We seem to be on the verge of having a generation that does not have a “rock-and-roll” identity.
Let’s take a look.
The 50’s. Elvis, Chuck Berry, Everly Brothers.
The 60’s. Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin.
The 70’s. Queen, KISS, Nugent, etc.
The 80’s. The heyday—too many to mention.
The 90’s. Nirvana, Alice in Chains, The Smashing Pumpkins.
The 2000’s. Creed, Nickelback, Foo Fighters.
The future?
I don’t see it.
The rock music “industry” appears to be flailing.
Remember the “Aid” projects from years ago? You know, Aid for Africa, Farm- Aid, etc.—where some musicians unified for concerts or recordings to raise money for different social causes. I was just thinking…
Wouldn’t it be cool to unite the online community to alter the universe in some small way? What I’m talking about is an injustice that has touched many of our lives—the injustice of bands that have been criminally ignored, underrated, and under-appreciated for their entire careers.
How easy would it be to turn “the music industry” on its head, and come together to vote in a deserving band once a year— to recognize their contribution—in the REAL world?
Make a media blitz to promote their music; schedule interviews, blog them up, and post about them ceaselessly— have four to six months’ worth of major venue concerts set up for them, making them frenzied events. Line up a major act as an opening act, but limit them to forty minutes. Are you beginning to see “justice” being delivered yet?
This may seem contrived and insincere, but c’mon.
Music in America, at least, has effectively eliminated its middle class. All that remains are acts that can guarantee sellout crowds at huge arenas, and acts that struggle to remain viable with small venue bookings.
The Grateful Dead entourage that followed that group across the country was before my time, but obviously that phenomenon wasn’t really about the band, it was about the community; the same with Jimmy Buffet’s Parrotheads.
Think about it; being a part of a group that gets to turn the tables on “The Man” who has run the music business for decades, deciding what succeeds and what does not.
Do you get goose bumps when you watch Rocky find the strength to overtake Apollo Creed or Clubber Lang? Do you cheer when “Rudy” Reuttiger gets to suit up and get into the game, with 80,000 strong chanting, “Rudy, Rudy, Rudy”?
How would it feel to go to sleep at night, knowing that you were part of a movement that took a deserving band that had never caught the big break, and for six months set them high on a pedestal, for the world to see and appreciate?
I would love that.
My nominee for the first recipient—
None other than The Pride of Katy Texas.
King’s X.
Be well, my friends.
