The Golden Age
First, we have to start with the assumption that Rock and Roll is no longer being created. I say that it's dead, but it't not dead in the sense that we have no Rock and Roll to listen to, we have hundreds or thousands of great pieces of music archived all over the place to enjoy for the rest of our lives. My point is that at some point, it stopped being created. If you are under 50 years old, you may strongly disagree with what I am saying. Does Rock and Roll even exist anymore? Certainly, there are some talented musicians out there creating good rock and roll music and I commend them on their love for the music, however we will never hear it because the music distribution system does not work for us the way it used to. It's really Rock and Roll Radio that is dead, and because the channel of distribution doesn't function properly, I can't imagine that new artists are able to make any money to engage in their craft, therefore new rock and roll has apparently dried up. Anyone who takes a critical look at Rock and Roll will have an opinion on precisely when the Golden Age took place. Some have said Feb. 3, 1959 was the day the music died. That great philosopher, Gene Simmons has noted that between 1958 and 1988 there were hundreds of successful rock acts. Hundreds. And by successful, he means they made money and paid the bills…and I would say that they came up with some great music in the process. He challenges us to name two since 1988. I could probably name three, but his point is legit.
The successful rock acts now, are artists who started before 1988 and in some cases, well before then. The Rolling Stones are touring this year, 2020. Recently, I watched an archived interview of the Dick Cavett show from 1972 in which he interviewed Mick Jagger while the Stones were playing two shows at Madison Square Garden. Jagger, who was just shy of 30 years old was asked by Cavett, "Can you see yourself doing this when you're 60?". "Yes, definitely" was his answer. I was surprised to hear that contrasted with Bill Wyman's answer when asked if he thought he'd be doing this ten years from now was something along the lines of "I don't know what I'll be doing next week". That was a realistic outlook in the rock world. Jagger, by the way is 76 years old and doesn't seem to be slowing down. Rock was created back in the day, but there's no such thing as new rock. Correct me if I'm wrong.
So, when was the golden age? Ask a hundred people, get a hundred different answers. One day around 2005 when I was bored, I created a graph that illustrated the radio stations I was listening to and the general strength of rock and roll created and receiving airplay during that time. Yes, I believe the 50's were more important to Rock and Roll than the 00's. The 10's and 20's are flatlined. Here's another way of looking at the purple bars:
50's Hey this sounds pretty cool daddy-O
60's Explosion!
70's Refinement, maturity, peak
80's Hey, lets get technology to do all the work
90's Houston, we have a problem
00's RIP Rock and Roll
Let me explain. These are Dallas radio stations. Rock and Roll rose very quickly in the late 50's and exploded in the 1960's. You can see that it (in my opinion) peaked in the 1970's and died a slow agonizing death going down slower than it had risen, mostly due to the momentum it had gained in the 60's and 70's which we will cherish well into the future. Very little good rock and roll was created after the 80's (really not much in the 80's if you ask me), and the only rock and roll we have to listen to is old rock and roll. It will carry me through my lifetime and maybe a few decades beyond. I listened to KLIF 1190 AM in the 1960's when rock and roll radio flourished. FM wasn't even around then, that I can remember, but by the time I made the jump to KNUS 98.7 and soon after KVIL 103.7, little could I comprehend that rock and roll was peaking. KNUS and KVIL were top 40, bubblegum or pop stations. I didn't understand that at the time. KLIF had been a more serious rock and roll station but that could be because there wasn't as much music around then. The early to mid 70's stations were just a natural progression and we took what was given to us at the time.
I had heard about KZEW, The Zoo, 97.9 along about 8th grade, but it wasn't until my sophomore year, 1974 that I began to listen. This was a game changer in my rock and roll world. These people cared about the music and played deep into the albums. The exposure to great music was wider and this is when I became a connoisseur. Until now, I had eaten everything that was placed before me, but now I had a choice. I decided to rock. KTXQ 102.1 came along soon after and we had two stations to go back and forth with, buy records, and go to concerts. We enjoyed a good 15 years of rocking on down the highway. Then something dreadful happened in Dec. of 1989. On my way to work, I turned on the Zoo and what do I hear? Christmas music. I love Christmas music as much as the next guy, but it wasn't what I was expecting. I heard the bad news from someone. The Zoo was going to play Christmas music until the end of the year, then would be no more. It was gone. Dead. Formaldehyde City. Get over it. I didn't get over it, it was Feb. 3, 1959 all over again and would never be resurrected. Those great, album oriented stations who cared more about the music than anything else ended. It probably wasn't financially feasible, but it was nice while we had it. We still have KZPS 92.5 and all the silliness that seems to pay the bills. Yuck!
In addition to my graph I proudly present above, I did a critical analysis of this phenomenon we call Rock and Roll and pinpointed the exact peak to be the year 1971. Everything before then was on the way up and afterward on the way down. But it did rise back up in a way. The internet came along and brought to the front a lot of old music that I had never heard, or hadn't heard in a long time. I have more true rock and roll now than ever before, but the creation of it has long been dead. The end. ~JK
