The History of Rock Music: The 2010s

The Facebook generation

Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street

The similarities with the Sixties do not hold up because social media took the place that used to be of folk, blues and rock music. The political lyircs of protest songs were never particularly good: it is just that in the Sixties, when the media were controlled by the Establishment, music was the only channel to vent popular anger and get organized. Since the first Chuck Berry hit, rock music became the social media of the time. In the 2010s social media like Facebook and Twitter were far more effective at discussing social matters than the vastly dispersed music business. Rock and hip-hop musicians were more likely to engage in promoting "causes", especially universal ones, for which social media were still widely inadequate.

The skills generation(surfing, skating, acrobatic bikinh, videogames) was followed by the generation of no skills (skydiving)

TV no longer a social event but a solo event

We are transitioning from the age of broadcast (in which there was a tiny minority of creators and remixers (media that broadcast the creation) and a huge majority of spectators) to the age of self-expression, in which there will be a huge majority of creators asnd remixers.

Death of the record store

Tyler wrote

That's something that I think is so interesting about the advent of the Internet. Kids who otherwise wouldn't have exposure to bands like The Velvet Underground can become exposed to them at fairly young ages - I heard White Light/White Heat at 11 or 12, and Trout Mask Replica at 12, et cetera. Same goes with films, what with Netflix and such. Most kids my age have instant (or almost instant) access to the complete works of Fellini, Bergman, Herzog, Godard...it's minboggling. It will be interesting to see what kind of creative output my generation puts out as a result. I know I listen to a pretty wide scope and breadth of music, but I imagine there are kids my age who listen to double or triple that. Imagine what kind of music they'll make 10 years from now!

Index of the History of Rock Music