CRAIG GLAZER: ROCK IS DEAD!!!

Quick note from our pal Craig puts the music scene in perspective and offers a unique overview of American pop culture from one of Kansas City media's power players. Checkit:

Craig Glazer: Why Did Rock N' Roll Die???

Well maybe its just ROCK or even Metal music. More so rock. If you are a 'boomer' you remember the 'British Invasion' of the 60's. The Beatles and groups like Dave Clark. Later super stars like The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. All gone and sadly many forgotten.
If you told me in the 70's or 80's that rock would soon be dead I would have never believed it.

What the hell happened? Yes hip-hop and rap took over in the early 80's and for another decade plus there was rock, urban and of course country battling it out on radio and at theaters and concert halls.
Rock had so many songs that delivered a message. "Come on people smile at each other."."Give peace a chance"...and thousands of love songs as well as 'feel good' music.' Young people had their 'summer songs' ..."the younger girl keeps a rolling past my mind"...tops down on the cars..kids pounding out the beat on the cars dashboards and seats...smiles all around. Good times.

The world changed. Hip Hop brought us songs and sounds of violence and unrest, anger. Rap pretty much the same. The messages put out by the sounds of the 60's through the early 90's died out. Life seemed to get more complicated. Social media made everyone a judge and jury on everyone else and everything in their lives. We have our own songs and music picked out to be played by us not the radio. So radio fell hard and even MTV stopped playing music for the most part and went to movies and series, nothing to do with rock anymore.

We now live in a world filled with too much anger, hate and fear. Young people's opportunities are much more limited today, good jobs and pay are hard to find for the average person. Sure we all started out at minimum wage jobs but promotions and chances to start our own business were more available. Parents seemed to be more involved in kids lives and direction during the rock era. Today its too much every man for himself. Too many jobs place the young person in front of a computer hitting a keyboard all day in a cubical. Seems our largest young people's workforce are located in restaurants as waiters, bartenders or food servers. It was like that a few decades ago, but most moved upward and onward. Not so much today. So the joy of life and smiles has in many ways died out for too many young people. Less to smile and laugh about today. So who needs songs and music about love and the beach and world peace. The world got more violent and angry. Life seems just to hard for far too many young people today. Not all but most. Especially if you are not born into families with financial opportunities or a good two parent home. It's much more uphill and again not as much to cheer about.

So the message changed from a 'bright future' to a darker one. Make no mistake we all were worried about our futures in the rock era but there seemed to be more hope, people were nicer to each other. We communicated with our peers. Today not nearly as much. Why go out and socialize you can meet people on facebook or with the newest app. Not the same.

So its now 'bye bye Miss American Pie...drove my chevy to the levy but the levy was dry...and good ole boys drinking whisky and rye oh this will be the day that I die.." and rock has died. Me, I don't care for its replacement much. Sure there are still some talented singers and bands out there but far less. We see concerts today with music and stars from long ago...AC/DC sells out, we still hear about one more Rolling Stones concert with guys on stage in their 70's. All but two Beatles are gone. Man I sure miss those old days of sun, wind in my face and the radio playing uplifting songs of new found love and life. Where did it all go?
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