37 Replies to “Why Are Bands Mysteriously Disappearing?”

  1. And as the bands disappear, the worse music gets.
    In the 70’s it was Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Yes, Supertramp, King Crimson, etc.
    Now it’s Taylor Swift, Adele, and any other number of slop artists out there today.

    2. Lost interest after 4 and a half minutes of endless blathering.

      It amazes me how these video bloggers can spend so much time talking about stuff off-subject. That video was over 30 minutes long.

      Sorry, but after the first 5 minutes or so, I decided that my time could be put to better use.

  3. I was guessing zero to the question, so I was close. Bands just wrote better music. I find myself going backwards and listening to more 60’s and 70’s bands today. I seriously can not listen to anything ‘new’ today except for an exception like Nick Cave.

  4. It’s not much of a mystery, cost being the first issue, not every band can afford a 747 to fly them around for their tours. Similarly, those that control the music business would rather have one personality to deal with, rather than cluster of them.

  5. I think the problem is the corporatization of the music industry. As slimy and corrupt as the music industry was, they understood that it was all dependent on the quality of the music that the studios put out. Now, it’s all about who they think they can market to the public the easiest.

  6. As always it’s about the money. That said – Beato may be right with his “rock just isn’t that popular anymore” and precisely why closet rockers have slowly migrated into the less listened to country music scene and making some good dough along the way. Several country songs have swiped rock riffs such as David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” and the Doobie brothers “Drift Away” not to mention Tom Petty’s “American Girl” which is ironic because Petty hated the country music genre with the heat of a thousand suns.
    It’s pathetic.

    Spitballin’

    1. “Country” music today is anything but actual Country music. It’s all just a bunch of annoying noise. Last time I wasted time at “Country Thunder” a singer said to celebrate the “greats” of the genre. He wasn’t taking about Hank Snow, Hank Thompson and Hank Williams. He was referring to a bunch of headbangers.

        1. There are good country/bluegrass/americana bands out there, like Marty Stuart and his Fabuous Superlatives, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, Dan Tymynski, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Chris Thile, Rodney Crowell…etc.
          Ditto for rock/blues bands like Gov’t Mule, Clutch, Colin James, etc,
          You just need to search it out.
          I still love the 70s bands of my youth, but can only replay them on rare occasions.

  9. You’ve got to be able to write some lyrics.
    The shite I hear/see these days is brutal.
    Good lyricists read books.
    I’ve written 30 lyrics in the last three months.

  10. Culture dead.. As all the greats die they are replaced with nothing.. We call this equity.. I call it genocide..

  11. I believe that technology coupled with convenience has killed bands. There is no more creativity. Everything is copied and derivative. Music has lost its humanity. Today’s music sounds like it is AI generated … and in a way it is. Pro Tools started this mess, and now every talentless hack believes they can sit in their mom’s basement and become a superstar.

    Every great band had ONE … if they were lucky, TWO, competent songwriters in their group. But EVERYONE played their own instrument … and added to every composition in varying degrees. The sum of the total is almost always better than a single viewpoint. Human beings … working together … bouncing ideas off each other. Who doesn’t understand that Lennon-McCartney were far better together than solo. Then add Harrison’s innovative guitar hooks, and yes … Ringo’s insightful drumming … and the whole band (incl. George Martin) were always better than individuals.

    I am a strong believer in the 10,000 hour rule. In that nobody becomes an expert at anything till they’ve practiced it for 10,000 hours. Computers make it TOO EASY to crank out music. But it lacks the SOUL that only human experience can create. Most every great band PAID their dues. The Beatles in Hamburg Germany … Lynyrd Skynyrd practiced in their swamp hideout for 10 hours/day/night.

    1. No more creativity, Kenji? Seriously? How about no more MONEY for creativity.

      I used to be a roadie for a little band called The Stingers. 60s hits cover band, in the 80s. We toured locally.

      There used to be probably 200 bars around Southern Ontario where they’d have live music and a dance floor. Bands with 4 or 5 guys in them could tour the province and make a living. That’s where bands like Crowbar or Martha and the Muffins came from. The Port Hope Arlington. The Royal Hotel in Tillsonberg. Hanrahan’s Tavern in Hamilton. The pinnacle was the El Mocambo, -everybody- played the ElMo. The Stones played there.

      Now there are pretty much zero bars with live music in Ontario. Find out why that happened, and you’ll know where all the bands went. I expect, but can’t prove with numbers, that all the profit went out of bars which is down to regulations and taxes. Anti-smoking regulations was probably the biggest, and liquor tax.

      If the house is busy but you can barely pay the waiters, you can’t afford a band.

      Bands don’t get paid, they don’t play. Priced out of the market by taxes and regulations, just like everything else.

      In Toronto there are “concert venues” that still feature live music, lately they are starting to import K-Pop idol bands from Korea. That’s a hell of a distance to go to get chicks in miniskirts to sing. We don’t have any local chicks in miniskirts that can belt a tune? NO WE DON’T because there is nowhere for them to play to small groups and polish their acts. They’re all posting sh1t to Spotify that no one will ever hear, because there are a MILLION new songs on Spotify every month. Maybe every week for all I know. Same as books on Amazon.

      I can yell at clouds too. ~:D

      1. I hate to nitpick but Martha and the Muffins came out of the Queen Street scene and didn’t get onto the wider Ontario bar circuit until they were already on the radio. Otherwise you’re very right and I have fond memories of the old scene. Fifty years ago I knew musicians who were making a living touring just Holiday Inns in Ontario; they all had bars with live music, and as a rule if one Holiday Inn crowd liked you, they all would. It kept them in work full time.

        I wonder if the comparable decline in exotic dancing in bars is related? There used to be all kinds of places with strippers. They’re rare now and they tend to be actual whorehouses when they turn up. The word was that you got better return on your money if you stopped booking live acts and put the money into VLTs. That may have something to do with the music situation.

    1. RHCP is an 80’s band, Kenji. We got old, dude.

      Top 400 by streaming volume on Spotify, three (3) bands formed since 2014. That’s a pretty compelling statistic.

  13. There are some modern bands that are really good:
    try The Warning ( a Mexican power trio), Band-Maid (a Japanese rock/metal band)….

  14. Part of this transformation is cultural. Our society has changed demographically and culturally. Rock music, and the sound of a group just aren’t as popular as they were a few decades ago. However, part of this is the way music is produced now. It’s easier to promote and polish a single performer than it is to find and form a band. All performances are processed for pitch and quantized using a DAW (digital audio workstation), and it’s simply easier to fill in the backing parts with digital instruments than it is to get performers working together as a group. There are still talented young people making music, but they’re not being promoted by labels, and they’re not making rock and roll. Here’s an example:
    https://youtu.be/rv4wf7bzfFE?t=475

    1. At 35, TayTay is on the verge of not that hot anymore. Besides, who would take the advice of anyone whose popularity is based on telling the world about her endless poor judgement? Just a matter of time before her current boytoy gets tired of being Mr Swift.

  16. Frankly, I was afraid he was going to say that bands are going extinct because too many of them have allowed me to name them. Now my conscience is clear.

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