after hendrix, cream, hot tuna, the airplane and the doors etc i thought rock died in '72. went to europe for a year and listened to radio caroline and radio luxemburg. came back to the states in '73 and rock was still around. started djing on an fm station in hartford in '77 and watched the music change again as disco swept thru the formats. thought it died in '79. it didn't. watched new wave in the 80s, grunge, emo and a million other names arrive and heard rocks' obituary yet again. the 90's came and went with rock still around. it's now the longest lived major popular music genre in history so if it did die now it would own the title but i don't see it going anywhere anytime soon.
change isn't death but for whatever reason some people make that mistake when it comes to music in general and rock in particular. maybe it's because the music you hear during periods of intense self awareness like the teen years gets imprinted on your psyche as an authorized reality, and since those periods of heightened perception become less frequent in time, your background music tends to stay static and un changed. meanwhile the culture shifts and new music pours forth having the same profound effect on those younger ones going thru what you once did while leaving you curiously unaffected. since the new and old no longer match the explanation is the music died.
rocks' obituary’s been written so often it would embarrass a vampire – but i'm pretty sure it’ll be around long after most of todays’ formats are forgotten.
- js.
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