80s bands now the only way to fill venues

Big rock bands hardly exist anymore,bands like the rolling stones, u2 have millions of fans, so they can sell out stadiums.
Who is the next u2 or coldplay.
Theres stars like beyonce or kanye west ,beiber ,taylor swift ,lady gaga
Theres no new rock band that can sell millions of albums .
Now the charts are based on streaming ,youtube views ,as well as cd sales ,
and digital downloads.
Older people have more money, they will buy expensive tickets to see
madonna or the rolling stones.
The era of the rock band seems to be over,
but people will buy tickets to see oasis or u2 as long as they wish to tour.
Theres plenty of solo stars who could headline slane, ed sheeran etc
it would be more accurate to say big acts from the 80.s
sell alot of tickets .

I think there's a whole number of things that have come together at about the same time.

Firstly is money. There's less money in the music industry and it's now far more going towards the larger artists then it ever was before. That means that where a band in the past could have made enough money from an alright selling first album to essentially stay in the business long enough to hone their craft, nowadays will generally just give up, find a job that pays and maybe just keep music as a hobby.

Compounding that is, even if you do manage to create a well received album, there's no money in selling music. You have to tour and sell merchandise. If you can't attract a crowd to a gig, your music is essentially worthless in this era. People like Enya and Kate Bush or anyone else who rarely toured won't be seen again I'm afraid. So that means if you're the type of person who can't write new songs on the road, you better hope you've made enough money from the touring because you're not going to have any income while you're writing and recording. And the record labels pay peanuts nowadays compared to what they used to if you're lucky enough to have a record deal.

I would also say the other thing that's killing music is that there's no new "sound". From the middle of the last centaury we went through so many new innovations in sound that it was comparatively easy to come up with something new and interesting. Electric guitar, distortion, synths, sampling, pure digital. All these things created era-defining sound to the point where it's very easy to tell music from the 50's, 60's, 70s, 80s, and 90's apart. In my opinion that slowed down in the late 90's, early 2000's and stopped completely by the end of the last decade. We're essentially listening to music that hasn't changed in a decade or more. (And I don't count dubstep …and neither should you!)

There are other issues of course but those to me are some of the main reasons in my opinion. And I'm not saying there aren't great bands nowadays but how many times has a band from the last 15 years made you say "Wow!" when listening to their stuff. Very few for me...

Of course, it could be because I'm in my 30's now...

No parents have record collections lying around on a shelf waiting to be discovered

The last kids listening back were the 90's bands

Invisible music on phones now

It's like the North Atlantic drift

Once the circle is broken it's the ice age

I remember an interview with Eavis. He said that there was a serious lack of headliners. It's a major problem for big festivals.

Bonzo Delaney wrote: »

I 've been pondering this for a while too that the day of the big stadium band will be no more when the current crop of 50+yr olds pack it in be they 60s 70s 80s or 90s bands from the stones to pearl jam ozzy to gnr Aerosmith to u2 even the killers and stereophonics were out 20+yrs
There's hasn't been an influential rock band in 20yrs

White Stripes and The Strokes have been very influential. Libertines too.

Anesthetize wrote: »

I wouldn't change anything about the current musical climate. Alternative music exists for the very reasons where people are disillusioned with mainstream music and complain about it.

If you want something pure or substantial from music you're rarely going to find it in a field or stadium with 50,000 people. You've a better chance of finding it in Whelan's.

With all due respect that is an opinion that has been held for donkeys years and is usually the opinion held by the more "edgy" types trying to be cooler than everyone,

1000s of people found music that was pure and substantial in a field or stadium many years ago, but not these days.

What about the Foo fighters??

In Ireland newer artists selling out big venues may be gone or very limited but around Europe, USA and South America there are plenty of bands/artists selling out big arenas, stadiums etc... Outside of the usual heads.

Rock may be dying in Ireland but definitely not around the world. There are countries that their charts are riddled with new rock bands from metal to punk and more alternative stuff. We don't even have a nationwide radio station dedicated to rock music in this country. It's not generally played on the airwaves here and lots of people aren't exposed to it on a regular basis.

Ireland is and will always be a very narrow minded country when it comes to music. There are bands selling out arenas in the UK and Europe regularly that struggle to fill small venues here. Yet a band can come into the charts like "Picture This" and off the back of one hit and maybe another known song sell out the 3 Arena. You see it happen here time and time again. Volbeat for example have been headlining top festivals around Europe for years now, have had chart hits in many countries and have had huge outdoor gigs themselves but in Ireland most people wouldn't have a bulls notion who they are.

In saying all that I'm delighted to get to see some of my favourite bands in the smaller venues. I love a good festival but seeing a band up close and personal and not from the back of the three arena or in a field somewhere is something to enjoy here.

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

White Stripes were influential.

Influential in posing as something they are not also (off to bang the sister :pac: )

Jofspring, how many rock bands today are sustaining success though past first album, single etc. Remember AC/DC's biggest success was Back in Black nearly a decade after they formed and after Bon Scott's death. Metallicas albums were becoming bigger and bigger as they released them so Puppets was bigger than Ride the Lightning and Black album was their biggest seller exactly 10 years after they formed.

We are probably never again going to see something like what we saw emerge in Seattle in the early 1990s with four or five groups gaining commercial success at the same time.

Re: Katy Perry. Her backstory is actually quite interesting. Most think she was picked off the street and manufactured into pop princess. She has been touring since 15-16 in reality. First as a gospel singer, then indie rock until her breakthrough in 2008. As I mentioned she writes or co-writes all her songs

This one Kelly Clarkson recorded



6 minute mark she addresses why she moved from indie rock to bubblegum pop. It's actually quite depressing that artists feel there is little long term future in that genre these days.