Rock 'N Roll

“Rock ‘N Roll is a lifestyle and a way of thinking. It’s not about money or popularity, although some money would be nice. But it’s a voice that says, “Here I am and Fuck you! if you can’t understand me.”- Jeff Bebe (Almost Famous- 2000)

Rock and Roll has been with the world for ages. I don’t even know where or how it started. I can’t even remember how I got to like it.

We dig different music genres. Be it pop, RnB, blues, hiphop, trance, soul and what have yous. I do listen to other music genres once in a while, but Rock truly made me feel alive. It gives me that high that flow all throughout my senses.

It never occurred to me that until after I got my bachelor’s degree my frustration to be in a Rock Band will continue. Well, I guess I’ll have to carry the burden indefinitely. But seeing the new generation of Rock Bands today makes me feel anxious about the future of Rock and Roll. Let’s face it, no one has ever surpassed the brilliance of Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynryd, Guns ‘N Roses, Nirvana or Aerosmith. All the rock bands today are either copycats or just plain noise-makers.

Like any other genres, playing or writing Rock Music requires a certain degree of talent. For a band to get recognition, one should be extraordinary. The band should offer something that the others do not have. Listeners of Rock Music put a high premium of the originality and versatility of the band. Mediocrity is clearly out of the picture and would get the band nowhere in the music scene.

Being a rock star requires a lot of passion and dedication. Just writing a song requires being into it. Immersing himself while he writes it. Telling every listener a story of his own, as if he is making a conversation.

I’m not a rock star, nor have been a member of a band. But I can feel the struggle they have to go through in their songs. The faces they have to wear when they perform or when they are interviewed just weaken the enthusiasm I have.

Landing on a great record deal seemed to be a sure shot at fame. But what’s the price they have to pay for it? Does it include strangling the real deal by manipulating the band’s own style to be more marketable? Is comprising the real world always part of the bargain?

Rock ‘N Roll is not just about being a Rock Star and all. As an artist every Rock Musician has only but one goal. And it is to let other people listen with their hearts what they have to say. The most indefinable thing that a Rock Star could do is to make the listeners catch something with his music. Something that is incomparable to the money, big cars, mansion and women he has. Something that is priceless and way beyond the fame.