ROCK MUSIC IS POPULAR AGAIN! There's just one major problem... 

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I have the opposite worry; that this new brand of “rock” will be too far removed from past rock to the point where it will feel like pop with some tiny smidgens of rock influences here and there. Pop music, for as good as it can be, has a bad habit of “watering down” certain sounds because they’re too afraid it won’t appeal to enough people otherwise. They did it to latin music, hip hop, country and even rock in the past. I don’t want another “oh it’s rock because there’s a guitar in the mix somewhere, even though it’s literally just a pop song otherwise” situation.

The rock revival is just an aesthetic, I don’t think anything has changed in guitar driven music to make it innovative again.

The problem is that artists are focusing more on image / nostalgia instead of musicianship. It would be so refreshing to see new artists not care about style more than being good at their craft.

Guitar based rock music has been around nearly 70 years. No matter how “prog” the band, it’s pretty hard to create chords, rhythm, melodies or styles that aren’t derivative of some past influences. I think people need to stop judging modern rock bands on how much they sound like this or that band from the past, and instead based on their musicianship and ability to engage audiences. I am encouraged that there are bands like GVF, The Warning, Band Maid, etc. who are trying to keep Rock alive, regardless of what other older bands they may happen to remind people of.

I have a different fear: that people are going to say "oh that has a guitar in it, it's rock music" Just because it has a guitar, doesn't mean it's rock music.

Another thing I worry about is how overshadowed instrumentalists will be. We live in an age where the singer is seen as the be-all-end-all of music. It’s sad to think so many musicians will get overlooked or will have their praise misattributed to the singer because people don’t give a shit about you anymore unless you’re the singer (when it arguably takes just as much talent to be a good guitarist, drummer, bass player etc.)

Yeah, corporate Disney "rock" is on the rise. On the upside, The Deftones have an awesome album out as of 2020. It is great!

The problem with every artist who is currently working with Travis Barker is that they all sound like a Blink-182 tribute act, but they only listened to 'All the Small Things'.

Our society as a whole is chasing nostalgia whether it’s marketing, clothes or music. Nobody wants to be present to 2021 because the last few years have sucked. So people chase things from simpler times that make them feel good. But I hope rock continues on this trend but people form a new wave eventually.

Here's the problem. Olivia Rodrigo is good in her own right and writes good songs, but she is as corporate and mainstream as they come, straight out of the house of Disney. She is not like the uncontrollable wild rock stars of old, it's a corporate strategy as usual which is planned and tries to tell the listener what to like - it's not a grass roots movement for rock and bands to make a comeback, so it's cynical as hell... until you see an explosion that actually takes the mainstream BY SURPRISE like punk did or even grunge there is no musical revolution, especially not spearheaded by a Disney princess and a Eurovision winner. (Yes, I like Måneskin too, but the fact they had to do the world's cringiest contest in order to get any recognition speaks volumes about the state of the music industry today.)

The 90s and 2000s were such a great music era, I’m only 15 so I wasn’t alive for it, but it was the perfect mix of those 70s and 80s rock bands still being a thing, but hip hop and more modern pop were also starting, then they were all morphing together making stuff like pop punk

As a 16 year old learning the drums, my biggest goal right now is to be part of this new generation of rock musicians. Being a huge fan of hard rock and metal, being part of it's resurgence would be a dream come true

Måneskin is the best example of this come back. They came out of nowhere in italy and gained a decent success there, but after eurovision they broke charts with real and hard hitting rock, and that's impressive because Ovlia Rodrigo's rock is a soft and catchy pop-rock so that doesn't surprise anyone if it becomes popular, but Måneskin weren't expected to blow up this much and nobody predicted that until their victory at ESC

We just need more rock fans to understand modern rock music. Almost every rock fan I know only listens to 80s and 90s music

I think you’re more likely going to see a “pure” rock revival in alternative and underground scenes. Probably going to blossom out of the English post-punk stuff with Black Midi and Black Country New Road and all those kinda guys. It’s not gonna have huge chart success, but to be fair, the most memorable acts in rock for the past few decades werent really huge commercial successes anyway

the Italian rock band måneskin is doing insanely well right now they’re at 47,469,690 monthly listeners on spotify and they’re still growing, they’re super good

One problem rock has at the moment is that bands traditionally grow by playing live, and so many people now would rather see a tribute band than a new band, limiting the ability for new bands to get a spot.

