Kings of A&R

Modern Rock: From Hero to Zero….

Posted September 28, 2007 — in Music News

Active Rock Charts: Linkin Park remains #1 with Bleed it Out followed by The Foo Fighters and the new single So Hott by Kid Rock. Seether and Puddle of Mudd also have new singles.

The rock genre really needs a shot of adrenaline. Even the kids today think modern rock sucks and its ashame because the rock genre is the fabric of American culture.

Kid Rock says in So Hott..

SO HOT I wanna get you alone
SO HOT I wanna get you stoned
SO HOT I dont wanna be your friend
I wanna xxxx you like I’m never gonna see you again

Sure Kid Rock put on a great live show in his hey day, but we need more than this. It took 4 years to come up with these lyrics? Is this a case of an artist trying to claw his way back on the charts?

Puddle of Mudd says in Famous..

I just wanna be famous
be so fuckin jaded
Cause everybody’s taking my money from me
Show up at fiascos
And win the oscars
The money is for nothing
and the chicks are for free
yeah I wanna be famous

Oh Pooolease! Shoot me already. Even the new breed of rock like The Starting Line and Cartel left us disappointed. Does boring come to mind?

The problem is that these older rock bands can’t recreate the mega hits. These new singles on rock radio are void of melody and substance. The Foo Fighters are safer than Josh Groban. The Foo’s give us tattoos and scruffy beards but no edge. Modern rock today just can’t match the intensity of the nineties bands such as Rage Against The Machine, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in chains, and Stone Temple Pilots. Please don’t tell me that I’m nostalgic and that I think my generation of music is better than the next. I torture myself and listen to NEW music everyday.

Do you know why the modern rock ringtone business sucks? Because modern rock doesn’t have personalities.

Many people have an alternative explanation for the decline in music sales and that is today’s music just isn’t that good. L.A. Reid and Rick Rubin believe it, we believe and consumers believe it. Of course technology has played role in the decline as well, but let’s not play semantic gymnastics and walk away from the truth. We at KOAR encourage artists to push the envelope, find creativity, write a new song everyday and deliver us kick ass music. There is a lot of room at the top.

Email: tips@kingsofar.com

48 Comments »

The truth has been SPOKEN - Well said KOAR!

Comment by amy — September 28, 2007 @ 11:00 am

Totally agree, modern rock is lame - haven’t pick up a record in eons.

Comment by roger — September 28, 2007 @ 11:01 am

Im sick of hearing 90’s music on radio, but i agree, the news bands cant match the intensity of those bands. We need another movement.

Liz

Comment by Liz — September 28, 2007 @ 11:04 am

I couldnt agree more - we need a new brand of rock. The lyrics that KOAR posted above are pathetic. A 40 years old guy like KID ROCK pretending to be 15 years old is as shallow as Avril Lavigne. He should be ashamed of himself.

Comment by madx — September 28, 2007 @ 11:06 am

The money is for nothing
and the chicks are for free
yeah I wanna be famous

Oh geese, didn’t Dire Straits say that? money for nothing and chicks for free?

Comment by lilly — September 28, 2007 @ 11:08 am

Puddle of Mudd and Kid Rock? I didn’t even know they had new records coming out.

Comment by tony — September 28, 2007 @ 11:10 am

I have recently got into classic rock including Floyd, Zeppelin, Deep Purple and i was born in the 90’s. I can’t stomach emo. I saw My Chemical live and Gerard couldn’t even sing. I just watched a bunch of AC/DC videos on YouTube and they seem incredible. To bad i was born in the wrong era but maybe my generation will producing something worth remembering!

Tina

Comment by tina — September 28, 2007 @ 11:12 am

Im glad someone woke up to reality and realized that todays music isnt as good as older music. I never even hear guitar solos anymore except for Avenged Sevenfold. Is seems hardcore acts write guitar solos but they cant write songs to save their lives. Im screwed!

