So where does Rock n Roll go from here? Neil Young famously sang “Rock and roll will never die” from his hit song My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) and it became a big hit in 1979. And by the 2000s, rock appeared to be on its last legs. I know I was shocked. But generations happen. What parents liked, their kids are sure to find something else.

But we who grew up as Boomers were certain that rock was universal, full of swagger, protest and amazing diversity; after all, the Who or the Rolling Stones couldn’t be any more different than Jackson Browne or Joni Mitchell. It encompasses such a wide swath.

My kids grew up in the 1990s, nurtured on the sounds of Clapton, Santana, Grateful Dead and a whole lot more. They even became fans of the Beatles, Steely Dan and Simon & Garfunkel. Gradually, I could see them pulling away and beginning to develop their own tastes which did not include a lot that I was interested in.

Of course! After all, in my teens I didn’t buy albums by Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald or Frank Sinatra (although that has changed a bit, ahem ahem). In the early 1960s, I was fascinated by the electric guitar sounds of the Ventures and later the Beach Boys. Since my friends and I were all Long Island beach boys, spending our summers basking in the sun and riding the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, this was a natural. But then something happened. The British Invasion arrived after the Beatles crashed our shores. And that was the game changer.

Rock music continued its evolution into revolution as the 1960s grew darker and more violent. So there was a social construct to it all and naturally, we all assumed it would never end. And then it did.

I watched amazed as my kids turned away from guitar-driven rock to their own tastes in rap, synth and alt. My son is a professional musician so of course, he took things to a whole other level and he is a devotee of math rock and many other musical forms. My daughter loves Incubus as well as Arctic Monkeys.

So it has become more evolution, less revolution, but it’s a whole less rock. And that’s cool because each generation pushes the envelope in different directions. Sometimes, the needle spins in the opposite direction or it creates a new sound or genre. As we all know, rap and hip hop started bouncing around since the 1970s and were steadily growing when rock was flourishing. Alt rock, emo, and many other musical labels have come along. (Pop is a universal which always remains yet it, too, is subject to cultural moods and shifts).

And I have changed too. As rock became harder to find (outside of new releases by old bands and classic rock), I found myself seeking out the Rock Blues category and I have made major discoveries, from BB King, Bonnie Raitt and Buddy Miles to Alvin Lee, Gary Moore (the latter two were guitarists in great 1970s and 1980s bands who began pushing the Blues envelope) to Joe Bonamassa and Gary Clark Jr.

I now have a small but great collection of blues on my playlist which encompasses Delta Blues, Texas Blues, Chicago Blues. I have discovered great new groups that cross over and combine blues with a blended southern rock sound, one of my favorite musical sounds (Allman Brothers, anyone?) Groups like Blackberry Smoke, Robert Jon & the Wreck, Black Pumas and a whole lot more.

So Neil, I don’t know if rock died, transformed, morphed or what. I just know I no longer play my vinyl from the 60s, 70s, 80s as much as I once did. I still play selected albums or CDs now and then. Just the other day, the phrase, “Help, I need someone” came rushing into my head from out of nowhere and pretty soon I was listening to the Beatles Help album for the first time in probably 30 years. That is the gift of music. But more often, I am discovering new blues artists.

Oh and one more thing. There is nothing like putting on Someday by Louis Armstrong, I’ll Be Seeing You (swing version) by Sinatra or anything by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. Music does not flow in a straight line. But it flows, baby, it flows.

Chris Ebel
10/5/21

Image credit: @duchesssa