Are Guitar Bands Dead?

Are guitar bands dead? You know, the traditional guitarist, bass player, drummer with the unforgettable front man that everyone wants to be type-band. I grew up loving Oasis and Blur and going back even further people loved (and still love) The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Clash, The Jam, The Smiths, The Cure, U2 and The Stone Roses, but...


As I stare at the Top 20 Singles in the UK today I see American-rhythmic-pop by the bucket load but no guitar-based bands. The only ones are Coldplay - whose new single Every Tear Drop Is A Waterfall  (which shows them moving further away from those mentioned above - except from U2 who they are sounding like more than ever) isn't exactly setting the charts on fire at #6. What is it that makes today's youth (who I am suggesting are the majority buyers) LOVE Pitbull, LMFAO, Nicole Scherzinger, J Lo, Rihanna, David Guetta and the Black Eyed Peas so much? The increased sexualization of the majority of these acts (and the motto 'sex sells') and the ever growing knowledge of young people has made it inevitable. The girls want to be Rihanna and the boys want to BE ON Rihanna - or at least have those relevant dreams.


I saw Two Door Cinema Club the other night smash the Brixton Academy and everyone inside it to bits which surprised me (a little); not their ability to move a crowd - but the size of the crowd. Admittedly, they are a band who have had quite a lot of Radio 1 support (certainly for an "indie" band), have now sold out one of the biggest venues in the UK (outside of the arenas) but still aren't selling a massive amount of albums - and that is very worrying, for both them and the industry. The kids are willing to pay to see them live, but won't pay to buy the album because they can get it somewhere else for free or even just listen to it somewhere else without paying a penny. As I heard someone say recently, "music is now about accessibility rather than ownership" which is why Spotify is taking off (in a big way) and YouTube continues to go from strength to strength. So it brings us back to the illegal downloading argument, which is nothing that will come as a surprise to anyone, we are all well aware of it, I am just highlighting it is a fact many bands in a similar position have faced and are facing; how do they carry on from here?


Only the Arctic Monkeys, The Foo Fighters and The Wombats are still sniffing around the singles Top 100 - which many would argue is an irrelevant point as these bands are album selling artists, not single selling ones. This is all fair and well when you are a band as established as the Arctic Monkeys/The Wombats or The Foos who happen to have a member who was once part of one of the most famous bands of all time, but even THEY are not selling the masses that this industry expects, but then again, is anyone other than you know who!?! (It also highlights the negatives of our chart/radio system; one chart for all tastes is clearly ludicrous, but that is another topic all together).


If you are a band with guitars trying to break through TODAY - then you almost have no hope, even less of one than 10 years ago when it was tough enough. In the words of Steven Stelfox (from the novel Kill Your Friends), “Fuck off. Seriously, your parents are right. You might as well spend your guitar-string money on lottery tickets...”


I hate that he might actually be right. I love that there are still so many people trying to prove him wrong. What do you think?