Am I the only person under the age of 50 who despises rock?

Yes.

I am 19 and I love classic rock. Give me AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, KISS, or Metallica, The Stones, The Beatles, Alice Cooper, Queen, Pink Floyd and I am a happy little stud. I grew up listening to my cool Dad's vinyls. I love a lot of genres, but rock is my passion. I wish I could have seen those acts in their youth and prime.

[quote] I grew up listening to my cool Dad's vinyls. I love a lot of genres, but rock is my passion. I wish I could have seen those acts in their youth and prime.

If you had "seen those acts in their youth and prime," you would have called their records records, not vinyls.

Do you listen to any of the black musicians they ripped off, R1? Those guys would put all those lame cock rockers to shame.

As for The Beatles, John Lennon was one of the biggest phonies who ever lived and a bit of a homophobe, and he foisted the supremely untalented Yoko Ono on us. "Imagine" was narcissistic, nihilistic crap and a pretty pedestrian song musically; and Lennon can't rhyme anything with "one" besides "one."

I wouldn't say I despise it, but I'm very picky about it and it's far from my favorite genre. I prefer jazz and standards, along with blues and classic soul.

I have a love hate relationship with it. Guns N Roses make me want to slit my wrists. Axl Rose has the most irritating voice. Who did he fuck for his record deal?

I'm 49, I grew up on a wide variety of rock genres. I still love it all. I still get great joy from Metallica, Depeche Mode, Judas Priest, Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, The Cure, Bowie, Van Halen, Talking Heads, Queen, Blondie, etc.

Metal (especially the British acts like Priest, Maiden, Sabbath, and American thrash like Metallica, Anthrax, Testament, Megadeth) is very complex and orchestral and takes a buttload of talent to create and perform. Much of it has classical roots and remains quite enjoyable to me.

I will love rock until I leave this Earth (Which hopefully will be another 45-50 years from now)

The Holden Caulfield reference was too much.

I don't know, OP; harpsichord music is way worse.

R6 is part of the problem, and R4 is the solution.

Rap is much better and takes far more talent. Rock is just screaming and racism.

Pre-rock pop music required you to be able to sing.

Early Rap was good, R10. Not the crap now. It's nothing but garbage.

Rap Today= Bitches, drugs, money, and homophobia. Include one or all in your record, and you are pretty much guaranteed a hit.

No genre is worse than country. Now some of the real old stuff (60s/70s) is listenable but I can't tell Martina McBride from Trisha Yearwood or whoever and all the male stars sound the same to me (oldies like Garth Brooks and Randy Travis excepted). I have no idea who the current stars are - it all sounds the same and it's so damn depressing. I have friends that like it though they grew up in the South and Midwest.

I can dig some classic country, but most modern country is just bad rock with a fiddle, as Tom Waits put it.

Anyone who says

[quote]I listen to classic R&B/soul,

Is nothing but a hipster doofus, who is trying so hard to not be racist, they are in fact, a closet racist.

Go burn a cross you bigot.

It used to be transgressive, crazy, go for broke and very sexed up. Now it's just low body fat careerists with hair plugs and no sex drive. It sucks!

My 16 year old son plays guitar and loves Led Zep, the Who, the Beatles, Cream, Green Day, a bunch of others and everyone on the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack except Bowie.

For some reason, he doesn't like Bowie or the Stones. He also doesn't like "laid back" rock either, like CSNY, the Eagles, Grateful Dead. Oh wait -- he does play Hotel California, one of my least favorite songs. He doesn't like Joe Walsh.

OP, If you find rock "simplistic", might I suggest Early-Metallica, Savatage, early Queensryche, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force, Dream Theater, Deep Purple, or '70s-era Queen? There is nothing "simplistic" or repetitive about those bands.

Some rock is quite complicated and extraordinarily complex. I am a rock guitarist (formerly with a very successful '80s band) and, trust me, there's nothing simplistic about Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, or early Queen. Those acts music is as complex as any great classical music (which I also love).

