Guns N’ Roses reunited. Metallica is getting ready to tour the United States. Vinyl records are popular again, and with political chaos and turmoil in the air, that can only mean one thing.

Rock ‘n’ roll is making a comeback.

Mikey Marquart, Windmark Recording Studio owner and building manager has been noticing a gradual shift back to our rock ‘n’ roll roots, both in the studio and on stage.

“There has been a new trend in recording studios where artists are beginning to go back to analog recording, because they want to separate themselves from everyone else by using the old- school methods,” Marquart said.

That’s exactly what rock ‘n’ roll is about. It’s about separating yourself from the crowd.

Rock ‘n’ roll is synonymous with individualism and rebellion and has been since the beginning of its history. That’s what makes it one of the truest forms of artistic expression.

A Forbes article entitled “Was rock ‘n’ roll America’s greatest revolution?” by Lauren Onkey details rock music’s impact on social and cultural factors in America.

“There are many innovations in rock ‘n’ roll history—it’s a music that gives voice to loud, creative outsiders who don’t like to color inside the lines. Rock ‘n’ roll helped usher in the civil rights movement and an era of desegregation in American life,” Onkey said. “Ultimately, rock ‘n’ roll’s most important innovation is the way it inspires us to create new identities for ourselves and our communities. Its spirit comes from young people with fresh and sometimes unsettling ideas that push us all toward reinvention if we keep our minds open.”

With the recent death of Chuck Berry, David Bowie and Scott Weiland, the rock ‘n’ roll kingdom awaits a new era of rock music.

Rock music has been in a steady decline for the last decade, but with the music industry begging for change on top of the political climate, I have a feeling things are about to change.

“It appears the industry is going back to using instruments and playing live music again. At festivals like Coachella, hip-hop and pop artists are starting to use live guitars and drums on stage with click tracks and electronic backtracking,” Marquart said. “There is this gradual shift back to rock ‘n’ roll roots with musical instruments being used more. The light shows and a guy with a computer just isn’t doing it anymore.”

At the Grammy Awards in 2012, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters announced to the masses the importance of learning to play an instrument.

“The human element of making music is what’s most important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do. It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not about what goes on in a computer,” Grohl said.

Artcic Monkey’s lead singer and guitar player, Alex Turner made a bold statement in favor of rock ‘n’ roll at the Brit Awards in 2014.

“That rock ‘n’ roll, it just won’t go away. It might hibernate from time to time and sink back into the swamp. But it’s always waiting there, just around the corner, ready to make its way back through the sludge and smash through the glass ceiling, looking better than ever,” Turner said. “Yeah, that rock ‘n’ roll, it seems like it’s fading away sometimes, but it will never die. And there’s nothing you can do about it…Invoice me for the microphone if you need to.”

Without rock ‘n’ roll, there would be no hip-hop or pop music. There would be no Kendrick Lamar or Lady Gaga. Coachella wouldn’t exist either.

Rock ‘n’ roll not only shaped the musicians of today, but it created one of the greatest American revolutions.

Tate Rutland
Staff Writer