The Future of Rock Music

Henry Plainview wrote: If the 50s and 60s were the heyday of jazz, 60s and 70s were the heyday of rock, the 80s were the heyday of metal, and the 90s were the heyday of electronica, what is our current heyday?

That is a very good question. I would say it's the heyday of emo if it wasn't for the knowledge that was a well-defined punk sub-genre back in the 1990s and the stuff most people call "emo" is just any goofy-looking depressive rock band it can't fit into another subgenre, effectively diluting the term from what it originally meant and being a faint echo of what it used to be.

Remember that site making fun of various subcultures I made a thread about in the Just For Fun forum a while ago? It has a good, if snarky, demonstration of the difference between 1990s emo and 2000s emo. A picture says a thousand words... the really funny thing, by the way, is that the guy who makes that site is a dude who designs merchandise and advertisement for rock bands. That's right, he's mocking the subcultures he's participated in defining* and commodifying. Doesn't keep the site from being funny, though.

Okay, back on topic: I really don't know. Maybe the 2000s are the heyday of a fractured music scene?  Post-rock is actually becoming popular right now in mostly intact form, but it seems like its popularity is still limited to people whose tastes already skew outside the mainstream (somewhat at least) so it's limited if it's going to definte the decade the way prog and punk did the 1970s.

*Genres are often defined more by critics and marketing people than by the artists themselves. That's why it usually takes at least 4 years for a genre to "crystallize" after someone's first defined it, because it needs a new generation of bands who have internalized the genre classifications.

Actually, the only post-rock band I'm really familiar with is Pelican... they're not the only one I've heard, but I'm requiring more and more listens to have an opinion on a band or album as I grow older. Post-rock's a genre I've been meaning to get into for a while, but again my  "stuff to listen to" list is so inhumanly long that it probably qualifies as a Buddhist holy text or an Open Source programming manual.

I guess it won't surprise you that I haven't finished writing my "stuff to listen to" list.

Negoba wrote: Are we saying that "Rock is dying" or that "No good music has been in made in 30 years" or "Nothing innovative has happened in music in 30 years" - I believe they're all false but I'm curious what the real point is?

I'm saying none of those three strawmen. Read the OP again.

Toaster Mantis wrote: Negoba wrote: Are we saying that "Rock is dying" or that "No good music has been in made in 30 years" or "Nothing innovative has happened in music in 30 years" - I believe they're all false but I'm curious what the real point is? I'm saying none of those three strawmen. Read the OP again.

I think that's been going on a long time (Thrash from SF, Punk in NYC, Black Metal in Norway, Math in Chicago), but with a global fanbases and online selling, you can really narrow down and still stay afloat. You may be right that good artists won't bother catering to the mainstream, that would actually be good for music in general. I'd rather have artists staying afloat but not too big. 

Don't forget power electronics. 

However, I still get the impression that right now there's way more good and creative electronic music than rock made for a (somewhat) mainstream audience. I mean that electronica as a whole hasn't become as esoteric as rock for that reason, though maybe that will happen too?

Will allways be a need for another Band, another Sound, Another Tour.

There is nothing like a decaying of rock music going on. It just takes different forms and still actually evolves from what it was in the 70s and 80s. Do new bands take a lot out of the earlier rock bands? Hell yes, but countless of bands are making something new and interresting all the time. Some people say prog died after the 70s. Some people say that rock died in the 90s. Some people lissen to the early rock bands they learned to lissen to at the 70s 80s 90s or what ever and dont give a chance to the new styles of rock.
Right now emo music is out there the big thing but many alternative rock bands are making their marks on the industry. Fair To Midland, Billy Talent, Coheed and Cambria are all very close to emo rock but they stay in the more alternative side of music and usually have more depth to their music then a average emo band.
As in post rock Sigur Ros won a freaking European music award some years ago... !?
That was i big shock for me. A lot of great post rock is coming out right now and it's the purest form of new prog that i can think of. Music is constantly evolving even if the lisseners are not.

I thought "indie" just meant anything published by small record labels and didn't really refer to any particular genre, which perfectly illustrates my original point.