True, metal is not for everyone. Some of it IS simplistic and repetitive (not that there's anything wrong with that), but much of it quite challenging.

R15 = psychotic 'RACIST!' shrieker doofus who doesn't deserve to live. Go [italic]be[/italic] a cross, Flaming Anus.

I love Motley Crue's sinful sleaze. Evergreen.

"Forward my mail to me in HELL!!"

Yeah right, R15. Preferring music actually made by people of color to music stolen from people of color is the surefire sign of a racist.

This is what R15 looks like:

[quote]Some rock is quite complicated and extraordinarily complex.

Yet you can't play it in a power outage.

R21 - Find me ONE Iron Maiden, Queensryche, or Dream Theater song STOLEN from people of color and I will eat ten pounds of your fucking shit. This entire thread was started to bash whitey. I should have known. You win... Janet, Michael & Diana rule. Everything else sucks. (rolls eyes).

No OP, you are not. 46 years old and hate rock music, I was done with rock music when I hit my twenties. Pete Townshend's declaration has been validated, rock is dead.

R-21 is the fucking racist.

Since you brought it up R22:

R22 and everyone else - please don't lower yourselves to the race-baiting trolls who love to come on here.

They are either white people who are just trying to start some shit or some whiny "person of color" doing their usual whining (yaaaawwwwnnn!).

Don't feed the trolls, especially the self-serving, whiny ones. It is all just fuel for their self-serving, whiny, pity-party fire.

Only racists call someone else a racist for preferring Jewish and black music to white noise. The only white singers and musicians who were anywhere close to good were those who actively worked with and championed artists of color.

Note the coded racist dog whistles in R26's post, particularly "whiny," which is a loaded term used to glibly dismiss all concerns about the effects of cultural appropriation on people of color, especially gay people of color.

Okay R27, you win. White sucks. White music sucks. White athletes suck. White actors suck. White = evil. I have been converted. White = Bad = Noise = Stolen = Shit. Everybody repeat. (Rolling eyes).

How can you sleep at night with all of that hate festering in your brain? You hate ALL white music and you are not a racist? I am white and I love music by people of ALL colors. Open your mind.

As for stolen music... look no further than acts like M/A/R/R/S (unlicensed sampling), Tone Loc (unlicensed samples, literally stealing from Van Halen, Led Zep, etc.), and countless other rappers using samples without permission. Yes, YOU ARE A RACIST!

Who ever said rap was actually music rather than a pox on the African-American community, R29? And after all, it was invented for the benefit of white people in musicals who couldn't really sing, like Rex Harrison and Robert Preston.

White people sample, too. Just ask Vanilla Ice, and maybe if you're lucky he won't lie about that like he lied about growing up in the ghetto.

[quote]You hate ALL white music and you are not a racist?

Not all white music. I utterly adore the music and lyrics of Cole Porter.

Let's all shed a tear for the poor "victim" at R27/28. You poor baby, held down all these years.

Check it out... All of the greatest athletes are Black! Many great musicians are Black! Our President is Black for fucks sake! Get over it and be somebody.

The only person victimizing you is YOU! The rest of us are busy working, paying bills. I'm not crying over people discriminating against me for being GAY. I am being who and what I want to be. Fuck the world! Nobody's holding me back.

R28 Yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah ... now everyone else please focus on the topic at hand.

Stop feeding the self-serving, whiny trolls. Good advice.

Now, who else on here under the age of 50 hates rock music?

[quote]Stop feeding the self-serving, whiny trolls. Good advice.

They'll eat anything. Why do you think most of them are fat?

I'm embarrassed that I fell for OP's racist trap. I should have known. I will close this thread and will not open this venomous/poisonous thread again. OP, I do not know whether you are black and stirring up shit, or a white racist stirring up shit, but you totally suck. Quit poisoning threads with your hatred and sickness.

I am white and far from a racist. Most white gays are not racists. So, kindly fuck the fuck off!

