A few years ago, one of my favorite rock bands, the Dictators, posed a musical question: “Who will save rock ‘n’ roll?”
Today — as it has been for decades — the answer is “independent labels.”
Don’t take our word for it, though. We direct your attention to “Can Rock Come Back?,” a think piece by Los Angeles Times pop music critic Robert Hilburn that ran on the front page of the paper’s Sunday “Calendar” section Jan. 4. In his story, Hilburn notes the cavernous commercial gulf between the top-selling pop artists — Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken — and the high-profile but relatively meager-selling posse of young rock bands loosely grouped under the rubric “garage rock.”
Without exception, the bands that Hilburn identifies as the shining hope for rock’s future first saw the light of day on indie labels. (full story)
Whew! Thank goodness for that!