article from rollingstone.com

I vote we move this thread to Bad Obsession.? It's not really directly related to Guns N' Roses, and besides, we talk about the death of rock all the time in that section.? Now, back to the subject at hand...

I don't know if the problem lies in rock radio or radio as a whole.? The short-term problem with radio is that their play lists are so rigid and formulaic.? They play the same bunch of songs over and over all day until you get sick of it.? The acts they play are generally only the most mainstream acts; they never take any risks.

The long-term problem is that they rely on old songs and don't push new bands.? If I listen to the average rock station, I find that they mostly play the same classic rock songs that you've heard a million times before.? And that annoys me not only because they get boring after a while, but because it proves that radio still caters to the baby boomers.? I swear to God, almost every single station in my town plays oldies!? There's only one "Top 40" station and a whole bunch of stations that play older songs.? WTF, man?? It annoys me that the last generation is still pulling all the strings in the entertainment industry while my generation lacks a solid identity to call its own.

Personally, I think a big problem with rock is a similar problem to what happened with progressive rock in the 70s; all the fun has been sucked out of it.? It's like, back then you had these pompous neo-classical bands that engaged in long jazzy noodling that had nothing to do with the average kid on the street.? Punk fixed that.? Nowadays you have all these modern rock acts that are the result of grunge, and the problem with them is that they just aren't fun.? Wasn't that the whole point of rock 'n' roll in the first place?? I kinda wish you could still dance to rock music.? That's one of the things I liked about classic rock.? People think you can't dance to it, but personally, I dance way easier to that stuff then I do to anything they play in clubs.

I hate to say it, but here's the biggest problem: rock is old.? There's no way around it.? It was the music of my parents' generation, and every new generation wants to rebel against its elders.? But how can you rebel against your elders when you listen to the same genre of music that they listen to?? Punk solved this problem by rebelling against the classic rock ethos.? But at this point, there are a lot of parents who used to listen to punk and heavy metal back when they were kids.? If you're a kid growing up now, then, you can't rebel against your parents by listening to punk and metal.

And here we have the appeal of rap music, an effect that can be shown among many of you guys, especially the ones who are older (I know that's a generalization, but bear with me here).? A lot of you say, "I hate rap, man.? That's not even music!"? Well, that's what teenagers like to hear.? Until you can get that same parental reaction out of rock music, don't hold your breath.? I know that Franz Ferdinand doesn't exactly strike fear into the hearts of my elders.