It's true music is more 'spread out' these days, which is what I meant by the "infrastructure" of the music business changing. Now, instead of everyone hearing the same songs on the radio you thousands of individual 'radio station' on the Internet and people just listen to what they want.

The collective has power, however, and we see a fragmented soceity now. Music has the power to unify yet it is not doing that because of the reasons people have pointed out here in this thread. Sad.

Well Im maybe getting old. In the 80s we had Music!
Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Kiss, Earosmith, Queen, Bon Jovi, ACDC, Status Que, Rolling Stones and the list goes on.

This is 30 years ago and still these bands and artist are on top.

Not sure you can say that about Justin Bieber and One Direction in 30 years.

Just my 2 cents :)

Exactly my original point with this thread (thanks for crystalizing my thoughts LOL).

Put another way: How many of these new rock stars will make it to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 30 years? I say very few if any.

Theory of a deadman. Lookup "bad girlfriend". Awesome song.

Depends on the definition of rock star.

There's a ton of great bands that no one even knows about, because they didn't win the lottery selection process of record company suits. I understand your point, because there hasn't been a Bruce Springsteen or Mick Jagger in a long time -- but rock is mostly dead. Like I said, there's more great bands than ever, but rock is dead to the masses who mostly only know about top 40 and rap. It's sad.

I see someone posted it but certainly the Black Keys... Middle Class Rut is another but they aren't very well known and think only have one album.

Also Cage

Liam Gallagher

There are so many amazing bands around right now that it is almost impossible to keep up with them. My summer is already almost filled up with concerts and each one of them is a quality band. I live very close to a LA concert venue and I would be there several times a week seeing worthy acts. These days though they don't come to you as much as you have to look at bit for them.

Btw, my uncles used to have near enough the same speech when I was a kid but it was against New Kids on The Block or whoever else was around. Meanwhile, the charts this summer are filling up with albums from bands that were from that era.


Oh...I'd throw Thom Yorke into the mix but again, he started in the 90s.

When New Kids On The Block and N Sync ruled the charts is when I left the music industry. LOL Thank GOD.

BTW: I've been on this 'ain't no rock stars no more' rant since about 1998. :) True, lots of great music but because everything is so fragmented you have to search them out, find them, and then be part of a small community of 'insiders' who know and love this band. In the old days you turned on the radio and heard what everyone else heard and if you wanted more you went out and - gasp! - bought an ALBUM.

BTW: where are all the record stores? :(

I don't give a shit because all my old favorites are still touring and putting out new music.

Fiddy non-Rock Stars! :D


Cool - who are some of them? :)

Record, records or music in general? Hispter parts of LA have actual record stores. Otherwise, it is Ameba, I guess but I'll be honest and say even though I own a ton of music, I can't remember the last time I bought it from a bricks and mortar store.

I think what Peabody is really asking is where are all the big personality/frontman/entertainer rock stars.

The new "rock" bands look like the kids that used to get beat up for their lunch money and have the charisma of a dead turtle.

And even the new "pop" stars like Justin Bieber don't seem to really have the "it" factor and ability to front a band and kick ass (lip synching with 20 backup dancers is NOT being a real frontman and mesmerizing a crowd).

I think (hope) it's just some kind of shitty phase that society is going through.

When you have DJ's getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to push "play" on their mixes that they already sampled and worked on with their laptops, and Justin Bieber lip synching with dancers...well sooner or later people are gonna want to be entertained by real talent.

It'll happen eventually. Just like when disco was huge...there was an eventual backlash (punk) that brought the pendulum back.

I predict in the next 10 years we will see the emergence of the next "Frank Sinatra"/"Elvis Presley"/"Mick Jagger"/"Bono" type of monster front man with the total package of sexuality, vocals, stage presence and real raw music that will change the game again.

O MAN do I PRAY you are right! (And that we're both here in 10 years to enjoy this new rock stud. LOL)

My real "problems" with "today's music" (Jeez I sound old) is twofold:

1. Non-distinctive, almost atonal/flat "singers".
2. No style, no charisma, they all look like they should be making my coffee at Starbucks.

Just give me a singer with distinctive pipes - the instant you hear them you know who they are - with some attention to style and some INTENT and "meaning" behind the lyrics. I am asking way too much, I know.

