Well it’s been another year and another period of rock being ignored. Billboard released their annual top 100 albums in sales and once again, rock is being left in the dust.
Only three acts that represent rock made the list: Machine Gun Kelly, Imagine Dragons and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. So the first is a complete poser. The second act isn’t even rock. Not even close. It’s pure pop. And the last band released two number one albums this year. An achievement never accomplished by any act. And no one wrote about it. Zero press coverage. Thankfully the fans were there for them and their shows were all loaded.
There’s a lot of talk about rock being dead. It’s been a topic now for the past decade or so. With many people on different sides of the argument. You have Gene Simmons on one hand arguing that rock is dead. And if not, dying. And while he goes too far in his arguments (like saying there hasn’t been a truly legendary rock act to come out since ’92). He has many good points. Then you have someone like Alice Cooper. Who inducted Judas Priest into the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame about a month ago. Stating in his induction speech that ‘Rock is indeed not dead.’
Well, it may not be. But how long do we expect bands like Priest to really hang around? Many members of that generation are entering their 70’s. And The Chili Peppers are approaching their 60’s. And there’s not a lot of young hard rock acts that are being promoted. The numbers don’t lie. Only three bands this year and two aren’t even rock. However, it is a slight improvement from a few years ago when no rock acts made the Billboard top 100 list. And Gene is right about one thing, there’s no record industry structure anymore. So the next great talents, who probably do exist, won’t have much of a chance. The kid next door who’s a guitar ace, or a drum machine, or a vocal god won’t get the due credit and career. Because it’s way way cheaper to mass produce pop bullshit and mask it as talent. Then the industry hands out Grammy’s to ‘artists’ after they’ve don’t next to nothing to earn it. Like I said, the numbers don’t lie. The trends don’t lie. Rock is dying.