Comment by Chuck — September 28, 2007 @ 11:15 am

Thanks for the good read KOAR - so true! I can’t find anything on iTunes that i like. GOD help me!

Comment by Missy — September 28, 2007 @ 11:16 am

I recently saw FALLOUT BOY live and My Chemical - both singers cant sing. The live shows fall short as well.

Comment by Dan — September 28, 2007 @ 11:17 am

I worked at major labels for years and we have such a hard time finding great new music. The older dudes are saying “where are the van morrisons’?

Comment by gina — September 28, 2007 @ 11:19 am

lets see…the last A&R guy said.. “more hooks..more hooks” nobody cares about story lines just have something people can get into their head. when you talk about writing about “heady issues” people think your bringing them down. guys like Kid Rock have to think like a 16 year old, who else would buy his stuff…Chuck..listen to our tunes we have guitar solo’s course people say we sound to 80’s and when we take the solo’s out ,we sound to 90’s….mmm

Comment by larry anderson — September 28, 2007 @ 11:31 am

Well said… great bit of writing.

I’ll take a dose of anti-Nickelback, please.

Comment by Burst Labs — September 28, 2007 @ 11:45 am

Between the Buried and Me “Colors”

Comment by A2daC — September 28, 2007 @ 11:54 am

Slam dunk!! Legiea - Your Ghost is a Gift (of course they are not the hook you are looking for)

Comment by Blah — September 28, 2007 @ 12:00 pm

[...] This post over the Kings of A&R got me to thinking about a conversation I had with the ladyfrien… I was bitching about the inexplicable popularity of Nickelback and what kind of god would think it was alright to allow these humorless, personality-deficient, yawn-inducing Canadians to have not one, but two of the biggest-selling rock albums of our young and stupid century. She asked me the simple question, “If not Nickelback, than who?” It’s a valid point. Pop, hip-hop and country (which is to say shitty pop with cowboy hats and slide guitars) have pretty much owned the charts since the late 90s when bands like Staind and Limp Bizkit ruined rock and roll for everyone. [...]

Pingback by Dubious Ranger » Nobody Cares What Chad Kroger Has For Breakfast — September 28, 2007 @ 1:54 pm

The problem isn’t that modern music isn’t good. It’s just that Puddle of Mudd was never Pearl Jam to begin with. Linkin Park was never Nirvana. The industry is trying to polish a turd twice over. That’s the problem. Eddie Vedder does acoustic sets at Green Party fund raisers. Puddle of Mudd’s claim to fame is “I love the way you smack my ass.” The only thing making them relevant is you writing about them. For Heaven’s sake, that guy was signed by Fred Durst.

And the Rolling Stones will be more rock & roll than Nickelback on their death bed (if they aren’t there already).

If that (and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus lol!) is you guys’ idea of rock, no wonder you’re disillusioned.

And the list keeps going…

Then again, there’s no accounting for taste.

Comment by Jon Cole — September 28, 2007 @ 3:12 pm

Jon -

The KOAR column never suggested that Puddle of Mudd was Nirvana. It suggested that TODAYs rock bands isnt as good as Yesterdays rock bands.

The industry is NOT completely responsible for the music scence. The labels are a bank, not a creative gene pool. The creative gene pool comes from the bottom and rises to the TOP.

But I will check out the above formentioned bands..thanks for listing

Tom

Comment by Tom — September 28, 2007 @ 3:52 pm

The problem isn’t that the good music isn’t out there, it’s just that major labels suck & everyone only talks about what’s on the major labels & the of-the-moment indie rock bands.

If Seattle hadn’t been cracked open in the early 90’s, people would’ve been saying the exact same thing.

Even bands like Brand New who… maybe they’re not the best rock band on earth, but they’re doing something unique & they’ve got an incredible fanbase but they won’t be getting much further (in my humble estimation, at least) because everyone just whines about how hinder & nickelback suck.

