What do you guys think About MODERN ROCK/PUNK ?

Cheek! Old? I'm a mere 46.

IMHO, you have to keep up with what's going on in the world. I have Led Zeppelin Remastered on the CD player as I type, and I'm surrounded by 3 classical and one accoustic guitar, my keyboard and my son's bass, a couple of amps. I don't think you have to sell out to sell records either, there are lots of independent labels these days (more than ever before) and you can flog your own material through any number of websites; making the Internet pretty close to the anarchic spirit of punk.

Not sure about Greenday, though. You cannot play to 60,000 people on a purpose-built stage in Milton Keynes and still remain true to the spirit. You can play to 60,000 people at Glastonbury and still be pure, so I guess it's a matter of getting the balance right. Most modern punk bands don't really comment on the political situation; The Offspring talk about current affairs on a mere two tracks per album and think that keeps the spirit of punk going, Good Charlotte and Blink 182 were a bit lightweight, and it was really left to Greenday to carry the flag. The trouble is that Greenday became too popular, and middle class kids realised they could go and see them in concert, say "F**k" a lot and not get told off by their parents for doing so.

Out of the current collection of bands, Foo Fighters are probably the hardest hitting, and they've got a few more years in them yet. RHCP are still good; John Frusciante has got to be one of the planet's leading guitarists. Herman Li (Dragonforce) is awesome, but absolute shredding speed destroys passion. Muse are excellent, again it's a matter of personal opinion. Personally, I like Rammstein and Die Toten Hosen too. And aren't System Of A Down on Sony? I don't notice them holding back (couldn't get tickets to see SOAD, they'd sold out the whole tour). For the record, I saw Foo Fighters at Earls Court in 2005, and Muse at Wembley in 2006.

Out of the "Classic" rockers, Hendrix and Page will always be up there, so will Angus, Eric Clapton (although I can't figure out why) and Jeff Beck. Brian May gets forgotten far too quickly and Alex Lifeson never got the exposure (I've seen Rush three times). Dave Gilmore gets a lot of votes round here, Gary Moore doesn't. You have to move on though, and leave them behind in a time when they were great. I saw X-Ray Spex and The Clash in 1979 and they were phenomenal.

So, is it a sellout if you sign to a major label rather than stay with your indie label? Does getting your message to 7 billion people rather than 7,000 mean you're a fraud? I don't think so. What I do think is you're not looking hard enough for what you like, and you still haven't found what you're looking for (sorry - couldn't resist).

Best,

A :-)

you sound like a music journalist alan :roll:

Ha ha - I deny it. I am just a humble lawyer.

A :-)

New music huh....

Well over the last year or so, I've seen - on TV - or heard Arctic Monkeys, Fratellis, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand and a few other bands who have all had RAVE reviews in the papers....I wouldn't say any of them were rubbish, they're pretty decent musicians, just that they didn't do anything for me...nothing special, anyway....about the only ones who did impress were Kasabian.....

But maybe that's just me, most of the music I listen to comes from the 60's and 70's, or is played by bands who were around then....Stones, ZZ Top, Status Quo....

One thing that has impressed me, though, about all of the above bands is how good they sounded playing live as opposed to on the radio....

Must admit though, I did love "I predict a riot" by The Kaiser Chiefs.....

There was another song I heard a while back, called "Valerie" - not sure who it was by, anyone know?

:D :D :D

Vic

This is the perfect thread to pimp a band I've fallen in love with: My Morning Jacket. They're right up the modern rock alley. Give them a listen, and you may very well be pleasantly surprised. Their studio albums "It Still Moves", "At Dawn", and "Z" are all great.. and the live "Okonokos" is a good starter, too.

They harken back to an older time in music, I think. While at the same time remaining fresh. They sound like Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and some other bands, yet have a distinct sound, too.

They're from Kentucky, but they've definitely don't have a geographic-specific sound, on some songs they do have a southern-roots vibe, ie: Allman Brothers or Skynyrd.

Check them out. I had almost lost my faith in modern music until I heard these guys.

My Morning Jacket, huh? Well four albums released, they must be doing something right.....or somebody likes them....

Southern Rock did OK in the UK, Skynyrd, Allmans, Little Feat all did well over here.....

:D :D :D

Vic

There was another song I heard a while back, called "Valerie" - not sure who it was by, anyone know?

If the song you mean is the one I am thinking of, it is by The Zutons :)

Pete

My Morning Jacket, huh? Well four albums released, they must be doing something right.....or somebody likes them....

I have much pull in the music industry :D

Thank you guys , for such a great replies , and Thx to Alan Green, you do sound like music journalist :) hehe !

I do switch over to the "New Rock" station now and then. Don't stay there long, because most of it doesn't float my boat. My wife got the new Chris Daughtry CD the other day. Bored me. Sounds like what they play on the "New Rock" radio. But my kids bring in stuff that I really like, except for the rap crap.

is that RAP with a silent C :?: :lol:

Al brought up Green Day, although from his comments, I can't tell if he likes them or not. ;) More popular than they used to be, definitely, but if you watch the DVD that comes w/ Bullet in a Bible, it's pretty clear to me that they take the music pretty seriously. (Although they take the business pretty seriously too I think, and maybe that turns some people off.) However, IMO, American Idiot is the best modern rock album I've bought in years (I am mostly a classic rock fan). Now whether or not you want to call them "Punk" any more, I guess you could argue that point. I don't much care if you call it punk or not, it's just good music to me. I actually bought a copy of American Idiot for my mother, kind of as a joke, but she ended up listening to it a lot. :shock:

I'm going to agree with Vic that a lot of modern artists just don't do a whole lot for me, even if they are really popular. I know a lot of the names, and have heard a lot of the songs, but they all sound pretty similar to me and don't really stand out a whole lot. Groups that I throw into this bucket are Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse, Angels and Airwaves, Fall-Out Boy.... Not to say they're bad, if they come on the radio / TV I'll listen, but, I dunno, they're all pretty standard pop songs. I'm not about to buy any of their CDs.

Modern rock that I like enough to shell out for is more along the metal lines, and for some reason mostly female-fronted bands. Evanescence, Lacuna Coil, and Nightwish I listen to fairly regularly. There are some other groups that I listen to that are "modern" in that they have CDs released fairly recently, but they still sound more of a classic rock sound. Robert Randolph and the Family band are pretty good soul / blues / rock. I saw a clip of Robert Randolph doing Voodoo Chile w/ Rob Thomas on vocals and it was freakin sweet. Did I mention Randolph plays lap steel? cool stuff. I also like James McMurtry's last CD "Childish Things". This (along w/ American Idiot) is not a CD to listen to if you like Bush. Here are the lyrics to We Can't Make it Here Anymore. I was going to post a link to the mp3 (they used to have it freely available on the site), but it looks to be gone now. However, he does have a MySpace page with a few songs on it.

When it's all said and done, though, I still find myself listening to a heck of a lot of SRV, Hendrix, and Clapton. :lol:

TZ

I'm one of those ... ahem ... old guys. I listen to a lot of indie and new stuff, as well as the old. For the bands named above, most of you are hearing only what makes it to the public airwaves, so you may be missing the best and most unique, as it's already been culled for the mass market. And that's the insidiousness of iTunes and other pay-per-tune music services. Few are buying the whole collection and hearing the rest of the picture. Quite often, it's the best part.

I also remember very distinctly that most music listeners thought the 70s was a totally wasted decade for music -- nothing good, unique, new, profound ...

Robert Randolph is a fabulous musician!