Deluge said:
Controversial statement, but I think guitar based music in general has lost relevance. I wouldn't know about Metal (the only Metal band I listen to these days is Parkway Drive) but it's definitely the case with "alternative" rock which has been the dominant form of guitar music for the last 25 years. There's always a place for great songwriting but great songwriting is hard to come by even among very popular artists. Even the recent rock music that's actually sounded fresh has only done so by borrowing heavily from past sounds that have faded out of view and/or from "world music" *cough Arcade Fire cough*. Electronic music has taken over slowly but surely whether it be hipsters listening to Grimes or David Guetta on the Top 40.
Gene Simmons was right when he said rock was dead, at least in the mainstream.
When I was growing up, up until the last say 2-3 years, there was always some sort of rock music that was getting mainstream exposure.
Back in the late 90s to early 2000s you had nu-metal, pop punk, and alternative rock bands with their buzz ballads. There was also white boy whine rock bands like Creed and such.
After that there was the retro rock thing with bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes.
Indie rock bands like The Black Keys and Arcade Fire started getting exposure after that.
Now, I can't think of anything sort of rock music that's getting mainstream exposure except for bands that were big back in the day getting by with the nostalgia factor and also with their hardcore fan base. Kids these days aren't listening to bands or instrumental music. Now it's all about R&B, dubstep, EDM, pop, hip hop...basically pretty much any music that doesn't involve someone playing an instrument. When I was a teen other people were talking about going to Ozzfest and other big rock tours, now it's all about these electronic music festivals where girls dress like neo-hippies.
