Problem is no new guitar players/bands emerge to take the place of the older ones.
And the ones that do are as the article says are obscure. All music now if it is popular is not played with real instruments but synthesized....even country is not real country anymore and it too is becoming more synthesized. Like pop. And Hip Hop/Rap is what's referred to as "music". There are some bands around current that I know about like Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis(look up on you tube, a family act)) that play real instruments but they will never get mainstream success and do a style like blues from the Mississippi delta. Sad. Radio will never play it. Except for us. We are the saviors of rock and keeping it alive and on the radio with our mini coverage stations. Rock is alive and well, with us. My station is probably the ONLY one in North America that plays Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis. The "real" music is still there if you look hard to find it.
Also check out this act that is current that few know about:
Also check this, sadly they will never be known to many.......
I'm always of two minds regarding these threads.
I do prefer to listen to what I consider the greats of rock. It is sad that we're going to start losing them.
I grew up listening to these artists when they were in their primes, and that type of music was predominant. As far as I'm concerned, music started going downhill in the 90s.
However, that doesn't mean that the music of today has no value. I don't put down today's youth for listening to it. There are still gems hidden among the chaff. It seems to me that that was the case even back in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Remember Ohio Express (Yummy Yummy Yummy I've Got Love in My Tummy), Bread (a seemingly endless cycle of similar sounding hits), 1910 Fruitgum Company (Simple Simon Says), etc. etc. There's always been crap, and there's always been the good stuff.
It's all a matter of perspective.
I suspect that there are tons of streaming stations playing the classic rockers. Maybe not over-the-air radio so much, but times are changing. I like the fact that Part 15 stations can play stuff that won't be heard, at least over the air, anywhere else.
The good thing is that today there are so many listening choices. If you look, you can find pretty much anything you want.
Maybe in 20 years, those same Part 15 stations will be playing the hits of today, as radio and music will have moved on to something else. Maybe even back to jazz or classical.
"Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny." - Frank Zappa
I myself feel a deep responsibility to preserve this sacred Genre of music.
When we talk Rock we're talking anything from Motown to Oldies to Real Album Rock (Not Classic Hits).
The RIAA has been trying since 1984 to dumb music down into 3 genres with Rap being the biggest enemy of Rock because after 1984 a certain group of people rushed MTV for not playing Earth Wind And Fire among other artists that didn't meet the Album Rock scene. At that time MTV was a huge promoter of the Album Rock scene and even aired concerts.
After 1984 many of those stations caved because they were afraid of lawsuits so their genre to cover this issue went to Pop, Top 40, Raptree, Rap. Album Rock had a slam in the face closure of that chapter on regular Radio until some years later where some stations did start to re air it in the form of an HD sub channel almost no one could get unless they were 10 miles from a 100 KW station due to the faulty characteristics of IBOC.
Fear not there are some like myself working very Hard to bring back true Album Rock because there are newer artists not about to die and Rock is being created as we speak but blocked from USA Radio stations. Canada is a place where Album Rock is alive and well and The Legacy has experienced HIGH DOLLAR donations from Canadian folks because of our stance to preserve this genre. Soon we will wither have a second AM transmitter in Deltaville to make our signal stronger all over town or we will be using neutral injection carrier current to force a signal into the power lines so that otherwise deaf AM Radio's sold to the unsuspecting folks in the USA who's Radio may otherwise require a 50,000 Watt station to be 15 miles from them to receive. Because radio's like the Directed Electronics Radio, some of the newer Radio's you see at Wall mart you need to have almost 5 uV for the Radio to receive you. This would require a 30 Watt carrier current transmission to be injected to make their Radio hear you. But we are up to the challenge.
Internet Streaming of our station and hard promotion with signs and a false WiFi signal saying The Legacy 1640 AM is used sort of like advertising out station. We have to re teach the young and if they accidentally hear some Good Rock they may listen in curiosity thinking all of what The Legacy is playing is new. Truth is we play anything from Porcupine Tree (New Progressive) to King Crimson. And our No Repeat Month is another tactic to teach the young and re teach the old what they've forgotten as well as the new artist they didn't know existed.
Hard Work but it has to be done to save Rock Music.