The Format are doing everything right, & have a similarly devout following, but they won’t get a chance to break out of their niche because everyone’s just whining about how music sucks.

Comment by Jon Cole — September 28, 2007 @ 4:57 pm

http://www.alterbridge.com

Learn to love it.

Comment by Jason — September 28, 2007 @ 5:30 pm

you guys just wait…when American Band comes on, that’s going to tell labels what to sign. when 20 million people vote, tv will tell us what “the next big thing is “

Comment by larry anderson — September 28, 2007 @ 5:43 pm

Props to KOAR for calling modern rock out. The article is DEAD ON! Thanks kings for being honest in such a shallow fabricated society. KOAR is one of the few sites where I find legit industry news.

Comment by melissa — September 28, 2007 @ 6:11 pm

In the underground there’s a lot going on at the moment; I went to the ZXZW festival last weekend in Tilburg (The Netherlands) and saw some quality bands playing. Best performances: Crippled Black Phoenix (with members of Electric Wizard and Mogwai) and Cutting Pink With Knives.

Then there’s this English band called Zico Chain, who are going to release their record “Food” this month; it’s really good! Check out the video for the first single “Where would you rather be” at YouTube. Great hooks, great songs, great music.

Comment by Bart Nijssen — September 29, 2007 @ 2:13 am

i was plesently surprised by the new alter bridge

and between the buried and me’s new cd is the best of the year. hands down. ridiculous album.

Comment by Rich — September 29, 2007 @ 6:39 am

I want Alter Bridge to do well just because you KNOW its killing Scott Stapp.

Comment by AJ-KOAR — September 29, 2007 @ 9:55 am

Jon Cole- I second Variac. They broke up though.

Comment by Keith Freund — September 29, 2007 @ 10:22 am

are you kidding me? I come to this site almost daily and I’m always reading about the creative drought and bands not ‘meaning business’ anymore. This is definately true….in the Top 40 corner of the world.

Want good rock n roll with heart and fangs to match? Check out the new Every Time I Die, shit check out Gutter Phenomenon from them as well, both equally great and definately not playing it safe.

Also, with the 90’s era modern rock, for the exception of a couple of bands (Rage, Alice, Pilots) half of that music was lame as well. Come on, that was when egos were on full blast and relishing in elitist attitudes but it’s pretty much a crock of shit when Eddie Vedder is playing maybe a gig a year and getting heavy rotation on top 40 stations EVERYWHERE and being chartered in planes. So to answer the question, there was maybe one genuinly aggressive act in the early 90’s that was on heavy radio and MTV: NIN

Here is the way it is, RADIO HAS ALWAYS SUCKED, you reach a point in your life where you feel like your listening to the same shit over and over again when it comes to the radio. I like to use the analogy of it’s like when you first saw an airplane as a child and 10 years later you look at it it’s not as big as it once was and so on..

Radio gets you into music but at some point you have to put down the toys because your tastes mature and I wouldn’t put my faith into business men in suits to provide my maturing ears with music that I’m ready to listen to.

Stop listening to the radio, it’s fast food music. Don’t expect to be moved.

Also want an unbelievable band with amazing hooks? http://www.myspace.com/citysleeps

Comment by seriously — September 29, 2007 @ 1:36 pm

They broke up, but they’re all still doing loads of stuff.

JT (vocals) & Kris (guitar) are demoing new material & looking for another rhythm section to carry on as the Young Orchids.

They’re also playing bass & guitar (respectively) in the band I play drums for, Ponderosa.

Kris is also playing in a band called Ski Club.

Comment by Jon Cole — September 29, 2007 @ 2:09 pm

You want some good pop, indie, rock bands:

Thriving Ivory, Elevation, Evoka, Lorien, Pico vs Island Trees, Northern Room, Carey Ott, Eric James and the New Century, Deas Vail, Michael Logen, and the list goes on.

