ROCK IS STUCK IN THE PAST (and it’s killing the genre)

43 thoughts on “ROCK IS STUCK IN THE PAST (and it’s killing the genre)”

1. Come hang out on Twitch! https://www.twitch.tv/finnmckenty

2. There's oversaturation. There must be more kids like me that used to search Spotify Radio for new music every now and then, but there are so many old artists there that refuse to share the spotlight. I'm saying that metaphorically, by the way. Of course we can't judge a band for being successful. It's not like that's their fault.
   My point is that a good song doesn't belong to any "era". It's timeless. The problem with most older bands new records, for example, is that they're not innovating. They rehash their old sound and wonder how come nobody wants to hear their new stuff live.

   The new, innovative bands however aren't getting the chance to even get heard. The internet has become so corporate that we don't even get a fighting chance. We've sunk far from the MySpace days…

3. You should listen to "the warning"… 3 young ladies playing good rock!!! They are mostly in all the flyers you showed.

4. I would love to hear you speak more on trap Metal! I love the intensity and it’s so innovative to the point that it brought back my passion to making music again.

5. Similar problem with Hollywood… Legacy bands are a safe bet, and people don’t really like change

6. Finn makes some great points but in my opinion, Rock has evolved so much in the past 20 years. Always shedding and growing new parts. I can’t name many people who have remained loyal to the bands talked about here that are popping back up in all these festivals. Nu-metal and other similar sub-genres were heavily rejected from 2005-2019. In that time other new short lived buzzy sub-genres were born and died. For example, the LoFi garage bands like Thee Oh Seee & Ty Segall had there moment, as did all the jangly captured tracks bands like Diiv & Beach Fossils. Tastes kept changing and getting further away from metal even though I think all millennials tastes were informed by nu-metal. The pipeline that I have seen time & time again is: Nu-metal>to>screamo>to>garage rock>to>indie rock>to>electronic music>to>noise>back to>Nu-metal. I think the ‘taste makers’ around 2016 were done with guitar music and everything was electronic for a while, but then when we were missing guitar music in our late 20’s-early 30’s, we rediscovered what we loved when we were 12-16. Of course there are people who remain forever devoted to their niche despite how ‘uncool’ it might seem. And of course there are so many rock traditionalists out there trying to keep things “pure” and hate the natural evolution— but in my opinion, it’s just that music from the early to mid 2000’s is what’s sounding fresh again right now because it’s 20 years behind us and that’s the way trends recycle. It happens in fashion too. T definition of ‘vintage’ is something that’s is at least 20 years old. It just seems very natural and clear to me that we’ve arrived at every festival flyer looking like the t-shirt wall at hot topic. Because we have distanced ourself from that era, let it breath and came back to it. There have been countless genres born that broke traditions, but there just too recent to be re-discovered. If you were looking for some fresh sounding, older rock music— you wouldn’t turn to Mac demarco or The war on drugs, you’d probably turn to Thursday or Glassjaw— or maybe Kittie or Otep.

7. Rina Sawayama blends numetal and other rock genres into her music. She’s amazing. Great pop star/super star.

8. Modern living and media did away with Rock. It was an 80 year old senior citizen who was heavy into drug use so he didn't put up much of a fight when death came calling.

9. As someone who played in a popular 90s post hardcore band, I can confirm that the fans are mostly the problem. I never stopped making music, and have released so much music post-90s, but so many people just REFUSE to listen to it or even give it a chance. They still obsess over the crap I did in the 90s that was good, but not even close to being to the best music I've made.

10. You should cover the topics you want. I'm 43 and when I heard ghostmane, suicide boys, scarlxrd etc I too thought it was exciting and innovative. Sure I love all the legacy bands but change is inevitable

11. I think a lot of people don't actually understand rock's real roots, the heart of the thing – it's folk music. Stylistically, historically… that's what it is. You listen to some of the old folk rock from the UK in the 70s – listen to Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span or something, hell listen to Thin Lizzy – Whiskey In The Jar, and you'll hear the same musical patterns and style. They go way back. And you'll see how old folk tunes can sound pretty damn modern if you just slap some heavy guitars and drums on top.

    Indeed, if you listen to any of the "medieval style" versions of modern rock songs that litter youtube – for example, Chop Suey – you might find it peculiar how well it works. Until you stop and realise – of course it works. It's the same music.

