Maybe the Grammys first went off the rails back in 1989, the first year they decided to honor Heavy Metal. Strangely, the award that year went to the flute-infused sounds of Jethro Tull. For the Rock genre at this awards show devoted to music, it’s been going downhill ever since.
Sunday night’s show was no exception, a three-and-a-half-hour tour that continued to amaze and mystify. Rock was virtually MIA on the show, except that musical poet/singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen posthumously snatched the Best Rock Performance award. Even Ian Anderson is scratching his beard over that one.
And they had to be guffawing at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame down the road in Cleveland. While that august group has honored Madonna, Donna Summer, and ABBA in past induction ceremonies, they’re at least an organization mostly devoted to celebrating artists who have excelled in the world of Rock.
The Grammys? Well, in some ways, Sunday’s show was a microcosm of Rock’s weird trajectory over the past decade or so. Like a music test for an Active Rock station where the old stuff holds up well while the new music rarely scores big, the Grammy’s followed suit. They featured relics that included U2, Sting, and Elton John, while relegating the modern day 2000s period of Rock to undercard status. Those awards were given out at a ceremony far away from the prime time spotlight reserved for Pop, Rap, and Country.
It’s gotten so bad that hard rockers Avenged Sevenfold announced earlier in the weekend they were boycotting the show because of its disrespect and stupidity, despite the band being up for “Best Rock Song.”
A7X frontman, M. Shadows, declared the New York City event would be a “waste of time and money.” He complained about being relegated to a “side venue” no one cares about, rather than being showcased along with the headliners. All he missed was creating a hashtag – like #ScrewThis – that likely would have gained momentum throughout the boring evening on Twitter.
Speaking of which, you knew there was something wrong if you spent time on social media Sunday night. Three of the savviest, most musically passionate people I know in the radio industry let their feelings be known with a pair of gritty Facebook posts.
First, the editor, publisher, and founder of The Sands Report, Richard Sands:
Not to be outdone, here’s one that rolled in earlier in the evening from the President of HITS Magazine, Karen Glauber:
And respected writer/producer/musicologist Alan Cross, who pens “A Journal of Musical Things,” took to Twitter to sum up his view of Rock’s fate at the Grammys this way:
No Rock awards for the #Grammys2018 telecast. Here’s what we didn’t get to see.
Er, Leonard Cohen? WTF?https://t.co/HnZS7swZRu
— Alan Cross (@alancross) January 29, 2018
As the Tweeter-In-Chief might have said, “Sad.” But the Grammys were so lame that even Trump didn’t bother acknowledging the show – or its low ratings – on Twitter, despite a slew of political messages that wafted in and out of the show Sunday night.
But let’s not equate an out of touch awards show as a barometer of an entire music genre. Sadly, however, there are other signs Rock is in the midst of a long recession, bordering on a depression.
A recent story in The LA Times by Mikael Woods features this blaring headline: “Coachella is going without a single rock headliner for the first time.”
Obviously sharing the same consultant who advises the Grammys, Coachella’s headliners this April will be none other than Beyoncé, Eminem, and the Weeknd. And like the Grammy awards, Coachella is loaded with Hip-Hop. But while rockers like Tool, the Black Keys, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers were main attractions in past years, the festival’s organizers are moving in a different direction – away from Rock.
Hopefully, they’ll have more luck putting butts in seats than the Grammy Awards. Sunday’s show experienced an alarming 24% ratings drop from 2017, attracting under 20 million viewers.
For the Rock genre, January’s been a tough month. Hip-Hop/R&B passed Rock as the most popular music genre last year, according to Nielsen’s 2017 Year-End Music Report. (Rock, however, continues to outpace Hip-Hop.) You can download their entire report here.
What goes around apparently comes around. Metallica – losers to Jethro Tull for Heavy Metal honors back in the ’80s – came up short again for Best Rock Song, along with the aforementioned A7X. The Foo Fighters took top honors this year. Metallica lost out for Best Rock Album, too, as they have been their entire careers, symbolizing other bad performance for the Rock genre.