We need to enter a creative renaissance that doesn't rely so heavily on nostalgia and copy-paste influences. Rock will never make a comeback until it does something new.

*me noticing rock is making a comeback*🥳🥳..... *Realizes the "rock" is Olivia Rodrigo and Machine Gun Kelly* 🤡

For an optimist, I’m pretty pessimistic. Wait… Thanks for watching ❤️ Wanted to worry out loud about the rock comeback, hope you understand where I’m coming from!

Should have mentioned Måneskin, who is one of the frontrunners of the comeback of rock. "Rock'n roll will never die!" - Damiano David, Måneskin lead singer.

The Travis Barker Effect is certainly a real thing. I wasn't that enamored with Blink 182 back in the day. They had some hits on the charts that registered on my radar, but were their full albums ever on my playlists. Nope. The point being when people looked at MGK and just had their minds blown about his shift to rock, all I saw was an almost identical Blink 182 clone. The singing, the melodies, everything. Go back and listen to classic Blink 182 and tell me it's not more of a clone than an "influence". And in the context of the 90's and 2000's Blink 182 wasn't really a front runner in that music scene at the time I'd argue. I felt MGK's cover of Rhianna's "Love on the brain" was great. Something simple yet emotional about that guitar riff, and he found something heartfelt in the way he approached the vocals on that song. I really enjoyed it. But the full blown rock albums. Generic pop/punk radio play fare. I'm sorry, they just are. If that's your jam during the summer time, and it will be for a lot of people, totally cool. But it's forgettable. You won't be 10-15 years out and still going back to those albums I'd argue. Because next summer there'll be another summer jam out and these'll be forgotten.

Trap killed music in general over the last 5 to 8 years.

why is everyone considering olivia rodrigo to be rock? 💀

This is hilarious because I was JUST thinking about Rock's influence in modern music. Super happy you made this and love hearing your thoughts on this. I don't know if you watch him, but Mic the Snare has really great video essays about how popular music has changed over the course of the 2000s and the 2010s, and he points out the early signs of what was called the 'monogenre' at the time. It's always confused me why, when streaming services started getting extremely popular, we almost seemed to see less of a variety on the music charts. I don't know...

Problem is best rock coming from Japan. Problem is in US we can’t go to concerts and it’s too hard for them to come here. Sorry, it’s not problem that best rock coming from Japan. They have a true joyous love for what they are doing.

To me rock “died” when people starting adding their own personal rules to what is “good” and what is “bad”. Rock doesn’t have rules that’s the whole fucking point. I feel that people who describe themselves as rock fans or metal fans really only put themselves in a camp and never leave and that eventually over decades everyone was so deeply rooted in their own little camps that they stopped listening and or only listened to the stuff they liked. Started saying things like “oh that’s not rock they don’t play fast” or “He was a rapper he isn’t allowed to try rock music” etc. My favorite is when they claim they miss when bands had “Musical Talent”. Have you heard the Sex Pistols live? Fucking Sid didn’t even know what a bass was. And yet they are a staple and a icon of the genre. Why? Because nowhere in Rock’n Roll does it say you have to be talented. It also doesn’t say you can’t be talented either. For me Rock fell out of place once people tried to pigeon hold it to what it is “suppose to be”.

The thing I'm hoping for the most at the moment is that Green Day takes advantage of rock's resurfacing to make another classic that's not only great but really commercially successful.

