Listening to modern-day rock music means listening to musical references from yesteryear. Rock music has a long history stretching back to 1950s rock and roll, which was in turn influenced by blues, country music, gospel, and African American culture. And as much as these early styles of music are still present in modern rock, it’s music from the late 1960s and the 1970s that has had a stronger, more palpable influence on current rock bands.

One of the most obvious similarities between current rock bands and rock bands from the 60s and 70s is the focus on guitar. The guitar has been a central element of rock music since it replaced the piano as the core instrument of 50s rock and roll, but it was in the 60s and 70s that guitar really experienced its Golden Age of innovation. In this period, the guitar became more than just the central element of the band; it became the heart and soul of rock. Virtuosity and guitar soloing reached new levels with the likes of Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Jeff Beck.

Guitar innovations by companies such as Gibson, Fender, and Marshall created a classic sound that has continued to define good guitar tone. If anything, the progress of electric guitar technology over the last few decades has often taken the guitar away from this classic sound to something more manufactured, digital, and artificial.

Something which blatantly demonstrates the importance and influence of 60s and 70s rock music on today’s artists is the many revival acts that currently fill the airwaves. The garage rock revival of the early 2000s brought us bands such as The Strokes and The White Stripes — bands which are heavily influenced by musical styles that have already come and gone. Post-punk revival bands such as The Killers and Franz Ferdinand also demonstrate how older genres have influenced the current state of rock. And while revival bands have built onto 60s and 70s rock in new ways, their reference to this Golden Age is so strong and obvious that there is no alternative but to call them “revival bands”.

Perhaps the greatest difference between modern rock bands and the bands of the 60s and 70s is that while there is still a strong focus on the guitar, these days there is much less focus on virtuosity and soloing. Besides hard rock and heavy metal bands, the focus of modern rock music has largely been on creating short, catchy, distorted, power-chord-based music. While it’s true that the current state of rock music is a varied thing, the guitar virtuosity of the 60s and 70s is not matched by many of today’s artists, and most artists and audiences don’t seem to be interested in this happening.

One last thing to remember is that many great bands from the 1960s and 70s are still active and in the charts today. Consider The Who, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Rush, Iggy Pop, and The Rolling Stones. The longevity of these bands isn’t surprising considering their classic sounds, which are highly relevant even today.

- Axel

Ok folks, it is time to dig out all your Aerosmith cds, lps, sps, DVDs and any other ees and burn them. That’s right get rid of them! Steven Tyler has sold out. The king of cool needs to go back to school. The god of rock needs a huge sock, in his mouth. He is no longer a rock ‘n roller but just a mere judge on a talent show that is destroying the industry that has provided him the extravagant lifestyle that he as afforded for decades.

I could not believe my eyes and ears when I saw an advertisement for the coming seasons American Idol sprouting off about the new judges. I can accept Judge Jenny who was really just a made artist anyway, but Steven Tyler. My god! I used to worship Aerosmith when I was growing up. I am shattered, disturbed, destroyed. Is nothing sacred?

We must ask the question does anyone create art for art’s sake anymore? Or is it only about the almighty dollar? I know a person has to live but how much is enough. These days most rock ‘n roll stars are little more than prostitutes selling themselves to the highest bidder and losing their dignity in the process. Allowing record executives to dictate terms re-arrange and even rewrite their songs, all for a little money.

A good friend of mine, JJ Harris, used to drum with Australian band The Divinyls in the 80s. When the band went off to New York to record their Temperamental album, producer Mike Chapman (of Suzie Quattro fame) sacked Jeff (JJ Harris) because he had no recording experience. Upon his return to Australia Jeff said to me, “What really gets me is that Mike Chapman is not even in the band and no one in the band said anything.” So not only do these record execs and producers rewrite the band’s songs they even take the liberty of hiring and firing the band’s members and what is even worse than that is that these great rock ‘n rollers let them do it.

I have so much admiration for musicians like Buddy Holly, who punched out his record producer because he wanted to change one of Holly’s songs. And Stevie Ray Vaughan who used to play at music festivals, like Bumbershoot in Seattle on small stages in the street, for next to nothing. And Jim Morrison for being unwilling to change one word of Light My Fire when he performed live on the Ed Sullivan Show, knowing his actions would cost the band any potential of a repeat performance.

But gone are those days, now it’s all about the dollar. Greed is ubiquitous in modern society. We have seen it all but destroy the world’s financial systems as it continues to tear apart the music industry.

So Mr. Tyler thanks for shattering my illusions and destroying my faith in rock gods from the seventies. You should be ashamed of yourself. I hope fellow Aerosmith members are ashamed of you too.

- Axel

The history of rock music is a rich and complex thing. Even the origins of the rock genre are not entirely clear-cut, and the number of sub-genres (and sub-genres of sub-genres) that have developed since the 1950s “Rock and Roll” era deserve a whole series of encyclopedias.

One uncontested fact is that rock and roll evolved in the late 1940s in America, and that it has roots in blues, gospel music, country music, and African American culture. The genre seems to have developed as a result of white and black communities living in closer proximity to each other, which meant they were hearing each others music. This sparked the fermentation period of rock and roll, as it drew influences from older American genres of music to form a new, original, and immediate musical expression for the America of the 1950s.

Some of the first rock and roll records include Bill Haley’s “Rock Around The Clock” in 1954, and Elvis’ “That’s All Right (Mama)” the same year. And while the piano was the central and most important instrument in early rock songs, with the invention of the electric guitar and amplifier, the guitar soon became the most essential instrument for rock bands. Guitarists such as Chuck Berry, Link Wray, and Scotty Moore were especially important early rock and roll guitarists who developed the rock guitar style.

The rock and roll genre hit Britain hard in the late 50s and early 60s, which resulted in the formation of important British bands such as The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, who both broke into the American mainstream soon afterwards.

The arrival of Beatlemania in turn influenced what is often called the “Golden Age of Rock Music”, as important pop, folk, psychedelic, and glam rock bands emerged during the mid-60s to mid-70s.  Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, and David Bowie all changed the face of rock music forever. During this period, rock music was becoming more and more varied, and rock genres continued to develop into more complex and intense forms of music. Most importantly, there was a continued focus on playing the electric guitar in innovative and exciting ways.

During the 1970s, bands like Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Led Zeppelin continued to create increasingly aggressive and guitar-focused music with the development of hard rock and heavy metal. These types of rock bands started to sell out the largest venues, which lead to the coining of the term “Arena Rock”.

Punk rock hit in the mid- to late-70s with bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash, while the 80s brought us more heavy metal bands (such as Iron Maiden and Motorhead), glam metal acts (Motley Crue, Queen), and alternative rock (REM, The Smiths, The Cure).

Grunge was perhaps the most significant development of 90s rock, with bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden topping the charts. Later in the decade genre-mixing bands such as Green Day and The Offspring (pop-punk), Silverchair and Bush (post-grunge), and Rage Against the Machine and Korn (nu-metal/rap-rock) developed the rock genre in their own unique ways.

The 2000s have seen the revival of rock genres such as garage rock (The White Stripes, The Vines), post-punk (The Killers, Franz Ferdinand), and the development of metal genres with bands such as Trivium and Wolfmother.

The future of rock music will likely see many more genre revivals and genre-mixing, but we can only hope that rock bands of the future can equal the creative genius of earlier rock acts such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and other original groups which changed the course of rock music forever.

- Axel