“In the United States it’s dead. There are almost no rock bands anymore on the charts if you look. Foo Fighters maybe once in a while but the fact is the heavy rock scene is completely dead from a commercial stance as the charts are all dance music. And in Europe too for that matter but it is important to understand that even though it is not current to the young people it is a huge business to millions of fans around the world who still love it and tend to be a bit older."
Jay Jay French, the rock and roll household word. Any idea who he is? Wait let me give you a bit more of his teachings:
“We are looking at a changing landscape right now. Will it come back again? It may but it’s very much marginalized right now which is a shame. The rock star image that one had 10 to 30 years ago is not the image anymore. People are seeing the hip-hop and dance artist adopting these sorts of lifestyles and projecting them around the world as some sort of a symbol.
“The symbol of Keith Richards or Axl Rose or Led Zeppelin or of excess and all that on the rock side is almost invisible at this point. So yes the Rolling Stones, ACDC or Judas Priest can still go on tour and Twisted Sister can go on tour and be more popular than we’ve ever been but young people who listen to new music? It’s not that popular just now and I think that’s just the cycle we are going through.”
Jay Jay French is/was the guitarist for Twisted Sister. Full authority there on the pulse of a new generation. Could the truth be that there is room for all now? No longer is it Rock, R&B, Country and Classical. There is so much more and rock of all strengths (get it! hard rock, soft rock) is alive and well.
As bands like Twisted Sister release DVD's and retrospectives bands like Alesana, and Avenged Sevenfold and scores of others are out there being the spirit of rock and roll. Does anyone buy into this that isn't a has been former charter? I'm thinking if we were to ask the 'rock bands' of today if they agreed, they would disagree strongly. And did Jay Jay really call The Foo Fighters part of the 'heavy rock scene"?