The year 2024 was a year when rock, both national and international, was present in our country. In a context where urban genres fill the main stadiums, break records in listens and concerts, one of the main genres of music has had to reversion itself and seek collaborations with new artists to attract new audiences. Meanwhile, Los Piojos will say goodbye after a successful tour at the Más Monumental, packed on June 14, and all indications are that it will not be the last show they will do as a farewell until further notice.
For decades, rock music has been a cultural beacon, a space of rebellion, and a standard of artistic innovation. However, in recent years, this question has surrounded conversations, media, and forums: is rock still a relevant genre or has it succumbed to the weight of time? What do Centennials listen to? Some argue that the spirit of disruption and creativity that defined it in its early days has diluted, while others claim that rock has mutated, adapting to new generations and contexts. Are we facing the twilight of an era or a new chapter?
Music was better back then
During the Falklands War, the government made a decision that would boost national rock: country radios were prohibited from playing English music. As a consequence, the main stations had to seek and promote Argentine bands to fill the gap, allowing folk, tango, and, above all, national rock to breathe, which until then the military viewed as an enemy. Figures like Spinetta, Serú Girán, and León Gieco found in that context an audience eager to connect with their lyrics filled with poetry and social critique. Songs like Sólo le pido a Dios by Gieco or Alicia en el País by Serú became anthems that not only spoke of the time but transcended as part of the collective imagination of the country. National rock consolidated not only as a musical genre but as a tool of cultural resistance and a space of expression for a society suffocated by censorship and authoritarianism.
Therefore, talking about rock is often synonymous with its golden years during the seventies and eighties. Does that style still exist in music? The leading artists of that era are now in musical retirement: many haven't released albums in years or their style has changed over time and they can no longer find their best version (case La lógica del escorpión by Charly García), others, if they remain active, perform concerts with their greatest hits (4030 by Fito Paéz) and there are also those who are only alive in their legacy. Something logical, as more than forty years have passed and the world and the audiences are in constant change, and rock has not been the exception.
From the classic and alternative rock of the eighties, we shifted to a local scene in the nineties where bands like Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota, Los Piojos, and La Renga connected with popular sectors, combining urban lyrics with raw sounds where "the culture of aguante" was empowered and developed, something very distant from what Almendra or Los Gatos promoted in their beginnings, but genres have also fused as Los Pericos did with reggae and pop like Babasónicos and Calamaro.
Why would that be part of rock if the proposal has changed? Why is Callejeros closer to Baglietto than to urban genres? The genre had to be modified by the global context and those who did not accept these changes have tried to cling to those happy years when they listened to and attended concerts of their artists and deny that that time has passed, that the music of the past is part of the past. Or maybe not. Because music is not static and its listening is in constant motion.
Who said that everything is lost?
Different artists of the genre have declared the death of rock as we know it. Rock used to be the channel par excellence to express discontent, social criticism, and intense emotions. Today, genres like trap and hip-hop have taken on that role, adapting the narratives to current issues like job precarization, inequality, and experiences from popular neighborhoods. Artists like Wos, who incorporates influences from rock into his style, reflect how urban music does not reject its link with rock but rather reinterprets it. Songs by Duki, Bizarrap, or Trueno with distorted guitars or collaborations with rock artists (like Wos with Ricardo Mollo in Culpa) show that the boundaries between both genres have blurred. Often, rock is perceived as a genre that looks to the past, while urban music represents the contemporary. This has created tensions among followers of both movements, with cross-criticisms about authenticity and artistic depth. However, these differences are not absolute: artists from both genres are exploring forms of convergence.
While rock finds a loyal audience among the generations that grew up with the genre, urban music connects more directly with current youth. However, the phenomenon of nostalgia and the impact of festivals like Cosquín Rock, which now includes urban artists, demonstrate that rock still has a place in the cultural conversation and vice versa, as evidenced by the presence of Airbag at the last Buenos Aires Trap.
Spotify, the most important streaming platform in the world, released its Wrapped last year and confirms that rock is far from being buried; rather, it constantly rises from its ashes like the Phoenix. 60% of young people in our country listen to rock. Moreover, Argentine rock experienced a 233% increase in streams over the past five years. It seems the trend continues to rise, as streams increased by 27% just between 2022 and 2023.
The platform goes further and boldly states that Generation Z (those born in the 2000s who have never lived without internet connectivity) are the new guardians of Argentine rock. Additionally, it points out that among the artists most streamed by the youth are Babasónicos, Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota, Soda Stereo, Andrés Calamaro, and Charly García: true classics of the genre at the local level. They not only stay with separated bands (like Los Piojos reuniting) or retired artists, but also open the doors to new rock artists like El Mató a un Policía Motorizado, Eruca Sativa, Conociendo Rusia among others, in a scenario where the music industry increasingly insists on rap, trap, and RKT.
Far from being a direct competition, rock and urban music seem to inhabit different spaces. While rock maintains a strong connection with its nostalgic audience and certain alternative sectors, urban music dominates the charts, social media, and massive festivals. Although it may no longer be the genre that tops the charts or defines the spirit of an era, its legacy endures as an indelible mark on music and culture. The songs that defined generations continue to resonate, while new forms of expression, like urban music, occupy the space that was once exclusively theirs.
Perhaps, then, rock has not died, but rather has changed its skin, waiting for new generations to rediscover it, transform it, and give it new meaning as it has throughout its history. From Tanguito to Sumo. From Almendra to Viejas Locas. In this sense, the debate over whether rock has died could be broadened: should rock resign itself to being a niche genre, or can it find a way to engage with contemporary languages?
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