The rock genre: dead or alive?

If you have turned on a television, flipped through a magazine or listened to the radio in the past ten years you might have noticed that the rock genre is slowly being extinguished from the media. Rock is nothing like it used to be. Nowadays, it seems that rock has become more of a fashion statement than influential music and the media does virtually nothing to change this.

Playing a wide variety of alternative rock, 88.9 The Alternation fights every year to maintain their spot on the radio. Part of this is due to their commercial-free nature, but one must wonder if the need for rock is slowly being snuffed out by the power pop and rap music of other radio stations. Radio stations like KISS FM dominate commercial airwaves with repetitive noise that is sadly defined as musical genius by today's teenage-controlled society.

Listeners tune into these radio stations and become brainwashed by the lack of creative genius, finding their favorite songs repeated on an hourly basis. There are only so many ways you can pronounce the word "air" before it becomes worn out. Where has originality gone? The 2008 MTV Video Music Awards answered that question in full force when they gave Britney Spears three awards, one of which had been for Best Video of the Year. Originality, ladies and gents, has officially died.

Out of 14 categories, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best New Artist, and (of course) Best Rock Video were the only categories that had been won by members of the rock genre. Surprisingly, Tokio Hotel, who has become extremely successful in Europe, had won the nomination for Best New Artist. It is exciting to see a foreign band win such an award, but as Tokio Hotel's fanbase relies heavily on teenage girls, one wonders why they had become so successful since MTV is now geared towards the youngest generations. Along with Tokio Hotel, Panic At The Disco had also been insultingly nominated for Best Pop Video. With their latest Beatle-esque album, how can a band such as Panic At The Disco be nominated for the award? The answer is simple: rock has become a visual experience.