Currently, Rock Music is no longer as rebellious and masculine as it once was . . .

During the 60s and 70s, the ‘Counter Culture' revolt was driven by Rock music, an age where protests concerning the Vietnam War were in full throttle and when the sexual revolution started with the advent of the pill. Bands such as the radical Rolling Stones showed a whole new way of living through the influence of their music. Today there have been major proliferations of bands that reflect the ‘Rock and Roll' style made famous by The Rolling Stones such as The Strokes. However The Stones' style was extreme in the context of the time-period in which they performed. In other words their sexualised music was significant in terms of a new age that was just beginning. These new ‘Rock ‘n' Roll' bands are just singing within channels of normative culture, not starting a revolutionary era like their predecessors. These predecessors were actually going up against social conventions at the time, so as much as the Arctic Monkeys distant themselves from mainstream popular culture, like not attending award shows, they will never have the same effect as their brethren did during the ‘British Invasion'.

The 80s was a period when rock had an added aspect, it was somewhat violent in manner. ‘Metal' was a style of Rock to be frightened of, with group names that resembled chaos such as Slayer and Megadeath. These types of bands could literally invoke riots with the introduction of this genre. Their concerts coined the concept of ‘moshing', as this suited the type of people that listened to this category of Rock. These types of people are commonly white males of the lower-middle economic bracket, who enjoyed copious amounts of alcohol and sported mullets - basically as manly as it comes. It became popularised most commonly by the appropriately named Metallica, one of the greatest rock bands of all time I might add!

The 90s didn't have a particular brand of music that can be termed rebellious, because there was not one given style of Rock. The host of bands that were disobedient mixed a fusion of diverse styles of Rock. For instance Rage Against the Machine, the epitome of revolting against the structures of society, had a lead singer who rapped backed by band of instrumental rockers. Their music wasn't just combative in nature, like their former Metal brethren, it also critiqued the actions of the United State's government. During Bill Clinton's time in office, in protest, they played outside a Democratic Convention in Los Angeles, the party that was in control of the White House at the time. Their ultra left-wing rhetoric is everything America is not, yet the ideals they preach are critical of the state of Capitalism.

Marilyn Manson has a completely different style to the mighty Rage yet is equally mutinous. He's a personality that has received much criticism for the controversial material he has released since his career began to gain momentum in the mid 90s. His songs offended many but attracted another whole sect of people, with albums like Anti-Christ Superstar. He provided an alternative to the norm of society for those rejects who didn't fit in, as he was the image for a ‘Gothic' counterculture. Goths is what the ‘Emo' subculture came from, except Gothic idols, most notably Manson are properly ‘Hardcore'. In 1996 Anti-Christ Superstar was apparently made in an environment that included sleep deprivation coupled with an induction of drugs. He has been known to have bought a "child's skeleton" and acquired "masks made of human skin", matching this enigmatic image he has created and maintained. Once touted by a well-known congressman as "perhaps the sickest group ever promoted by a mainstream record company" and he has been rumoured to be a ‘Satanist' with comments along the lines of, when people listen to my music God will be destroyed in their minds.

Today Manson is hardly in the media, and has little consequence in comparison to the influence he once held about a decade ago. Rage is temporarily reunited (touring), but they haven't released an album since their split up at the beginning of the millennium. The adolescents today listen to bands that talk about Your Guardian Angel a song by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus one of the most popular Punk bands who have Christian undertones. Or there is loves songs like I Don't Love You and ‘Emo' anthems The Black Parade, both performed by, you guessed it, My Chemical Romance. These bands represent pseudo Punks and Goths that aren't the real thing, quite the opposite in some respects, more like an inversion.

My point is that Rock has lost the masculinity and rebellious nature it invoked for decades past, from the 1960s up until recently. Today certain groups may think they are anti-authority, but they are playing into the hands of the major record labels who cunningly market these bands to suit the desires of these peoples' lives.

One could use this same argument for the Gothic scene, where a group of individuals are marked as a lucrative consumerist brand by the record companies. The difference is Gothic people actually pull off being rebels, by massacring schools for example. It's not pretty, and I'm not endorsing such acts, but it shows a group of people that really don't fit into the societal norm, and due to that they take drastic measures. For instance, Asa Coons was a 14 year old who killed 4 people at his school before turning the gun on himself in Cleveland. He dressed in completely black and listened to you know who . . . ‘Marilyn Manson', a real artist of rebellion!

Lastly I believe that it is ‘Gangster Rap' that has taken on the mantle of rebelliousness. With their misogynistic lyrics and gestures in the media, coupled with their consistent run-ins with the police, these guys do it pretty rough. T.I. was just recently incase-rated for yielding an unregistered fire-arm, something which is not rare for these artists. However it's a complete dichotomy, because he also epitomises the American dream. He comes from the second poorest state in America, Louisiana in the poverty-stricken ‘Dirty South', yet now he owns a Phantom Bentley and limited edition gold watches. He is the portrayal of everything that you can be; come from nowhere and make it somewhere. He is obviously playing into the hands of the capitalist ideology then by creating music accessible enough for any white boy. By any means, this new genre of music has to an extent taken on the powers of society, but also played into the hands of commercialism in another sense, but with the limitations of today, I would say it is rebellion in its truest form.