So, is Rock in trouble as a genre – or even a radio format?
Opinions are many, and mine is that despite its long slide, there will always be a desire for electric guitars, heavy drums, and a scream or two. The 
success of Michigan born and bred Greta Van Fleet is a testament to the possibilities. Ironically, they’ll be playing Coachella, and a prediction is that you’ll be reading about their performance.
The “rock is dead/rock is back” argument was well-covered in a well-written article late last year on UPROXX.com by Steven Hyden, zeroing in on the Greta Van Fleet phenomenon, and what it may mean to rekindling the spirit of Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, and Angus Young.
Of course, it would be more meaningful if Rock – like vinyl – experienced a true resurgence because of a groundswell of young teens rather than aging Boomers. After all, that’s where true musical movements start.
A friend of mine in the industry believes that in another decade or so, small groups of us will be enjoying what we know as Rock in small clubs, much like what’s become of the Jazz and Blues genres.
I hope he’s wrong. But in whatever case, I’ll be at that small table in the back of the room.
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Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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I did a focus group with about 100 high school student who were (surprisingly) checking out radio for career day. I learned that they love Hip Hop, have a growing dislike for CHR…and love Rock and Metal.
I also have a 10 year old son who was all about CHR, until last year when he discovered Dad’s music collection. This was after hanging with his friends who were listening to AC/DC. Now my son is on to Ozzy and Scorpions…and has asked to get an electric guitar and lessons; which he will be getting.
It’s a small (unscientific sample), but I don’t think Rock is dead. More like dormant. Think about it, Rock hasn’t had an profound movement since Grunge.
Steve, interesting observations that are consistent with what I’ve seen. You have to wonder if the labels moving away from Rock could slow down a teen revival. As I said in the post, it has to happen with 15 year-olds – not members of AARP. Thanks for the comment.
Using only a single subject, my 6 year old. Her ears love diversity of sound and genre. I supply variety and let her listen in the car, at home, etc., and ask her what she likes and she asks me to put them on her playlist.
Here is the most recent sampling appealing to a 6 year old female.
We Will Rock You Queen
You Give Love a Bad Name
Gray Seal Elton John
Purple Rain Prince
Caribbean Queen Billy Ocean
Best Day of My Life American Authors
Take Me There Rascal Flats
Diamonds Rihanna
Fight Song Rachel Platten
Two Ryan Adams
Killing Me Softly Roberta Flack
No One Like You Scorpions
Talking In Your Sleep The Romantics
Ordinary Day Vanessa Carlton
Here I Go Again Whitesnake
Hold The Line Toto
One Day Deep Praful
Neil Young Heart of Gold
Neil Young Old Man
The Living Years Mike + Mechanics
Wishing Well Terence Trent D’Arby
C’est La Vie Robbie Nevil
Sunglasses at Night Corey Heart
Boogie Oogie Oogie A Taste of Honey
And a slew of Disney movie songs
She like other songs that do fall into the Hip Hop category, but as you can see she clearly likes rock and other genre just as much. These are songs she said she liked.
Not sure if this supports rock coming back, but it does support new music being weak.
And maybe it supports the notion that great rock…is great rock. Of course, then there’s Corey Hart. Thanks for the “research,” Robert.
Fred….Pete says it all!
https://youtu.be/maD5k-vUI4o
I prefer my rock in small clubs – up close, sweat flying off the stage….
Always good!
From the article: “A friend of mine in the industry believes that in another decade or so, small groups of us will be enjoying what we know as Rock in small clubs, much like what’s become of the Jazz and Blues genres.”
THAT scares me!
Me, too.
Fred, I really appreciate your thought-provoking posts. They’re usually the first thing I read when I get to work, and they get my gears turning.