OP, what is wrong with you that you assume people over fifty hate rock music? People over fifty grew up with rock music. That was their music. See R6 and R18 to understand what rock music is. And don't bother answering the question at the top of my post. I know the answer.

I'm 24 and I LOVE rock, but mostly the blues or garage style.I can't stand shit like Arcade Fire or Edward poot and the magnetic poots. It's so self-consciois and takes itself so fucking seriously, you know?

Like,"We shall raise Rrrawwwk to the holy of holies, to heights heretofore hither blither-blather-blither, -clapclapclap- Classical!"

I don't give a fuck who likes rock. But if you don't, you're probably already dead inside and need to see a witch doctor.

Classical!

We don't have music today, just brainless ranting that mimics the world we live in. Ugly world, ugly noises from ugly people, most of whom shouldn't have been born.

[quote]People over fifty grew up with rock music.

I mean people born before the era of rock. The ones who grew up with jazz as the default form of American popular music. Pretty much all working jazz musicians have the same chops as classical musicians and do far cooler drugs than rockers.

Note the coding 'RACIST!' dog at R28. Soon may it die.

[quote]I mean people born before the era of rock.

R40/OP, that would be people under 70, not 50.

I will be 50 soon. I love rock. I grew up on rock - hard rock, metal, new wave, classic rock, punk, etc. If you don't like it... fine. Rock makes me feel good. It's energetic, celebratory, infectious, and fun.

I also like classical, jazz, blues, r&b, disco, funk, etc.

The only things I don't care for are country, rap/hippity hop, and show tunes.

Oh my god, no, OP, you are by far not "the only one." I've met many, many pretentious assholes under 50, so rest assured you are not alone. Your utter lack of self-awareness is a telltale sign for your kind.

[quote]Jazz musicians...do far cooler drugs than rockers

This is the criterion you judge music by? Sorry, OP, that is the final nail in your coffin of idiocy.

And, yes, you are a special enough flower to be [quote]the only person under the age of 50 who despises rock.

R18, come back and delight us with stories of 80s celebrity. Seriously. Are you gay? Are rock bands gay friendly?

There are many forms and styles rock music. If you don't like ANY of it, you are pretty colsed minded. Rock ranges from Elvis to Slayer, Hendrix to Depeche Mode, Blondie to Black Sabbath, Chicago to David Bowie, The Eagles to the Sex Pistols, Fleetwood Mac to System Of A Down, Chuck Berry to Nine Inch Nails, Little Richard to Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linda Ronstadt to Slayer, Rolling Stones to Muse.

There's something for everybody: Classic rock, heavy metal, thrash/speed metal, classical metal, punk, hardcore, new wave, country rock, soft rock, pop rock, industrial, blues rock, roots rock, oldies rock, rap/rock, and much more.

Excellent answer R44. A+!

[quote]Jazz musicians...do far cooler drugs than rockers

Such as? Heroin? Cocaine? There is no drug that is ever truly "cool", once you take a good look at it.

OP, what are these "cooler drugs" you speak of? We know rock musicians have done heroin and coke and grass and acid and speed and so on. But what exactly are the drugs jazz musicians do? And don't say alcohol and nicotine because I have proof that rock musicians also smoke and drink on occasion.

When you say drugs are cool, do actually mean to say they can be fun? I disagree with you about some of your music points, but your answer to THIS question may, in fact, cause us to agree.

About drugs, I mean.

[quote]Most white gays are not racists.

You certainly wouldn't get that impression from reading DL, R38. Yikes!

Anyway, this thread is complete bullshit.

And old fogeys complaining about rap are full of shit, too.

R&B and soul ARE versions of rock, you asshole!

So click your heels three times and let your ruby slippers carry you back to Broadway. Listen to lightweight, passionless fluff the rest of your life.

Rock ROCKS. OP is a fragile, little pussy with no fire inside.

You don't have to live life with any passion and maybe you're lucky if you never had any aggression to let out, which rock does well.

