Words for My Enjoyment

The Majesty of Rock ‘n Roll (Or, What Once Was)

January 18th, 2005

I just finished another 10-page piece for Mental Floss Magazine recently that was all about rock ‘n roll. The piece (which will run in their Mar/April issue) convinced me of one very startling revelation. That, today, the majesty of rock n’ roll is dead and gone.

What do I mean by that?

Just that the mystery, the drama, the stories, the huge concert tours, the wild groupies, the freedom and the wildly independent feel has been all but squashed by Corporate America. Look at bands like The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers, Journey, The Kinks, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and even 80’s mega bands like Def Leppard, U2, INXS, Duran Duran, etc, etc, etcetera!

Before the 90’s, America had decades upon decades of huge bands with huge personas with huge concert tours with huge fan bases… All of it contributed to this grandiose and majestic feel that accompanied the world of rock ‘n roll. But today?

I am pretty damn sure that the Internet has killed the majesty of Rock n’ Roll.

Before the Internet it’s not like you could download music of a band or go to people’s websites to see pictures of a band or read more about a band. You may have seen a band on TV performing, but that was about it. You possibly went out and bought a record and listened to it over and over again. But we weren’t inundated with all-media all-the-time for said bands. It was about getting out there, seeing them in person, experiencing them, and so on.

Don’t get me wrong — I live in Los Angeles… A place where you can see live music on any night just about anywhere on Sunset Boulevard.

But there’s just something missing. Dare I say, some kind of majesty and mystery? Dare I say it?

Yes. I dare.

Posted under Music. |