Originally published in August 2019 (updated 2023)
(Note: When I first published this article on the blog page from my band Big Road, I was responding to criticism and a certain prejudice I was hearing from many other musicians, who were complaining about the state of music today and justifying why they didn’t listen to any of today’s music. Four years later, not much of this has changed, except for the increasing popularity of bands like Rival Sons (now with music featured in a car commercial), Larkin Poe, Jack White, Tedeschi Trucks, Dirty Honey and many other guitar-driven rock, blues and soul bands. In addition, guitar sales have rebounded (see links to articles below that showed this trend was beginning even as early as 2018) and I see no sign of this slowing down. Rock on!)
Full disclosure, I am old enough to remember when the stuff played on “classic rock stations,” was edgy, non-mainstream, alternative rock. “What is that noise?” was a common response and reaction from the parental generation of the time. It was music that was hard to find, as well. In my hometown of Madison, WI there was one oddball, “hippie station,” that played this music. The station was my savior in so many ways. This is why I find the reactions of so many people my age to anything new so perplexing. There are even many that believe there was some kind of popular music heyday that they were blessed to have been born into–and that anything that came afterwards was garbage and can never compare.
Yes, the mid to late 60s and early 70s displayed breathtaking innovation. It was in part rediscovery (as the best of it all was blues based–or some would say “blues rip-offs”) and part rebellion born in a time of cultural and political upheaval as well. This unique era fostered leaps forward. The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Humble Pie, Cream and many others, have set a standard that will be emulated and copied for many years. Some of this music (though not all) still stands the test of time, and I know of a lot of young people today have rediscovered it and find it just as powerful as I did in my teens.
That said, it is dangerous and hypocritical to simply pine for the old days and dismiss or ignore anything else that comes along–especially for musicians. To me, those who dismiss (often with extreme prejudice) anything new and talk only about this mythical “golden age of music,” are missing so much. I’ll get to that, but I also think much of the conversation falls into the age-old “kids these days,” “get off my lawn you whippersnappers,” mentality—and here is where the hypocrisy lies. Those of us born in the generation that came of age during the “British Invasion,” and the “golden age of rock and roll,” heard these exact same things, and worse. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Either way there is a ton of myth, hypocrisy and missed opportunities here. Here are just a few observations and responses based on things I hear all the time:
- All right then, but that great music we see as Classic Rock was more mainstream because it was just so great and will never be surpassed.
As I said above, most of what we see today as “classic rock” is often assumed today to have been something mainstream at the time it was released. It was not, especially when this music first became known. It was not what you heard on most radio stations and was controversial when attempts were made to highlight it in the media. At some point this began to change, but mostly as it became obvious the new music was something that couldn’t be ignored and was not going away. When I first became conscious of this music revolution (and it was in many ways), the magazines and other media sites that covered this new music were very much “backroom,” alternative operations at best. If mainstream media of the time covered the “classic rock bands” we know today, they covered them primarily from the standpoint of cultural interest—it was noteworthy ONLY because of the “strangeness,” “loudness” and regrettable growing popularity. Fans of the music were seen by many as destructive elements in society. This began to change ONLY when the powers that be realized, this phenomenon was not going away and that likely, there was money to be made. Only then did many in the “mainstream gatekeepers” jump on the rock and roll bandwagon. Prior to this change, this was music you had to search for—combing record stores and alternative or college radio stations (IF you were lucky to live in a place that had such things) to find “the good stuff.” It was an adventure really, and one that I, and many of my friends, undertook frequently. An alternative radio station called “Radio Free Madison” saved my life at that time. I know many others who can say similar things about these often out of the way, alternative music resources. It is hard to imagine, but people behind the counters in the cool record stores, and radio stations like the one I mentioned on the new “FM” radio frequencies (another development of that time) were gold mines for many of us young, and often lost, kids.
- What we know today as Classic rock is just the best ever, period. Rock died in the 70s and nothing will ever compare.
I agree to some extent. Some things described now as “classic” will remain so for a long, long time. I mentioned above that I have met many people in their teens and twenties who have rediscovered this. Current bands like Greta Van Fleet, Rival Sons, Dirty Honey, and others, certainly give more than passing nods to the greats of the 60s and 70s. That really says something in and of itself. However, I can assure you that rock is not dead and that there is a lot of innovative and powerful music being made today and ignoring that is not healthy—especially if you are a musician trying to stay current and be inspired. If you want guitar driven, “guitar hero” rock that moves body and soul the way the best should, we may be in a sort of “heyday” or “renaissance” right now. More on this later.
