Rock and Roll Saves

We don't save rock and roll; rock and roll saves us.

To be fair, the video kind of shows this too. The band plays together before vanquishing the demon, or they probably wouldn't have been able to do it. They were having enough issues with mere acolytes of the demon before.

I know there are issues with the music industry, which has a perpetual cycle of trying to commodify everything that is cool and innovative and pure for profit. There's nothing new there. It also isn't really new that as artists gain fame and opportunities it can lead to personal conflicts and substance abuse and all sorts of soul-killing practices. That's familiar ground.

I also know that the art is constantly reborn. No matter what is currently popular and who is getting paid, somewhere in some garage a guitar gets picked up, a kid in study hall writes lyrics, and someone will hear a song that sounds exactly how they feel.

I've reviewed 146 bands since I started doing this. (I don't have anything special planned for 150, but I'm getting some good ideas for 200.) Three have been just one guitar and a drum kit, two have had violins as part of the regular line-up, and many have been in the blessed configuration of vocals and drums with lead, rhythm, and bass guitar.

You know what I have learned from studying Emo? That I don't really care for hardcore; I prefer things more melodic, and sung instead of shouted or growled. However, I have also learned that based on the anger that it was representing, and the desire to break with the establishment, it was a completely legitimate way to go. You don't have to love all rock, but there will be something that speaks to you if you just listen for it. There will be many that speak to you.

Rock is versatile. We can speed it up as punk or make it thick like sludge or heavy like metal. Songs can be personal or political, yet with some bands you have to wonder if they ever think about anything other than sex. Rock shouts in anger and wails in pain and rock exults in triumph.

Rock gives us a voice. It is an outlet for the things we need to stay, and a relief for when we hear our feelings from someone else. Rock lets us know that we are not alone. Rock is dancing and dreaming,  fighting authority and surrendering to love. And when a band has been apart for a few years, rock is a way to reconnect.

There are things we could do to improve the environment for rock. If people pay for music not only because they appreciate it and have integrity, but also because they have disposable income, that would be good. If education were funded and designed not just to create good workers, but fulfilled citizens, part of which included music being taught in schools, and if life necessities were not prohibitively expensive, that would help. Those things are really about saving musicians though, along with everyone else.

I suppose there is a risk, in a world where we are suffering less because we care about each other, that there might be less inspiration for new music, but I think just being human provides enough angst. There will still be reasons to sing, and singing will still help.

I recently read Marc Mohan's review of We Are The Best!, about three girls in 1980s Stockholm forming a punk band. I haven't see it yet, but I am sold on it, because of this.

When a downtrodden Bobo complains 'Say one good thing about my life,' Klara instantly replies 'You're in the world's greatest band.'

And in that moment for those kids, it's absolutely true.

Yes. Over and over again. All over the world.

We don't save rock. Rock saves us.