Call me a Simp, but I'd actually like to see the garage rock revival of the early to mid 2000's to be picked up where it was left off. From my perspective, those bands (Frank Ferdinand, Interpol, Secret Machines, Jet, Spoon, The Strokes, The Hives, etc.) were making great albums at that time, and then it all seemed to die away when the Post Punk/Emo genre and scene exploded in the mid 2000's. No offense to the Post Punk/Emo genre. We got GREAT bands out of that time, no argument there. I just wish the Garage Rock genre/scene had more longevity, as I feel that there was still a lot of musical progression and development to be made. But hey, that's just my take.

I think a major problem with mainstream music in general is that it's too egotistical. You see one person in the spotlight (i.e. Machine Gun Kelly, Olivia Rodrigo,) and then all other instrumentalists are somewhat shunned. We need more bands that share the credit with each other (i.e. Yellowcard, Jimmy Eat World, Underoath, Mae, Thrice, Receiving End Of Sirens) because thats what makes good, genuine music.

I miss the long rock solos with the guitar “Rock” songs now are just 2 minutes long

travis barker needs to stop playing drums on every one of these new pop punk songs.. hes a great drummer but its all sounds to similar

I feel like Olivia is just still finding her own sound of the pop rock

Theres always four kinds of opinions” 1. “Wtf is this, 80s and 90s rock was just sooo much better🙄🙄🙄 posers” 2. “Meh, is alright not my style but i see how someone could like it” 3.”I LOVE IT😍😍” 4. (Doesnt actually like it) “Im so open minded why cant elistists enjoy this omg theyre gatekeepers you need to adapt”

I feel like the biggest "rock personas" now a days, are slowly getting the recognition they deserve. Bands like Palaye Royale, Grandson, and Greta Van Fleet all have outstanding rock sounds (some more heavily borrowed from classic sounds) and can stand the test of time to be influences for more actual rock talent. The fact that these famous rappers and even country artists want to Collab with rock musicians and even make their own rock albums stands to speak for itself. It's making a comeback and I for one can't wait to hear the new sounds we get. It shows that even major label hip hop artists and the like still appreciate some good old rock and roll and will bring it back to mainstream play imo. People see the ones they follow and glamorize so much liking bands they never heard of will usually cause more people to explore their favorite artists influences.

They have rock songs, but these are not rock artists. It's a fad, again

i hope when people get bored of the pop punk revival now they’ll pay more attention to other rock subgenres like grunge, noise rock, stoner rock, shoegaze, and bands that combine these elements, lots of rock bands/artists in the more underground scenes that are better than the ones charting today (mainstream artists) imo, just the same power chordy stuff and with travis barker on drums lol. and i think the good bands and artists today will experiment and put a different spin on it like “Squid” listen to “Bright Green Field”

I feel like the reason why people don't like the "rock" of today is because we are used to seeing that genre as the "outlaws" very rebellious and hard and now that the world gets more soft, people will treat as something only cool kids will listen like right now kids listening to hip hop.

I'm personally excited to see Rock back into play. I've missed it. And I think trap and rap needs to calm down a bit and share some popularity with other genres.

I find rock music is always something that sort of comes and goes then returning again only to go away and return again. Its interesting to watch :P

I like Rina Sawayamas mix of rock and numetal in her music

I was born in 1998, but I really love the diversity of music in 2000's decade. Pop/Rock music was so huge back then. Kelly Clarkson, Third Eye Blind, Goo Goo Dolls, Michelle Branch, Avril Lavigne, P!nk are my favourite artists of all time. I really hope artists these days will make music that is inspired by those artists, but I rarely found them.

Country music nowadays is more rock than a lot of the so-called "rock" today.

Nu Metal finna make a comeback 😩😩

i almost feel like this is the “songs that remind you of better songs” era of music- and that’s kind of happening in all of popular music 😔

Pop punk / indie pop is definitely blowing up again. History repeats itself and I feel like its gonna get to the point where certain already established punk bands are gonna ditch the radio friendly poppy sound and go back to their mid 2000s sound, but better. Definitely a reach, but its a small gut feeling if mine.

There’s a lot of great original stuff being made consistently it’s just nobody’s listening to it

I think Willow is one of the few artists you mentioned that isn’t completely rehashing the tropes of pop punk like the others

Good 4 u isn't really a rock song, just got that one awesome drum break. It's still a breath of fresh air and sounds like nothing else on the radio now.

