Found this article / interview in Classic Rock magazine interesting:

Bob Ezrin, best known for his work as a producer with Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd and Kiss, has taken a hard look at the current state of music – and he’s horrified.

“Where are the anthems, the protest songs, the songs to march to or the ideas to fight for, the truths to believe in?” he says, in a letter to Bob Lefsetz of the Lefsetz Letter. “Instead, it’s all about ‘me.’” Ezrin notes a few glimmers of hope, but not many. “‘Glory’ from the film Selma is the great current exception – as is Kendrick Lamar‘s work. And – yes – let’s not forget the valiant Dixie Chicks. But mostly there’s little more than a bit of catchy ear candy and nice beats.”

Ezrin produced Alice Cooper’s School’s Out, Billion Dollar Babies and Welcome to My Nightmare, among others. He collaborated with Kiss on Destroyer and Revenge, and served as co-producer on Pink Floyd’s The Wall, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell. He also worked on Deep Purple‘s Now What?!; Lou Reed‘s Berlin; and on both Peter Gabriel‘s debut and 2010′s Scratch My Back.

That lengthy period around the industry has given Bob Ezrin a unique perspective on just when things went wrong, too: The ’80s. “All that talk about the ‘me generation’ turns out to be true,” he says. “We lost ‘us’ in the ’80s, and since then we only care about ourselves and our personal gain. We only want the money.”

And so ends a dramatic musical journey, he laments. “In just the last few generations, we have witnessed the complete devolution of the mainstream of music from the intricacies and demands of jazz, swing and modern ‘classical’; the subtleties and finesse of the best of popular song writing; the mastery of “folk” instruments and vocal performance in the best of folk and rock; the singular high-mindedness of the greatest singer songwriters; and the hard-won craft of playing and writing and creating meaningful work,” Ezrin says.

We’re left now, he adds, with “four-bar grids of ‘cut and paste’ monotony over which someone writes shallow nursery rhymes about partying, trucks and beer or bitches and bling, or whines in hardly rhyming verse about their sad little white boy or girl life.”

Rick A.

sigh; he's not looking hard enough. Sure, it's not on pop radio. But it never was. Not since Rock and Roll was born. And it's always been about the money.

If he wants anthems, try Blind Guardian's Bard's Song or The White Stripes' 7 Nation Army; heck, the entire power metal subgenre is almost nothing but anthems.
Protest songs - Green Days' American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown show that the suburbs can do real damage; Important ideas to fight for - Public Enemy or Rage Against the Machine stuff still resonates; we're not done fighting that battle yet, and so don't need new songs that tell us we should fight them.

I also find the last line incredibly ironic, whether it's a shallow nursery rhyme (no more pencils, no more books...) about partying (get up, everybody gonna leave their seats), trucks (nobody gonna take my car...) or whines in hardly rhyming verse (Beth, I hear you calling...), I'm not sure Bob Ezrin's the guy who gets to do the tortured artistic music exec.

Thankfully, the internetz are making it possible to bypass the music industry machine completely if you want. I haven't, because I understand the value it brings, but it's kind of like supporting a kindly elder aunt who's come on hard times. It doesn't cost me much, and it won't go on for long.

Jason

Nice commentary Jason. With all due to respect to Bob Ezrin he has perpetuated some of what he scorns today but I'll leave it there.

Rick A.

I can't believe they didn't mention Music From 'The Elder'.

Yeah, right? What a dud. even Ace had to get out of that train wreck.

Rick A.

Welcome to Bob Ezrin's nightmare.....

I don't really care about protest songs, but it does feel like rock is dead. The only super-groups left seem to be the old ones, like the Stones or Metallica.

Nah, it's doing okay. The issue is it takes about 20 years to reach that A list headliner status, and so were just getting the post-grunge bands up to that level now. But aside from Pearl Jam, none of the LA metal bands or the Grunge bands kept making music consistently during the last 15 years, so there's a bit of a gap in continuity. The generation of bands that were supposed to be that megastar top of the card level didn't make it.

But I figure you've got Nickelback, Foo Fighters, Jack White, Linkin Park, Queens of the Stone Age, and The Black Keys headlining now - able to do 20-30,000 seat arenas without too much difficulty.

Then you've got up and coming bands like Airborne, Walk Off the Earth, Imagine Dragons, Metric, Rise Against and a whole bunch I'm forgetting. All of whom are putting out good music and are growing their fan bases in that 12-16 range where Rock and Roll belongs.

Don't fear the reaper, Hanzo, as long as there's kids, they'll be rock and roll. It's popularity will wax and wane like the moon, but there's a time for all seasons...