I feel slightly ashamed to be able to say this but Bieber doesn't lip synch or at least not all the time. A couple years ago I went to a Stevie Wonder charity gig and he was one of the performers. We know he didn't lip synch because he was off pitch and blamed it on the same sound equipment that several soul legends had used perfectly fine before him that night.

There are a bunch of proper musician front men out there that are truly talented and have personality on stage but, like pretty much all of us are saying, music is a niche experience now. So, guys that might super stars in my circles may be barely known in yours and vice versa. I don't even really know if I think that is a bad thing.

I do think it is right that the 'rock stars' of today are hip hop guys with the likes of Kanye and Jay-Z and then from there you have the solo singers like Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke. I'm talking personality/persona/popularity rather than pure talent. Which makes sense because if you do turn on a normal commercial radio station right now, that is likely what you are going to hear.

Okay, so, I'll go indie/alternative again just because I really do think that is a particularly strong genre right now.

If I hear any of the following, I know instantly it is them either through their voice and/or their playing style:

Nate Ruess (Fun.)

Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand..who btw Jack White thinks highly enough to have been at the gig when I saw them last)

Matt Bellamy (Muse)

Win Butler (Arcade Fire)

Brandon Flowers (The Killers)

Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys)

Brian Molko (Placebo)

Kele Okereke (Bloc Party)

and that is just off the top of my head.

I can think of a lot of great new artists, but none of them I would call a "rock star."

Wow great list!! I've heard of two of them so need to check the rest out for sure.

The "indie/alternative' scene you describe reminds me a LOT of the late 1980's/early 1990's, right before grunge hit. MTV was getting stale and "indie" bands like Throwing Muses, Happy Mondays, Dinosaur Jr., Goo Goo Dolls, The La's and so on were big. We called them 'college bands' back then. LOL But then grunge came and BOOM everyone was wearing flannel.

But maybe many of the above bands you named you 'recognize instantly' because you are obviously a music lover and someone who pays attention. Would someone hearing any of these bands on the radio recognize them if they were casual fans? I know I don't know all of Rod Stewart's music - I stopped listening to him when left the Faces in 1975 - but I can tell it's him every time. (This is not necassarily a GOOD thing, especially when it comes to the Rod Stewarts, Phil Collins and Celine Dions of the world. :D )

I remember my parents telling me how awful my music was as kid and that was the same music that you now miss... Welcome to being old! :winkwink:

I guess that is what I mean..there isn't much casual listening these days unless you want to listen to hip hop.

That said, I would imagine most people that have listened to the radio or seen tv commercials in the last year will know the voice of the singer from Fun. I like the band but if I heard their songs one more time last year I was going to have to fight stabbing myself in the ear.

In this country, the casual rock listener might just about know Bellamy now since Muse finally got big here after a decade of super stardom elsewhere.

Other than that, in this country I am not sure. Coincidentally, I'm watching highlights from last night's Galstonbury and the Artics are the headliners that night for the biggest festival in the world. Meanwhile, come to this country and in October the same band is playing the fairly small venue down the street from me. I sort of like that though. It has meant I can see giant acts from other parts of the world here for a lot cheaper and in small venues.

kings of leon

years blend for me, so fuck knows if these were 90s, 2000s, or what, but bands, maybe...

coldplay
muse

Jesse Hughes comes close (started in 1998 but only took off in the 2000s).

He *was* the kind of "rock star" you are looking for, but he's cleaned up his act now (apparently due to Josh from QOTSA's help).

That would have been the closest answer I can think of.

Too much estrogen in the water supply these days.

lol

What's up man?

Anyway, I kinda disagree...I think there's not enough testosterone OR estrogen out there apparently.

Look at David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, etc.
Plenty of estrogen. heh-heh

But the difference was TALENT. I don't care how many people here post any of these bands they are saying are the "new" ones that we just don't understand....show me ONE of them with the raw talent and charisma of a guy like Freddie Mercury.

They simply aren't there. Yes, there's some good singers. But nobody out there with the musical talent, vocal chops, and showmanship, charisma, and flamboyance of Freddie Mercury.
Not even close.

It's just one of those times in musical history where there really isn't anybody out there on that kind of level.

And then we will go through a period, that for no reason....suddenly produces musicians and bands and frontmen that will stand the test of time. And they all seem to come at once.

