I must have suddenly become old and square, because I just don't dig most of the new stuff as much. Though there is some good music out there, I don't see the talent.
We're not alone in our opinion of modern rock. Fortunately, it's starting to look like "slacker rock" is on its way out. New bands are emerging that are bringing lead guitar back to rock.
Among them are
H.O.T.D. whose influences seem to run from KISS and Mr. Big to classic Journey and early Van Halen and they have three albums so far (with MP3 samples on their site).
The Donnas are an
all female band who were obviously influenced by KISS, AC/DC, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Alice Cooper and other hard rock legends and have an interesting "role reversal" angle in which their female fans fantasize about becoming rock stars while their male fans fantasize about becoming groupies (they have five albums and their latest "Spend the Night" can be heard on their site). Another band, apparently influenced by (Ziggy Stardust era) David Bowie, Alice Cooper, The Tubes and The Rocky Horror Picture Show is
Robin Black and the Intergalactic Rock Stars and there are audio and video samples on their site. And then there's another all-female band called
Number Twelve whose two-song debut single "Heat" and "Riki" (a tribute to MTV "Headbanger's Ball" host Riki Rachtman) can be heard on their site.
And so, some of the influential bands I mentioned before have influenced yet another generation of new musicians just in time to save rock-n-roll from the slacker phase it has gone through in recent years.
Some of the great hard rock bands of the 80's are still touring and recording on minor-league labels. Great White, Cinderella and Iron Maiden are signed with
Portrait Records and are particularly successful in western Europe and southeast Asia where great music never really went out of style. Another little-known label,
Sanctuary Records features a virtual who's-who of 70's and 80's rock legends including a reunion of the surviving members of Humble Pie and Lynyrd Skynyrd, reunions of Blue Oyster Cult and Little Feat along with new releases from Accept, Pat Benatar, Dokken, Judas Priest, L.A. Guns, Eddie Money, Gary Moore, Motorhead, Nazareth, Night Ranger, Overkill, Saigon Kick, Slaughter, Styx, Tesla, and Vixen, a solo album by former White Lion frontman Mike Tramp and live albums by ELO, The Tubes and Styx with REO Speedwagon. Warrant and a few other excellent 80's bands are still recording on other minor-league labels, touring small venues in the States and all over Europe and Asia. Your favorite search engine can help you track down a favorite band if they're still around and can even point you to their new label's Web site.
