The fate of rock and roll isn’t dead and buried, it’s totally in our control.
It’s not uncommon to hear that rock and roll is dead. And while the glory days of Zeppelin and Bowie are long gone, the new generation of music listeners aren’t totally oblivious to the genre and its heroes.
“Old souls” aren’t hard to find. In fact, Gen-Z kids will be the first to tell you they grew up listening to different branches of rock in their parent’s cars, or hear it on TikTok every day.
Nowadays, it seems like pop music is running the show. And while that is partly true as it’s the genre that’ll win you the most Grammy Awards and get you the most radio streams, that doesn’t mean that all hope is lost for rock and roll. In fact, according to Genius, Rock accounted for 44% of all physical album sales and 30.8% of digital album sales. In comparison, Hip-hop and R&B only accounted for 12.3% and 16.2%.
With the rise of TikTok, Social Media platforms are putting a variety of genres in the spotlight. According to Spotify’s 2021 research, 34% of Gen Z says they first discover new music when they hear it on social media. And I’m sure I hear Bowie’s ‘Starman’ on my “For You” Page every day.
Not only is rock staying alive, but the old ways of listening to it are too. RIAA reported a 94% increase in vinyl sales in 2021, and Genius accounted that Queen’s ‘Greatest Hits’ and The Beatles’ ‘Abbey Road’ were two of the highest-selling physical albums. Both of those albums, including ‘Rumors’ by Fleetwood Mac, were in the top 10 best-selling vinyl albums.
So you can thank your lucky stars that the funeral for rock and roll you might’ve planned has been canceled indefinitely.
But in order to keep the genre alive and breathing, we can’t limit ourselves to solely listening to the Greats. You can stream The Doors as much as you want, it won’t revive Jim Morrison. So how do we keep rock moving forward? Supporting new artists of the genre, and yes, they exist. New bands aren’t hard to find on social media. Start seeking them out and listening to their music. You’ll be surprised by what you can find just from a 5-minute search on TikTok. And give the bigger artists like Greta Van Fleet and boygenius, who are breathing new life into the genre, a go.
The worst thing that you can do as a music fan is limit yourself. There’s a whole world of rock and roll out there that’s yours for the taking, so why lock yourself in a box when you have the key? The more we support current artists, the more rock will grow, and the genre’s heart monitor will continue to beep.
The future of rock is not a funeral, so put down the flowers and grab your headphones. Because let’s face it, rock and roll, the most impactful music genre that has been around for decades, will never truly die.
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