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Ongoing History of New Music

Trying to be a Superstar in the 21st Century

Ongoing History of New Music

Curiouscast

Music History, History, Music, Music Interviews, Music Commentary

4.8 • 604 Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2020

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You may have noticed that the most of the biggest rock acts in the world aren’t that young…Green Day?...middle 40s… Dave Grohl?...creeping up on the half-century mark… Trent Reznor?...as we sit here right now, he’s 52…Pearl Jam: early-to-mid 50s… Average age of U2?...upper 50s…Springsteen?...68…Paul McCartney?...75…and The Rolling Stones?…do you have to ask?... I am not ragging on old rockers…this is not about ageism…i just can’t subscribe to that whole “rock is for the young” B.S.…if these acts can continue to do what they do well into their pension years, all the power to them… Part of the reason so many people are still into these groups is because their bodies of work are incredibly strong and still sound great….most of The Beatles music is still brilliant even though much of it is more 50 years ago… The other reason these acts still attract attention is because there hasn’t been much of anyone to replace them…where are all the superstar rock acts of the 21st century?... This isn’t to say that they don’t exist because they do—but the stars seem to have gotten, well, smaller—not to mention fewer and further between… Wait…perhaps i should clarify what I mean by “superstar”…I’m talking about an act that sells music by the millions and millions of units…I’m talking about concerts by acts for which tens of thousands of people will crawl over broken glass to get tickets… I’m talking about acts who manage to great a deep catalogue of hits released over a period of years…and I’m talking about acts where there’s consensus by millions of people that they are great and worthy of everyone’s love and devotion… But thanks to changes within the music industry—and because we music fans are now consuming music differently—everything has been turned upside down…we need to look at things this way: why is so much harder to be a superstar rock act in the 21st century… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, it's Alan, and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing

0:04.3

history of new music early and ad-free on Amazon music, included with Prime.

0:09.3

You may have noticed that most of the biggest rock acts in the world aren't really that young.

0:14.3

I mean, Green Day, middle 40s, Dave Grohl is creeping up on the half-century mark.

0:18.8

Trent Rezner, as we sit here right now, he's 52.

0:21.9

Pearl Jam, early to mid-50s.

0:24.0

Average age of U2, upper 50s, Springsteen is 68, McCartney, 75, Rolling Stones, do you have to even ask?

0:31.8

Now, I'm not ragging on old rockers.

0:35.4

This is not about ageism.

0:39.9

I just can't subscribe to the whole raucous for the young BS. If these acts can continue to do what they do well into their pension

0:44.8

years, well, you know what, all the power to them. Part of the reason so many people are still into

0:49.4

these groups is because their bodies of work are incredibly strong and still sound great.

0:54.4

I mean, most of the Beatles music is still brilliant,

0:57.4

even though much of it is more than 50 years old.

1:00.8

The other reason these acts still attract attention is because, well, let's be honest,

1:06.4

there haven't been that many newer acts that can replace them. I mean, where are all the superstar

1:14.7

rock acts of the 21st century? This isn't to say that they don't exist because they do,

1:19.7

but the stars seem to have well gotten smaller, not to mention fewer and further between.

1:26.9

No, no, wait a second. Maybe I should

1:28.4

clarify what I mean by Superstar. I'm talking about an act that sells music by the tens of millions

1:34.7

of units. I'm talking about concerts by acts for which tens of thousands of people will

1:39.3

crawl over broken glass to get tickets. I'm talking about acts who managed to create a deep

...

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