Maybe it's the world situation that brings them out. Just look at what the Vietnam war brought out in the music all at one time.

In 2013 we are pretty much an apathetic society. We're all "okay" with our country killing people with drones, spying on us, searching us at airports, etc., etc.

So we get what we deserve. DJ's and Justin Bieber. And a dozen or so boring ass "rock" bands who wouldn't have even been able to carry Jimi Hendrix's jock strap.

But as I said earlier...I expect that sooner rather than later, we will see a change coming. Our society is going to change (as it does with every generation) and go against the current one. And that's when things will get interesting again in music, art, literature, theater, etc.

This is sure to get a polarization of opinion



Macklemore


Dude just sold over 2 million copies of a song with ZERO record label support. That makes him a rock star in my mind...

Even if he didn't toss a tv off a roof yet.

The kids today only want the hippity hop /Rap mumbo jumbo/pop tarts.they don't like the past.I can't see this trend changing for quite sometime.Old school rock has been and gone sadly.I only listen to classic rock or 80's stuff these days

:thumbsup What he pulled off is nothing short of amazing

Yep, have to agree. He did something that actually sets him completely apart in his own rock god stratosphere breathing his own rock god atmosphere.

I may be a fucking hippie Deadhead but I ain't stupid and I ain't having no acid flashback either so I ain't trippin', yo. :winkwink::thumbsup

When I was in London last month, I was walking around Soho and heard three different songs from him coming out of pubs in the space of an hour. Obviously, I knew he was doing well in the States but it was then that I realized what he really had accomplished. It is hard to hate on that. Again though, hip hop even if in hipster form.

This band is a terrible Nickelback rip-off.

And, no, I can't name one male rock star. Wow. That's pretty sad. In fact, the only person I actually know by name is Justin Bieber but he's a pop star. That says a lot about today's music.

I would posit that he is not entirely hip hop, nor exactly pop, or rock, or really any genre really and that is what makes him so interesting since he is not only lyrically gifted but works with musicians and they obviously have a sense of melody and can carry a tune. His uniqueness is one more reason I would offer that elevates him to "rock" god status imho. Be very interesting to see where his arc of fame carries him.

Just the way he has made Same Love a proper anthem in a genre that would normally never touch the subject let alone be genuine with it, is enough for me to agree. That song may out live Thrift Shop because it will be at every Pride event for years.

Kid Rock I would say is the last person most recent guy I would say that has that whole rock star look and image.

not really the 70's 80's rock music you're talking about but the attitude or whatever

Okay, I had to think about this one for awhile. And after several vapor hits from my volcano, I can safely say that Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park qualifies as a rock star.

Although Linkin Park formed in 1996, the band's first album was released in 2000.



The multi-instrumentalist songwriter Shinoda had previously graduated with a degree in Illustration from the prestigious Art Center of Design in Pasadena (he has designed some of the band's artwork).











A string of hit records proves that the band was no fluke. However Shinoda has some interesting side projects too, including the hip hop band Fort Minor:





Rocks me anyway... :)

:stoned

ADG

I think the rise of "Americana" is the most interesting thing going on now, which is completely the opposite of rock star stadium rock in a sense.

Electronica, hip hop, pop, etc. all are just retreads at this point imo for the most part with rare and notable exceptions, but songwriting is making a comeback. Soon enough, a new rock god will appear.

Actually, it will only come to pass when Mick Jagger lays dying on his death bed and bequeaths the ring on his pinky finger to the heir apparent. So, give it another 50 years or so...

Sorry, but fuck them. They burned my buddy who produced them. (Legendary producer that produced some of the best albums ever as far as I am concerned... Paul's Boutique, Odelay, and many more).

Do another vape and put on anything that the Dust Brothers produced...

the fishbone sluts :GFYBand or glass finger puppets :thumbsup

Hey, yeah def been awhile, I'm living up in NYC now. I'll be over in Vegas in two weeks, though :)

Estrogen may have been the wrong word, but there is a definitely more profound feminine/emotional vibe with current "rock bands" and even just men in general. I hear the girls at the office bitch about guys and how they are 'big vaginas' all the time and see it non-stop on the street and all around me, heh.

I blame reality TV. :winkwink:

Not exactly the rock of yesteryear but...

Lonny...



My HERO!!!