I think Rock as a format/genre has been hit from several angles over the past 15 years that will take it a while to recover from.
1 – the death of music programs in schools. My middle school had a guitar section in the school band, now they don’t even have a school band anymore.
2 – Guitar Hero. It gave people the ability to play a “guitar” in front of a “crowd” on a “stage” and receive instant gratification on their “performance” instead of taking the time to learn how to play the real thing.
3 – Electronic music. Who wants to spend hours learning chord progressions when you can put together a MIDI guitar riff on your laptop in just a few minutes?
4 – Fewer small-and-medium all-ages venues where a band can get started and young people can get out and share the experience.
5 – People worry too much about being judged. To paraphrase Dave Grohl, Nirvana was three kids with crappy garage sale instruments that started playing loud, obnoxious music together and having fun, and became the biggest band in the world. Like you said, the rock revival has to happen with high school kids…high school kids I know are more concerned with becoming a paid Instagram influencer than forming a garage band.
Andrew, absolutely agree with you on music education. Social Media and devices have taken the place of a 6 string, drums or bass… I’m on the soap box with you!!!
Thanks, Max!
Andrew, many thanks for the analysis (more than I offered!). I think a lot of these items are factors in the slide. But ultimately, the music wins and cuts through – if it’s good enough. That’s why I agree that it has to start where it always starts – high school.
A7X in Green Bay. Sold out Show.
Rock Fest, Rock USA, Northern Invasion, Rock on the Range, Rocklahoma, Carolina Rebellion, Sonic Boom & a slew of other rock festivals. Each packed with 10s of thousands of rock fans every…single…year.
Metallica, A7X & Volbeat, Foo Fighters & Tool sold out stadiums & arenas on their recent tours.
There are plenty of ways to game the system when it comes to streaming numbers, YouTube views, social media performance & records sales figures. For real. Read this article and keep it in the mind the next time a record rep starts gushing to your over any of those stats: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/27/technology/social-media-bots.html
You can’t fake butts in seats.
Do other genres put butts in seats too?
Of course they do, but that in no way diminishes rock’s ability to consistently do the same.
Terry,
The problem with Rock right now is that can’t hang it’s shingles on 4 “core” bands (ones you used in the example) that in a decade could be lost by a more fickle, upcoming, device laden generation!
The other issue, bands who can cut through the formulaic crap will never get signed. There are no taste makers willing to take a chance on the next big thing, or take the time to discover what that is….
The days of A & R development model died when labels decided to become purveyors of disposable music, instead of creating timeless, enduring songs and albums!
Max, your last point is a factor, even in a world with Spotify and Shazam. And the record labels blame the radio people for not emphasizing new music enough. And radio blames it on the labels – not developing and promoting these rock bands with enough support. I still believe – maybe even more so than in the past thanks to the Internet – that something that’s truly unique/great/inspirational will cut through.
Max, I’m not sure when you listened to Active Rock last, but Metallica, Shinedown, Foo Fighters & Five Finger Death Punch are absolutely 4 core artists OWNED and embraced to the tune of millions of ticket and record sales by rock fans.
Any act can get lost in the shuffle in any format, but those four acts have stood the test of time along with Slipknot, Stone Sour, Papa Roach, Pop Evil & Breaking Benjamin.
Fred, that label/radio debate is a thing in every format. The real gatekeeper for new music is the listener. Listeners, like all humans, are hardwired to prefer the familiar. Nostalgia formats like Classic Rock and Classic Hits are safe bets. Every song in those formats have survived millions of rounds of testing. (Sure, they have tremendous burn scores, but they still test well.)
Active Rock requires research to find the new generation of rock hits. Research takes time and money, something that too many radio groups are loathe to spend, when nostalgia formats are available.
That said, stations like KUPD, WJJO, KXXR and a slew of others are enjoying great success by finding that new generation of rock hits. They’re BEATING the nostalgia stations in their markets by finding new music that listeners are passionate about.
