This is proof..Although most like me saw this about 1998 or so...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jan/10/rock-n-roll-read-last-rites
It is a claim made before by, among others, Lenny Kravitz and the Swedish garage band the Hellacopters. But today, after years of struggle, came evidence to support the fearsome claim: rock'n'roll is dead.
Last year saw the number of rock songs in the singles chart fall to its lowest level in half a century, with only three tracks appearing in the top 100 best-selling hits in the UK.
The percentage of rock songs plummeted from a sickly 13% in 2009 to a terminal 3% – far behind hip-hop/R'n'B at 47%, pop at 40% and dance 10%, according to figures from MusicWeek.
The news that the best performing rock song of 2010 was Don't Stop Believin', a 30-year-old track from the veteran rock act Journey made popular by US television show Glee, added a further nail to the coffin. "It is the end of the rock era. It's over, in the same way the jazz era is over," declared the veteran DJ and "professor of pop" Paul Gambaccini. "That doesn't mean there will be no more good rock musicians, but rock as a prevailing style is part of music history."
The problem lay, in part, with shortsighted record labels investing less in the talent of the future and more in instantly profitable acts such as former X Factor stars, said Gambaccini. "I feel sorry for rock artists today, because record labels have started chasing the quarter-term profit rather than long-term development."
The other two rock songs to make it into the top 100 of the year were Hey, Soul Sister by Train and Dog Days are Over by Florence + the Machine.
Absolute Radio COO, Clive Dickens, told MusicWeek that guitar-based music was "in a real lull" in 2010 and George Ergatoudis, head of music at Radio 1, said "brilliant" rock songs were rare.
There are rock acts still doing well, but it is the old guard: there is now, it seems, little new in rock. Bon Jovi was the highest grossing live act of 2010, bringing in $201.1m (£130.7m) in world ticket sales. However, its frontman is 48, and according to a report by Deloitte, 40% of the frontmen of the top 20 highest-grossing live acts in the US will be 60 or over next year; almost one in five acts will be over 50.
"Promoters are panicking, because in 10 years these artists will retire and then where will they be?" said Gambaccini.
Until recently rock was relatively strong against pop in the singles chart: in 2008 rock accounted for 27 of the 100 biggest selling singles; it fell to three in 2010.
It has, however, fared better in the album charts. Rock bands accounted for 27% of the top 100 best-selling albums, down just one percentage point on 2009. This is, in part, because rock fans are more likely to buy albums – at the cheapest level since their invention – rather than singles, said Tony Wadsworth, chairman of the BPI, the record industry body. "We are seeing genres falling in place with formats. Rock isn't dead if you look at album sales."
But album sales overall are down year-on-year: combined sales of digital and physical albums overall fell by 7% to 119.9m in 2010, while the number of people illegally downloading tracks continued to grow. This puts further pressure on record labels, who may be less likely to invest in non-manufactured bands with no guarantee of success. "Investment is going on, but it stands to reason that it will be threatened if high levels of file-sharing continues," said Wadsworth.
Yet some hold out hope of rebirth. Paul Stokes, associate editor at NME, is not yet ready to bury the sound. "Music is a cyclical business," he said. "We've been told rock was dead before, in the late 80s, late 90s, but it came back."
This year could even see rehabilitation, he said. Much-hyped the Vaccines have a debut album out in March and other acts such as alt-rock act Yuck and smalltown rockers Mona are hotly tipped. "We are waiting for the next big band to come along and change the scene. Something is around the corner and it's beginning to bubble."
The economic gloom may also speed up the revival, according to Martin Talbot, chief executive of the Official Charts Company. "Most interesting and challenging rock music comes out of periods of austerity," he said. "Maybe Tory governments make for more challenging rock music – and now we have one."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jan/10/rock-n-roll-read-last-rites
It is a claim made before by, among others, Lenny Kravitz and the Swedish garage band the Hellacopters. But today, after years of struggle, came evidence to support the fearsome claim: rock'n'roll is dead.
Last year saw the number of rock songs in the singles chart fall to its lowest level in half a century, with only three tracks appearing in the top 100 best-selling hits in the UK.
The percentage of rock songs plummeted from a sickly 13% in 2009 to a terminal 3% – far behind hip-hop/R'n'B at 47%, pop at 40% and dance 10%, according to figures from MusicWeek.
The news that the best performing rock song of 2010 was Don't Stop Believin', a 30-year-old track from the veteran rock act Journey made popular by US television show Glee, added a further nail to the coffin. "It is the end of the rock era. It's over, in the same way the jazz era is over," declared the veteran DJ and "professor of pop" Paul Gambaccini. "That doesn't mean there will be no more good rock musicians, but rock as a prevailing style is part of music history."
The problem lay, in part, with shortsighted record labels investing less in the talent of the future and more in instantly profitable acts such as former X Factor stars, said Gambaccini. "I feel sorry for rock artists today, because record labels have started chasing the quarter-term profit rather than long-term development."
The other two rock songs to make it into the top 100 of the year were Hey, Soul Sister by Train and Dog Days are Over by Florence + the Machine.
Absolute Radio COO, Clive Dickens, told MusicWeek that guitar-based music was "in a real lull" in 2010 and George Ergatoudis, head of music at Radio 1, said "brilliant" rock songs were rare.
There are rock acts still doing well, but it is the old guard: there is now, it seems, little new in rock. Bon Jovi was the highest grossing live act of 2010, bringing in $201.1m (£130.7m) in world ticket sales. However, its frontman is 48, and according to a report by Deloitte, 40% of the frontmen of the top 20 highest-grossing live acts in the US will be 60 or over next year; almost one in five acts will be over 50.
"Promoters are panicking, because in 10 years these artists will retire and then where will they be?" said Gambaccini.
Until recently rock was relatively strong against pop in the singles chart: in 2008 rock accounted for 27 of the 100 biggest selling singles; it fell to three in 2010.
It has, however, fared better in the album charts. Rock bands accounted for 27% of the top 100 best-selling albums, down just one percentage point on 2009. This is, in part, because rock fans are more likely to buy albums – at the cheapest level since their invention – rather than singles, said Tony Wadsworth, chairman of the BPI, the record industry body. "We are seeing genres falling in place with formats. Rock isn't dead if you look at album sales."
But album sales overall are down year-on-year: combined sales of digital and physical albums overall fell by 7% to 119.9m in 2010, while the number of people illegally downloading tracks continued to grow. This puts further pressure on record labels, who may be less likely to invest in non-manufactured bands with no guarantee of success. "Investment is going on, but it stands to reason that it will be threatened if high levels of file-sharing continues," said Wadsworth.
Yet some hold out hope of rebirth. Paul Stokes, associate editor at NME, is not yet ready to bury the sound. "Music is a cyclical business," he said. "We've been told rock was dead before, in the late 80s, late 90s, but it came back."
This year could even see rehabilitation, he said. Much-hyped the Vaccines have a debut album out in March and other acts such as alt-rock act Yuck and smalltown rockers Mona are hotly tipped. "We are waiting for the next big band to come along and change the scene. Something is around the corner and it's beginning to bubble."
The economic gloom may also speed up the revival, according to Martin Talbot, chief executive of the Official Charts Company. "Most interesting and challenging rock music comes out of periods of austerity," he said. "Maybe Tory governments make for more challenging rock music – and now we have one."
