When did rock and roll die?

[singlemalt]

Let's face it, with the Britany's and the Justin's and the rap and the drum machines and the boy bands and the bands created on/for television -- rock and roll is dead (or at least on life support).

So the question is, when did rock and roll die? This is, of course, purely subjective, but there must be some defining moment when you consider rock and roll to have died. When was it?

When the Beatles broke up?

When David Lee Roth was fired?

When Kurt Cobain killed himself?

When the corporate scandal of Milli Vanilli became public?

When Led Zeppelin broke up?

When MTV went on the air?

When Aerosmith and Run DMC fused rock with rap?

When Napster (the original version) was shut down by the music industry?


So. . . what's your answer? Let's discuss, my brothers and sisters, let's discuss.

[stilltrucking]

1959 when I was 18.

I am not a baby boomer. I was raised on rock and roll. We were the first rock and roll generation. The first ones to fall under the spell of that devil n*gger music..

[singlemalt]

trucking -- are you saying rock and roll died in 1959? why?

here's my answer. rock and roll died in 1981 when MTV went on the air. rock and roll used to be about violence, screwing around, drugs and pussy -- not necessarily in that order. then MTV comes around and rock and roll became a means to getting on television and getting recognized. that is the goal of society today. get famous and get recognized. what the fuck does britany, justin, american idol and all the other shit have to do with rock and roll? not a goddamn thing.

[Doreen Peri]

You think rock 'n' roll used to be about violence and "pussy"?

Oh my.

Rap used to be about violence and demeaning women by calling them all "hos" ("pussy" is another derogatory term used to demean women, btw... sighh.. geesh).

But rock has never been about violence.

And rock does not demean women, in my opinion. (for the most part, anyway.... I'm sure some songs do .... the stone's "under my thumb" comes to mind)

Before you tell me that this is your thread and I need to answer your question, I can't answer your question because I don't think rock has died and I don't think it ever will.

[singlemalt]

just kind of using "pussy" as an example/metaphor. yeah, i think that some rock and roll was about violence, not necessarily about guns/knives but about "violence" as a struggle or a fight against power, authority, injustice, etc.

i think rock certainly crapped out big time. i think there was quite a revival with grunge, but that died out nearly ten years ago.

the point i was trying to make is that music in general is about simply getting on television. there is no need for music to be good, the only purpose of most music seems to be as a means to get publicity. hey, if the music is good and you get some pub because of it, that's okay, but when pub trumps good music, then you may as well get out of the music business.

[Doreen Peri]

the point i was trying to make is that music in general is about simply getting on television. there is no need for music to be good, the only purpose of most music seems to be as a means to get publicity. hey, if the music is good and you get some pub because of it, that's okay, but when pub trumps good music, then you may as well get out of the music business.

Yeah. yeah yeah. (sing it like the beatles did )

I agree! It's not about talent any more, unfortunately. It's about celebrity. And they can make totally talentless people celebrities.... like the ones you mentioned.

sad.

And yeah yeah yeah again... there used to be a lot more rock which focused on social consciousness and rebellion & speaking out against injustice!

Bono's trying to carry that on but there's not much more of it out there.

All that said, there's some really good rock still being made today.

I really like Green Day and Counting Crows and Coldplay, for instance. (others, too)

[stilltrucking]

Just history. A more innocent time. Before we made all this progress in free speech. I suppose you could call this a song about p*****

Chantilly lace had a pretty face and a ponytail hangin’ down
A wiggle in her walk and a giggle in her talk
Make the world go ’round
Ain’t nothing in the world like a big eyed girl
To make me act so funny, make me spend my money
Make me feel real loose like a long necked goose
Like a--oh baby, that’s a-what I like!

Roll over beethoven and tell tschaikowsky the news
Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
Cause that will be the day that I die


Irrelevant ramble deleted here

[firsty]

rock and roll can never die.

certainly, fool, firing dlr did not kill rock and roll. yeesh.

absolutely - rock and roll is about pussy. it's about sex. it's a male creation, and it's about getting laid. it's what you do in bed, you rock, and you roll. from chuck berry to elvis to jerry lee all the early incarnations of rock and rolll were all sexual innuendo, and the appeal of the performer is sexual and the appeal of the celebration is sexual. rock and roll is blues but with fucking. you take the blues home, get her drunk, and then you rock and roll.

rock and roll cant be killed by a fat elvis, a dead jim morrison or a the messy head of kurt cobain. it cant be killed by joining threads of genre and it certainly cant be killed by anything with a vanilli in it.

as long as a backbeat makes you tap your feet, as long as double time can make you leave your seat, as long radios still go up to 10, there will be rock and roll. yes, singlemalt, there IS a rock and roll, and it lives in all of us.

punk, on the other hand, died when johnny rotten went on a reality show in the UK.