Jason

Slam dunk.

In fairness to Ezrin, a lot of the stuff you listed is pretty old now. 21st Century Breakdown was 6 years ago and it's the newest thing you mention. Seven Nation Army is already 12 years old while Bard's Song is 23 years old.

I guess I'm just old now... it just feels like Pop and Hip Hop are the dominant forms of music these days. Even rock bands like Foster the People and Imagine Dragons feel more like pop to me than rock.

It feels like many of the other modern rock bands have strong followings but don't really have that mainstream popularity the way U2 and Pearl Jam did when they were young and hungry. I'd have to listen to a pop hits radio stations at my jobs in my teens and rock bands with crunchy guitar distortion would slip in there every now and then. I don't really feel the same now... it feels like The Black Keys are the only newer band to get mainstream attention that I feel is the kinda rock I'm talking about.

But I'm 35 and I guess all this kind of music just isn't aimed at guys like me anymore anyway. Oh well.

I picked some of the bigger songs that might be known, and they take some time to percolate to mass consciousness, but:
Nightwish's new album has an environmentalist theme, and it was just released last month.
The Foo Fighter's last album is really about the homogenization of the music industry, and the fact that the industry is losing the different vibes of the musical cities across america. Much the same thing you're complaining about, actually.
Hammerfall's album from January (r)Evolution, has some great anthems on it.

I could go on, but I do know what you mean. More on that in a second.

Jason

I'm not really complaining, I don't really care if the kids don't like rock music (or rock music as I think of it). As long as I have access to the music I like, I'm happy.

I'm just sharing my admittedly limited perceptions on this subject.

I agree with you that Pop and hip hop are the dominant music forms these days; they always have been. But it’s not the challenging hip hop of a Public Enemy or a BDP; it’s the modern equivalent of early Motown or late 80’s dance music (C&C Music Factory, Milli Vanilli, Janet Jackson). I figure it’s because they are more visually appealing formats (lots of pretty girls and boys to look at on the youtube) and because it’s a more profitable form of music for the record producers (most of whom get songwriting credits as well as the producer cut). There’s a long history of this practice going back to the teen idols of the late 50’s. Each act makes more money for the label, and since the acts are more disposable, they have less power.

Having said that, I think you’re right – it is getting worse. I just checked the Billboard charts for a few different years (the last few, and some stuff from the late 80s) and there is much less rock in the main chart than there used to be. But I think that’s an exercise of classification and segmentation, not overall popularity. I remember when Soundscan came in, and everyone was stunned that Country was outselling everyone in pop. Rock is doing just fine, but you won't find it on Top 40 radio.

The industry comes in waves; rock will come back into popular style sooner or later, and then you’ll hear some more light rock on the pop airwaves. In the meantime, see if you can get people to listen to a modern rock channel every once in a while, if you have access one.

As well, since you should always share new music, some classic rock type new band recommendations include: The Glorious Sons, One Bad Son, Rival Sons (Sons is the new black, apparently). Against Me, Clutch, Lucero, Bleeker Ridge, Imelda May, The Gaslight Anthem and the Jim Jones Revue, in addition to the ones I listed previously. Hopefully, there’s something there you like.

Jason

I agree with Ezrin with one exception; Kiss was not exactly highest common denominator & I believe he was responsible for a significant amount of there output?

Nah - only three albums. "Destroyer", "Music From (The Elder)", "Revenge". Four if you count "Destroyer: Resurrected" as a separate release.

His Kiss involvement is a cross between "Destroyer" and near-oblivion.

I stand corrected!

He also talks about everything being "me, me, me."

Well, isn't The Wall a grand operatic exercise in self-absorption?

I'm not much of a fan of The Wall either.

I didn't say I didn't like it, just that it's very self-absorbed.

I do like the album.

I agree with Jason Gore's posts above.

Not sure what current artists Mitch Miller-um, I mean Bob Ezrin has listened to get his undies all in a bunch (Britney? Miley?). But there are plenty artists covering social issues from a variety of genres. Rock is far from dead for anyone who'll take the time to do a little searching.



So the '70s disco was okay, Ezrin? Ugh. Well to me the '80s meant college rock, post-punk & a lot of great regional scenes. Guess Bob wasn't looking hard enough then either.

This reminds me of the time I was in West Hollywood shopping at Book Soup, and my friend and I were discussing producers whose ego seems to take over the recording of the album. And like a scene in Annie Hall, the woman standing next to us said "I was married to Bob Ezrin, and you're right about his ego"

Really can't confirm if she was his ex-wife, but it sure cracked us up.