Olivia Rodrigo has never claimed to be a rock n roll artist. She has said many times that Taylor Swift is her idol and you can hear that in her lyrics. She’s said she listened to rock music growing up because of her parents so that’s where that ~influence comes from. She’s a teenager writing about how SHE FEELS. Just because it’s not “mature” like other said artist at her age doesn’t make it bad.

At this point, we need to support anything that has real instruments played in it.

Heavy shit is coming back...folks are too angry for pop. 😈

Really with Olivia Rodrigo wouldn’t expect to much rock (we got one single). She’s most likely gonna follow Taylor swift and lean more pop probably unless Dan is still her producer next album. If we even look at Demi lovato her first album was a pretty rock album and look at her now. Time will tell for sure.

there is a rock version of 'Say So' from Doja Cat and it just sounds so good and refreshing and I think that is not talked about it enough

I'm not surprised at the resergents of guitar driven rock. People love the electric guitar. People love to play them and listen to the instrument as well as live drums and real instruments.

I adore black midi! Those guys are a fantastic example of a band that's completely owning their own style while still drawing inspiration from their formers.

Honestly, I think the three songs that started this whole thing were 11 Minutes, I Think I’m Okay, and Take What You Want. While I enjoy 11 Minutes and I Think I’m Okay, I’d love to hear someone expand on the sound from Take What You Want.

I’ve said this before to many while having this conversation..it’ll be the young gen Z to bring rock back in some way. My daughter is 11 and loves Olivia Rodrigo and artist like that…she also grew up with rock music of the past and is very aware of that music (whether she’d like to admit it or not lol). I believe it’ll start now but will fully happen in her age group once they get a little older. I’m quite hopeful it’ll be more the spirit of what rock was really about.

Having an electric guitar in a song doesn't make it rock anymore than having a saxophone makes something jazz. Modern "rock" is pop with a guitar track.

Major problem = It is NOT rock

I'm conflicted on this because I'm also sick and tired of Trap and reggaeton here in South America. But for as much as I love artists like beabadoobie, the last thing we need is for MGK to have clones.

It’s because so many new “artists” can’t effing play. There are many reasons: lack of childhood musical education, no set of “A” venues to play and hone your craft, lack of contemporary musical role models, etc. It’s hard to compete as a rock artist with the greats of the past, whose music is still ubiquitous. No bands today can compete with Zep, Rush, etc. because there’s no place for them to get their chops together. It takes playing live every night for months on tour. You can’t get good playing live one weekend a month. If there are no “A” rooms to play, you can’t afford to tour. It sucks.

Nothing is new under the sun. Heavy Metal actually started with Beethoven. He just didn't have an electric guitar.

I'm just hoping this inspires more new artists to experiment with the rock sound and try out newer ideas. I'm 17 and I'm already getting tired of new music because I feel like I've heard it all already.

To be honest, I’m feeling really refreshed by listening to Måneskin. They do their own thing with 70s rock and I love that (and them)…

In my opinion, classic rock and any other classic genre they never goes out of style... If you want people love your artistic ability, be originality, no autotune, don't put unmelodic noisy to make it real music, just put the classic touch to your song... That's the secret of the beatles and queen. That's why people young and old love them.

Society will always chase nostalgia. The problem is since the 00s we have been bombarded with “too many choices” - by literally having access to all music at any time. This has created a scattershot version of music listeners who consume thousands of songs yearly without fully taking them in. Which eventually results in new artists who don’t even fully understand the music they are influenced by - rather just the surface level aesthetics. Even as a child of the early 90s I remember being forced to either listen to the radio, or MAYBE buying 1 album every month. That meant you had a lot more time to take in the music. And albums that were bought really got played. You learned the ins and outs of what made the record good. This changed when mp3s and file sharing became mainstream, although even CDRs and slow Internet had its limitations and still saw you focusing on a much narrower selection of music per year. Streaming eventually became what it is today and the rest is history. Dont get me wrong I love the fact that i can listen to any album (whether 30 years old or released in 2021). But ive def noticed the younger generations being formed by this fast-paced / move on to the next thing mentality. So it doesn’t shock me that up and coming “rock” artists dont really understand what made rock great and are just imitating aesthetics of it. While its worrying, ill take whatever i can get at this point. If any new artist wants to have guitar driven sounds - i am down. I dont mind Olivia Rodrigo (even if Paramore did it better a decade ago).

