EDDIE TRUNK DISCUSSES THE STATE OF ROCK MUSIC TODAY, SAYS “THE STRONG WILL SURVIVE”
Jimmie Tramel of Tulsa World reports:
Trunk was asked this question: What’s the state of music right now? He said he can only speak in terms of rock music “because that’s what I know and live in, but I think it’s fairly healthy.”
Eddie continues, “I think unfortunately record sales and music sales are not there and I don’t know if they are ever coming back. We’re dealing with a new generation that doesn’t even feel that music is something you should own or have to pay for. It’s really going to be really hard to change that thinking with the younger people.
For me, I’m still all about owning CDs and having physical ownership of music. That’s more and more being thought of as sort of an old-school mentality. But where rock music is really, really, really thriving is live. It was always best served live and if you see what’s going on now, you have more bands on the road than ever before….
Just like anything, the strong will survive. The people who are smart and figure out a way to recreate or reinvent themselves are going to do just fine, but you are going to have some casualties. You are going to have casualties with the cruises. You are going to have casualties when it comes to festivals. It is going to happen because there are just so many of them. I don’t know how much the market can really hold.
“But, for now, I think the music industry is reinventing itself and as far as rock music is concerned, the live stage is where it’s at. I wish radio played more new music. I wish fans purchased music. But they are still certainly coming out to see it. We’ll see where it goes from there.”
Read more at Tulsa World. Also, read part one of Eddie’s interview with Tulsa World, here.
rock is alive n kicking eddie,just purchased my ticket to see the scorpions at Barclays,with one of my favorites queensryche.50 years for the scorps,going to see rush at msg,16 row,on the ailse trunk.rock will survive eddie,bands just have to work harder like you said.re in vent,the tour eddie.better bills,like two great bands,or just one band playing a real set list,like rush.on the fence with van halen right now eddie,i will wait to see the set list when the tour starts in july.i don’t want to hear pretty woman,bore.i want some old,deeeep trax,from fair warning,like dirty movies,then I will drop 180 to see ed,n dave,good to hear bruce Dickinson is well,up the irons.
Greg, you are making me dizzy.
Give him a break, he’s too stoked for grammar and punctuation. That’s metal bro.
Eddie, I couldn’t agree more about CDs. I’ve never get away from owning the actual product and holding it in my hand as I listen to it.
I still think that rock is in trouble when the old guard fades away, but right now, we still have enough of them on the road and in the studio to keep the genre alive.
A decade or so from now………I’m not so sure.
Gregg, pardon me, “gregg”, I am curious as to what “Dickinson” and “Barclays” did to get themselves capitalized. Or did my grade school teacher neglect to tell me that these were very special words?
Eddie, you ought to have a guest on one of your shows who does what you do for the earlier genres of music: 50s rock, surfing music from the early 60s, the guys who collect 45s, whatever. We all know what Elvis ended up doing, but what about some of the others? How did they adapt? I heard that some of those artists have been doing better than before because they’ve gotten more control and better deals than they ever did back in the day. I know you hate when people don’t do their own research, but googling “the Eddie Trunk of 50s rock and roll” didn’t get me what I wanted to know.
I remember the days when you would buy into a band and follow and support them. You wanted to own your own copy of the album/CD, and you made it a point to go to their shows, whenever possible. Listen to an album like “Toys in the attic” or “News of the World”, and see how bands can put out albums, not singles. Admittedly, the economy and technology has changed the landscape as well. The old albums still hold up very well, because the content is there. It’s ironic that all the new computer based recording technology, strives to deliver the sound and tone of the 70’s, which wasn’t perfect, but it was warm and musical sounding.