The Greatest Show on Earth
By: Gaby
“Rock rock till you drop”,
or that is until the last rock club / pub calls time and closes it’s doors for the
last time, leaving you with little more to do but to remove your ear plugs, grab a greasy
chicken burger or kebab and take the long drive home where we can once again blow the dust
off our old Rock LP’s and get a stylus on the vinyl. Is it me or has there been a
huge decline over the years in live rock music venues and bands alike?
There was a time back in the
good ole days of the 70’s and 80’s (and I’m not talking about Disco) when
going to see a band meant quite a huge choice of venues and an endless stream of rock band
wanabes, but since then the decline in interest seems to be very noticeable.
So what was it that changed?
Have people become so boring and placid that the only way to get their rocks off is to
listen to someone else playing the records of so-called media induced and manufactured pop
records? Pap for the masses I call it.
Where have those hedonistic days of
Classic Rock and Punk gone? It seems to have disappeared before my eyes, leaving the
stadiums they have vacated under-nourished of some serious noise and rebellion. Has rock
music become nothing more than dinner party background music for 40 / 50 somethings? Have
we resigned ourselves to music television that offers 20 – 30 channels of the same
old boy/girl band dance infused chowder?
I think my views have been
shaped and sculpted over the years when I have imperceptibly noticed the same familiar
faces from one rock event to another, wherever those events may be. It becomes almost like
regular pilgrimages of sorts as we travel from one city venue to another seeking out the
gigs and bands that light our fire and drive our passion and sadly just as our wrinkled
heroes of old prance about the creaking stages of rock times past we too have become ever
older sedated by our regular fix of noise upon our haggard well abused ears.
Perhaps that’s the crux of
the matter. Perhaps with age comes respectability and responsibility and the music that to
us was once so anarchic and rebellious has sadly become the 21st century
version of easy listening much like Burt Bacharach, Henri Mancini and Barbara Streisand
were of days gone by. God help us if it has!
But if that’s really the
case, what’s taken Rock’s place? Silence is heard across the passionless
airwaves of commercial pop radio as perhaps we urgently need to sit back and take stock.
The arrival of so called
musical genres such as Nu-Metal, Grunge, Goth, Death Metal, Speed Metal has certainly
moved things along in the rock world from the days of Prog. Rock, Folk Rock, Glam Rock
& Psydelic Rock and has given us some interesting new twists and turns along the path
of heavier sounds. I welcome this but surly the bands that take centre stage in today’s
varied rock world are only copying the ideas and styles of bands of old. Ever get a
feeling of deja-vu?
Wearing masks and makeup is
nothing new, remember Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister and Kiss? Outrageous behaviour is also
nothing new and I’m sure Ozzy Osbourne, Nikki Stix and Axl Rose could lend a few
ideas and suggestions. Neither is it new to wear Spandex Leotards, care to remember David
Bowie, The Sweet and Slade.
So while we may well welcome
new bands onto the scene, a thought or two must always be given to the days of old when
everything was fresh, bright and heavy and maybe even recreate those times and moments
when we next get a chance to go and see a good Rock Covers or Tribute band lest we ever
forget that the good ole UK has always been a breeding ground for rock innovation and
invention copied as ever by the US who took rock to it’s outrageous and most
glamorous extremes of excess.
I have always thought that it’s
not the music that’s getting older, it’s us gang, and whilst there remains but a
few rock bolt holes left across the country, let’s let our hair down; should of
course we have any left, and try and support them and just maybe we too can introduce a
friend or two to what has to be; for me at least, the greatest show on earth.
You never know, the days of
hair metal stadia rock resurgence may be just around the corner and I for one will be
standing there with my walking frame be-decked with scarves in the front row! Remember
rock heads, you saw it here first!
Rock on Dudes & Dudettes!