Modern Rock lacks originality

Rock music has gotten to the unfortunate point where I am constantly finding myself asking, “Haven’t I heard this before?”

Though it pains me to say, I believe that the only way to keep rock music alive and well is to mimic a song you enjoy, cross your fingers, and hope no one realizes that you just completely stole another composer's sound. This copycat technique has worked in various cases for some musicians, but when crowds begin to notice an insane resemblance between a band and another band, their fans are quick to shut them down. It’s not easy to realize that you are giving credit to the wrong people when you weren't born in the generation of the ones who did it first. Truthfully, most modern bands are nothing but mediocre and I don’t really blame them. There is only so much you can do with a guitar. Have we already discovered every riff known to man? If so, where does rock music go from there? 

I refuse to say that rock is dead with plenty of people around the world still listening and enjoying the genre, but I do not see anything new coming from the genre either. Sure there are new bands like Greta Van Fleet, but I mean seriously, does anyone actually like listening to Dollar Tree Led Zeppelin? If you knew Led Zeppelin, you would easily see the similarities that are quickly ignored by fans of Fleet. 

Though annoying audiences like myself are obviously upset over the copycat bands of this generation, there really is nothing I could blame them for. They are successful and genius at mimicking past successful bands. If I was able to produce music equivalent to Zeppelin, I too would take pride in my impersonation skills. Who wouldn’t want to be associated with an infamous rock band? People might take the copycat critiques as a compliment. I know I would enjoy being called a second Robert Plant. Musicians are robbing old bands of their sound, presenting it as their own, and stealing the hearts of those who have no idea they just listened to a wannabe Pink Floyd. These bands are famous for a reason: Their music is unmatched. With that said, stop trying to match it unless you are a tribute band. You look ridiculous.

Critics could easily say ‘Well, music copying has been going on for ages.’ And then I’d reply ‘You are absolutely right.’ People have copied each other’s sound in past generations but they have all eventually found their own sound in the long run. My concern is that this generation couldn’t get away with that anymore. There is no more finding your ‘own sound.’ Every sound has been done already. The guitar is a late medieval instrument, do you really think a new sound will come out of it that hasn’t been done already? We are in a Rock n' Roll crisis.