Which Fad Next? Cycles in Rock's Dominant Cultural Icons and Styles: What does it all Mean?

In the world of rock, credibility stems from quite a few sources of musical legitimacy. Whilst in previous decades pioneers of an individual style could hope to enjoy cultural primacy if the audience of the time chose to embrace their particular form and performativity of the medium, now in the 21st century such trends and homogeneity in the preference of rock musical styles appears to be long gone. So what are the causes of this, the framework within which musical content is received, interpreted and either judged to be worthy of consumption or discarded? Moreover, what are the implications of this process of musical selection?

Peterson (1975) seized upon some trends in the world of musical culture in his treatise on the subject 'Cycles in Symbol Production: The Case of Popular Music' when he noted that "Periods of Market Concentration are found to correspond to homogeneity, periods of competition to periods of diversity". Such a statement seems axiomatic, but gains most importance when considered in light of the current form and function of the Rock Music industry and the current limbo in dominant cultural images of Rock Culture. As has been mentioned before, artists and musical content not traditionally associated with the form and conventions of Rock music, especially in regards to popular music of the 60's, 70's and 80's are now slowly amalgamating into a socially and culturally imagined "golden age of rock", as people find themselves unable to relate or embrace the current form and function of rock music.

This inability to reconcile the passing of older trends and a loss of a sense of belonging to Rock culture as its communities and factions split, diversify and develop is, i would contest, why we now see many popular music groups of diverse backgrounds and associations all vying to resurrect their own particular incarnation of the genre itself. This in turn it seems, is carried out either as a way of legitimising their own preferences and rationalisations of the genre or as a extension of their own innovations in the genre itself. We've been able to see this throughout the past decade or so with the popularity of widely divergent sounds and aesthetics of the rock album and the rock band itself, such as Bloc Party, JET, Kings of Leon, MGMT and countless others.

The question remains then, who gets to decide what's rock and what's not? If the artist's themselves are not fit to decide, who then? Industry? The fan? Who could honestly say nowadays that they without problem, fit into someone's neat definition of Rock Music or Rock Culture? Moreover, if so many definitions of Rock exist and the band persona is no longer so limited by perceived convention, this could open the way for a far more accepting and vibrant form of the culture.

Tencaious D: Adding the element of humor in today’s rock & roll

We’ve seen the transformation of rock throughout the years – from AC/DC to Nickelback. The difference is clear because we can see how rock stars have evolved and we can hear how their songs have changed. There is no perfect definition of the modern rock star, because they’re all so different in today’s standard.

I’m here to examine one type of the modern rock star specifically: the funny one. Now, you may be asking yourself, ‘how can humor possibly be mixed with rock & roll?’ To be honest, I’m not sure I could be the one to answer that for you. But, let’s take a look at Jack Black and see how he managed to combine the two.

In 1994, Black teamed up with friend Kyle Gass and created the comedy rock band, Tenacious D. They began playing at local comedy clubs and many of their hits were spoofs of 1970s and ‘80s metal bands.

The popularity of this unorthodox rock band grew and before long, they were signed with Epic Records. Comedic rock groups were relatively new at this time and Tenacious D captured many fans with its “bizarre, hilarious songs (that) could only come from a twisted mind like Jack’s” (Mitchell, 2008, p 5).

The success of Tencious D helped Black land several major movie roles, almost all as quirky as his personality. After shining on the big screen, Black returned to Tenacious D in 2006 and released the film, Tencious D in The Pick of Destiny.  As part of the movie release, Black and Gass took Tencious D on tour and sang in front of audiences around the country.

Tencious D is still popular among fans and modern rockers. By adding humor, it’s stirred another element into present day rock & roll. Below is one of Tencious D’s songs, ‘Kickapoo.’ Have a listen. The humor elements are pretty obvious, as well as the element of modern rock & roll.

References

Susan K. Mitchell, 2008, “Jack Black”

YouTube, Tenacious D’s ‘Kickapoo’ song, accessed on May 26, 2009.