back seat while listening to ZZ Top.”
You didn’t know the right chicks.
L
It’s like Classical Music. People still listen to it, but they listen to the masters, not the new stuff.
The industry doesn't look at music as the product, they look at the listeners as the product to sell to advertisers. Just like television, they're highly incentivized to produce garbage for the lowest price possible because no one goes to McDonald's for a steak.
You can find interviews online where bands describe launching albums overseas that executives wouldn't release in the United States because it would pull listeners away from the cheap, crappy music the executives were pushing.
From my interactions with today’s college students, 80s Alternative is big.
No, those ZZ Top chicks were on the back of their man’s motorcycle - that is, when he wasn’t in prison.
Knew it was over when mtv introduced “yo, mtv raps”. The country has been downhill since.
And now young people worship these EDM DJs, that press a bunch of buttons, and people think that’s music.
-PJ
Aerosmith Toys in the Attic
Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac
Deep Purple - Machine Head
That’s been around in one form or another for 50+ years. Kraftwork etc.
“And now young people worship these EDM DJs, that press a bunch of buttons, and people think that’s music.”
Yeah, and the guys making EDM don’t have to deal with bandmates—they skip the creative clashes, dodge the business fights, and nobody’s bassist is going to OD. The drummer’s not sleeping with your girlfriend, and there’s no cross-country tour in a beat-up Dodge van that reeks of piss, vomit, stale fast food, and five guys’ worth of sweat.
Good choice, but not the best for me.
My choice - Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore.
After that bands didn't need guitars.
With the advent of Rap, all you needed was a sound board and a beat machine.
I never tire of heating JS Bach Brandenburg Concertos, especially number 5.
Is Keith Richard’s still alive?
Stadiums, arenas, widespread radio play, and music videos was a later aberration of Rock and Roll. Rock and Roll was played in high schools, beer halls, clubs like the Cavern Club or CBGB (Country Blue Grass, Blues), San Francisco parks.
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