Rock has been declared dead many, many times. Cassandras have been wailing about this for almost 70 years, and each time this pronouncement has turned out to be as premature as a social media celebrity death hoax.
The first time came in March 1958, when Elvis, the face of this new fad called rock ‘n’ roll, was inducted into the army. Without this sneerin’, hip-swivelling southern boy, many in the recorded music industry believed the world would go back to “good” music. You know, like Frank Sinatra and Patti Page.
Other executives were eager to embrace the next big thing, which they believed was — and I’m not making this up — calypso music. It would kill rock forever. Of course, outside of Harry Belafonte, things didn’t work out that way.
Rock was again pronounced dead at the end of the ’60s with the disaster of the Rolling Stones’ Altamont festival. Rock allegedly died sometime in 1977 when disco appeared and again in the early ’80s when synthesizers ruled. Subsequent death announcements came in the late ’80s when pop was in its ascendancy (think New Kids on the Block and Debbie Gibson), the late ’90s (Spice Girls, ‘NSYNC, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, etc.), and sometime in the early 2010s, by which time rock was no longer driving much of popular culture, having ceded that to hip-hop and pop.
And while it’s true that rock has had its doldrums, it’s still here. And there’s mounting evidence that we’re about to get a long-overdue resurgence.
First, let’s look at historical trends in the United States. Whenever there’s a Republican in the White House, rock makes a comeback as people gravitate toward hard, heavy and often angry music.
- Rock was born during the eight-year term (1953-61) of Dwight Eisenhower. He presided over some of the worst years of the Cold War and anti-communist sentiment.
- After getting a kick in the pants from the British Invasion, American rock reasserted itself under the Nixon administration (1969-74), powered by anti-war sentiment, the civil rights movement and women’s rights activism. Some of the most enduring of all classic rock albums were released during this time.
- During Gerald Ford’s short term (1974-77), we saw the birth of punk.
- Although there was a lot of pop and synth music, guitar rock never went away during Ronald Reagan’s eight-year term (1981-89), one of the most tense times in Cold War history. Hair metal, hardcore and the beginnings of post-punk alt-rock took root.
- George Bush Sr. was in power (1989-93) when alt-rock blew up and took over the mainstream. Gen Xers led the Alternative Nation for the next few years.
- George W. Bush (2001-09) saw the rise of the indie rock revival and the return of many heritage bands to widespread attention (U2, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden, etc.)
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You would expect that rock would have exploded again during the first Trump administration — I certainly predicted it would — but instead, we ended up with a period of malaise in the rock world, especially after his bungling of COVID-19. I’m still not sure why.
Or maybe I am. There’s one thing that all these administrations have in common: They were all embroiled in issues involving the Middle East.
Eisenhower had to deal with rising Arab nationalism, the Suez Canal crisis and constant attacks on Israel, not to mention the CIA coup that toppled the government in Iran. Nixon inherited the outcome of the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War (both involving Israel), along with the OPEC oil shock of 1974, things that spilled over into the Ford administration.
Reagan? The war in Lebanon (Israel invaded to go after the Palestine Liberation Organization), which also saw the 1983 bombing of an army barracks that killed 241 American servicemen. Fast-forward a bit and we have the beginnings of the First Intifada in 1987. Bush 1? The first Gulf War. Bush 2? The era of 9/11, the invasion of Afghanistan and the forever war in Iraq.
Trump 45, though, got off lightly. Middle East issues were largely contained to the region (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza) and there were still lingering hopes in the Arab Spring. Odd, then, that this was the first Republican administration since the 1950s that didn’t result in a rock boom. Hmm.
Look, I know that correlation doesn’t mean causation and there are more forces at work than what I’ve outlined. But let’s look at where we are today: the mess in the Middle East.
First, the planet is mad. I mean, really, really mad. More angry and upset than at any time since 9/11. The situation in Iran is far from contained and threatens to spread even further with no end in sight. It’s downright scary. Will that mean a resurgence in angry, loud rock music? Possibly. Anecdotal evidence is starting to accumulate.
More young people seem to be picking up guitars and forming bands. A growing number of kids are rejecting a lifetime of digital existence for an analogue one. I’m getting more submissions from publicists and labels pushing hard-rockin’ groups.
And then the Lollapalooza lineup for 2026 was announced last week.
When the festival first launched in 1991, it was seen as a travelling freak show of left-of-the-dial artists. Within a year, it was the defining musical event of the summer. Lollapalooza did well for the first five years, but stumbled when Metallica headlined in 1996 and disappeared for a few years after a tepid 1997 event. When it was resurrected — especially after it found a permanent home in Chicago’s Grant Park in 2005 — it pivoted more and more to a lineup heavy on pop, R&B and hip-hop. Rock and alt-rock performers were few and far between.
For example, in 2023, only the Red Hot Chili Peppers flew the rock flag. In 2024, there were only two rock headliners: Green Day and Blink-182. The only big-font rock band last year was Korn. The Lollapalooza brand and experience remained strong enough to attract tens of thousands of millennials and Gen Zers, and the festival continued to sell out, even as old-timers tut-tutted about kids these days.
But what do you see with the poster for 2026? It features quite a few rock acts: the Smashing Pumpkins, Lorde, Yungblud, Empire of the Sun, Mother Mother, The xx, Geese, TURNSTILE, Wet Leg, Wolf Alice, and Finn Wolfhard are all on this year’s bill. It’s a big change from 2025, isn’t it?
Yes, there are a lot of green bananas here, acts that the promoter C3 Presents hopes will ripen into something cool by the summer. Ignore that for now and consider this: If the promoters didn’t feel something in the wind about a rising tide for rock, why would they make these booking decisions? This definitely marks a pivot to the rock side of things and decisions like this for a big-stakes festival are not made lightly.
Make of that what you will. Long live rock?
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