THANK YOU! I’ve felt that the new rock wave is very inauthentic. And I think you’re right it’s the source of the music that drives it.

Also, adding in adding an "really cool edgy" electric guitar loop in the track does not make it rock music either.

This chat is full of people who apparently haven’t heard Band Maid. Listen to their new album “Unseen World” (or virtually anything they’ve done), and you’ll hear great hard rock music. Fantastic compositions, some quite proggy, that combine high technical skill and great vocal harmonies. As a long time fan of classic rock i consider them the best rock band out now. IMO of course.

I kinda thought this was “The Punk Rock MBA” for a second due to the thumbnail. Not sure if that was intentional so ppl that know of Finn would click it. Nonetheless you got me to click and you have some great content. I shall subscribe and continue to peep your work. Keep it up my man 💯

Despite i overall enjoy the rock-inspired music from the 90's and 00's is making a comeback due to nostalgia, it feels weird at times. Looking at it from a sociocultural POV, rock, (pop)-punk and nu-metal was popular in the 00's but it wasn't the music of the cooler kids in high school and college. Nowadays it feels that the popular artists are just trying to cash in on the succes and creativity those alternative scenes had back in the day.

I’ve dreamed of Rock coming back to the mainstream radios but I just want these new artists to get it right like all the last decades we had it. I hope the comeback will show people how much they have missed out of in music

Disagree on this one. I feel that if the internet was around back then and we had access to how much music that didn’t quite “make it” we would realize how much music was straight up copied and taken from other artist. As you mentioned Led Zepplin, who ALOT of their early hits were straight up stolen from other artist. I feel like if we had the ability to get exposer to the bands that got ripped off, we would have wrote off Led Zeppelin and not let them evolve into the artist that they could be. Music has also been copied and is very similar and I feel that the rock community gets hung up a little too much on who copied who and who sound like who and is why the genre is being held back where we should be supporting these artist even if they aren’t “reinventing the wheel” where as I feel this importance of having to be “cutting edge” really isn’t seen in a lot of genres.

Look at other country. Rock is not just English.. 🤦.. Japan, Mexico, Spain, Indonesia, and other non English speaking country have better ROCK music.. hahaha

What about måneskin? They’re a rock band that have gotten really popular recently.

2000's was great. SO much variety in mainstream music. In the early 10's rock got reduced to indie/pop rock, then just pop, and that pop turned into trap. On the last 2 years or so pop started to become good again, and rock is making a comeback since a year ago. I feel like Olivia is doing because she likes it, if it goes this way, with artists doing it because they want to and appreciate the genre it's gonna be great. I don't think it got to the point that it's too mainstream that everyone has to do it, altough we saw it for sure. However, if it does then I hope that's not all we'll getting. I hope new artists and hopefully bands do it great and not getting it just because who did it was famous before, unless it's done well like Miley for example.

I feel like the worst thing you can do as a rock fan is try and devalue the new rock artists that are once again making tracks that will define persons adolescence. This could just be the beginning of a new wave and we should let these artists flesh out their sound before moving on the new ones. I love early 2000s rock and pop but my god was a lot of it really stupid and derivative. Rather than just looking for ways to pick it apart I want to support it!

What you're saying about how diverse pop was in the late 2000s, I'd argue it last till 2012, personally, is absolutely right. Rock music was being incorporated into pop music. And it was awesome. I think what we're seeing right now is that kids from that era are kinda missing their Hannah Montana and other tween rock that they had started to think of as "kid stuff".

