They killed rock-n-roll

[OneFootInTheGrave]

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."
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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 Train by Soul Sister 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.

:rip:

AAHZ and Speer will no doubt rejoice

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jan/10/rock-n-roll-read-last-rites

[Felch]

Train counts as rock now? That's the worst part of news in the whole piece.

For the record, I've noticed that a lot of people are getting into this dance music bull****. I can't figure why anybody would want to listen to Deadmau5 without the benefit of MDMA.

[Cort Haus]

The Bastards!

[Cort Haus]

Footsie's quoted section missed out this bit from the article:

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.

What I've thought for years - piracy is killing real music. It's one of the reasons I stopped playing in bands.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

pirate bastards! :SidMeiersPirates:

[SlowwHand]

That's so stupid.

[Al B. Sure!]

[Asher]

the kids are disco dancing
They're tired of rock 'n' roll
Don't bother telling them that drum machine ain't got no soul

But they don't wanna listen no
They think they heard it all
They trade those guitars in for drum machines and disco balls

We can't rewind now we've gone too far
The internet killed the video star

The kids are disco dancing
They're tired of rock 'n' roll
Don't bother telling them that drum machine ain't got no soul

You know we never listen
No
We think we've seen it all
Like everything we're doin no ones' ever done before
Did you hear what they said? that rock 'n' roll is dead
Yeah
It's like a zombie it'll dig itself back up again

I tune in the signal but it's fading oh
Some ghost strumming it's guitar in the radio

Singing glory days are gone but everything's okay
Cuz we still love our sex and drugs just like the good old days

The kids are disco dancing
They're tired of rock 'n' roll
Don't bother telling them that drum machine ain't got no soul

The kids all just go dancing
They're tired of rock 'n' roll
Don't bother telling them that drum machine ain't got no soul

Well i'm a horrible dancer i ain't gonna lie
But i'll be damned if that means that i ain't gonna try
Yeah i'm a **** romancer i ain't gonna lie
But i'll be damned if that means that i ain't gonna try and getcha to
Get up get up get up and dance

The kids are disco dancing
They're tired of rock 'n' roll
Don't bother telling them that drum machine ain't got no soul

We can't rewind now we've gone too far

Internet killed the video star

[OzzyKP]

All the OP demonstrates is the horrible taste in music that the UK has (and no doubt the rest of Europe).

Data from the US:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110106006565/en/Nielsen-Company-Billboard%E2%80%99s-2010-Music-Industry-Report

According to that site, 2010 sales for each genre are:
Alternative 53.7 million
Christian/Gospel 24.2 million
Classical 8.9 mil
Country 43.7
Jazz 8.7
Latin 12.3
Metal 32.5
New Age 1.6
R&B 57.8
Rap 27.3
Rock 103.7
Soundtrack 16.4

I believe the categories are somewhat wonky since R&B includes Rap, and Rock, I believe, includes Alternative and Metal (and Pop is in the Rock category too).

Either way, Rock is most certainly not dead in the United States. Suck it Europe.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

well finally found a category where US and UK

[Cort Haus]

Did you hear what they said? that rock 'n' roll is dead
Yeah
It's like a zombie it'll dig itself back up again

This is a good point.

In 1988 I joined a guitar-band. Our influences were Beatles, Kinks, Jam, Smiths, REM, but 80's synth-electronica was still in its era, and everyone was telling us "oh, guitar music is dead, you're living in the past". A few years later, and the guitar was back in fashion over here in the form of Brit-pop - which we'd been doing for years. By then, our influences had moved more over towards US-indie stuff like Husker Du and Pixies which in turn, by the mid-to-late 90's went on to influence a then-thriving Indie-Rock scene.

Without wishing to engage into the inevitable war about who actually influenced what and when certain genres rose and fell, the point is that 20 years ago the rock-guitar was also being pronounced dead, but it came back and had, in my view, a fantastic decade (albeit with the roots sewn earlier).

[Al B. Sure!]

All the OP demonstrates is the horrible taste in music that the UK has (and no doubt the rest of Europe).

Data from the US:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110106006565/en/Nielsen-Company-Billboard%E2%80%99s-2010-Music-Industry-Report

According to that site, 2010 sales for each genre are:
Alternative 53.7 million
Christian/Gospel 24.2 million
Classical 8.9 mil
Country 43.7
Jazz 8.7
Latin 12.3
Metal 32.5
New Age 1.6
R&B 57.8
Rap 27.3
Rock 103.7
Soundtrack 16.4

I believe the categories are somewhat wonky since R&B includes Rap, and Rock, I believe, includes Alternative and Metal (and Pop is in the Rock category too).

Either way, Rock is most certainly not dead in the United States. Suck it Europe.

Shut up, Ozzy. Yes it is.

For someone all about youth rights you sure like old geezer music

[OzzyKP]

Pssh, you don't know my tastes in music. I'm a big rap fan too. I like all music actually, except dance/techno/jungle/electric/crap.

[Thoth]

WTF? Since when has pre-digested pap like Journey been Rock?

[OzzyKP]

Also, even looking at the original article (more parts not quoted in the OP) the "data" that resulted in the rock is dead prediction was only from sale of singles. Everyone knows that rock fans are more likely to buy albums than singles. The Guardian article says that 27% of the 100 best selling albums in the UK (uh.. 27 albums I'm guessing) were rock. So no paltry 3% like it claims. 27% is pretty solid, and apparently that isn't much changed from last year.

So even the UK isn't as bad off as the OP suggests.

Bad articles & bad quoting of bad articles.