Comment by ChrisC — September 29, 2007 @ 4:58 pm

Hey KOAR people!!! Hell, Jon Cole you forgot this band. Warryor from Texas. Sold out show in Laredo tonight!!! If these guys break out they will raise the bar that was brought down by the power chord playing bands Linko Park and so many others. Not talking Green Day and bands like that. Those are what they are.(Punk derived) I’m talking about Rock Music!!! Guitar was and is the driving force behind true Rock. (Deep Purple,Zepplin, ACDC and so many others. To think that todays young teens are learnig to play guitar by listening to Fall Out Boy?

Comment by Super Dave — September 29, 2007 @ 5:31 pm

Alright Rich!

Colors is too amazing of an album, its over an hour of beautiful, challenging music. I can’t just give the words for it, be a disservice. I can’t help but listen to it all the way through every time.

There is great music out there. People just aren’t being fed the great stuff on radio, they need to look for themselves sometime.

Comment by A2daC — September 29, 2007 @ 7:48 pm

Dave, I hope you’re kidding… Judas Priest is REALLY old news. What a joke. Were you not alive in the 80’s?

seriously - you really should check out the new Pearl Jam dvd, Immagine In Cornice. You’ve obviously never witnessed a Pearl Jam performance. There’s a reason they can sell so many copies of their live performances. They are the real deal. I don’t know how you can bash them & praise City Sleeps, who haven’t written a new song in a couple of years. That record held my attention for about two weeks back in 2005.

Even to be “good” within that cheesy, safe pop/rock sound isn’t all that much of an accomplishment. That’s not the genre to look to if you want to discover real music. You’ve got to either be smart (Lennon/McCartney, Harry Nilsson, Brian Wilson) or you’ve got to appeal to the loins (AC/DC, Elvis, Rolling Stones) or both (Led Zeppelin) if you want to last, & City Sleeps fails on both ends. There’s a place for mediocrity, I suppose, but at the same time genuine rock & roll bands like the Films or Kings of Leon or Variac & smart pop acts like the Format or Sondre Lerche need to be given a real chance. Would-be legendary bands are getting passed on by labels & radio left & right.

Comment by Jon Cole — September 30, 2007 @ 1:53 am

The Films have really good songs from what I’ve just heard. But it’s a bit too throwback for me to get really excited about it. There has to be a new way to present good songwriting. By the way I know Kris and JT, I was interning at N&D back when Variac was forming. Medium-sized world.

Comment by Keith Freund — September 30, 2007 @ 6:33 am

I think Jon has a lot of good points. Kudos!

http://www.myspace.com/thisismesmiling

They are one of those ’smart’ pop bands you were referring to.

Comment by Scott Sweeney — September 30, 2007 @ 7:03 am

I’m sick and tired of hearing rock acts that sound the same, look the same and are not that great.
I want to hear an origina musicl act’s that rock, plain and simple.
I want to be moved and excited to hear it.
Where are the original songwriters who can write, sing and perform at a calibre like a Bruce Springsteen. No wonder why he still packs them in, he has no competition out there that I have seen.
Record labels are pathetic. What’s the risk of putting out great music.
If it’s good and you know it, let the world judge.
Start getting that type of a artist out there and I’ll start buying more albums. NOT singles but the whole thing.

Comment by Rose — September 30, 2007 @ 9:07 am

Keith - Yeah, it is a medium-sized world. You should come out to a Ponderosa show

That Films record I’m obsessed with… I think it sounds like nobody else… I haven’t stopped listening to it for about a year. I haven’t been as obsessed with a record since (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? back when I was twelve.

Scott - Very good call. Very Ben Folds, a little Jellyfish… I’ll definitely have to check these guys out when they come through town.

