Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford and Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French have voiced of their concerns over the future of rock.
Nine months after KISS bassist Gene Simmons rattled the industry with his claim that rock is dead, Halford continues to champion new acts and questions whether the genre will need big names to sustain itself moving forward.
Halford tells 1290 KOIL Radio, “We were pondering about this the other day in the van driving back from a gig. You know, will there be another great, big rock star giant like Ozzy Osbourne? Will there be another great, big rock star giant like Axl Rose, for example.
Does that really matter? I don’t know. But it’s shifted, it’s changed. The good news is there’s an extraordinary display of talent coming from all different quarters in all different genres of rock and roll.”
He adds, “Avenged Sevenfold, Five Finger Death Punch, In This Moment, Royal Blood. There’s a ton of bands… Rival Sons… I can keep going and going.”
French feels the situation is much more dire, questioning arena and stadium rock’s future while suggesting fans better catch ageing acts now before the genre disappears for good. uestioning arena and stadium rock’s future while suggesting fans better catch ageing acts now before the genre disappears for good.
He tells iradiousa.com, “It’s an ageing genre. Name me any rock bands that are 25 and younger who are blowing up the charts. That’s the scary part – the replenishment of the genre.
Rock itself is an ageing medium and it hasn’t replenished its ranks, and the kids aren’t dreaming about being rock stars and playing air guitar and thinking they’re Jimi Hendrix and all that stuff like they were in my generation.”
With Twisted Sister set to play its farewell shows next year, French feels the clock is ticking on the whole thing.
He adds, “What will happen when the Twisted Sisters and the Whitesnakes and the Def Leppards and the Motorheads and the Black Sabbaths finally call it a day. Who’s coming up and replacing us? I don’t even know the answer to that. So you’ve gotta go see it while you can.”
source: classicrock.teamrock.com
21 Responses
I totally agree that music is in trouble..After we lose our classic rock/metal groups their isnt any groups with staying power..You have guys playing for multiple bands and its just watered down.The days of running to the record/cd store are over..Its all about songs..I never have nor will i ever download a song..I still buy my cd’s..The problem is nobody that is good is even putting full length disc out anymore..I also refuse to pay over 100 for a concert ticket that the setlist hasnt really changed from year to year.Its a shame because im 49 yrs old and have a music collection of over 1200 cd’s.I live and breath music but im afraid its definitely dying a slow death…And that is very sad…I hope it makes a quick u-turn and comes back to us sooner than later…..
Jay Jay is right when he says we should go see the classic bands that are still going. Those bands won’t be around forever, maybe not another 5 years or less in some cases. But new bands need not our support because they don’t have the industry backing the bands of the 70’s and 80’s had. Rock radio ruled back in the 70’s. MTV was the big thing for rock and metal bands in the 80’s. Now, there’s next to nothing. Rock lives because of all us hardcore fans and lets face it, there’s less of us now. The younger generations don’t know what it’s like to hear a song on the radio, or see a video on MTV and get excited about a new band. And they don’t know what it’s like being at school or hanging out with friends and all anyone would talk about is “Dude! Did you hear the new Iron Maiden record? It’s badass!” or “Did you hear the Scorpions are gonna play here next month? Dude! We gotta go!” or “I heard this new band called Metallica, you gotta hear them!” That doesn’t happen now but a big reason is rock and metal music isn’t given the platforms it once had. So everyone has to work harder to discover new bands. Old school, hardcore fans like all of us that frequent this website will do that, but younger people follow what trends are currently going on. All the stupid MTV reality shows, all the dumbass, mindless pop music and rap engulfs everything and don’t get me started on American Idol and The Voice. Kids are brought up with all that, so it’s all they know. That shows how powerful social media’s influence can be. There’s bright spots of hope, like Eddie’s Friday night show, where new bands are given support and exposure but there’s not many like that out there. Is rock dead? The answer is no. Yes, it’s been forced underground but as long as we don’t give up on it, it will never die. And I still feel, despite social media being the way now, that word of mouth support can do a lot to. And new bands need to step it up to. We need more new bands to be bigger than life, be outrageous and look, act and play like rock stars. Avenged Sevenfold does it and it’s working for them. Then there’s bands like Airbourne that do it to, but do it more in the AC/DC “meat and potatoes” style, but they have potential if more people in the US will just give them a chance. It’s a challenge for all of us and a lot of work but the payoff will be worth it. Have hope my friends! Don’t get discouraged! Keep defending the faith!