    In fact, here's a little experiment for you – find "Matty Groves" by Fairport Convention here on youtube. Then look up "Shady Grove" by Among The Oak and Ash. That's how far the old folk music travelled, and long it survived – the same tune made it across the pond, from Britain to America… the lyrics were forgotten, but the song survived.

    As such, of course rock is stuck in the past. It's been stuck in the past for hundreds of years. It is the past. It is a strange thing that is simultaneously unchanging and ever-shifting; prone to great variety and diversity, but driven by certain principles, patterns and passions that are eternal. You'll hear it in the old songs, you'll hear it in the new; you'll hear it in the light and the heavy… you'll hear it in the Ukrainian heavy metal band Jinjer; you'll hear it in Black Stone Cherry. The same spirit, undying.

    Sometimes though? Sometimes the new stuff, as is the way of folk music, flies under the radar for a while.

12. 11:21 dude what the fuck you talking about? I never heard anyone despise Ghostemane, he still does trap metal but it’s just with a twist of industrial elements. Metal fans actually do respect him since day 1.

13. Here's what happened. Fans of the old 90's and 00's Rock got older. They took on a challenging career, got married, had kids. They don't have free time to look into new artists, or attend concerts. So they stopped where they were, old favorite bands on repeat, not looking for new songs. It doesn't have to do with the music. It has to do with the fans.

14. Look, I LOVE this Genre. Having said that, the genre died like 10 years ago. It is almost completely absent on the Radio. It's time in the mainstream is over.

15. Music changed because the 90's was all about, "be original you poser!" Today it's about covering already popular songs and believing the reason people like your music is because you're so good rather than the song already being proven for consumption. Basically, people don't write music today, they parrot what's already popular thus sounding generic but easily consumable for a week.

16. I’m honestly so bored with older metal and rock… like the new stuff that’s being created by newer artists/bands are so much more interesting and just scratches that itch in your head.
    Trap metal hits harder then some of the classic metal songs, so why are we so stuck in the past when the future of music is so promising

17. This really needed to be said and im so glad you said it. Especially the part about if you don’t like it, just don’t be a hater. I couldn’t agree more. For a while we’ve had to have the same discussion in hip hop for a while. I think its important for artists like myself who do emo and metal rap to just focus on our younger audiences and just hope that someday the old heads catch up.

18. Finn is killing the genre. period. The fact that this channel has 431 thousand subs just means there's a lot of misinformed sheep out there. Keep up the good work of giving people crap info bro.

19. Rock/metal fans aren't the problem. Heavy, instrumental driven music has not been en vogue since the early 2000's he early 2000's. Younger music fans just aren't into rock and metal these days You can't expect a new wave of superstar rock/metal acts worthy of headlining if that base support isn't there. It's just that simple.

20. i walk into work at ups the other day and the youngeens was jamming to some reap metal hybrid shit.

21. I guess you missed the "SOLD OUT" on the poster? Rock is just fine thank you.

22. Let's be honest here. Hip-Hop and EDM is disposable music. Who cares how new or young those headliners are…the music is garbage.

23. Yes to everything In this video. Such a great synopsis of the state of metal. I had no idea so many people get their music from Tic Toc.

24. When music tv died it left a giant void, now nobody knows which direction to go, and with the internet everything is saturated

25. As a 16 yearold I recognized this problem so I purposefully seek out newer talent, here's my favorite newer artists

    6arleyhuman (scene)
    King David (punk/juggalo)
    Johnnie Gilbert (emo)
    Yung Stars (metal)
    Skeletonprince (scene)
    Complacent (punk)
    TX2 (pop punk)
    Rico nasty (rap/rock)
    Destructo disk (punk)
    Vira (metal)
    REBZYYX (dance/electronic/scene)
    Punkinlovee (dance/electronic/scene)
    Jazmin bean (metal/pop)

26. I love your vids, but your opinions are so wack. Nicki Minaj, Asop Rocky, and Future, although they arent as old as those rock bands- its literally the same dynamic- Older artists who have been successful for 10+years headlining and gatekeeping the younger artists. You explained your issue with another genre's example of the same issue and passed it off as a good thing. Again, love your vids, keep up the good work.