[ButtercupNutSwirlz]

Rock and Roll will never die
everything comes back again.
True, it's face appears to be olding and graying abit
but it'll be rejuvenated.
Many of the new faces on the scene right now cause me to choke and gag but there are some very talented groups in the mix.

I love the bands and singers with staying power and they'll always have their diehard fans. And I don't mind that they're aging, we'll grow old together.

I'll be a geezer in an old folks home and I'll still be swinging and swaying to the music I grew up with. Rock and Roll will only die to me when I'm moldering in the grave and even then who's to say it won't be playing in heaven. Let's not be too too hastey, surely God doesn't only listen to Baroque and Chamber music.

[Glorious Amok]

what are you talking about??? rock'n'roll is not dead, it's just not the 70's anymore.

I just went to this concert last night of a real canadian rock-a-holic, The Joel Plaskett Emergency.

It was like watching that scene in an old rock star's biography, like Great Balls of Fire, or Ray, that scene where the rock star was just starting to gig and they played in some tiny highschool auditorium on a big rockabilly guitar, just 3 people on stage, but music enough for 10, and everybody just goes crazy.

http://www.joelplaskett.com/

he's like Joey Ramone meets Napoleon Dynamite meets a young Mick Jagger.

there's lots of rock music out there today ...

the strokes
the white stripes
the killers
the bravery
the yeah-yeah-yeahs
the hives
the stills

rock'n roll is alive and young and new and tough as nails and loud as fuck. and ALWAYS, it begins with the word "the"

[Lightning Rod]

This tune is about the death of rock and roll (When Buddy Holly died)
I can't imagine a song with this many lyrics

My friend Butch used to say
"You got the pie tune and you got the cake tune (MacArthur Park)"
when he said this, he would put his finger down his throat.....gag

I love the sticker that I've seen on the amps of several guitar players
"If this is too loud, then you are too old."

---------

American Pie
by Don McLean

A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.

But february made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn’t take one more step.

I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died.

So bye-bye, miss american pie.
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

Did you write the book of love,
And do you have faith in God above,
If the Bible tells you so?
Do you believe in rock ’n roll,
Can music save your mortal soul,
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Well, I know that you’re in love with him
`cause I saw you dancin’ in the gym.
You both kicked off your shoes.
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues.

I was a lonely teenage broncin’ buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck,
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died.

I started singin’,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
And singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

Now for ten years we’ve been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rollin’ stone,
But that’s not how it used to be.
When the jester sang for the king and queen,
In a coat he borrowed from james dean
And a voice that came from you and me,

Oh, and while the king was looking down,
The jester stole his thorny crown.
The courtroom was adjourned;
No verdict was returned.
And while lennon read a book of marx,
The quartet practiced in the park,
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died.

We were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
And singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

Helter skelter in a summer swelter.
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter,
Eight miles high and falling fast.
It landed foul on the grass.
The players tried for a forward pass,
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast.

Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune.
We all got up to dance,
Oh, but we never got the chance!
`cause the players tried to take the field;
The marching band refused to yield.
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?

We started singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
And singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

Oh, and there we were all in one place,
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again.
So come on: jack be nimble, jack be quick!
Jack flash sat on a candlestick
Cause fire is the devil’s only friend.

Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage.
No angel born in hell
Could break that satan’s spell.
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite,
I saw satan laughing with delight
The day the music died

He was singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
And singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news,
But she just smiled and turned away.
I went down to the sacred store
Where I’d heard the music years before,
But the man there said the music wouldn’t play.

And in the streets: the children screamed,
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.
But not a word was spoken;
The church bells all were broken.
And the three men I admire most:
The father, son, and the holy ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died.

And they were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die.
"this’ll be the day that I die."

They were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die."

[stilltrucking]

I remembe standing on a street corner in baltimore outside my highschool it must have been lunch braek. We were passing a cigarette and someone gave the news.
In the seventies I was a hanger on around the CMU in campus and friends in Tocoma Park, every body was playing Vincent. They were all fine arts students.

I heard a bit from a R Crumb interview today, the show was about his record collection, he loves vinyl. The host asked him about his album cover for Janis Joplin. Crumb snorted and said sixties pyschodelic rock and roll was the worse kind of music.