Oops! I meant to say new bands “need our support”. Too much coffee, too fast typing, and not enough proof reading before posting on my part.
Never commented here but read all the time… That said, I tend to disagree with the whole “rock is dead” sentiment. I grew up with nearly identical influences to Eddie as a KISS fan in kindergarten (who didn’t like clowns with guitars?), Queen, Frampton, Aerosmith and even THE Bay City Rollers! 🙂 Took me ’til the mid 80’s to appreciate Priest/ Maiden/Saxon but I’ve been “rock & roll” forever. As I’ve grown older, I’ve actually found my tastes have become way heavier but I still need that melodic sound and what I hear now is promising. Let’s not forget that guys like Cornell n Kennedy are basically in their prime, but “new”artists like Halestorm (Lizzy= Anne) and Rival Sons are making new, kick ass music! Pretty sure the talent and desire is out there, I do think the medium in how we listen to it makes it a shit load more difficult (radio) It’s sites like these that I appreciate and allows me to learn about different artists. By the way… If you haven’t heard Rival Sons, just get their first EP! Buchanan’s a monster!
Good points on Cornell and Kennedy being n their prime. If those guys are still killing it at 60 plus or even Slash who is around 50 or close, they will be the newer generations classic bands…I don’t see staying power from bands like Avenge Sevenfold 25 years from now, although I like them. Somebody earlier posted that none of the newer rock bands produce really good songs…it’s just all the same to me for the most part, but you could say the same from the so- called hair bands forms the 80’s. There was a formula in place and most were copycat garbage, while some were trend setters. It’s cyclical…I believe there will be bands that are around in 20 years, but I think the already old farts like us on this site won’t get it, just our parents didn’t get our bands…
I think the question should be is the mega act dead… not just for one style
Lets compare the first few Taylor Swift Albums with Madonna’s
Taylor’s the probably the hottest female selling star out there. Her first 5 albums sold 32 million copies worldwide. Pretty good. Madonna’s first 5? 81 Million. Like a Virgin and True Blue sold 25 million alone.
The bad news is there is really no more mass media. No MTV, no niche independent radio station that veer from the standard tried and true format. So there probably will never be any more mega groups.
The good news is there are plenty of Rock acts out there kicking ass. Some like Avenged, 5 Fingered, Black Vail Brides and Halestrom have cracked a bit into the mainstream but only after working the internet, touring and promoting themselves. You know like Metallica did in the early days before the major label bidding war.
As far as the kids today are lazy, they’re not. If anything it was the 80’s and 90’s generation that was lazy. Waiting for MTV to serve them the next hot band, depending on radio to get their information. There are tons of today’s “No Life to Leather” type demos circling around but now they’re being exchanged via Soundcloud and other file sharing services.
Rock bands may never sell like they used to. Then again no one is selling like they used to. Not rock, not rap, not country. You can morn the death of the mega band or you can celebrate the fact that acts now don’t need multinational corporations telling them how to run (or ruin) their careers. It takes some effort finding the right outlets (like Mr. Trunk who champions great new rock) if you don’t want to rely on the corporate machine to tell you what is cool and what isn’t.
Rock bands from the 90’s and backward created new genres of music…after that in terms of rock, what has come around as new?? That’s the problem as to why the younger folks gravitate to the classic bands if they like straight up rock…harder edged stuff is out there it seems in droves right now, but if you like your music less heavy, there’s not much to choose from and the classics still kick major ass…plus these some of these bands are still out there performing, so the younger generations get to see them, albeit not in their prime