Comment by Jon Cole — September 30, 2007 @ 9:44 am

Rock is what listeners make of it. If you can “Rock Out” to it, then its rock. I agree with the performance aspect of things discussed above. A vocalist needs to be able to hold things together no matter how grungy the guitars are, or how “loud” the production is. In the 90’s we had all that. Live performances and well recorded/written material…lyrics included.
Vedder, Weiland, Cornell, Cobain, De La Rocha, etc.. all did their job, and sold the act. The industry should be looking for great POTENTIAL rock vocalists and getting producers and songwriter behind on the development of acts. It’s really worth their time, and a small price to pay then genre jumping, and following trends. Do labels want 10% percent of the market immediately for a year, or a progressive 7-8% every year. It’s worth more time finding natural talent and attributes that can’t be modified in the studio. GREAT VOCALS, they sell everything.

Here’s my personal list of potentials. And artists I’m keeping an eye on.
I Have seen them all live, and they’re still waiting better recordings of their talent.

http://www.myspace.com/jonroberttour - Only In Your Eyes
http://www.myspace.com/mercyfall - Come Alive
http://www.myspace.com/oceanstreet - Til I’m Gone

Mike F.

Comment by Mike Flynn — October 1, 2007 @ 12:32 am

I disagree that today’s music isn’t any good. With the digital age, the amount of bands to sort through are infinite. Good bands are just harder to find.

I can foresee a genre shift where Modern Rock starts to fade and maybe the whole indie rock bubble will start to seep into mainstream and takeover. Genre shifts happen all the time and Modern Rock has been up there for awhile.

I think there is plenty of great songwriters out there, but some of these songwriters are still teenagers and/or internet famous. And most majors aren’t willing to risk much on these young writers.

Comment by Tim Towner — October 1, 2007 @ 5:35 am

The Kid Rock single will be huge, he’s delivered before, and this is the same style groove that he does best.

The title Rock & Roll Jesus is a bit reaching though, I’m sure he’ll catch some shit for that, and probably won’t care!

Tim

Comment by Tim Walker — October 1, 2007 @ 12:25 pm

Tim - I think a big side effect of the size of the internet & the number of bands making music is that everything gets watered down. You can’t really tell who is a great songwriter because the moment someone does something great, there are sixteen other bands who pattern their next song after it. To me it makes the commercial side of indie music, all of those kids going after “success” & what have you, pretty much worthless. So you can write a catchy pop/rock song… so you can pony up the cash to record with Zach & Kenny @ Tree Sound… well guess what, so can a hundred other bands.

Give me a Kings of Leon. Give me a Stokes. Give me a Films. Give me a band that’s unique & owns their sound… I don’t see that in most hyped younger bands. Besides, of course, someone like Be Your Own PET.

I agree with the idea of developing talent, but not if that means sending them to the of-the-minute producer to crank out a few of-the-minute hits.

A large part of it is the fault of production, but music doesn’t have to be cheesy to sell. Even on the poppier side there are bands like AutoVaughn who totally make it work by having a genuine “sound.”

Maybe thats it… maybe bands are more concerned about hit songs than having a sound of their own. Sign bands who have a sound, then everything will turn around.

Comment by Jon Cole — October 1, 2007 @ 2:43 pm

in an industry FULL of PEOPLE AFFRAID for their jobs,
NO ONE HAS the balls to amke ANY risky moves….
so live with it!!!!!

it is what it is!!!!!
commercial radio is just that, commercial…they gotta operate somehow!

and kid rock does not suck, i am not a huge fan but the guy did something we all wish we could do , buck the system and get what he wanted on his terms….
kudos to him!

