The Conservatism of Rock

To alleviate the dreariness of work, I occasionally drop by various music discussion boards, especially those that emphasize on “rock/pop” because it usually has the most activity. An observation I’ve gathered from these forums is that they love their rock. They love it. The catharsis, the angst, the lightning fast guitar riffs, they throw devil horns at all of it. They love it so much that they’ve painted themselves in a corner that other genres have become irrelevant. To them, rock is the only music that matters, the only music that is any good.

They hate pop (or whatever they think pop is). They don’t even write their own songs or play their own instruments. Pop is stupid music made by stupid people for stupid people; rock fans are too smart for it. They’re annoyed at the sight of seeing rock and pop together in the same threads. Rock is way cooler than pop.

They hate rap. It’s basically “crap” without the “c” and they pat themselves in the back for the creative revelation. It’s not even music; it’s an auctioneer’s speech. They can’t be bothered with garbage that only deals with ho’s and guns and drugs and ice and rims. They aren’t “black” enough for it anyway, and they don’t want to be caught trying to be. They want their music middle-class. They don’t want to walk with a limp or wear their pants down low.

They hate electronica (or “techno” to many). They think music should take more than five minutes to make. Making music should give you blisters, strain your voice, and fracture drumsticks. They say that a computer software is not an instrument; it has tutorials for God’s sake! DJ’s don’t deserve the groupie sex they’re getting.

They love classic rock. Classic rock is music history; it’s music heritage. To hate it is similar to hating veterans of war. Rolling Stones and VH1 and Jack Black have exhausted that this is the best music that has ever made. Forget that other genres may sound good and be liked, they only like rock because it's how music should be.

And that’s where the problem lies: popular rock fans are hopelessly necrophiliac. They long for any hint of nostalgia so anything that remotely resemble the classics is revered—voice like Eddie Vedder’s, licks like Angus Young’s, mystique like Jim Morrison's. Revivalism is praised rather than reinvention and as a result, they’re left behind. They’re satisfied with it, though, sneering at other genres that are constantly advancing and painstakingly discussing with those who are in the same anchored boat about how Kurt Cobain died for their sins and when Chinese Democracy is due out.

It’s understandable why one limits oneself to a genre or style: the skyscraping stacks of cd’s and endless sea of mp3 files make it impossible to listen to everything. Even someone with a great appetite or free time can only digest a portion of what is being served. So, listeners deal with this by running music to a set of filters. And that’s fine. What is troubling though is that these filters only allow through those that passed through before. Yes, one cannot listen to everything, but, at least, one should keep an open mind about everything.

And, more importantly, recognize that no genre, or era for that matter, is best. Each decade and each style has their gems and, similarly, each has their duds. Listen to Magical Mystery Tour, IV, Disintegration, Siamese Dream or Kid A (in any particular order) and be entertained by each one if taste permits it. Give Return To Cookie Mountain, Hell Hath No Fury, Night Ripper, or FutureSex/LoveSounds equal passage through your filters; discard it later if you really don’t like it. Music is music, then or now, whatever their label is. Like it because it sounds good, hate it because it doesn’t.