27. To me it’s hard to get into a lot of the new stuff coming out when they all kinda sound the same

28. i absolute llove the sound of metalstep and trap metal, having listened to horrorcore and death rap since 2006ish (stuff like Sicktanick Tha Souless, Stitch Mouth, Ressurrector, Preacher X, Avsmak – apart from ICP and all their adjacent bands like Twiztid but those were far less metal ofc). there was so much death rap back in those days it was really interesting to see suicide boys & ghostemane over 10 years later suddenly hitting near-mainstream status with seemingly no influence or knowledge of the former-mentioned death rap scene.

    does anyone else remember KillMusick before that label went to shit?

29. Patient Sixty-Seven is a good newer band out of Australia

30. You gotta remember a lot of these bands have only been in the mainstream in anyway for a few years at most. How often do you see new artists pop off THAT quickly?

31. Radio is dead now, but 10 years ago the only new rock you heard on the radio was folksy twee rock that no one under 35 without a handlebar mustache liked. That's what killed rock. Hate pop all you want. Radio rock is a gateway to the genre and rock pop sucked pretty hard post 2010.

32. I feel like rock artists need to work on fundamentals and need to remember music should sound good along with being creative.

33. Rock/punk/metal etc fans are in large majority middle aged, who still have an appetite for live music and are willing to pay for it. Its no surprise that those demographics want to see the bands they grew up with mainly (thats generally true for any generation). I'm sure there is something of a gatekeeper element, but the bigger issue is that this music doesn't seem to resonate with younger people, therefore there are fewer younger good bands and those there are aren't attracting young listeners. Example I went to a Wolf Alice concert this year (which is a FANTASTIC newer band) and there were only a handful of young people …. the vast majority were in their 40s like me!

    Also rock in the 90s was an evolution and departure from rock in the 80's and before it in a significant way. Grunge/punk represented a significant cultural shift and sound change from rock from previous generations and thats a huge part of why it was embraced by teens and 20 somethings at that time. The last time the sound really changed seems to be NuMetal, and otherwise the scene really hasnt reinvented itself all that much. Young generations will often largely reject music of older ones, and it seems to be the attention simply got redirected to other music genres instead of rock. It may make a resurgence in coming decades with fresh acts once those that are "young" now pop out their own kids and thoe kids reject their parents dinosaur mumble raps and EDM

34. cornpop, you're like 45 years old. Dress up like a grown up, shitdik

35. Agreed. So
    Sad 😞

36. No, rock&metal certainly were at their peak in the 70s and 80s, when rock was a big part of the mainstream, not overshadowed by pop like in 90s and 2000s. At least, that's what people who lived back then seem to say. Having grown in the 90s, it's hard to imagine rock being that big.

37. I feel like you missed a point: Around the millenium labels tried more and more to force artists on the people via the creation of boy- and girlgroups that were literally casted. So why should they invest in bands?
    I feel like a large portion of today's mainstream/charting music is just a cheap consumer product, made to seem relatable, easy to consume and not questioning authorities (there are exceptions though). This may apply for other art too, e. g. Marvel superhero movies.
    I definitely agree with the rest of your points. Although writing songs for a tiktok format seems insufferable.

38. Thanks Finn, recently I got truly fed up with the whole metal scene, while the rock scene seems empty or uninteresting to me. I think your video describes very well what I feel, and helps me to accept that "I'm not the problem". I know that may sound weird, but you how a metal fan can be attached to this music.

39. Rock fans are so stuck on keeping to their roots and not letting outsider posers try to tap in

40. We need more development on emo rap

41. A big turn off for metal I find is elitists that aren’t gate keepers but just snobs that make the scene unlike able. Try liking an up and coming band where you can’t stand their fans lol. So people stick with legacy bands. Can’t go wrong with them

42. A huge difference is that bands stick around and stay together much longer that they ever have in the past. The careers of musicians and rock stars, in particular, have greater longevity now, and that means that their die-hard fans will continue to support them as you stated as a good thing in the video. And I don’t know about other rock fans, but I’ve never been a fan of your traditional top 40 radio tracks, unless music I actually enjoy is part of that, which rock has gotten shafted in terms of mainstream popularity since the mid 00’s.

43. The difference is because “new” music and TikTok trash is fucking garbage to listen to. Sure, it’s innovative, if you wanna call it that, but it sounds god-awful. It’s not that fans don’t give it a chance, it’s that it is inferior quality music than the alternative and have had no reason to move on from a better sound.

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