Comment by ugly geo — October 2, 2007 @ 9:39 am

Debating in a Vacuum. I love it!! Some truth, some passion, and some Promotion!!
1.)BULLSHIT THEORY#1 The preception that a great song, or “HIT” has to be simple or “Stupid” is the “mantra” of those who can’t write great songs, or “HITS”
2.)BULLSHIT THEORY#2 Guitar Solo’s are “out” or too
“’80’s” another vicious “rumor” perpetrated by the
envious little dweebs WHO CAN’T PLAY GUITAR!!
Staiway to Heaven, Smoke on the Water, Sweet Child of Mine, White Room, Eruption, You Really got Me (Van Halen) THE LIST GOES ON and ON!!
3.) BULLSHIT THEORY #3 That to “Buck the System” to obtain “ROCK STARDOM” is “cool” To ” cheat”, or find a way to “get over” on the “system” (by the way, we’re all part of the “system” which means it’s us that this person is getting over on!) is the misguided fantasies of the substandard cultural deficient Rap and Rap “wannabes” I prefer Artist’s that “Buck the System”
In a positive, or Artistic Revolutionary way, which these days means they would actually be able to Sing and Play!!

Comment by Michael Barile — October 3, 2007 @ 5:39 am

Theres some great Recs. in here
Butch Walker
Thriving Ivory
City Sleeps

great acts.

Comment by Dallas — October 4, 2007 @ 7:40 pm

Maybe it has to do with the audience too. With the internet, the kids of today are accessing music and cultures that was not so readily available as recent as 5 years ago.

Case in point: the rock band Dir-en-Grey regularly sells out shows in the Los Angeles area and tours with other well known rock bands despite being a JAPANESE ROCK band. Due to internet word of mouth and Japanophile acculturation, however, they have a loyal international following.

Consequently, a small Japanese/American Rock scene is growing up in areas like Spain and the U.S (especially L.A). I’ve seen Thee Out Mods (an LA-based Japanese Punk Band) fill up rooms and Random Ninjas (an LA-based Jap/American Fusion band) fill clubs like the Whisky. All the while their American/English counterparts sometimes seem to have difficulty gathering an audience.

In anycase, though I just happen to be into L.A’s music scene, the principle remains the same across the board: you don’t have another cultural/musical revolution by constantly yearning for the past. Today’s audience is increasingly of an global mindset- these kids can still like fall-out boy or whomever they hear on the radio, but just as often they’re exposing themselves to music from other countries, cultures, and niches that the major labels are hesitant to tap.

The niche cultures of today are tommorows revolutions. Just don’t complain if you refuse to see beyond your own limited cultural perspective and constantly seek “the good ole’ days”.

/Sorry, rant off

Comment by Sam — October 5, 2007 @ 11:20 am

[...] Rock sits down with Larry King: Although KOAR called out Kid Rock’s ridiculous lyrics in his new song So Hot, he still provided an impressive [...]

Pingback by Kings of A&R » 2007 » October » 08 — October 8, 2007 @ 8:27 am

mmmm bit torrent.

kid rock is ok, minus the antics. I do sorta like rock and roll jesus.

the most real artist to date is NAS and i’m not even a big hip hop fan. there is a massive lack of substance.

Comment by sharkeater — December 22, 2007 @ 8:15 am

I agree, mainstream rock was way more diverse and passionate in the 90’s. I don’t blame this on the musicians though. There are just as many good musicians here today if not more. They just aren’t being played on the radio and TV. The radio stations and record companies play music with the same formula. Heck, everything in the top 40 boils down the same 4 or 5 chord progressions.

Let’s also face the fact that it’s all about image now - People are more likely to care about how attractive the ‘artist’ is or how much money said ‘artist’ makes instead of whether or not the music sucks. So, I suppose we can blame the average music consumer as well. Just give them a dance beat and a pair of nice tits and they are happy.

Comment by dave — January 11, 2008 @ 10:45 am

Every song that I hear on the tv or radio sounds the same to me. Where is modern rock going? I don’t see any fucking difference b/w linkin park’s new album and bsb. Every fuckin band sounds the same. guys just can’t play guitar these days. We need a resurgence of the 80s

Comment by Ravi — February 6, 2008 @ 11:23 pm

Modern Rock: From Hero to Zero….

Posted September 28, 2007 — in Music News

48 Comments »

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