Return of Classic Rock (in America)
A pretty interesting write- up in Rolling Stone magazine talks about the revival of classic rock in America. How teenagers have started to dig 60s acts like Zep, Cream, Beatles, etc in a big way.
This might be called a revival in the American context, but in India teenagers growing up (in the last decade and a half) with classic rock (that too limited to few bands) is nothing new. In fact that is the only option (or was until we got Napster). Near total dearth of news and unavailability of independent music are probably the primary reasons. Let alone indie bands, even huge and talented modern rock bands like Wilco, Modest Mouse, Flaming Lips, etc are not available in the music stores in our country (oh! DCFC's 'Plans' is there). No wonder that whenever local rock bands are inquired about their influences, the answer is always Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd or Black Sabbath or Deep Purple(??) or AC/DC or some Death Metal band. Needless to say, the result is that they all sound the same.
Until and unless Indian arm of these record labels do not change their strategy, classic rock is very much safe here.
posted by whitelight @ 11:19 AM
9 Comments:
Actually, you can't really blame the Indian record labels.
Sure, they don't release most of the stuff here, but, they don't there either. Most of teh indies are that only. Indies. Not signed to major labels, and unless they're big enough to at least license their albums to other record labels in countries outside the US, just isn't going to happen.
In the meantime, we'll only have the three evergreen sects at all colleges. Metallica, Nirvana and Pink Floyd. Yes yes, lot of other bands too, but these are the 3 main categories.
I never worshipped classic rock, and hate it when all these ageing hippies spout things like 'yeah, they'll go thro etcetera etcetera but come back to rock 'n roll'. If they need to 'come back' to anything, it's probably jazz.
I agree with you to some extent about indie. But other bands like Flaming lips or Modest Mouse who are signed to big labels should be legally sold here. After all these bands are much older than DCFC. So the strategy is to be blamed to some extent. In America, and in UK there are many store which are pretty dedicated to independent music. Yes, you won't find them in the megastores, but even there there a good indie representation.
Talking about classic rock, I too do not worship anything and everything about it. Yes, Stones is a band I would die for (only one from that era. but i like few others too), but I crave for The clash & Radiohead equally if not more.
Yes, like I already said budding musician have limited influences here. I have never come across any college band who has been influenced by Roxy Music or The Cure or The Velvet Underground or Radiohead. Nor do we have any hard core blues influenced bands in this country. And I think no one make classy pop songs in the style of Oasis or Blur or Supergrass either. And people feel sorry about the state of local rock scene!!
I am still a prep school kid when it comes to jazz. But yes, I have been exposed to giants like Coltrane, Davis, Fitzgerald (Ah! What a voice), etc. To be frank Bitches Brew, Kind of Blue & Love Supreme are among my all time fav albums. Yes, BB is not a pure jazz record but then..
Hehe. If I gave you the notion of being a jazz fanatic, let me dispel it. I know jack all about it 'cept that it's older that rock 'n roll.
True, considering the Lips are signed to Warner, it'll be nice to see them here. But, a band like DCFC are more famous in the US itself. 'Plans' debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. Yoshimi hit 40 odd and went downward. Sold around 300,000 copies i think (maybe 500000). Then again, Good news for bad people went platinum, and FLoat On was a genuine hit.
It's all abt commerical viability. Maybe something that pushes the boundaries of indie (in terms of popularity) such as the Shins may sell a bit, but the rest will hardly sell 1000.
The last Stereolab album sold 49,000 albums in the US. How well do you think it'll do here. More pertinently, how well will the studio honchos think it'll do hre..
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probably i misread the pun.
it all boils down to commerce after all. but there are other issues too which hamper the release of certain artists. there was a time in the early 90s during the tape era when lots of artists were available here. but with the advent of cds these bands totally vanished from the stores. this was all due to licensing issues. MIL & Crescendo used to have the license for Warner, Polygram,etc. and we used to get a lot of bands in India. with MIL & Crescendo shutting down, and the parent company starting their own operations, many artists have not been re-released on cd.
one of the most glaring omission is Prince. i had all of his 80s stuff on tapes, everything. they were officially released here!! but his albums have never been re-released on cd, except Purple Rain. Pure bullshit. now all i have are the pirated cds. so was Led Zepp till few years ago.
i've music taggd you. refer blog.
make my day. only one rolling stones song please. :p
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HAHA. It has been a long time since I spun a Stones cd or a vinyl. And don't intend to for few more weeks. So take my word, there would be no Stones song.
hey man nice blog..agree wit u der. always wondered when classic rock wud make its comeback.. only reason y i appreciate indie, is coz of limewire
ps- do u play some instrument or do u analyse music for a living?
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