by Nathan Cozad

Created on: February 02, 2007   Last Updated: May 12, 2007

When we are asked about the problems with contemporary trends in rock music, who is asking? Is it the youth of today? Probably not. Until they've reached their mid-teens, many don't know what happened in music in the previous ten years, and they're used to the songs they hear on the radio. Perhaps it is the middle-aged rock critic, trying to hold onto the goodtimes party rock of his own early years. But maybe he shouldn't be complaining either.

Music evolves, forever changing into new forms. New sounds, genres, and styles are presented to listeners every year. Although the changes may be small, and seemingly unnoticable in short segments of time, the bigger picture reveals how different things can become. On the other hand, the listener doesn't change. Society, technology, and pace changes from year to year, but the listener will still have the same feelings, and music speaks to these feelings.

Now, concerning the topic at hand, music, most importantly, REVOLVES. Bubble gum pop artists fade as psychadelic rock rules. Rock takes a back seat as disco and crossover country of the late 70's and early 80's takes the scene. Underground rockers emerge from the sea of Flock of Seagulls hair-dos, stumbling a little through glam metal phases, eventually taking the world by storm again in the late 80's with bands like Guns'n'Roses, moving on into the 90's grunge era. Although the rap-rock phase of the mid to late 90's fell short of it's potential, and more bands followed the rough, nasal-driven sound of Eddie Vedder than should have, the new millinium has seen some revivals of great, guitar-driven rock.

With each revival of great rock, it seems that there is always a great guitar savior leading the way. Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Dickey Betts, Kirk Hammett, Slash, Kurt Cobain, and on to Jack White. These guitarists, who many believe are some of the greatest of all time, all played during times of sub-par rock. But they brought something different to the table.

You may not hear as much of the good stuff on the radio as you should, but that is nothing new. If you listen to Black Sabbath's first eight albums, you'll never want to hear Paranoid or Ironman again. The same goes with The White Stripes. You may have heard of them, but it isn't likely that you heard their music on the radio. And if you did, it's nothing compared to what you will get on the rest of their records. This has been happening for years. One of the easiest found examples is to buy a Billboard Top

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