The last time I remember being excited about rock music was the garage rock period around 2002. The Strokes, The White Stripes, BRMC, The Vines, The Hives... etc. Is guitar music really this stale or am I missing something?

The 1970s were good. Took a break in the 1980s.

But I would argue the 1990s were the greatest time for rock bands. So many good bands hit the scene in the 1990s.

They really don't exist anymore for the most part. Nobody is doing rock anymore. Probably cuz you can't make money in music anymore.

Millions of kids like me would pay $13 for a CD album in the 1990s. Now you can get music for free.

I’ve got a 16 years old who spends $20+ on vinyl albums...and so do her friends. Go figure.

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“How do you get to be president and you’re stupid?” Donald J Trump - 4/10/25
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus. - Turkish Proverb

She's the exception. Most just get it on youtube or other places. That's what I do when I want to listen to music.

Oh she still streams. I think they find albums retro cool somehow.

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“How do you get to be president and you’re stupid?” Donald J Trump - 4/10/25
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus. - Turkish Proverb

I'm right there with you in terms of getting excited about the garage rock era. You're also right about guitar rock being stale. Rock had it's golden age from the mid 60's to the mid 70's, virtually everything that has followed since then has been a copy of that era, or even a copy of a copy of that era. If you fast forward about 50 years, rock is going to be like the blues; people will still listen to it, but it's going to be a niche artform.

Are you saying rock doesn’t have staying power beyond 100 years? That’s crazy talk.

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“How do you get to be president and you’re stupid?” Donald J Trump - 4/10/25
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus. - Turkish Proverb

60s were great.
70s were very very good.
80s i think were the best but you can argue it was more pop than rock. I still slide it in the rock category.
90s was good, Nirvana changed the entire ball game.
2000s - from here really stopped following the music scene.

Seems like from the mid 90s Rap really took over to what the kids were listening too.

I was in my teens in the 90'a so that will always be my favorite era, but I'm always open to new rock bands. It's just so out of the mainstream now. Occasionally I'll find a song I like but that's becoming harder and harder. And forget about finding new stuff on top 40 stations or the top 100 on Spotify. No rock unless it's the Foo Fighters. LOL I'm getting tired of listening to classic rock. We need kids to get off Twitter and pickup a guitar!

Guitar rock will never die as long as Gareth Liddiard can strum that red Jaguar.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

Hard rock/metal was pretty much exported to Europe, where there is still a lot of exciting stuff happening.

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For me it was the 90s with grunge and also acts like Metallica and GNR.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

The emotional power of rock and roll!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIMspVa ... rt_radio=1

I see this song as a metaphor for late stage capitalism.

Charles Blondin was a tightrope walker in the mid-nineteenth century. He became extremely famous when he walked a wire across Niagara Falls.



After that he had to constantly attempt to top himself so his act got crazier and crazier. He pushed a guy in a wheelbarrow on a tightrope. He cooked and ate an omelette on the wire. That's where the title of the song comes from. It's used as a double entendre as the fictional narrator Joe, a drunk who works for Blondin, fantasizes about Blondin falling off the wire and flattening himself like an omellete, whereafter Joe will take his place on the wire.

In real life Blondin did actually fall off the wire. He landed on two of his workers. He survived. They both died. And so it goes for the rich and the poor.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

I do miss old time guitar style rock. There is probably good new stuff out there I simply am not made aware of. I don't really search. My kids and their friends listen to all the overly produced horseshit everyone else does.

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Elections have consequences.

Europe and Australia

Viagra Boys, "local middle school teachers got together with their speed dealer" and started a band:




i like their music better when the lead screamer dude bows out to drink a beer and lets the band play.
Neu! inspired tune from a recent live stream to support their 'Welfare Jazz' record:




More traditional loud guitar rock from Australia, Debbie Harry fronting the Stooges sorta vibe:



'Nother Aussie female led rock outfit, if Troma Films had a house band:



Quarantine piss-take tribute (zoom-ish watermarked backgrounds) to John Prine featuring the singers from Amyl Sniffers / Viagra Boys:




Amyl chick also has new this year song out ('Nudge it') with Sleaford Mods

i was 15 in 1981 and i believe 1981 was the apex of 'rock', as i knew it. some good albums in 82-83..but, 1981 saw a a few dozen excellent 'rock' albums and many of the artists were hard-pressed to follow up with better albums.

i remember how wildly popular rock concert t-shirts were. everyone wore them; from gang-bangers to jocks.

hard rock lyrics were under attack by the mid 80s and mtv decided decided that rock was dead by the early 90s. mtv turned to shows like crib$ and heavily featured rap/hip-hop music.

Yea, tha was the most recent one.

That was cool.

Gene Simmons is pretty spot on with his assessment. There are still bands out there making decent rock music but most will never make a living doing it.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/kiss-gene-simmons-doubles-down-on-rock-is-dead-remarks-2847334

There was an indie rock phase for a few years after garage rock year(s).

I stopped reading after I got to "Foo Fighters is a terrific band."

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

Rock music is now "modern country".

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

The pseudo-Feder message board has a thread about 95.5. They talk about 95.5 a lot there, it seems. Anyway, some of the people who post there (there are no real personas there other than longtime radio gadfly Jeremy Andrews, who I'm surprised isn't here), are upset that the station doesn't play "real" rock. Someone started this thread with some ideas for them:

https://members.boardhost.com/chicagome ... 37340.html

and it's predictably awful, all that same 2003-time-capsule WIIL Rock shit. I generally don't hold programming consultants in high esteem but they're right to stick to AC/DC mixed with R.E.M. if this is "real" rock.

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Are Rival Sons and The Record Company the same band?

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

The Revivalists for people who say "but if you EVER say ANYTHING about my FRIENDS?"

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...be it dead or alive

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I've listened to a little bit of Rock 95.5 and it's basically just the old Loop without playing "No Quarter" or "Welcome to the Machine" in the middle of the day. I don't know who these people are who are in such a state over classic alternative being next to hair metal; the Loop played "Losing My Religion" and "Where The Streets Have No Name" next to "There's Only One Way to Rock" and "Rock You Like a Hurricane," it was fine, no one cared.

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Is music's state, and rock music's state in general, a victim of the magnitude of choices we enjoy today? Back in the day, my Chevelle radio only got one or two rock stations. There was a couple of country spots on the dial, and old people stuff. Now, shoot, it's endless. But, I think it is actually more work to load/arrange for the music on your phone/car radio.

As for new rock, I like Dinosaur Pile-Up, even if they are not really a new band, and Greta Van Fleet are young enough that they have lives/career ahead of them. I am lucky enough to have checked out of rock music in the early 90's, (WGN talk radio and no cable tv) so much of the greatest era is still new to me. I never even heard of Hum!

I don't listen to terrestrial radio much anymore, but I've enjoyed what I've heard from 95.5 so far. It's got the feel of Q101s heyday mixed with Rock 103.5. The playlist has been very deep as well, which has been a major surprise in this age.

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