How Many Rock Songs Do You Count In Spotify's Top 50 Songs Of 2024?

This should be a concern if you love rock music. Why is the number of songs on that list one...or none at all?

Rock isn't dead but make no mistake about it, it is on that hospital bed, hooked up to the resuscitators. They may need to break out the defibrillators any minute now.

What rock band to debut in the last 15 years have a frontman and any other band members that actually have star power?

Do you understand what star power is? Presley had it. Morrison had it. Jagger and Richards had it. Plant and Page had it. Axl Rose had it...and yes, even Kurt Cobain had it.

If any of the current frontmen do have star power, why aren't they being talked about in the mainstream media? When rock was healthy, the people with true star power, whether you want to talk about the Sunset Strip scene and guys like Axl Rose, Slash, Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx or you wanna talk about the Seattle scene and guys like Kurt Cobain and Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder, these guys were being covered by mainstream media all the time.

It's not that there's no good rock bands being created anymore, but there are no great rock bands being made anymore. Great has become such on overused word. Look at Kaleo for example. Way Down We Go is a really nice song. Julius Son even has a certain amount of stage presence which is rare these days because the younger generation stopped valuing music like their predecessors did and allowed the nightclubs - the breeding grounds where good bands went to become great bands - to go out of business. Where else are you gonna develop a new generation of great frontmen?

If you cannot get lots and lots of experience playing in front of live crowds and learning from it, you simply don't have a chance to learn what legends like Jagger, Plant, Tyler, and Mercury did. You just won't. Julius Son is a fine talent but to put his name or Kaleo's up name against the names of rock royalty, some of whom I just named...no. It's a complete non-starter. The next Jimi Hendrix he is not! It would be hopelessly naive to somehow think that getting experience performing in front of live crowds weekly for years is optional.

Now there's this idea that you can "do it yourself." Fine. Who is today's equivalent of The Beatles? The Doors? Led Zeppelin? Fleetwood Mac? Pink Floyd? Queen? Guns N' Roses? Def Leppard? Motley Crue? Metallica? Nirvana? Soundgarden? Pearl Jam? Pantera? Slipknot?

Name one band that is grabbing the hearts and minds of today's young generation to the extent that The Stones and Beatles did in the 60s or Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac or The Eagles in the 70s, or Guns N' Roses or Metallica in the 80s or Nirvana or Pearl Jam in the 90s, go ahead.

Try it....and I'll try not to laugh.

Nothing worthwhile in life comes free. Hell, if it did, we'd all be smiling.

In life, you get what you pay for...or work for. There is a profound difference between how the young people in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s valued rock music and how its valued today by the current younger generation. They'd rather play video games than learn to play the guitar and learn how to sing. That's the truth!

Today's young people aren't exactly beating down the door trying to get into this community and learn a thing or two are they? Fact is, most new members either cannot or will not even answer the first three questions they are asked. Shows their priorities.

I'm Gen X and I'll tell ya, we would have done anything to follow in the footsteps of our rock 'n' roll heroes...and we did. Rock 'n' roll wasn't just music for us; it was a way of life! You have to have that kind of passion for music to even have a prayer of ever becoming one of the greats.

You get out of life what you put into it. How hard did you practice yesterday? Did you even practice? Or work on a writing a new song? Or even contribute to a community ostensibly made up of people who actually want this and want it badly?

Didn't have time? Did you have time to text? Did you have time for social media? Did have tie for video games? How about homework? Name one member of rock royalty who prioritized doing his homework over learning to play guitar or the drums or how to sing.

So! How did we arrive at this place where there is little or no rock on the Spotify Top 50 Songs of 2024? I'd say it's self-evident.

People who say the Spotify Top 50 isn't relevant will point to the rock bands headlining huge festivals.

Great. How many of these rock festival headliners made their debuts in the last fifteen years? These are old bands headlining these festivals. Where are there replacements comin' from?

The answer is: "They ain't"!

If rock were still a thriving industry like the industry that was handed to Metallica's generation when they were coming up, then how could it possibly be that in the last 33 years, nobody has overtaken Metallica as the world's biggest metal band?

How could Metallica possibly have retained their spot as kings of the mountain for 33 straight years, in a vibrant, healthy industry?

Can you imagine being in high school in 1995 and the most popular band among your peers being a band that was already the most popular band in 1965?

Not a chance.

The younger, hungrier lion, devours the older lion and takes over as king of the pride. It is the law of the jungle and it is the way of the world.

Nobody gives you power. Real power is something you take!

Musically, the 00s and 10s were a vast canyon of nothingness. It was as if a black hole had sucked all talent out of mainstream music, leaving us with just a shell, just a dried husk of those who were once called: rock musicians.

