Collegiate Times

To ponder the prospect of listening to "I Kissed A Girl" when I'm a geezer of 50 is just too much for me to take. Other generations, they've had their Beatles and Rolling Stones, they had "Stairway to Heaven," they've had Bruce Springsteen in Asbury Park, but what does this generation have? What it has seems to be a veritable cornucopia of artists masquerading in the image of rock 'n' roll, and in no way, shape or form the music.

Returning to the idea of a "cultural ideology," modern rock as I see it is an existing contradiction. The indie scene that exists inside this modern rock bubble centers on the aesthetic, going back to Lou Reed again in the '70s, and has taken center stage again. Instead of wearing make-up and glittered clothing however, these heralds of new rock come bearing skinny jeans and horn-rimmed glasses.

The music is suitably quirky to the aesthetic (see the new -- and less than stellar -- Weezer, Cold War Kids, Vampire Weekend) but in no way, shape or form could this be a true doppelganger for rock music.

If we focus on this aspect of "rock" in the context of the present, then we might as well proclaim the genre dead (which many writers before me have already attempted), so the key to finding good rock 'n' roll today boils down to one factor: the honesty of the music in expressing our cultural ideology.

In this respect the most honest band out there is The Hold Steady out of Minneapolis. Its record "Boys and Girls in America" pays tribute to rock of the past by focusing on those old storytelling methods for the future. Centering on life in the 21st century, the album is the strongest case I can find that rock 'n' roll in America is alive and kicking.

But The Hold Steady isn't the only evidence that America will preserve its greatest genre. The fact that artists such as Metallica and the Foo Fighters can sell out arenas across America bodes well for a future in which some of the best selling artists are Metro Station and We the Kings.

Looking around the modern music world, one might be inclined to fatalism. Instead of proclaiming, "rock is dead," the more suitable proclamation would be "rock is fragmented."

Across many divides, from the indie schlock to pop-rock to what can truly be considered contemporary rock 'n' roll, rock in the modern context is in pieces -- alive but separated. Only time will tell if the rock 'n' roll sensibility we've come to embrace will eventually bleed back into the music.

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