Around what time would you say that just straight up rock music (not necessarily hard) fell out of favor with the mainstream? Can anyone here name a rock band that started after 2000 that still has some level of mainstream/commercial appeal?


Yes, I know there are quite a lot of rock bands that are active in the underground/indie realm but I just find it fascinating to see how fickle the mainstream market is when it comes to what kind of music it prefers.

Well I'd say mid-70s when disco hit. But it really depends on how you define straight up rock. Does U2 qualify? Nirvana?

That's a great question since it is indeed a subjective term to some extent. And yes, I would consider both U2 and Nirvana to be straight up rock even though the "signature sound" of those two bands were very different.


If you look at what is popular now with the mainstream it's pretty much all Pop and R&B.

Well then I say U2

I get your point though and agree. There is little produced these days that I would rate as 'my' kind of music. I struggle with deciding if I'm just an old fogey or if new music sucks. Probably a little of both. But the stuff the kids listen to is, for the most part, terrible in my opinion. They love it though. Was the same with my parents. They thought Waylon Jennings, Englebert Humperdink and Kris Kristofferson were the pinnacle of musical achievement.

Music taste is most definitely heavily influenced by age and what generation you are part of. No doubt.

I think Kelly Clarkson and Pink did some straight up rock early in their careers, although they now are also firmly in pop territory.

Cage the Elephant is rock, but they're hardly mainstream anymore after they made a brief splash with their first album. "In One Ear" and "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" were distinctive but still rock.

Arctic Monkeys? "Do I Wanna Know" is both hard and slow, but I can't really call it anything but rock. I'm not sure how big they are, but that video has over 400m views on YT, so that's pretty popular in that respect.

There was the White Stripes, but they're done and Jack White has sort of disappeared after his Quantum of Solace duet.



The Jedi Master

Oh, and my U2 nomination is a fail as they started back in the 80's. I guess I misread the question as having success since 2000. Not started since 2000.

I guess I'm a bit out of touch with current music since I've never even heard of either "Arctic Monkeys" or "Cage the Elephant".

Yes you have. You played Borderlands. You couldn't miss Ain't No Rest for the Wicked.



The Jedi Master

Just like with classical music, there are a ton of songs I know but I just have no clue who the composer/artist was who wrote it.

I love the Borderlands 2 opening. Cool stuff and cool song.

It all depends on how you define stuff.

The Gaslight Anthem is to me a straight up rock band - they launched in 2006 and their last two albums in 2012 and 2014 reached #3 and #4 on the US Billboard 200 respectively.
But they have sadly gone on a hiatus

Poets of the Fall is another great rock band I know, but they are mostly only known in Finland and nearby countries. But all their albums have topped the finnish record charts.

I preferred BL1's opening to BL2's. However, I forget which game closes with The Heavy's "How You Like Me Now". Whichever one that is, that's the one I prefer.



The Jedi Master

I'd call the Black Keys straight up rock and they formed in 2001. Their music is everywhere. Commercials, sporting events, TV and movies. I bought their latest CD about a year ago (eight albums released) so they're still putting out new music too.

When I listen to the Black Keys on Pandora, a lot of Arctic Monkeys is also played and I dig them too.

I'd heartily recommend Audrey Horne for good rock music. Think they are from Norway.

Singer has a great voice too.

I try but cannot connect with the newer stuff.

I don't believe that old music is better than new, it's just different. I think real Rock has died, much like Big Band and Doo-Wop before it, probably morphed into something else (like Blues to Rock).

Same with most Top 40, always appeals to teenagers. I still listen to some Pop/Top 40 from my teenage years purely out of nostalgia, but not anything recent since I'm no longer a teenager, it's not suppose to appeal to me.

However...

I do frequently see 20-somethings rocking out to live 70's and 80's. I don't remember my peers ever enjoying our parent's 50's music (live or recorded) like I see these guys rocking to live Zep, GnR, VH, AC/DC, etc. covers so there must be *something* special about 70's/80's Rock, right?

Of course there is!

And BTW, in general, there's just not very much good fun Hard Rock anymore, like those about getting laid...

Van Halen - Feel Your Love Tonight / Everybody Wants Some
AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long

You forgot KISS, where pretty much every song was about that or rock itself.



The Jedi Master

One of my guilty pleasures, I've got a couple more on my Shuffle...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7isxoTIeYM

Well, Avenged Sevenfold and Sick Puppies were formed in the late 90s and are still pretty popular. Then there's Five Finger Death Punch, Volbeat, Alter Bridge, etc.

There's definitely something odd going on these days. Teenage guitar students still want to learn Iron Man and Smoke on the Water as their first riffs. Some of them might have a go at Seven Nation Army, but then it's back to Nirvana, Metallica (but only up to their Black album), Guns 'n Roses as if 2000 never happened.

It sort of makes me hope my boy will turn to hip hop once he hits puberty, because generation conflicts just aren't the same if a parent cannot yell to 'turn that noise down' once in a while.

Haha so true. Smoke on the Water is the first riff I teach. It gives the student something that sounds rock and roll. Because scales just don't impress the ladies.

Great post Johan and so very true.


Speaking of Guns 'n Roses it's funny how at the time when they first arrived on the scene that many of my friends labelled them as "heavy metal". LOL They were way off of course.

Axl's voice was a heavy assault on the ears, though.

It answered the question "what would it be like if Ethel Merman dressed as a guy and sang rock?" that no one asked.




The Jedi Master

A7X, 5FDP and volbeat could arguably be considered metal. I woild say 5FDP is straight up metal, sound and persona. Throw in Stone Sour (lead singer Corey Taylor from Slipknot). He considers Stone Sour as hard rock and not metal. But all of these bands are regulars on SiriusXM Octane which advertises as Rock/hard rock... though they play Metallica, Lamb of God, Machine head etc... really depends on the DJ as well.

My father was always, "Turn that crap down!" no matter his age or music (even if he liked the music, he never liked the volume). Even his favorite music has always been subtle background noise.

My mother is an amateur pianist and knows how to read sheet music, she mainly practiced Classical. I enjoy Classical music myself (looking forward to "Rapunzel" ballet, evening of 4/7), probably because I heard it so much growing up.

Mainly though, I enjoy the same music (Rock, R&B, Pop, Country, Classical) at almost 50 as I did at 18, and at the same volume (although I've always been considerate of others and now pace myself to keep what's left of my hearing). My brother (5 years older) is mostly into newer "Rock" (also movies and gadgets). He plays it for me (streams everything), it all sounds Alternative to me, no good catchy fun simple Rock tunes...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouymzr6azKo

The difference in generations: We grew up in the hi-fi generation when you went shopping at dedicated audio stores for stereo equipment, music stores for records, wore concert T's to school (if you could afford it) the following Monday. Arena bands were king and quality car audio was also really taking off.

Yup, I remember all of those things very well. The quest for hi-fi has now been replaced by the quest for convenience. Having digital music files on a smartphone or tablet is more in demand than having CD's or LP's not because it sounds better but because it's more convenient to listen to the music and because the digital music still sounds "good enough". I'm speaking of the general mainstream of course. There will always be a small niche market that demands hi-fi quality.

You mean, somewhere on the web, there is a HiFiHQ?

Most certainly, don't ask me what it is though.

I used to frequent a couple of home theater sites a decade or so back, but I lost interest because I wasn't going to buy a new TV, receiver, or speaker setup every 6 months or so, making it just torture to read.



The Jedi Master