This is a statement that I will frequently hear addressed by people either vehemently denying the possibility or arguing against it, but never have I seen someone who is not lamenting the prospect say it seriously... until now. What do you think about this idea?
Hm. I'd suppose it is dying in order to make way for Metal but I don't pay enough attention to mainstream music(or the radio for that matter) to know. Rock has rarely ever been the most impressive or creative of its branch of music. Compared to its younger and more hardcore brother Metal and its subgenres Rock just pales in comparison. Putting aside my bias(is it bias if it's true? METAL>ROCK ^m^), I don't think it's dying. Rock's just never been as popular as Pop. I know, it's unpleasant to say that but it's true. If people are complaining about how Rock hasn't had its "this generation's Hendrix" or "Page" or that all of it sounds the same then it's time to switch genres. There's plenty of guitarists nowadays that completely outclass those that came before them. Progressive Metal master race.
Distinguishing between genres has always been a rather arbitrary science to me. What is rock? Is there any definitive criteria a song must meet to be considered rock? For that matter, is there any kind of definitive listing of genres? I understand there's a science to it, but that doesn't really make sense to me, a listener, who doesn't know much of the form or formula of a song, only how it sounds -- and I represent most people listening to music in that way. To me, 'rock music' doesn't mean much of anything. I have a feeling for what some of its subgenres sound like, and many of those are very much alive -- indie rock, hard rock, alt rock, punk rock, are all far from dead. It sounds to me like the same people who invented the phrase are the ones crying about it, which seems like more of a reaction to the changes in what's popular. The late 90s and onwards have seen a massive shift towards pop, hip-hop, R&B, rap, and electronic over guitars and drums in terms of popularity. Nirvana isn't the coolest group in America any more; the music industry's tour de force is Beyoncé, a pop/R&B artist (mainly). What's 'popular' is extremely mutable and right now it so happens that rock isn't, really. But to deem the genre "dead" completely ignores all this really cool music being released under the rock banner, and sounds to me like middle-aged man pain over the world moving on from classic rock.
Has a musical genre ever truly died, in a sense? Perhaps those of which we did not necessarily keep the scores, but I am hard-pressed to see that as long as some record of existence is present, there may very well be a niche group of some sort who can congregate with their ears and enjoy the music, regardless of the present day. Will musical genres die? No, I do not think so. The notion of dying is based on highly subjective criteria filtered -- in part -- through a lens of familiarity. Oftentimes individuals who seriously consider X to be dying are within the reality of X changing to a point that they find it less recognizable, or distasteful. Not to say it has died out completely at all. It may not be as popular, but why should the popularity of a musical genre be the basis upon which one enjoys it? What musical genres do, since they are such slippery and -- as Misty said above -- very arbitrary notions, is that they evolve and grow. The very idea of "genre" is a convenient classification with fuzzy boundaries, even within genres itself. As music responds to the changes of time and society, the little branches and shoots of the great musical tree extend. But that is not to say the roots do not exist anymore. I am still able to turn on the radio and listen to some wonderful modern jazz composers. Some things might be out of fashion, certainly, but the notion of death is very much relegated to one's own personal perspective rather than an objective truth. Life is a series of changes, and music is a series of changes, natural and organic, rhythmic to the muse of our changing environment.
Rock isn't dying; the people who say this are generally just the ones who got what they wanted out of the genre and expect some radical change yet nothing too different; in other words, they're just making a radical statement to cover up the fact that they can't be pleased anymore and instead sound like they know all about the genre. The same thing applies to most every other genre.
In terms of mainstream appeal it's dying. Rock songs just don't hit the charts any more and the ones that do are freak anomalies or are heavily watered down to the point they aren't really rock any more. But as a genre it's arguably stronger than ever, thanks to the sheer variety of bands you can listen to. People love to get picky over genre labels, especially Metal fans. In the grand scheme of things the difference between Metal and Metalcore is pretty minimal, but me saying that will cause riots for some people. But the fact we have so many sub-genres just means there is something for everyone. You just have to do a bit of digging to find it.
