Is rock music in decline?

[Corki]

Found this interesting news article on the BBC about the make up of the top 100 singles in the UK charts for 2010.

 

LINK: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12151129

 

Rock songs have 'worst' year in chart since 1960

 

Only three rock songs appeared in the UK Top 100 singles of 2010 - the lowest number since 1960, research by Music Week magazine shows.

 

At 25, Don't Stop Believin' by Journey - a 1981 track made popular again by TV show Glee - was the highest ranked song classed as rock in the 2010 chart.

 

In 2009, 13 rock tracks were in the Top 100 singles. There were 27 in 2008.

 

Music Week's Ben Cardew said a "massive rock band" had not broken through since Arctic Monkeys in 2006.

 

"As recently as 2008, you had a lot of rock songs in there," he told the BBC's Colin Paterson.

 

"So to drop from 27 of the biggest sellers in 2008 to three in 2010...it's clearly something more than cyclical."

 

The other two tracks from last year's Top 100 classed by Music Week as rock were Hey Soul Sister by US band Train, at 84, and Florence and the Machine's Dog Days are Over, at 93.

 

Florence and the Machine are also at number 59 in the rundown with You've Got The Love, though it has been deemed to be a dance record.

 

Of the Top 100 albums of the year - compiled, like the singles chart, by the Official Charts Company - a more respectable 27 discs were classed as rock.

 

Last year Elbow singer Guy Garvey - whose band have had six Top 40 singles since 2001 - told BBC News that rock music would "always be there".

 

"People who love it are buying albums or are going online and getting more than one track at once," he said.

 

"I don't think the singles chart reflects how popular guitar music still is."

 

According to Music Week, hip-hop and R&B accounted for 47% of 2010's Top 100 biggest hits.

 

Pop accounted for two of every five hits - a 40% share - while dance records made one in every 10.

[Krakalakachkn]

Well, I think it's important to understand that the music industry's use of "genre" has become an extremely ambiguous term. I think it's hard to even define rock music anymore. Is it Rock n Roll, which hearkens back to Elvis? Or is it Rock, defined by bands like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Queen, etc.?

 

I personally think Rock has declined since the 80's. I have a friend that cites Nirvana as the end of the rock music golden age of the 70's/80's. I can't think of a band (outside of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) that has been "Rock" since the 80's.

[Majsju]

BBC seems to miss a couple of things. First of all, trends come and go. genres must slide under the radar a couple of years every now and then to get a chance to evolve. Also, charts are not very representative for what people actually listen to, especially not these days. And the final point, people today does not buy music the way they did 10 years ago. Downloading (legal and illegal), youtube, streaming services like Spotify...All these things have changed the business completely.

 

So, dear BBC, please stick to reporting news, and leave music for those who actually understand it.

[Imperium]

I have to say that most of what they now classify as rock is actually pop.

 

Maj is right though, it is hard to really quantify trends due to the huge resources people have other than buying now.

[Corki]

I know I am stuck in about 2 different genres of music - either metal or electronica. And that made listening to some of the songs for the "It's A Knockout" for the 2010 top singles quite difficult. Yes, I listen to rock, but I would say it is more of the indie genre. And what the music industry thinks is a genre for one group, I am sure others would disagree.

[Majsju]

Well, when it comes to genre definition, the article seems to lump rock and guitar-pop into one genre, resulting in their definition of pop being something noone who grew up with Stone Roses, james, inspiral carpets etc would ever agree with.

 

Which bring us to what has really died - music journalism. Noone knows how to write about music anymore, I have not even read a decent album review in over a decade. Which is kinda weird, one would have thought the internet would be the perfect arena for fanzines, but that has not happened. And as a consequence, the media coverage of music is dumbed down to the point where it is today.

 

Hm, came close to go off on a bit of a rant there