The Future of Rock Music

boo boo wrote: Rather, Indie for a lot of people is a musical philosophy, one that's not all that different from prog's main philosophy. Making music that doesn't conform to the mainstream, traditional music structures or methods, music that challenges the listener and blends various styles to create something unique. Indie just takes that philosophy in a completely different direction.

Rock music will become much more niche market. Artists we listen to, mainstream or not, have much more varied influences in their music nowadays than compared to the past. There are a plethora of more music genres nowadays and musically, everyone in every field is much more open to experimentation than in the past. Music is becoming more and more varied. Rock music is evolving into a different stage, much like how classical music has gone through different stages (Baroque, Romantic, Neo-Classical), Rock music as a whole is old enough and mature enough to be evolving into a different stage...

...When I say rock music, I mean pretty much all popular music, because it's been influenced by, one way or another, the rock music and musicians of the past.

There's definatly contradictory trends going on.

Guitar hero seems to have produced a small classic rock revival, at least at some universities in the UK. While not progressive, there is always the hope it might develop in that direction.

From what limited exposure I have it seems that indie (and by that I refer to smaller bands) music songs are becoming slightly more about telling little stories. No sure if this is positive or negative. But equally the music is becoming softer and less guitar or even keyboard based (they are present, but just background). Sadly there seems to be similar tendencies within modern prog - bands, that despite redeeming factors, also seem to be following this route in the prog scene include The Tangent and Beardfish. Sadly even the re-incarnation of what was the best semi-mainstream prog band, Van Der Graaf Generator, had a boring album of modern lifes problems (call me orthodox but cell phones do not belong in prog rock lyrics).

Within the prog scene there is some interesting developments though. Phideaux seems to me the best 'new' band in years, they have a quite original concept, the music is dark and symphonic and the lyrics are a metaphor rather than directly about the real world.

Sadly I think we are a long way away from seeing anything like the 70s scene, at least not the more interesting things that came out of it, such as Island.

Henry Plainview wrote: trotskyite wrote: Guitar hero seems to have produced a small classic rock revival, at least at some universities in the UK. While not progressive, there is always the hope it might develop in that direction. There have always been a lot of teenagers and other people into "classic rock". Guitar Hero has nothing to do with it.

lazland wrote: Rock, or rock n roll, will never die.

A funny idea, really, when you consider that ALL OTHER musical genres have died. There's no one around composing new and exciting music in the styles of JS Bach, Ludwig Van, Gustav Mahler, Louis Armstrong or Duke Ellington. You might say that "modern jazz" (the sort of thing that started with Miles Davis and Charlie Parker) lives on (after all, even Bill Bruford has released excellent albums in that tradition) but it's a bit like rock, really: it's carried on by academicians, people who don't really have revolutionary ideas.

Personally, I can't wait for rock to die, since I'm very curious to see what'll happen when electric guitars, basses and drums are finally ditched. But I don't expect to see that kind of change within my lifetime. After all, look at the old baroque style (in music): it gradually evolved, yes, but it was vibrantly alive for more than 100 years. And even when it disappeared, it morphed more or less naturally into the styles of Haydn, Gluck and Mozart. Sometimes I think nothing short of a TREMENDOUS CATACLYSM will rid us of rock 'n' roll.

Funny situation, that. Whenever I go out on the street, I hear the Beatles, the Bee Gees, ELO, Abba, Blondie etc. etc. Tunes that are half a century old, yet no-one seems to mind. My kids (all three of them teenagers) listen to present-day bands, but they also have Elvis, the Beach Boys and the Bangles in their MP3s. It's pick-and-mix culture. When I grew up, in the 1970s, all the bands we listened to were brand-new (or the great bands from the mid-1960s onwards). Elvis and Buddy Holly just seemed frightfully OLD HAT and it wouldn't have OCCURRED to us to play music that was 4 decades old... (Count Basie? Frank Sinatra? Caruso??? )

It's guitar hero. Not classic rock guitar hero. It's good that they have something to please everybody. I don't think the designers expect anyone to like EVERY song on the setlist. I never expressed the desire to want it to be classic rock guitar hero. Personally, if I want to listen to a song that pleases me I am not going to go play it on Rock Band or Guitar Hero; I'm going to listen to it on my own time. The entire philosophy of the game pollutes the experience that is truly listening to music; sadly in this day and age, true appreciation for music is rare.

You're killing me, man, haven't you ever heard of singles before? And music magazines?

Edited by Henry Plainview - April 30 2009 at 21:43

Henry Plainview wrote: Hahahahaha, I wish I could express to you how ridiculous you are, but words fail me. IT IS JUST A GAME! It is not a big deal! Well, I do feel quite ridiculous right now. The music was originally created for a different purpose, however vague and intangible. To say music has become a luxury in this day and age is not far from the truth. Sorry, but I prefer Tiger Woods' 05 when it comes to games...   You're killing me, man, haven't you ever heard of singles before? And music magazines? Are we taking about singles on E-Harmony or Match.com?   As for music magazines, I've bought one in my entire life...I'd rather not read another

Henry Plainview wrote: Music has always been a luxury, when was it otherwise?

Music has not always been a commodity. It HAS always been intimately connected with rituals which express the deepest desires of mankind.

That is true, but I think ritual music has a completely different purpose and so is removed from the discussion. He is talking about sitting down and listening to music, which is inherently a luxury. Only the relatively wealthy have the means to devote a significant amount of time to music soley for relaxation.

I love music.As for the ingegrity of the music itself...well, it is the listener's interaction with the music....

/admin  edit - spam removed

Edited by Dean - May 04 2009 at 04:02