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Friday, February 12, 2021 [âA-wop-bop-a-loo-bop, a-lop-bam-boom!â]( And with that bit of doggerel none other than Little Richard, almost beyond argument, created what we know as rock ânâ roll. The year was 1955, and rock music had become a force to be reckoned with, providing a soundtrack for social movement and change for decades after, fracturing into potent subgenres â folk rock, punk rock, glam rock, yacht rock â and making lots of people lots of money. And now, according to none other than [Kissâ Gene Simmons](, itâs done. Dead. I tend to agree. And yet ⦠Eugene S. Robinson, Editor-at-Large duty now for the future 1. The Best âRockâ Bands of 2021 Letâs call this one Exhibit A. Straight from that rock bible Forbes and its â[Most Anticipated Rock Albums of 2021](.â For this list to put Mr. Simmons in his place, it would have to include bands with a few members in their 20s â sorry, Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters, Evanescence and Weezer. Greta Van Fleet almost count in that theyâre young, use rock staples of bass, drums and guitars, and evince a love of Rush, but their skinny shoulders canât carry it all. 2. Women to the Rock ânâ Roll Rescue There exists the possibility that rock died not because of what it hasnât done â generate hard-rocking action â but because of what it has done: run the macho ideation of whatever hard-rocking action is into the ground. Which is precisely why [Brittany Howard](, lead singer and guitarist of Alabama Shakes; [Chelsea Wolfe](; and Beatrice Laus, the Filipino-born Brit best known as [Beabadoobee](, leave such a mark when they hit. 3. Latin American Rock Rumbles Plenty of Americaâs rock originators were Latino â Ritchie Valens, Carlos Santana, Los Lobos and, on the harder end of the spectrum, Brazilâs [Sepultura]( â but weâre not talking about history here. Weâre talking about tomorrow, and none other than Oscar- and Grammy-winning filmmaker and musician [Gustavo Santaolalla]( makes the claim that tomorrow might belong to Latin American rock. One glimpse of his new Netflix documentary, Break It All: The History of Rock in Latin America, calls BS on any and all of Simmonsâ claims. 4. Plus: The Asian Invasion Thereâs plenty of rock to come out of Asia â noise rock with Melt-Banana, experimental rock with Boris, Babymetal for headbangers â but these bands have been around for a minute. And theyâre from Japan, where theyâve been doing rock forever. But stoner rock from Singapore, where you could get a decade in prison for marijuana possession? And named [Marijannah](, no less? Theyâre as mighty of an argument as youâre going to find that rock is alive and well. [Read more about Melt-Banana on OZY]( [Want to Speak a New Language in Three Weeks?]( At a time when we canât travel as much as weâd like, [Babbel]( opens up the world from the comfort of your couch. [The No. 1 language learning app]( on the market, Babbel offers immersive lessons designed to be fun and quick. In just [10 to 15 minutes per day](, youâll learn the words, phrases and cultural context you need to have real conversations in someone elseâs language. And, for a limited time, you can get [50 percent off subscriptions](. Nowâs the time to expand your mind and your world! [Get Started]( sympathy for the devil
[1. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Score 1 for Simmons]( âIâm forever near a stereo saying, âWhat the f--- is this garbage?â And the answer is always the Red Hot Chili Peppers,â [Nick Cave]( once said in a rip that made it [back to the band](. And heâs right. Despite boasting a killer drummer, a few different great guitar players and some decent bass playing, singer Anthony Kiedis does to rock what Robert Goulet did to it, and Goulet made Elvis so mad he [shot his TV](. [Read more on OZY]( 2. And Speaking of Weezer Sure, Weezer uses traditional rock instrumentation, but Simmonsâ point had everything to do with âglamor, excitement and epic stuff.â Not [what anyone thinks]( of when they [think of Weezer]( and yet Weezer endures â despite an [anti-fan base]( thatâs as vitriolic as any fan base anywhere and who, you get the sense, wonât be happy until Rivers Cuomo ceases existing. 3. Just How Good Was Rock, Though? Thereâs a tendency to forget how bad bad really is. This is a great human adaptation and keeps us going where a smarter species would just lay down and die. So to all of the greatness Simmons refers to â Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles â thereâs an Eagles, âthe [quintessential band]( for a decade whose favorite barbiturate was the Quaalude,â according to the LA Weekly, and, of course, [Pearl Jam](. 4. One Personâs Trash Despite my negativity and the sense that itâd be more merciful just to let rock die, there are signs that rock is on track for a revival courtesy of Kerrang! magazine. Thereâs the return of My Chemical Romance, a big Weezer/Fall Out Boy/Green Day tour, a gaggle of hip-hop crossovers, Toolâs continued relevance and ⦠wait. Those were signs that [rock would dominate 2020](, which have all been blasted out of the water. Shall we rest our case? [our favorite piece of clothing](
