Rock And Roll Is Not Dead

ROCK AND ROLL IS DEAD. At least that's what everyone has been saying over the last few days. According to an article from Music Week, Rock singles sales have fallen to their lowest tally in 50 years, with only three tracks making it into the top 100 singles of 2010. One of those singles was Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing', which was recorded in 1978, and another was 'Dog Days Are Over' by Florence + The Machine, which isn't rock at all. It might not be shiny, auto-tuned, electro-tinged pop, but it isn't rock.

Realistically though, all this means is that rock music isn't being bought in massive numbers. There are a number of reasons why this doesn't matter though. Firstly, selling units is not what rock and roll is about (at least I hope it isn't, otherwise it may destroy most of the morals and ethics that I possess), it's about an artist making something that they want to make, something that will make them proud of what they've done. It's certainly not about taking orders from a producer or record company about how they should sound.

The second reason for the low sales in 2010 is quite simply because 2010 was quite a quiet year. Sure, we had Kings of Leon, who are a shadow of the band they were five years ago, we had The Courteeners, who couldn't make an album as good as their first, and we had Gorillaz. Damon Albarn is still just as handsome as he was in 1997, but Justin Bieber just seems like a better option for youngsters now. That's about the best Rock and Roll could muster for singles sales last year.

2011 already looks like a better year. In terms of bands who have the potential to impact on the charts, we can expect new albums from Coldplay, U2, Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and The Strokes. As well as these legends, there will be an album for hotly-tipped four-piece The Vaccines. If you can't look forward to any of those then you have no soul. Rock and Roll? Dead? You must be having a laugh.