Blues IS rock n' roll, r4. Classic soul is a sub-genre of it.

Who doesn't love Cock Rock?

[quote]Only racists call someone else a racist for preferring Jewish and black music to white noise.

What's Jewish music, R27? Klezmer?

R27, I'm Jewish. I guess I am no longer considered White. What the fuck is your logic? Blues and R&B are forms of rock, stooge.

Note to Trolls:

You're racist if your enjoyment of music depends on the musician's race.

"I'm not racist! Music just has to come from black people! I mean white! I mean Jewish ... "

I'm 32. I love classic Jazz & Blues,K pop,Industrial(do the kids call it that these days) and even pop but rock will always be my favorite. I was also lucky to grow up with a parent who exposed me to cool music plus older siblings with great taste. I can't hear Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd without going back to childhood.

MY FAIR LADY is not hip hop!

OP / r30 just keeps getting more stupid and out-of-it.

The only kind of music I refuse to listen to because it makes my teeth hurt and opens my bowels is barbershop.

I don't enjoy all pop, but I like some artists.

Of course white musicians borrowed from R&B. All art borrows from what came first.

R62, which was Classical music.

Yes, all of us under 50's listen to showtunes and civil war slave songs. Please! Yes, most of us love rock, at least SOME of it.

Hard to believe Elton John was once a huge rock star.

Well, the huge part is easy to believe.......

Black people stole tap dancing from the irish.

It was hard to believe at the time too, R65, and I lived through it.

This is OPs fav song. Truly a classic.

rock is for uncivilized cretins i have no tolerance for it the world would be better w/o it it is excluding and just sad

Your mangled syntax, run-on sentences and complete lack of punctuation are sad, R69. Who the fuck are you to complain of "uncivilized cretins?" You write like a retarded crack baby.

For r69

Love it. Thanx R71! Gabba Gabba Hey!

Whatever you do, just keep it trashy and everything will be okay:

I love the NY Dolls

I grew up with rock, went to dozens and dozens of arena concerts, and played rock albums over and over again.

But except for a few classics, I never need to hear any of that stuff ever again.

I've moved on to jazz, classical, and some fun new alt/pop, non-English music and a lot more.

Nobody needs to hear Bob Seger ever again.

R75, You've grown old right before our eyes. Put on some Led Zeppelin, lie back, relax and let the music take you away. You'll feel young again... as when the world was new.

Rock is for children and stoners.

Wrong, R-77. I am 48, never been high or drunk in my life. I love metal, new wave, punk, grunge, industrial, classic rock... the whole shebang. I am also well-educated and I have a great job.

"You've grown old right before our eyes."

And proud of it.

The alternative to aging is death, asswipe.

Yes. I'm 27 but I still listen to scene music, like Asking Alexandria, Bring Me the Horizon, Of Mice & Men, Parkway Drive, Panic at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Pierce the Veil, Alesana, As I Lay Dying, Escape the Fate, Saosin, Sleeping With Sirens, Three Days Grace etc.

I love rock n roll, so put another dime in the jukebox, baby!

I love all kinds of music and go in spurts with all genres; recently I've been on a rock roll, love it!

Love classic rock, never gets old

Schlock rockers have my blood on their hands

What Band were you in R18?

[quote]Am I the only person under the age of 50

This is Datalounge.

So...yes, you are.

OP you are much better off having developed an appreciation for music other than rock. I think most real people end up loving classical.

Yes, you are the only person under the age of 50 who despises rock. You are so special. So. Very. Special.

You're old because you still think rock is the preferred genre. Hip hop has completely supplanted rock as the dominant music form. Rock exists as an oldies concert act that boomers can spend their six figure incomes on.

OP - there is ROCK music from the 50's to now. Thats more than 50 years of rock. You paint a with a broad stroke. I am sure there are some rock bands from some decade that might please you. If not, your loss.

Never especially liked it, especially the full-blown screaming sort with bombastic instrumentals.

