|
Post by AeroCooper on Apr 26, 2014 14:02:21 GMT -5
Ozzy: Where are the rock stars?26 April 2014 Ozzy Osbourne wishes someone would “hurry up” to take over his rock star status. The 65-year-old musician was the frontman of legendary band Black Sabbath and has also had a successful solo career. Having now left his wild days behind, Ozzy admits he’s concerned about who can take over his reputation. “That might be a very true statement,” he commented to Kerrang! magazine when asked if he thinks music is suffering from a lack of rock stars. “I honestly don’t know who’s going to carry the flag in the future, but I wish someone would hurry up. None of us are getting any younger, you know.” Ozzy also named one of his idols in the music industry. Insisting someone must be an “extrovert” to be considered a rock star, he explained why he looks up to one particular musician. “David Bowie comes to mind. He’s always original with his image and music. Nowadays, I have a problem telling who’s in the band and who’s in the crew – no one looks like a rock star!” Ozzy mused. The raven-haired singer landed the 23rd spot in Kerrang!’s 50 Greatest Rockstars In The World Today. Asked why he thinks he made the list this year, Ozzy believes his band helped him gain the title. “[Why?] Probably because I’m Ozzy Osbourne!” he quipped. “But the past year, with the success of Sabbath’s 13 album and the world tour, probably didn’t hurt…” Lastly, Ozzy revealed he never dreamed of becoming such a big name in music, revealing he thought he’d end up a plumber. www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/news/ozzy-where-are-the-rock-stars-30220772.html
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Join Date:
May 21, 2024 16:20:47 GMT -5
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2014 14:20:46 GMT -5
Music taste change. I don't know what is my age and maybe not being aware, and what is the change. I am pretty sure new rock acts (last 5 or so years) are not selling albums or tickets.
|
|
|
Post by jj on Apr 26, 2014 18:45:04 GMT -5
The record companies seem only interested in promoting the same generic flash in the pan. The next rock star cannot rise in a long slow climb like bands from decades ago--Aerosmith being among them. Often I find myself looking for independent releases to find these mysteriously unsigned bands that actually write music, play instruments and record great songs.
|
|
|
Post by AeroCooper on Apr 26, 2014 18:49:36 GMT -5
I agree and I get what Ozzy is saying. They are more interested in signing the best smile and hair instead of the best musicians and songwriters these days.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Join Date:
May 21, 2024 16:20:47 GMT -5
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2014 23:36:34 GMT -5
Agree. It's a shame that the record industry seems hell-bent on killing itself, but they have a massive quality-control problem and really messed-up priorities.
I've definitely noticed that all of my favorite rock musicians are little elderly men, and I've also noticed that no younger men are coming along to replace them. When Ozzy and the Aerosmith guys all start kicking the bucket, that'll be it.
In the olden days, record companies used to perform a pretty important job by finding and developing new talent. Imagine if Aerosmith were a new band trying to make it in today's climate? They'd have been done after their first record tanked, no second or third chances for them! The way record companies put so much focus on making quick profits and churning out immediately-profitable talent is a huge problem that's killing them from within, because it's not sustainable. This is another reason why it grates on my nerves when record companies complain about their business woes.
Rant! Rant!
It drives me literally insane when people say "Well, the public don't want good rock bands. The public want Katy Perry and Justin Bieber!" The fact that Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Van Halen and Metallica top the list of the all-time best-selling music artists proves that this claim is a bunch of nonsense. I truly don't think the masses are lining up in droves to but the latest Katy Perry record, you know? Record companies are struggling mainly because they produce crap that nobody wants. They're so quick to point fingers and blame "illegal downloads!" for their problems, but they don't seem willing to take a look at their massive quality issues.
It's really sad that good songwriters, good musicians can't get a leg up from the big record companies anymore. I totally agree with Ozzy 100%.
Big bands like Aerosmith, Sabbath, Ozzy's solo career, etc, mainly got to be so big and so famous because they had a big record label's PR/media/marketing machine behind them. That was a valuable service that record companies used to provide for musicians, and it's what made the mega-rockstar-bands possible. Now that this has largely gone away, I really don't think we'll see another mega-band. I hope that someday in the future, some creative bunch of innovative young rock musicians will find a new way to leverage the power of the internet and generate their own mega PR/media/marketing machine and maybe we'll see another mega-band again, but the mega-rock stars who dominated the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s seem to be a dying format of music. If we ever see another huge rock band, it'll probably be very different from the huge rock bands we've been accustomed to.
Another factor, though: Social media and the internet have made the world a really small place, and it's given us a ton of access to everyone's lives. I think "mystery" is a really important factor in rockstardom. I think bands like Sabbath and Aerosmith had this sort of godlike, mythic quality because the band members were mysterious, and you didn't have access to them, and you didn't know everything about them. I must admit, when I was first discovering Aerosmith, I felt so excited to learn the slightest detail about their lives!!! They seemed like godlike beings to me, because they were sort of removed from the rest of humanity! Now, thanks to Twitter and Instagram, I know that the Aerosmith guys all lead totally mundane lives just like me. It ruins that godly, otherworldly image a little bit!
With a new band just coming up, they'll mainly promote themselves through social media, and therefore, their fans will know a lot about them. When band members are able to hop online and go like "Hey, look at this cheeseburger I just ate for lunch!! Look at these pictures of my cat, everyone!" it kind of makes it hard to create that aura of mystery and God-like superhuman awesomeness.
In the future, I imagine that we'll still have plenty of "guys who are good at music," but I think we won't have as many mythic "Rock Gods."
|
|
|
Post by aerognr87 on Apr 27, 2014 21:18:58 GMT -5
It's hard to be a rock star when rock is dead. I hate to say it, but it's kinda true.
As far as current music goes, I gravitate towards country music nowadays because, to me, it is the most rock 'n' roll music out there anymore. And country guys like Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line with their party anthems and stage presence fit the rock star mold better than an angry/emo metal guy that nobody's ever heard of, or a pop guy like Adam Levine or Johnny Reznik.
Rock music and rock fans have self destructed. In one corner, you have metalheads that wants music to be more metal and more aggressive and more underground, and the minute a band gets a platinum record, they are deemed a sellout and then it's on to the next "more authentic" hardcore metal band. And in the other corner, you have people who want more poppy/accessible acts. Maroon 5, Nickelback, Goo Goo Dolls, etc., and then all these bands become Adult Contemporary/Adult Top 40 pop acts. There's no room for a mainstream hard rock act like Aerosmith anymore. Too mainstream and not hardcore enough for the metalheads, and too heavy and not mainstream enough for the pop crowd. Plus, record companies have just given up on promoting hard rock in general.
As for Ozzy wanting someone with crazy, bad boy rock star behavior, it may have worked for him and a lot of guys in the 70s and 80s, but I think Axl Rose and Fred Durst took things a little too far and kinda ruined it for people.
|
|