The Great Rock and Roll Dwindle. Really?

In this weekend’s @FinancialTimes my favorite columnist Janan Ganesh wrote another interesting piece. He is smart, deep and contemplative. I never miss his writings. This one’s called “The great Rock and Roll dwindle”. https://on.ft.com/3ECtMSZ  For once, I beg to disagree with his conclusion.

His message is that we are seeing the demise of rock and roll, the “guitar band” as we have known it for the last sixty years.

He says: “It is bracing to witness the frailty of something that was so popular as to seem but hard-wired into human nature”. He concludes “The question is what, beyond the sound, has been lost. Rock was always a good inductor of the young into the ways of the outside world. I was on a trajectory to the meeker kind of immigrant adolescence when a raft of bands from the English north-west taught me uses of swagger, even or especially when it is the opposite of what you feel. Perhaps Ed Sheeran or BTS serve the same pastoral role and I just can’t see it. It is something to consider as night falls on what for most of the postwar era rivalled film as the central form of mass culture. Sunset indeed.” (Read the whole piece, you might agree with him!)

He might be onto something. But I’d argue that the demise, if ever to be complete, will be a lot slower than he contemplates. Rock and roll was my guiding light in a dark world of East-West divide, when barbed wire separated us (in the Communist East) from democracies (of the West). The electric guitar was more, a lot more than just an instrument. It was, and arguably still is the symbol of hope, freedom of expression and individuality. Yes, new technology, the little studio in ones pocket makes music making “easy”. But nothing, simply nothing beats a note or a chord played on an electric guitar, that sound emanating from the amp, played by real people, with real thoughts and feelings. Digital cannot any time soon replace the power of a band on stage with a guitar, the bass and drums supporting the singer. There is an irreplaceable feeling, emotions and a heart involved with the electric guitar. Why is it that when an artist (hip-hop or rap) really wants to make an powerful impact, he or HER always has a guitar hanging from his or HER shoulder.

No, the electric guitar, the guitar band is not going the way of the hurdy-gurdy of the past (Google it if you don't know what it is!). 

The other day I met two young musicians, Huba (14) and Matyas (11). They wanted to meet with me to show their guitar playing skills. And guess what. Huba played Jimi Hendrix ( “my inspiration” he told me) and Matyas played Van Halen (“my role model” he said), Huba deploying the the full Hendrix arsenal of bends and pulls and power chords and Matyas doing the Van Halen tapping. But it was not their technique that blew me away. It was their love of the instrument. Their love of the sound of the electric guitar. Their passion for rock and roll. The sparkle in their eyes when they touched the instrument.

There is a bright future for the electric guitar, for the rock band. Maybe this sunset will be a lot longer than Janan suggests. (Great piece anyway.)

I predict that in 2525 we’ll see people in the New Colonies on Mars play the electric guitar.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.

P.S.: That's Tommy Ramone, Chuck D.Young (Rolling Stone Magazine) and myself at the Hungarian Embassy) on the photo. Drummer Sandy Vershbow is hiding behind Chuck.