As far as I'm concerned there are three simple commandments to the modern American experience, and those are sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.
These tenets may be simple to point out from an outside perspective, but instead of pondering their moral ambiguity or the consequence of living in a material culture, today I've set out to answer the question: What is rock 'n' roll in a modern context?
Facing a generation weaned on "gangsta" rap and auto tuned pop, the modern listener's ability to answer this question will determine whether rock 'n' roll is able to live another century as a prolific genre or is destined to fade out and away.
In my own listening experience the majority of hip-hop has never rung true. Sure NWA and Public Enemy had a message to their music and an intense way of expressing it, but to artists lately it's been all about the bling, the sneakers and fancy cars. What does this have to do with rock 'n' roll? Everything! The same trend that has followed hip-hop -- this transition from an emphasis on the music to the lifestyle that results from it -- is the same trend that has faced rock 'n' roll.
The development of this aesthetic idea over a musical one, starting with Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground in the '70s, has driven the fragmentation of what is known as rock 'n' roll today. This very fragmentation between music and aesthetic is going to have to be compromised in some fashion if the listener wishes to understand rock music.
Now let me pose a question: Are Ray-Bans and tight jeans rock 'n' roll? Your answer to this question is going to vary based on musical experience. If you are able to identify who Metro Station is, you are much more likely to answer yes to this question.
If you're one of the privileged thirty-years-or-older age group, you're much more likely to answer no. Making a massive cultural generalization, I'm going to say that the older folk got it right and that Ray-Bans and tight jeans are not rock 'n' roll, because rock 'n' roll is music. Rock 'n' roll, according to my esteemed professor Steve Mooney, is "the musical expression of a cultural ideology."
Of course, this varies from generation to generation, but what of ours? As the post-millenial fragmenting of the rock genre continues, will this generation have any music to call its own? I say this because since the formation of this music there've been universal experiences, bands and songs that have defined these musical generations.
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.