- Nobody wants to play or learn guitar anymore; guitar sales are declining and it’s just a bunch of pre-programmed garbage out there–all computers and synthesizers.
That may be true in part. A series of articles from a few years ago pointed to declining sales of guitars and a corresponding declining interest on the part of young people to learn to play guitar. Video games were blamed as well as a lack of “guitar heroes” in mainstream music. I always maintained that this was a cyclical thing and new evidence shows it to be the case. A 2018 Rolling Stone article indicated that guitar sales are as strong as ever. Another Rolling Stone article from that same year pointed to a fascinating trend. A Fender study concluded that half of all new guitar players are female. This is in part due to several high profile, guitar-wielding female artists. Ana Popovic, Rebecca and Megan Lovell (Larkin Poe), Susan Tedeschi and Joanne Shaw Taylor in the blues world and H.E.R, Lzzy Hale, Orianthi, Brittany Howard, St. Vincent, Nita Strauss, and many more in the rock and pop world are all skilled players with increasing name recognition and visibility. Taylor Swift has undoubtedly contributed to this trend as well.
(Note: A recent article on the subject of guitar sales and trends confirms this growth is continuing—albeit with a bit of recent leveling off, likely as a result of supply chain issues and corresponding inflation. Despite this, sales remain strong, and the reasons may be surprising. You can find that article here.
Regarding “electronica” and computers in music, there will always be innovation in instrumentation and recording technology. I’m not entirely sure this is always a bad thing. Either way, like earlier electronica waves (something I first heard in the mid to late 70s), like many trends, it ebbs and flows. However, there will always be room for flat out, balls to the wall, guitar driven rock. Power and energy stand the test of time. Say what you will about the growing popularity of bands like Greta Van Fleet, I believe it’s a trend and that they are examples of much more to come.
- There’s no real, great rock and roll made today and no real guitar heroes like Page, Clapton, Beck, etc. Everything interesting was made in the past.
Someone actually said this to me recently. My reaction is always visceral and immediate. You won’t see it or hear it if you don’t look. The guys mentioned above were just copying their heroes anyway and were shocked that the mainstream didn’t know who any of their blues great heroes were. The people mentioned above knew (and still say) that they stood on the shoulders of giants, just as anyone picking up a guitar today stands on their shoulders. That reality did not diminish them or their skills and mastery. Nor does it diminish the skills and mastery of (just a few examples) Mark Tremonti, Miles Kennedy, Gary Clarke Jr., Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Marcus King, Orianthi, St. Vincent, Joe Hottinger, Lzzy Hale, Chris Robertson, Ben Wells or the slightly older Pete Thorn, Joe Bonamassa, Joe Satriani, Marty Friedman, Oz Noy, Tom Morello, Slash, Greg Martin, Paul Gilbert or (my personal favorite) Richie Kotzen. All of these people certainly owe a debt to Page, Clapton, Beck, etc., but they have their own voice too, as well as unarguable virtuosity.
More than that, attitudes like this ignore a whole new resurrection of high virtuoso level progressive rock. Bands like Polyphia, Chon, Animals as Leaders, Coheed and Cambria and others are making incredibly complex and sophisticated music that incorporates elements of jazz, hip-hop and heavy metal. There is a whole movement of young people following these bands and hanging on every note of Tim Henson, Scott LePage, Jason Richardson, Tosen Abasi, Rabia Massad and others. YouTube has also made many of these players household names for (mostly) young fans and given rise to careers of other incredible players and personalities like Rob Chapman, Jared Dines, Steve Terreberry, Mary Spender, Rob Scallon, and of course the incredible Phil X (now the guitar player in Bon Jovi). Miss or underestimate any of this at your peril. They are setting some incredibly high bars as players, personalities and entertainers that won’t be matched soon.
I also urge people to dismiss rap and hip hop at their peril. There’s an ugly prejudice that I hear a lot that is not really a whole lot different from the prejudice mentioned above against newer music. There certainly is a pop version of rap and hip hop just as there is most all music genres—even rock and country—with all of the shallowness, clichés and predictable formulas that one might expect. However, aside from this, and not always out in the open and mainstream, is creativity, some incredibly unique voices, and powerful music. Like anything though, you have to search for it and be open. More on this in future posts.
And that’s the big question: Are you open? If you look, I’m telling you, you will find.
Keep Rockin!
Mark Zanoni
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Mark Zanoni
I'm With the Band 