My iPod played me, not too long ago, “My Way” by the Sex Pistols. Now it’s moved on to “The Heavenly Music Corporation” by Fripp & Eno. Can rock & roll die, or as Lucy suggests, can it only die in one’s heart?
Well, what would it mean for rocknroll to be ‘dead’ as opposed to ‘dead in one’s heart’? At its most extreme, I think it would mean that rocknroll would become a niche interest, like free jazz or colour field painting. I think the media that convey the music are changing far more radically than either the music or the desire for it, for good or ill, depending on your perspective.
There are plenty of examples of rocknroll being made by people for whom it is clearly not alive in their hearts, or their ’souls’ or whatever ya got now. And so I don’t care if rocknroll becomes a minority interest like madrigal singing, if it’s alive in a heart it is possible for it to be alive in a room, and that is electric.
If of course what you mean by rocknroll is the kind of music we have come to call ‘rockabilly’, well there are still people thrashing that dead horse, and plenty of people who have never perused their parents’ or grandparents’ record collections, or perhaps their parents were never hip in the first place to have record collections, and so they hear people rehashing stuff, without innovation, that was once fresh and vibrant 50 years ago – that’s fifty years ago, folks, and they think wow, that’s new. And for me, that particular paradigm is a dead horse.
And then along comes someone with a shiny new camera and takes a picture of the flies landing on the dead horse and uploads it to their flickr account and everyone leaves comments telling them how gorgeous and interesting it is.
[...] Lucy Foley: And then along comes someone with a shiny new camera and takes a picture of the flies landing on the dead horse and uploads it to their flickr account and everyone leaves comments telling them how gorgeous and interesting it is. [...]
rock and roll is so many things to so many people, it would be a stretch to even try to answer this question in the affirmative. one winds up asking all sorts of supporting questions to try to dig deeper. as @Lucy hinted, what sort of rock and roll does the question apply to? Elvis-styled rock and roll? The Beatles? Led Zeppelin? Hendrix? Failure? Slayer? Tool? Rockabilly? Funk-metal? Punk?
say what you will about the familiarity with and apathy towards different idioms and sub-genres of the beast, there is still an envelope to be pushed.
at the end of the day, as long as there’s a kid in a bedroom with a stack of records and a guitar, rock and roll can’t be killed.
Not in this heart it isn’t, brother.
My iPod played me, not too long ago, “My Way” by the Sex Pistols. Now it’s moved on to “The Heavenly Music Corporation” by Fripp & Eno. Can rock & roll die, or as Lucy suggests, can it only die in one’s heart?
Well, what would it mean for rocknroll to be ‘dead’ as opposed to ‘dead in one’s heart’? At its most extreme, I think it would mean that rocknroll would become a niche interest, like free jazz or colour field painting. I think the media that convey the music are changing far more radically than either the music or the desire for it, for good or ill, depending on your perspective.
There are plenty of examples of rocknroll being made by people for whom it is clearly not alive in their hearts, or their ’souls’ or whatever ya got now. And so I don’t care if rocknroll becomes a minority interest like madrigal singing, if it’s alive in a heart it is possible for it to be alive in a room, and that is electric.
If of course what you mean by rocknroll is the kind of music we have come to call ‘rockabilly’, well there are still people thrashing that dead horse, and plenty of people who have never perused their parents’ or grandparents’ record collections, or perhaps their parents were never hip in the first place to have record collections, and so they hear people rehashing stuff, without innovation, that was once fresh and vibrant 50 years ago – that’s fifty years ago, folks, and they think wow, that’s new. And for me, that particular paradigm is a dead horse.
And then along comes someone with a shiny new camera and takes a picture of the flies landing on the dead horse and uploads it to their flickr account and everyone leaves comments telling them how gorgeous and interesting it is.
And then there’s the Sex Pistols’ LP containing “My Way”–Flogging a Dead Horse.
I have never liked The Sex Pistols. I particularly dislike that song. In any version. It’s a load of cock.
As long as people continue to come away from shows (of all types) saying “that rocked,” rock and roll will never die.
It’s not dead, it’s just sleeping.
[...] Lucy Foley: And then along comes someone with a shiny new camera and takes a picture of the flies landing on the dead horse and uploads it to their flickr account and everyone leaves comments telling them how gorgeous and interesting it is. [...]
George Clinton said Rock N Roll died at Woodstock in 1969. I agree.
Tell that to the Chili Peppers.
if you think rock n roll is dead… rock n roll is dead for you.
and if that’s the case, how sad!
Nope, not dead for me. What about you? Interesting responses though.
Nope.
rock and roll is so many things to so many people, it would be a stretch to even try to answer this question in the affirmative. one winds up asking all sorts of supporting questions to try to dig deeper. as @Lucy hinted, what sort of rock and roll does the question apply to? Elvis-styled rock and roll? The Beatles? Led Zeppelin? Hendrix? Failure? Slayer? Tool? Rockabilly? Funk-metal? Punk?
say what you will about the familiarity with and apathy towards different idioms and sub-genres of the beast, there is still an envelope to be pushed.
at the end of the day, as long as there’s a kid in a bedroom with a stack of records and a guitar, rock and roll can’t be killed.