Most any rock song that I like, I would like it more in a stripped down, understated acoustic version.

Radiohead should cure you of your affliction.

Out go the lights

In goes my knife

Pull out his life

Consider that bastard dead

Get on your knees

Please beg me, please

You're the king of the sleaze

Don't you try to rape me

[Chorus:]

Bastard

Consider that bastard dead

I'm not crazy about it either except maybe the old school Little Richard... kind of Rock & Roll.

Maybe it's because I grew up in the era, but I loved 90's alt. rock. You still hear songs from that era played today. Most everything post-90's in the genre can't compete.

The appropriations grievance game is usually bankrupt of logic and almost always teeming with hypocrisy. By the standards of this OP logic, no one should watch the NBA since it was 'appropriated' from the original performers in the middle of the 20th century...

I went through a short phase where no rock sounded good to me but maybe companies were focusing their resources on finding pop because that was what was selling and they weren't really finding good rock.

That said, I think Jack White is one of the great rock talents of our generation. He was the one who got me into enjoying hard, scratchy guitar rock, again.

The word "rock" is applied to so many different styles that it is almost meaningless now. I love most classic rock, prog rock, psychedelic, post-punk, some metal, new wave, etc. There is just as much rock that I dislike. I don't see how you can possibly write off the entire genre when there is so much variety available...everything from Jimi Hendrix to The Smiths to Judas Priest. But it's your loss if you want to be that narrow-minded.

R89 has it. Rock'n'Roll is dead. It lives on as niche music, but it has been utterly supplanted, by pop, rap, hip-hop, boy-bands, etc, in popular taste. Has been for a very long time. The White Stripes, the Black Keys keep it alive, but they aren't Led Zep. They're the Four Seasons in the 70s, keeping doo-wop harmony going.

That being said, it's the music of my life. *I* need to hear Bob Seeger, and Tom Petty, and Zep, and The Kinks.

Rock synthesizes black music, but black music was informed by African, Latino, and European influences.

How many of the SJW here know Beni Moré or Celia Cruz?

But, outside of Hendrix, Living Colour, Lenny Kravitz, Phil Linnott, hell, Jada Pinkett, Black American artists eschewed rock.

As I've aged, I've also turned to Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, the classic American songbook.

Although I stand by Steve Coogan's quip about jazz in "24 Hour Party People." Jazz fans can be utter wankers.

I'm grateful I grew up when Rock was rock, rather than Classic Rock.

That being said, this is a pretentious, stupid thread. Anti-rock snobs were always there, but this OP's declaration was already a cliche 30 years ago.

Rock & Roll ( which referred to an African American dance or dancing in the early twentieth century) has clear and obvious African musicality so how anyone could say that Rock & Roll simply 'synthesized' 'black music' is beyond me. And then to exclude early Rock & Roll pioneers like Goree Carter, Chuck Berry, and a number of others while claiming that black Americans eschewed Rock & Roll is a bit much. Also it's redundant to state that black music was influenced by Latino music since they only real difference is that slaves in Cuba, Brazil... were allowed to make, keep, and play African drums while slaves in the states were only allowed to play string instruments( they were allowed to keep the banjo but not drums) and the piano. You can't get angry with SJWs and the 'appropriation grievance game' and then turn around and do exactly what they complain about which is diminishing the contributions made by people of color and/or minorities.

Gypsies, tramps and thieves:

[quote]Anti-rock snobs were always there

"Snob" is a word the provincial throw around to justify their provincialism.

Gosh how did I miss this topic?

I started listening to AOR when I was in my early teens around the mid 1970s. I listened to it pretty much exclusively. Before that I listened to what my family did which was r&b. I'm black and I was considered weird for my choices but back then with all the british bands that were based on american blues I didn't have any problem relating. After I finished college I started listening to mainstream music and then oldies once I stopped relating to pop music and never really came back to rock. It used to be so inclusive, with bands like Jethro Tully, Black Sabbath along with bands like Steely Dan and ZZ top. Rock was way more varied than it is now, at least what you heard on the rock stations. I think that "rock " today is basically heavy metal. Music now is so niche oriented with about 500 different types of musical styles so "rock" today isn't like it was 30 years ago when you had all kinds of different types of rock.