Rock music is alive and well in Australia

The Pretty Reckless came with an incredible album in February but did not receive enough attention…

Rock is an essentially masculine genre. And masculinity is considered brutal by definition these days. Sad.

Interesting vid! I've swum within the R&B and new age pop pool for about 3 years now. I ditched most of my rock/alt/punk music after I finished high school but lately I've been revisiting those tracks and I'm surprised that a lot of people I know are starting to listen to some rock stuffs too. So yeah, it's completely unexpected but interesting to see as well.

It would be great if rock does experience a resurgence in the West. I've been getting by with Japanese rock over the past few years. Rock never really went out of fashion in Japan and continues innovating rather than sticking to nostalgia. But though there are some truly excellent current Japanese bands, they don't seem to have much of an impact outside of Japan.

In Oliver Rodrigo’s case in her defence it’s her debut album so hopefully she can grow from that. If she’s still doing the same thing in 3 albums time then …..

Yeah, agreed. I don't have anything new to add to the conversation but this current rock "revival" feels more heavy on pop-rock, which isn't bad but not what I'm looking for currently. Plus, it feels more for style purposes or mainstream aesthetic rather than genuine interest or effort on the part of the artists or performers. However, there are some great rock acts but they're more underground, waiting to be discovered. Which I'm not that upset by anymore. I wish more people will learn about certain acts whether they're domestic or international. However, I feel becoming more popular could ruin them to an extent. I'm conflicted.

I want raw energy and emotional rock like grunge era and heavy metal era, performing organically without boundaries or fear to be rejected by people without taste or style.

One thing I have to say: I LOVED the edm phenomenon in the early 2010's and I prefer that over trap and hip-hop by a mile, Avicii is literally the synonym to my childhood.

I really want for Royal Blood to finally have the world recognition they have long deserved. I've been a fan since I heard "Lights Out" in 2017, their first song that I had listened to, these guys are underrated and that makes me really sad.

Very well said! As someone who has noticed the absence of mainstream rock in the last 10-odd years, it is exciting news to hear it's coming back, however I understand the concern on nostalgia vs originality. There have been songs that have come out that feel like one-off homages to the past, almost like the main selling point is just nostalgia, meanwhile other tracks feel fresh, even when they do sound kind of retro, so as you said, it becomes its own new entity. Let's hope this is only just the beginning, and our concerns will dissipate once we start getting a lot more fresh sounds!

Listen to Greta Van Fleet, especially their new album! Best concerts I’ve ever seen and they have to be some of the most talented rock artists working today

You can say rock is making a come back, but no mainstream artists nowadays can make anything even close too what rock used to be from way back in the 70s all the way to 2010s rock. It will always have a pop vibe what these “comeback” artists do

You should check out the Finnish rock band Blind Channel, they were in Eurovision this year too and their sound is pretty interesting since they mix heavier music with a lot of different elements especially from the mainstream ;)

Can not wait until Trap Rap is gone forever.

Just because you use electric guitar doesnt mean you are true rock

If one of the new pop punk leaders is Machine Gun Kelly, I don’t like where it’s going….

I don't think this new style of rock music will become as popular as rap and pop, but it's still nice to hear artists like Olivia Rodrigo on mainstream radio stations rather than only alternative ones.

I have two major worries. One, that the instrumentation might have the super-minimalist pop treatment. Where everything becomes 4/4 four chords garbage with (mostly, very non nuanced lyrics which lack any subtlety whatsoever). My second worry is that the sound might become watered down to fit the pop audience. Ultimately making more pop rather than rock music

As some body born in the mid 70s, and caught the late 80s / early 90s metal boom while still in adolescence, I'm thrilled to see rock being "rediscovered." Though the genre never really died in Europe, Latin America, or Asia, it seems here in the US analogous to an accident victim waking from a coma and learning to walk all over again. So though a lot of stuff may seem derivate to long-timers like myself, America is learning to rock again, all I can say is "baby steps!" Then again, there's always metal, there to lead the way and show us how to properly rock hard. But again, baby steps!