Proof that rock and roll is not dead
“Rock and roll isn't dead, it's just dead to you.”
Since it's birth rock and roll has been pronounced as dead.
You know who has mostly been calling rock and roll dead? The haters. The haters being “the man”, old grumpy conservatives, and people who felt “threatened” by rock music.
It all started with Blackboard Jungle the 1955 movie that unintentionally linked rock music to juvenile delinquency. Once that happened, BMI music publisher was accused of “poluting the airwaves.” Following this, Frank Sinatra was quoted in saying “Rock 'n' roll smells phony and false. It is sung, played and written, for the most part, by cretinous goons. And, by means of its almost imbecilic reiteration, and sly, lewd and in plain fact, dirty lyrics ... it manages to be the martial music of every side-burned delinquent on the face of the earth.”
4 years later “the day the music died” Richie Valens, Buddy Holly, and the Big Bopper went down in there plane. Rock and roll is bigger than giants like Elvis, John Lennon and Kurt Cobain. So equating the death of rock and roll solely to these artists seems unfair.
Just as many times rock and roll was been called dead it has been proclaimed alive and well. When rock and roll began to change and evolve people called it dead.
Rock and roll was also pronounced as dead when the Rolling Stones had their 1969 Free Festival where things got out of hand with the Hells Angels. Really, things got out of hand with the Hells Angels and they started stabbing people? Go figure. And does every time a Hells Angel do something bad count as another proclamation of death for rock and roll? Interesting how just earlier this same year was Woodstock, where rock and roll got another rejuvenation. Seems to me people are quick to call it. Did someone take out a life insurance policy on rock music?
The 70's came and so did the King's death which critics also called the death of rock. Again, rock and roll is bigger than any artist. The 70's also brought arena rock and disco which critics said was evidence that rock and roll was dead. If any type of music has ever truly died, it's disco for one. Disco music is really not made anymore, unless you count it's bastard child Electronica. Instead of dancing under a disco ball doing lines of coke people are unless under a glow stick doing E. Arena rock is still around, but no where near the level of rock shows. The Rolling Stone still tour, and still sell out stadiums. The Beatles aren't even a bad anymore, half of the members are dead, yet they still release #1 greatest hits. Not bad for “old” bands! To baby boomers, they thought of punk rock as the death of rock music. Funny when its originators people like Alice Cooper, Iggy pop and Joey Ramone ALL credit rock and roll bands as being there influences. It's not the death of a genre, it's a genre giving birth to another. That's how music works! Rock and roll came from boogie woogie, and that came from something else. According to Muddy Waters, the blues had a baby, and it was rock and roll.
In the 80's rock wasn't so much “dying” as critics said, but “under attack” by rap music. Then Aerosmith and Run DMC did “Walk this way” which bridged the gap between hip hop and rock. It was a smash hit. To me that is a sign of rocks vitality! Apparently death is very “rock.”
When Napster was shut down, people called that the death of rock and roll too because it took away “rock freedom.”
First of all, something undead, cannot die. Think of rock and roll as a zombie.
Even since I was a kid and into “old music” older people (usually my parents friends) would say “Wow you're so young I can't believe you like this music. This came out long before you were born blah blah blah.” I can't tell you how many times I have heard that. I just shrugged because I didn't see why it mattered. If anything I thought they should be grateful and happy that I wasn't listening to what all the other kids my age were listening to.
I'm an adult now, and people still say this to me. People that aren't even old enough to me my parents. Keep in mind my own mother was born in the late 60's. So even my mother wasn't really around for anything. Because of my website (bite-the-dust.com) I have been lucky enough to meet other people with a common interest. I have even reconnected with kids who remind me a lot of myself. Kids who are walking around in Beatles and Ramones shirts now and getting picked on for it because it's “old” music. If rock and roll is dead, why are the kids still listening to it? Of course there is going to be the occasional jackass who doesn't know who the Beatles are, but for the most part there are more old souls out there than we known about. When people say rock and roll is dead, I just don't get it. I see evidence everywhere that it is live and well. Just because it isn't “popular” and all the kids at school aren't listening to it...that doesn't mean anything. Rock is roll is about liking what you like, and being who you are...even if it means sticking out and not going with everyone else.
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