Is Rock & Roll Dead, Just no one called the time?

I looked up Arena Rock and it didn't quite match what I thought it would be. Our niece's husband is a partner in the entertainment architecture firm in London called Stufish. They are most famous for designing and constructing some of the best known major concert venues. They started in the early '70's with the original partners designing the flying pigs for the Pink Floyd Animals concert and they have gone on to do major concerts around the world, most recently, with the Rolling Stones current tour. We got to see the retrospective exhibit of their work with Pink Floyd through the years when it started in London (at the Victoria and Albert Museum) a couple of years ago, called Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains.

Here is an interview with Stufish senior partner Ray Winkler talking about working with the Rolling Stones for over 20 years of tours.

https://www.dezeen.com/2018/09/10/
interview-rolling-stones-stage-architect-stufish-ray-winkler/

BTW, Stufish redesigned Abbey Road for Deutsche Gramophone and our nephew is arranging a tour for me on our next visit to London this summer. Should be very much fun.

I was already in college in the mid '60's and heavily into classical music, so I missed the great rock bands (other than the Beach Boys and Elvis when I was in high school and the Beatles who came to fame when I was already in college). I wasn't aware of the groups of the '70's until audiophilia hit me in the late '70's and '80's and I bought DSOTM (of course the Japanese Toshiba Pro pressing) and the Eagles Desperado and Dire Straits Love over Gold, both in their British pressings because Harry Pearson said so. This was a decade or more after they had become famous. The closest I got to a contemporary group was the Moody Blues 'Days of Futures Passed' which my brother told me to get because it had a full orchestra playing in it.

This all changed four years ago, when I bought a huge collection (200 reels) of safety master tapes and the owner was a great fan of jazz and rock, especially Miles Davis and Pink Floyd. I found out that there was more to Miles Davis than KOB and more to Pink Floyd than DSOTM (although having 1/2" safety master of both is very nice). It also allowed me to trade dubs for tapes from other collectors, and I found my trading partners were much more into rock than I was. So now I have big collections of Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, Supertramp, the Doors, Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Genesis, and even Led Zeppelin (which I still don't understand or appreciate). Almost all the albums are from the analogue era, so they were recorded and mastered on tape, although a few made it to tape from digital sources, like Brothers in Arms. Not sure whether Renaissance (first learned from an Absolute Sound recommendation of their 'Novella' album is rock (glam, arena or other category). Also have a bunch of tapes of Joni Mitchell whom I did start collecting in vinyl in the late '60's.

This all from someone who is in his mid-70's!

Larry
 
I am not sure I even know how to define Rock n Roll. Very little of Elvis’s music would be considered rock. Same with the Beatles as it touches everything from Bubble gum to really weird. I love Seger’s discography but today much of his work would be Indie Rock.

I like the comment that rock is as much a state of mind as it is a music genre.

Now back to enjoying the sun a trade winds here in Hawaii
 
From my perspective, I began listening to popular music (music that was not classical or jazz) in the '50's. So Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, Andy Williams, Patti Page, the Kingston Trio, and orchestras like Mantovani (Decca's biggest recording star for many years) were the great stars on the radio and incipient TV. There was Bill Haley and the Comets, Richie Valens, the Big Bopper, the Diamonds. However, when Elvis hit the scene in the mid-late '50's, that was a very big deal. Compared with my favorite singer, Perry Como or my dad's favorite, Patti Page, Elvis was rock music. When I was a freshman in college in '63, the Beatles made a similar splash (both incidentally on the Ed Sullivan Show) and that was also rock music to me (the albums that got us introduced to the Beatles, culminating in the movie "A Hard Day's Night."

Larry
 
I also consider Elvis Rock, He fits the attitude test and some of those early songs rocked for the day, Jailhouse Rock, Blue Suede Shoes, even Suspicious Minds. He did sort of vere off into some Gospel and Country.

From my perspective, I began listening to popular music (music that was not classical or jazz) in the '50's. So Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, Andy Williams, Patti Page, the Kingston Trio, and orchestras like Mantovani (Decca's biggest recording star for many years) were the great stars on the radio and incipient TV. There was Bill Haley and the Comets, Richie Valens, the Big Bopper, the Diamonds. However, when Elvis hit the scene in the mid-late '50's, that was a very big deal. Compared with my favorite singer, Perry Como or my dad's favorite, Patti Page, Elvis was rock music. When I was a freshman in college in '63, the Beatles made a similar splash (both incidentally on the Ed Sullivan Show) and that was also rock music to me (the albums that got us introduced to the Beatles, culminating in the movie "A Hard Day's Night."

Larry
 
It may not be dead generally, but it is certainly dead at audio shows. Rare that its played. i have found many that secretly want to hear metallica or zep cranking on the uber systems. Its the quickest way to clear a room, however LOL.

Foo Fighters is a band that continues to crank out rock and roll. But maybe they are alt?



 
I was asked by a vendor to help in his room at the California Audio Show this summer in the San Francisco area. The room featured Reel to Reel tape and I made up a couple of mix tapes to play. I used some of my master tapes and other 15ips 2 track tapes. I played the Doors Light My Fire, Queen Bohemian Rhapsody, Fleetwood Mac Landslide, Beatles Michelle, Getz/Gilberto Girl from Ipanema, Joni Mitchell Blue, and some others. We also had tapes from the Tape Project. Some classical, but mostly jazz and rock. Many of the audience stayed for more than an hour at a time, listening to the tapes.

Larry
 
It may not be dead generally, but it is certainly dead at audio shows. Rare that its played. i have found many that secretly want to hear metallica or zep cranking on the uber systems. Its the quickest way to clear a room, however LOL.

Foo Fighters is a band that continues to crank out rock and roll. But maybe they are alt?



How much Diana Krall can anyone bare...


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The Zu Audio guys seem to Rock out.

There are some decent recorded Rock/Metal albums. I was listening to A Perfect Circle, Heartless, and thinking it sounded good. I really need to start writing these albums down. I always think I will remember, then when someone asks about good sounding Rock I draw a blank, LOL
 
Plenty of rock and roll out there since the 70s/80s.

Radiohead (gen x version of the Beatles)
Muse
Foals
Tame Impala
Foo Fighters
Mumford & Sons
Calexico

Probably 10 other bands that I can think of if given more than a few minutes
 
Based on that list, yeah, Rock is dead, except for Foofighter.

Plenty of rock and roll out there since the 70s/80s.

Radiohead (gen x version of the Beatles)
Muse
Foals
Tame Impala
Foo Fighters
Mumford & Sons
Calexico

Probably 10 other bands that I can think of if given more than a few minutes
 
Different tastes prefer different artists.

While I like Greta,they are more trying to sound like Zep, than really having their own sound. But there are others who keep the genre alive, like e.g. Van Halen, AC DC, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Nirvana in the 80s/ 90s, and before-mentioned Foo Fighters, Chili Peppers, System Of A Down a bit more recently IMHO.


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Rock had segmented into Metal, Electric Blues and traditional for a lack of a better word. Here are a few to check out
Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, Samantha Fish, Three Doors Down, Popa Chubby, Gov't Mule, Kings of Leon
 
Rock had segmented into Metal, Electric Blues and traditional for a lack of a better word. Here are a few to check out
Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, Samantha Fish, Three Doors Down, Popa Chubby, Gov't Mule, Kings of Leon

Thumbs up for Linkin Park, Foo, Three Doors Down, Kings of Leon. Add Chili Peppers, System of a Down, Volbeat.


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