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[Looking for Your Weekend Binge?]( Check out this week's episodes of The Carlos Watson Show! The Daily Show correspondent Dulcé Sloan offers insight into the iconic showâs success and reveals the up-and-coming comics whom she has her eye on â and you should too. Actress and activist Alyssa Milano is full of wild stories from her humanitarian adventures abroad. And Queer Eyeâs Karamo celebrates Black History Month with a story about an important forgotten figure of Black history. You wonât want to miss it! [Watch Now]( my aim is true 1. Screw Your Ageism Keep in mind that the aforementioned Little Richard, the father of rock ânâ roll, just died last year. And while at 87 he wasnât rocking out the way he was in 1955, he certainly knew how to. Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison are also gone, but some rock bands are still laying down the rock law. Expect [Aerosmith, Kiss and Guns Nâ Roses]( to be playing live by year-end, COVID be damned. 2. When You Accidentally Almost Kill Rock Context is everything. Youâre at a drugstore at 3 a.m., not really expecting to see Axl Rose. And yet, he must have at one point needed to go to the drugstore at 3 a.m. So it is that one OZY correspondent found himself strangling Mick Jagger in the course of merely doing his job to keep riffraff away from the Clash during their New York heyday. There may have been drugs involved. [Read more on OZY]( 3. And Dead Bees Can Still Sting It also could be that if Simmonsâ rock-free future comes to be, rock is a representative idea that lives on and carries as much weight as it once did. Case in point: When the Ramones, the great American punk rock progenitors, were playing amusement parks in the U.S., they were inspiring revolution in recently fascist Spain. So how dead is dead, really? [Read more on OZY]( 4. Kiss, Wait, What? After all of this naval-gazing and gloomy pontificating about the continued existence of rock ânâ roll, did we just see that one of the big rock tours planned for later in 2021 is [a Kiss tour](? With [David Lee Roth](, no less? So letâs get this straight, Mr. Simmons: Rock is dead, but youâre still touring? And breaking the Guinness World Record for highest flame at a recent show in Dubai. Perfect.
[5. Whoâs Rock, Whatâs Rock?]() And regardless of grumbling from older-school cats, it makes perfect sense to me to have hip-hop in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Listen to any hip-hop song and youâre apt to hear bass, drums and guitars, and with the same fire that fueled a Little Richard or [a James Brown]( â who played at least one noteworthy show with the Rolling Stones. Is it not rock ânâ roll to have [Jay-Z]( be one of the likeliest to be [inducted in 2021](? resting our case The final proof that rock will never die. 1. New York Dolls âThey dressed like women, but I didnât know any women that looked like them,â a music critic famously said about the New York Dolls in a Johnny Thunders documentary, and the same held true for the rock they played. Their music is great and we still weep for Johnny Thunders. [Read more on OZY]( 2. Lou Reed Black fingernail polish, all-black kit, black shades, a churlish demeanor, drugs, sex with whomever and an unwillingness to play nice, ever: Lou Reed lays out a road map for rockâs continuance for the next thousand years at least. And when his music hit a [Super Bowl commercial]( this year? Perverse perfection. 3. Sly Stone Itâs easy when you think of Sly and the Family Stone to think of all of the drug-fueled no-shows, and the going broke and the current fight over royalties, right up until you hear the music. And then all of that shit just stops. Itâs ⦠heavenly. Absolutely. See more of Sly in Questloveâs [Sundance-debuting documentary](, Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).
[4. Patti Smith]() A whole act predicated on a refusenikâs love of the contrary. âJesus died for somebodyâs sins but not mine,â Smith sang, and it was clear that all of those things typically put on female singers were just not going to be part of her deal. The makeup, the shopworn ideas of sexy, all of it received nary a nod. [Patti Smith]( was mighty. 5. Jimi Hendrix His father used to come into the kitchen when Jimi was a kid to find broom straw all over the floor and couldnât figure out what was going on. Because what was going on was that [Hendrix]( was playing air guitar on a broom. It caused his father to go out and buy him an actual guitar. The rest is a grand and glorious history. Weird Hendrix fun fact: One of his favorite guitarists ever was [Billy Gibbons]( from ZZ Top.
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