I have to say that after today’s class discussion, I really have to take a hard look at my views of what exactly makes up rock and roll. You’ll find little opposition when arguing that a song like “Twist and Shout” or My Generation” is a “rock and roll” song. What makes them rock songs is their upbeat, energetic style, their “dancability,” and their crazy attitude. To give an example from our class discussion, I bring up the Decemberist’s The Crane Wife. Now, I personally love this album, I consider it to be musically and lyrically innovative, and fun to listen to. I also always considered it “rock,” or at least “alternative,” without thinking twice.
However, now I’m not so sure. One must ask, is rock still what it always was, or have the huge innovations in music over the past 50 years or so changed the very definition of rock? Getting back to The Crane Wife, for one who is familiar with the album, I could perhaps consider O Valencia, The Perfect Crime #2, and When the War Came to be “rock” songs in that they are noticeably more up-tempo and up-beat than the others (The Shankill Butchers, Sons and Daughters.)
What I’m trying to say is that I believe that rock has become so popular that it is automatically given the label of encompassing almost all forms of popular music today. This leads to the inevitable question that I cringe to hear, is rock dead?
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