lol

Whoa whoa. Ok! Looks like I've got a lot to go back and read here:D There seems to be a very active community here of music lovers who have many different opinions. I think that's a good thing. So since there's been so much interest in my question, I'd like to share more of my opinion and see what people's takes on it are.

This is coming from someone who is a guitarist and aspiring rock musician. Lately I've been spending most of my time in pursuit of the next big thing. The new rock'n'roll I guess. I find my inspiration in the people/artists who I think "broke the mold" and were responsible for finding that one key sound and style that sparked revolutions. To me, there were a handful of these people. I might name The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Led Zeppelin, and Eddie Van Halen as pioneers of styles and sounds that made real changes in popular music (you could also say Kurt Cobain, but I don't really like him so that's why I didn't list him).

So in essence, I believe that if anyone were to make such a revolution, to cause real change and spark a new wave of music, they would have to break away from most of the stuff that is still in vogue now that has been in vogue for half a century. Mainly in rock music. As much as I love the electric guitar, its hard to deny the statement that the electric guitar has pretty much reahed the end of its creative possibilities. Sure, there are still technically new things that could be done with the guitar, but at this point anything more extreme or amazing than what has already been done would just be overkill and would lose all its appeal. Do you kind of undertand what I mean? I think its time a new instrument took over.

The other day I was driving to work and I turned on the radio. It was on tye local rock station that played everything from modern to classic rock. I remember Shinedown came on, and then after that it was Judas Priest. And for the first few seconds of Judas Priest's intro I was thinking "is this still Shinedown? Is this a new song from them?" and then the singing came in and I realized it was an old song by Judas Priest. But even after I ha realized it was Priest, I sat there thinking of how there is virtually no difference between today's rock and the rock of the yesteryear. It uses that same formula. Distorted guitars, riffs, powerful vocals etc... Then Seether came on, and AC/DC after that, and I began to realize just how little variation there really is between different brands of rock and how it is delivered and performed, and also the instrumentation. The only thing I will say on the flip side of this is that for the most part, older rock bands seemed to all have their own distinct sound, whereas its sometimes hard to distinguish between newer bands.

So what I'm getting at is that I believe that nothing TRULY new has been created in a long time. To me, the last guitar innovation came from Eddie Van Halen. Since then the guitar has kind of stagnated. Once grunge came around, the guitar kind of went downhill. Then we started getting all these watered-down alternative bands and artists and kickass/dynamic music kind of fell to the side, and thus, we have the uninspiring popular music world we have today.

That's just my opinion.

So it's not really so much music you're talking about as rock guitar specifically.

Perhaps. I'm not sure. That's why I'm here. I'm confused by my own thoughts LOL. The way I rationalize it is, if rock music and guitar hasn't changed in years, then I don't see how much else has really changed. Not much IMO. Were still rehashing the same melody lines and the same approaches. To me, rock has always been THE genre. The one that comes up with all the big innovations. I think its because rock bands historically have always been boundary-pushers. But I just don't see that attitude anymore in today's music as a whole. I just don't see young John Lennons or EVH's anymore. Maybe its because the true innivators are less popular now. But if they're are not very popular, then I suppose that means that they weren't so innovative right? Because I would excpect someone who is innovative to be a household subject and highly mimicked.

Wat, lol.

Yeah definitely stick around bro, I think your lack of exposure to other cultures and their music has given you a bit of a slant towards rock music. If you stick around, you'll probably look back at what you said and realize how ridiculous it sounds. No offense intended by any of this, I just think you won't feel the same if you come to appreciate other genres on their own merits.

Thanks. But I am very well aware and versed on almost any other style you can think of. I've already been there to the area of thought your talking about. I've already gravitated back to my original position. I just have a passion for rock music.

That said, I DO belive my notion about music hitting a wall innovation-wise is pretty accurate. In fact, there are numerous subtle things I have figured out about music (and people's perceptions of music) that I find hard to explain. Every time I attempt to explain it, people consider it "ridiculous" as you just stated. That's why I'm not shocked to see some of the reactions on here. Most people just lack some fundamental understandings that I have. Not trying to sound elitist or self-righteous, but I DO want to defend my position.

To the people who were arguing about the word 'evolve', please quit. The important thing is that you understood what I meant.

What did you mean?

Lol

I'm glad the people here are funny. Makes things so much funner.