Humans may be hardwired to prefer the familiar, but they also have some wiring that is delighted by pleasant surprises in that ocean of familiarity.
Terry,
I think that the Foo Fighters are the best example of a band that can morph into just about anything! Those guys are the closest thing to a rock “tastemaker”. They never disappoint me!
Here’s my challenge for Active Rock artists as a musical genre–you can’t be or keep the same formula that you’ve been doing. Look at classic bands who had enduring careers like Zeppelin, Aerosmith, The Who, The Stones.. Whatever they did; fast, slow, blues, whatever–they pulled it off.
They ALWAYS had their eye on the world musical pulse.
When I hear Shinedown now as opposed to 2001 (when we signed on as AR). There’s nothing that engages me, same formula. My taste hasn’t changed that dramatically, just more critical…
I still do a lot of high school dances, weddings etc. on the weekends to pay my cable bill!
The teenagers love hip-hop, but also a lot of the CHR acts that weren’t even on the Grammys like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd —-
They also “rock out” when you throw on G&R, AC/DC, Def Leppard and many other classic rock artists. They sing along loud and proud!
Don’t stop Believing, Pour Some Sugar On Me and Sweet Caroline are by far the biggest sing-along songs at the events!
Another thumbs up (or hand-horns) for rock! Thanks for chiming in, Bill.
This was a great piece. Allow me to retort.
Has Rock lost a bit of market value over the last few years? Perhaps. It doesn’t really matter why, because Rock, like other styles of music, like other styles of all entertainment and art forms, has cycles. Will Rock come back, or will the cycle return to its one time place, paramount above all others? Who knows. Maybe not. Scholars, researchers, enthusiasts and so called “experts” weigh in anytime…
The more important thing is that it will never die. That’s not to wax poetic like Neil Young, The Who or Danny and the Juniors. It’s about the arc of an art form. Jazz, Rock, Hip Hop are all American art forms. Jazz saw its peak from the late 40s with guys like Duke Ellington, through the 50s with Miles Davis and into 60s with John Coltrane. It hung on and grew all sorts of style branches into the 70s, but as an art form its best years were behind it.
But Jazz it didn’t die. It continued to prosper, as it does today. Ask Dianna Krall, Norah Jones, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. It’s not America’s first choice for music, but it continues to thrive. Rock is no different. Same arc. Started out of blues in the 50s by guys like Chuck Berry, became pop staples in the 60s with the Beatles and Stones, became the main line of music in the 70s courtesy of Zeppelin, Floyd, etc. In the 80s it grew hair, both big and wild, with Motley Crue and Duran Duran, and had a rebirth in the 90s in Seattle.
Is Rock on the cover of Rolling Stone anymore? Sadly, no. Is it headlining the Grammys? No. But it’s far from dead. It’s just grown up. And out. And it continues to thrive. Metallica was last year’s tent pole. And in 2018 the history of Rock will continue to unfold and be told, over and over. The measuring stick is just a little different than it was in the past, because consumption is different.
Jazz didn’t die. Rock won’t die. But in 10 years will we have this conversation about Hip Hop? Probably, and that will be unfair also. Because music styles have peaks and valleys, but great American music, like Hip Hop, like Country, like Jazz, like Punk and like Rock are all art forms with beginnings, and peaks and valleys. But really, no ends.
I love this, Dave. Passionate, heartfelt, hopeful, and hopefully spot on.
There is so much good new rock music out there it’s crazy. I don’t believe that the Grammy’s were ever relevant to the average rock fan. Jethro Tull a metal band ridiculous. I have been listening to Rock for almost 50 years and I don’t think I have heard an explosion of talent like I am hearing now in many decades. Have never watched the Grammy’s maybe scanned through it. They have never been relevant to me or my taste in music.
And watching the Grammys might prove to be hazardous to your “rock health.” Tim, thanks for weighing in.