Ask yourself this: If Gene Simmons told you the building was on fire, would you leave or assume he is a nincompoop and senile and had no idea what he was talking about. So, simply by stating that rock and roll is dead… try it as a simple syllogism:
Gene says rock and roll is dead
Gene is always wrong
therefore rock and roll isn’t dead.
But also try it this way. The theory that rock and roll was electric guitar, drums and bass playing a mix of blues and country is long gone and buried. Hell it was over by 1963. It was certainly over by 1967 and the moment it was abbreviated to rock from rock and roll it was no longer strictly about a genre of music.
Rock And Roll will never die, is unkillable, is infinite, is in fact a question of the basis of our humanity and our freedom, it is whatever it says it is, ut merges with everything and when the pop music becomes more than entertainment but a matter of spirit. Look at it this way:
Rock And Roll:
FKA twigs
Lorde
True Groove All Stars
Neil Young
Kanye West
Screaming females
Pop Music:
Maroon 5
Miley Cyrus
Katy Perry
Beyonce
Ariana Grande
Luke Bryant
This is not to put down in any way the names on the pop list, it is never too late to enjoy great entertainment and every one of them, including Luke Bryant, is a great entertainer. But they aren’t great artists and when youve finished listening to them you have finished listening to them, they don’t radically change you. It isn’t what they do and it isn’t what they can do. But rock changes you and whether it is a trip hop sex album or an art rap extravaganza noise fest, when it leaves you shaken and freed up, when it changes your head space and sets you free, it is rock and roll.
Art could always do this but great rock and roll is better than any other great form because it reaches into you and changes your vision of life, it frees your heart. It feels dead because
1. It isn’t simply a musical genre
and
2. What is left of the genre is very very hit and miss.
Sales are all pop, all MOR EDM rap and dance, but when rap and dance is more than rap and dance it is rock and roll, So, no Virginia, rock and roll is not dead. It’s here to stay, it will never die.
