Let’s be real: in the recent past, rock music — specifically hard rock, punk, metal, and their many offshoots — has been relatively underground. Sure, huge bands like Guns N’ Roses and Foo Fighters have remained in the public eye their whole career, but even they have felt a level more entrenched than the average rap star or pop singer over the past decade. But while plenty of critics have often made the tired “rock is dead” argument, or wondered if rock will ever “reclaim its throne”, fans and artists within this community have been focusing on what’s important. If rock isn’t the flavor of the week, we’ve realized, then we have to work to make it happen.
Here are some signs of the oncoming arockalypse in 2020…
The MCR Reunion Was The Biggest Piece Of Music News This Year
In 2019, there was no news, so massive and widely commented, that My Chemical Romance announced its return to the scene. Not only fans turned the covers, but artists from all genres of music were grateful and excited. The fact that the band, which was initially regarded as the emo paragon, is returning to rapid universal applause, suggests that rock music is boiling under the surface of everyone’s mind – and now the volcano is erupting.
Modern HIP-HOP Stars Love Goth, Punk, And Metal
For many years, the story that many mainstream publications and critics have offered is what has clouded hip-hop. But this year, it has been proven that the next generation of rappers listened to a lot of music on the basis of a guitropic guitar. Artists such as Lil Uzi Vert, Ghostemane, SCARLXRD and the late Juice WRLD publicly share their love for artists such as Marilyn Manson and blink-182. All you have to do is watch Post Malone perform with Ozzy Osbourne to know that whatever the genre, the real recognizes the real.
Everyone’s Talking About MÖTLEY CRÜE
Think about it – it’s 2019, 30 years after Dr. Felgood came out, and all he can talk about is Metley Crewe, the king of metal hair bands. Between their massive Netflix biopsy of The Dirt and the recently announced Tour Stadium, the Sleaze Kings are in the languages of listeners around the world. If you had told the average music fan ten years ago that the Mötley Crüe star would rise by the next decade, they might have laughed. But in 2019, looking at the biggest mainstream metal name to win its throne, one cannot help but hope for the future.
Death Metal Bands Are Underground Superstars Again
For a while, the extreme metal was its own microcosm – either you were trapped in thrash, death and black metal, or you weren’t. But 2019 was a breakthrough year for the extreme met-group. All of the metal stars I wanted to refer to were Gatecreeper, while acts such as Tomb Mold and Blood Incantation rose to the top of many esteemed year-end lists. All this, as well as the excitement surrounding Detclock’s return to the scene, indicates that the ceiling of the metal detector is broken and the monsters appear in the spotlight.
