Is Rock dead?

With the closure after my band's one and only show at the Club St B, and another closure just months ago, I am really starting to worry about the state of music in this fair city. I keep being told it is dying by music legends, and see the preponderances of the removal of all traditional instruments on commercial radio... has rock actually died.

I have vehemently denied it's death throes. How can rock die. Rock is honest. Rock is emotional. Rock is memories. There is so much about rock that makes the world go round.

As we reach out as a society, we are becoming far more insular in our interactions with each other. The more spread we put in our wings, the smaller we make the world, the less we talk.

A rock show is a community event. People from different walks of life, different interests, different backgrounds all congregate together to unify in a way that is almost religious. We raise our fists and shout, we sing along, air guitar or air drums. We whistle, we clap. It's a mass consciousness as everyone stands in front of the music and becomes one.

Is it the insular nature of our society that dictates that maybe we should just stay home. We can watch the live stream from home. I can stay in my pajamas and not have to deal with anyone. And then immediately thereafter I can critique the show I didn't actually go to, that I watched from home while I was distracted by a million other things, like Twitter, Facebook and texts.

When you are at a show, you are watching the show. As an audience, you actually take part in the show. You become the show. As much as you give to the band, that feedback goes back out to you in a circular pattern.

But now the snake seems to be eating it's own tail.

Is rock dead? No, not it's not. It is lying dormant. What is dying is the old method of community. What is missing is conversation. What is dying in the old societal norms.

Rock needs to learn to adapt. Maybe how we put on rock shows is not the way to do it. Maybe we need to do something else. After all, good music is good music.

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