“The body of what we constitute as the standard rock act… is by and large, over”: Twisted Sister guitarist explains why he thinks rock music is dead
Is rock music dead? Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French certainly thinks so, citing the absence of young rockstars as a clear sign that the genre has lost its grip on the mainstream.
In a recent chat with Sean P. McKenna on Rimshots With Sean for Barstools & Bandtalk, French explains why he believes rock is no longer the cultural force it once was, saying [via Loudwire]: “People say to me, ‘What makes you say rock is dead?’ Well, here’s my take on that. When I was 17 years old back in 1969, all my heroes – Beatles, Stones, Who, Zep, Floyd, Hendrix, Dylan, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane; you name it, you name ‘em all – none of them were older than 27.”
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“Now think about this for a second. The greatest rock artists in the history of the world, when I was 17, were no older than 10 years [older] than me. Most of them were 25 to 27. Well, I say, name me a 27-year-old rock star right now. And nobody can name one.”
“So when you tell me, ‘Rock isn’t dead.’ Man. It’s all over the place.”
French adds that while rock bands still exist, their influence on mainstream culture has waned significantly.
“I’m not saying that there are no rock bands. I’m just saying that the collective psyche that dictates current music trends and sociological impact of music, it’s not showing up in the rock world in terms of mass acceptance.”
He continues, “What is showing up in the music world? Hip-hop, huge. Country, huge. Female pop artists, huge. You can rattle off 20 rappers under the age of 25, you can rattle off 20 female pop singers under 25, you can rattle off country artists by the ton. You’re not rattling off rock musicians.”
“It doesn’t mean, clearly, that no one’s creating it. It just means that the body of what we constitute as the standard rock act – two guitars, bass drums, lead singer, blah, blah, blah, blah – is, for the most part, by and large, over.”
Rather than lamenting rock’s decline though, French sees it as part of music’s natural evolution: “I don’t look at it and go, ‘Oh, why can’t it come back?’ I go, you had a 55-year run. I mean, hell, what doesn’t have a 55…? Big Band had a 20-year run and jazz had a 20-year run. They had 20-year runs. Disco had a seven-year run. Then it all kind of comes as a niche product.”
“Does it mean disco’s not around? No, disco’s around for certain people who like to listen to disco music,” he says. “You can find the channel and listen to it all day long, but it’s not impacting the world. Same thing with jazz and classical music. It’s always gonna sell, there’s always gonna be a body of people out there buying it – wonderful – but the youth of America is not absorbing it and saying, ‘This is reflective of who we are.’”
Similarly, Gene Simmons, a vocal advocate of the “rock is dead” camp, recently pointed not only to the lack of new icons who can rival the legendary status of The Beatles but also blamed the genre’s decline on “freckle-faced kids” who feel “entitled to be able to download and file share and get all of this music for free.”
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