Modern rock has a way to get into the core of people, perhaps evoking feelings that are “encoded” in their DNA, touching that tender fiber that connects with our ancestors and the way they enjoyed music. The way that percussions, guitars, and bass harmonize in such a great orchestra of metallic and sometimes “heavy” music, is what many people call “Rock”, a particular vibe impossible to describe with words, because it transcends reason, and dwells in the spiritual plane.
It´s a quite thin line that most artists try to achieve, but not many of them are able to accomplish, that one beat capable of lifting people up in such way that they will never forget a particular song. For example, the “King” is one of the undisputed masters of great memorable songs, from Jailhouse Rock to Hound Dog, there aren´t many people in this world that won´t find themselves twisting their body to one of the most catchy but heartwarming music one can find.
Clearly there are many other examples that can come to mind, like The Beatles, band that clearly transformed rock into a more “commercial” at times, others deep kind of music with a well-deserved magnetism which is alive today. Even in an era more dominated by pop, rap and electronic music, rock is quite current in hundreds of millions of listeners, people that love to have their spirits lifted up in the air with abrupt melodies and explosive guitars solos.
This is the spirit of rock that transcended time and space, becoming a multicultural patrimony able to bring together races, political ideologies and even religion, since there´s quite a lot of Christian and Evangelic rock bands, that use this impressive musical style to deliver their message. In such context, there´s only room for growth, not only in terms of more listeners every month, but also in the creativity that delivers that rock, creating new styles, in many cases related to their origin, but with their imprint and a lot of style.
Rock mutations
It´s hard to comprehend modern rock without checking out where did it came from, and the roots of this rich genre are the Blues, Soul, Rhythm and Gospel Music in quite a weird mixture able to bring to life characters like the King Elvis Presley or the magnificent guitar of Chuck Berry. But also creating some subgenres, as Pop and Instrumental Rock, a variation in which the genius of James Brown, can easily be fitted as the best example of a genre so diverse that broke every single preconception of society (specially at that time), to create something rich, interesting and quite entertaining.
Even Psychedelic Rock is a great example of the way this genre can make a lot of different people vibrate to good music, with the great Jimi Hendrix as one of the best examples, pushing through a wave of people enriching his music with a lot of psychedelics and having the best time of their lives, using interesting sound effects in their songs, making use of new technologies to bring something new to the table. Pink Floyd could be categorized in this same style, at least at their beginnings, creating some albums hard to understand to any mind in a sober state, but a jewel to anyone under the influence, like the questioned album Ummagumma.
Eventually rock turned into Grunge, a beautiful example of music adapting to its time and the people creating it, like Nirvana (one of the most remembered bands by young adults today) and people like Kurt Cobain and Dave Ghrol behind it. Those artists were able to turn sadness and that desperation of younger generations in the mid 90´s and creating something emphatic and beautiful out of it.
The new wave of Rock
Some of the best songs you can play if you want to revive that old vibe in new artists, are examples like “Black And Gold” of the great Thundermother, an all women band which truly captures the scene of bands like AC-DC and create something quite modern, new, and filled with rich music design.
There´s also something that recalls the mystique of the great David Bowie and his alter ego Ziggy Stardust, incarnated in the great “Gumball Garden”, performed by a relatively unknown band, which is climbing fast with their true-to-music style, called “GIFT”. And they are truly gifted in terms of lifting spirits to the top of the clouds with some melodies that really “rock”.
Also for those expecting something more of a Road Rock and Roll, like the one that the late Lemmy Kilmister used to play, the one you might want to listen is the band Monster Truck and their prime song “Get My Things & Go”. One of the best examples of that reincarnation in which rock is always alive, like a radioactive rock that always will irradiate everything around it, with those magical melodies that used to make our grandfathers swing, and now even those younger generations which never heard of it, find themselves rocking their heads to these new examples of the genre.