Did the shit-for-brains OP ever disclose his favorite musical genre? Let's hear it, you little twat!

Sing it, Danny!

A skin-tight leopard print never changes its spots.

Yes, you are , OP.

[quote] it has enough phonies in it to make Holden Caulfield's head explode.

There's a hip, under-50 reference right there!

Similarly, "provincial" is a word the snob throws around to justify his snobbery.

FWIW, I am 54 and always hated rock and pop music.

OP sounds too effeminate and prissy to really get rock and roll.

Rock and roll is the wind in my sails every single day.

Do I have to remind you what we built this city on?

I'd rock and roll all nite if I could!

About to turn 59 - there was a fair amount of ear drumbusting garbage but nothing, however awful it was rivaled the current idiotic "rap" rhyming talk thuggery misogynistic noise. I think it was probably harder to get a record deal (no youtube or downloading of noise and constant assault on the ears and brain via 'ipods').

I don't know if a talentless Taylor Swift, Britney Spears or Katy Perry could have competed with real musicians of that Era. The Bieber likely would have been laughed at and trotted out to sing with Tony Bennett then forgotten in 5 minutes. Same with 'One Direction.'

I feel sorry for the 20, 30 and even 40 year olds who are clueless about some of the great bands. I know someone who plays with a Canadian "one hit wonder" rap group who told me he has never heard of the Moody Blues. He travels all across Canada for his gigs and basically has no musical education and could be considered ignorant - musically. On top of that, he tells everyone he's a "rock star" .

Yup, okay.

Saying white people stole black music is rather simplistic. All music is based on something that came before. Mozart borrowed from Haydn, Beethoven borrowed from Mozart. If you really give a shit about how music genres effect each other rather than spouting off opinions based on nothing but your own prejudices I have a suggestion. There is a podcast called A History Of Rock And Roll In Five Hundred Songs. It's very informative and traces Rock from Big Band, Jazz, Country, Swing into the modern era. Educate yourself or shut the fuck up!

I’m a boomer & I like rock but I hate heavy metal/hair bands.

I never liked rock after the 1960s (distorted guitar is offensive to the ears), but for some reason (racism? homophobia? classism??) it was the only acceptable music you could listen to when I was 15-25, so that's what I did. Sort of like drinking beer, equally disgusting but I did it too.

Now, free from peer pressure and the grand old age of..., I know better.

Just read the article posted by OP. It is brilliant. I came to a similar realisation near the end of my thirties. I started attending classical venues, and never looked back. Why rock has the appeal that it has/had, still remains a mystery to me. Self-loathing present galore in young people? The seedy venues alone would be a turn-off to any sane person. But, somehow, it added to the street cred. Go figure.

JUNGLE MUSIC!

I learned on the internet that maybe my taste is more accurately called "pop." Favorites include Linda Ronstadt, the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Talking Heads, Ben Lee, Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac, the Kinks (Pye label), Rolling Stones, Eagles, Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne. I hate practically everyone listed in r1, r6, "hair bands," etc. Punk mostly leaves me cold.

Sometime during the '80s, I started listening mostly to classical, and in the '90s, to jazz. I listen to that and the artists listed above about 95% of the time.

[quote] Do you listen to any of the black musicians they ripped off, [R1]? Those guys would put all those lame cock rockers to shame.

Everybody listened to Motown. Everyone knew who Chuck Berry & Little Richard were.

Chuck Berry’s guitar work, btw, was influenced by country music. It’s a give and take between all different t kinds of people playing their own music and listening to the music of others.

I'm with you, OP. I thought it would be the premiere popular genre forever, but no more. I think it's done.