In reality, what had happened was the pimply faced 14 year old boy next door was using mommy’s computer every second when she was gone, which was most of the time, to steal music.

He and millions more like him told the bands: "I want the enjoyment that comes from listening to your life’s work, but I just don't happen to think you have the right to be compensated for your life’s work. I feel entitled to take whatever I want from you."

Guys like Lars Ulrich told them: "You really don't want to do that. For one, it's illegal. You're gonna be sorry later."

The spoiled brats railed together in a way that something almost human yet somehow bereft of anything resembling dignity, self-esteem or a soul might behave and told Lars: "You’ve already made enough money! You don't deserve to make more money! You're greedy"!

Lars simply chuckled warmly and said words to the effect of:

"Ya just don't get it do you? Who are you to decide how much is enough? Metallica isn’t gonna take a loss ya little feebs! You mess with the bull and you get the horns"!

You try to steal the life’s work of hard working musicians and they’re not gonna just accept it. They’re not just gonna take a loss. They’re gonna raise the prices of concert tickets accordingly, so that they make up for lost revenue that way.

There’s a catch though: Only established bands like The Rolling Stones, Metallica, Aerosmith, The Foo Fighters and tons of other 70s, 80s and 90s bands can do that. The people you’re really screwing are yourselves. You steal all our music and you’ll destroy the engine that makes the rock and roll machine run. That means none of you will ever even have the chance to become rock stars.

You're depriving yourselves of your own chance to have a future and I’m being benevolent enough to tell you that you’re making a mistake. You will not like the result. You won’t like it one bit."

The free music hordes shrieked at Lars: "You're just a greedy old man and a bad drummer! You’re just mad that you won't make as much money! And also, in addition, you’re a bad drummer too"!

Lars responded:

"Am I? Then why am I up here? Whatever. I made it to where I am and all you did was ensure you’ll never even have the chance. Nobody with any talent is gonna get into an industry where your life's work is stolen with impunity. That means your generation’s music will be soulless, synthetic crap."

Turns out Metallica did raise ticket prices and continued to sell out arenas everywhere they went. They even played stadiums, despite the now vastly higher ticket prices! Metallica and the rest of the established bands didn't lose a penny.

Who ended up getting hurt? The younger generation of musicians who weren't yet established became the casualties.

The little stains who had leeched and leeched off of musicians, declaring “music should be free” did so until the major record labels crumbled. Not one band to debut in the last 15 years have become legit rock stars - people who will be regarded as rock royalty fifty years from now.

They can't even make the Spotify Top 50 today.

The fans are not the entire problem, however. The musicians deserve to shoulder their portion of the blame as well.

The biggest music on earth is rap music, because rockers stopped acting like rock stars. They didn't want to wear their jewelry and show off their amazing cars and their mansions...but rap stars did!

Rap stars did and they did it with relish. They loved to show off the trappings of stardom and why not? They'd earned it in one of the most competitive industries known to man - the entertainment industry.

"Flaunt it if ya got it"!

Bands don't want to be rock stars anymore. The problem with that is people aren't enthralled with the ordinary; they're enthralled with the extraordinary.

Look at the biggest bands of the 80s and 90s: Gus N' Roses, Motley Crue, Pantera, Blink 182, No Doubt, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam: They didn't just make great music, but this isn't just the music business; this is the entertainment business!

The 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, bands I've named all made exceptional music, but rock is more than just the music; it also has a mystique to it. It is alluring.

"Dream on, dream on, dream until your dreams come true."

These musicians had undeniable star power. They exuded it. A man with star power walks into a nightclub and if some people don't recognize him, they'll say:

"I don't know who he is, but I know he's somebody"!

Star power is that intangible that allows a performer to hold the audience in the palm of his or her hand. That audience cannot take their eyes off of that star. Their presence is magnetic!

Examples of star power in rock go all the way back to The King - Elvis Presley. He may have had more star power than anyone in music ever. Or in the entire entertainment industry. Do you think for a second he would have walked on stage in a ratty t-shirt and jeans? Not on your life!

The star is not supposed to look like the audience! There's nothing exciting about that. There's no mystique in that. Again, people want to see the extraordinary. They want to see someone who inspires them. Someone who makes the think: "If I work real hard and I don't relent and I continue to believe in myself, maybe one day I could be like that."

Rock star power is about the aspirational!

Elvis Presley was a star and he let the audience know it! Young women actually fainted. Elvis would show off his pink Cadillac and all his other Cadillacs and he was remarkably generous. He sometimes bought a Cadillac for someone he barely knew! Then there was Graceland. His home actually had a name. To this day, people visit it.

Elvis Presley was star power personified!

I don't expect anybody to equal Presley's star power, but what rock artists today are coming anywhere near close?

You tell me.

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