Sir Bob Geldof declares rock and roll age dead and doesn't exist anymore

news.com.au ^ | March 20, 2013 | Nui Te Koha

[Berlin_Freeper]

SIR Bob Geldof says the rock and roll age is dead.

The Boomtown Rats star and Live Aid icon said: "The central problem is, for us, rock and roll was a social medium.

"That period has passed because now there are many alternative social mediums. Rock and roll needs a context in which to exist.

"It doesn't exist anymore. It's ceased to be culturally relevant.

"The rock and roll age is dead, in my view.

He added: "I'm amazed it died. No-one expected that, but I'm lucky I jumped in halfway through it.''

[stanne]

could they be more self absorbed? Every art form has a period. If it’s classic, it will be relevant, though not contemporary. So what? Anyone in such a capacity should have put aside education, training and savings for future endeavors.

[dfwgator]

Rock is dead they say....Long Live Rock!

[shibumi]

Look who's calling something "dead."

[wastedyears]

He must be deaf.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csmfoNEY8F8

It cannot die. It lives inside me.

[goron]

[justa-hairyape]

Silly. Some of us listened for the music. We could care less what they were saying.

Just had the unpleasant experience of informing a business associate what the song Lola was all about. He had no clue after listening to it for decades.

[Vince Ferrer]

One hundred and fifty years ago music thrived. People brought musical instruments along with them to the farthest reaches of the country, and developed many styles in isolation. People didn't just listen to it, they played it. It was the social interaction of the time.

At the same time the industrial revolution industrialized production. Production was not done by the local blacksmith anymore, it was done by the gigantic factory spitting out identical parts.

And alongside the factory, music was industrialized , by the radio. Suddenly everyone in the country could listen to the same music. And just as suddenly, music was something you didn't participate in, but observed.

Sing, Sing, Sing

Music went through a seventy year phase of industrial oligopoly control, where few could join, but those who did made money in a tightly controlled distribution network.

Beatles

And then, the new phase of music began, with the IPod. Suddenly technology could go around the distribution network, and could connect an artist with an audience without going through the music industry selecting what an audience would hear. Does this mean music is dying, or dead? Probably not, but it does mean the music industry is largely irrelevant. The 2020s may be musically more like the 1890s than Led Zepplin's time, fragmented, but innovative to its own audience.

[goron]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHIyTNVr500

[AnotherUnixGeek]

"The central problem is, for us, rock and roll was a social medium.

For me it's just been music - some of it really great, but just music. That's what's kept it from being the central problem, or any problem at all. Some of the biggest idiots on the planet are the aged rockers and music journalists who blather on and on about rock being an agent for social change, a social medium, etc.

[dfwgator]

We had a great thread the other day where a lot of shared YouTube videos of songs back from the 60s, mostly obscure that most of us had never heard before, but were hidden gems....it’s like they say, it’s new, if you’ve never heard it before.

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

"Lock & Loll no die yet!"

[Windflier]

Yeah, and the blues is dead too. Shut up Bob. You self-absorbed, liberal pansy.

[Windflier]

The 2020s may be musically more like the 1890s than Led Zepplin's time, fragmented, but innovative to its own audience.

Brilliant essay, Vince. I can see the truth in what you stated there.

[Argus]

It died when Buddy Holly’s plane went down.

[SueRae]

I wish it were true for rap and hip-hop and digitized remixes..ugh. I hear very few original tunes anymore....and with very few exceptions, a good cover.

I’m in my late 50’s now, so maybe I’ve missed something.
One of the few innovators recently (to me anyway) are the Black Keys. And I love Jack Black’s remake of “shakin”. And I’m still a blues fan. So, am I washed up or is there other new stuff out there that actually has merit?

[BikerTrash]

AC/DC says:

Heavy decibels are playing on my guitar
We got vibrations coming up from the floor
We’re just listening to the rock that’s giving too much noise
Are you deaf, you wanna hear some more

We’re just talkin’ about the future
Forget about the past
It’ll always be with us
It’s never gonna die, never gonna die

Rock ‘n’ roll ain’t noise pollution
Rock ‘n’ roll ain’t gonna die
Rock ‘n’ roll ain’t no pollution
Rock ‘n’ roll it will survive

[Mr Ramsbotham]

He laughed: "I couldn't sing a note. I was just bollocking along into a bingo mic which we hung from the rafter and put through the bass amp. I was crap."

My, how things have changed.

[dfwgator]

[thecodont]

One hundred and fifty years ago music thrived. People brought musical instruments along with them to the farthest reaches of the country, and developed many styles in isolation. People didn't just listen to it, they played it. It was the social interaction of the time.

Well, I hope we're returning to that. Every time I see someone walking down the street with a real musical instrument (saxophone, guitar, flute, violin, etc.) I want to shake his (her) hand. Every time I see someone so absorbed in their iPod that they can't share the sidewalk or make eye contact, I feel like screaming in frustration.