“Pop Music has become so mainstream, and people tend to steer away from it” – Abigail Nallan

There is currently a trend of today’s young people listening to post-punk/classic rock from the 60s to 80s instead of modern pop music being released. It tends to be said that today pop music considers the same repetition of notes throughout the song and all sound familiar to one another as well as using samples. However, with rock music, neither notes nor instruments sound the same and all differentiate from each other and are constructed from start to end without using any remediations of past music.

Popular artists that are once again on the rise are Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles etc. There are currently many bands that take inspiration from past classic rock bands for example an American rock band from Michigan called Greta Van Fleet that are continuously compared to Led Zeppelin. On the other hand, bands today always tend to say that The Beatles are their biggest inspiration for their music which helps conclude that the rock music genre will have a timeless appeal to people for the next future generations. People appreciate the lyricism, melodies and instrumental within the songs as it is more driven and has an indefinite music quality in comparison to modern pop.

The motivation behind creating your form of music helps create a sense of individuality as well creating a form of escapism. It helps artists to continue to motivate themselves and create a connection by communicating through music. With the history behind music, it continues for thousands of years starting from ancient music to modern and contemporary music that we know today. The psychology behind listening to classic rock music whilst focus that it helps your mood as well as releases positive emotions.

“It was very much situational I guess growing up I didn’t have access to radios, so I tended to listen to the type of music I was surrounded by” – Wendy Felix

Over the past few decades, music has a variety of lyricism that relates to past events that younger audiences will find interesting to look back on as many social movements were ongoing. An example is the punk scene that emerged in the 1970s that is arguably still recognisable today as the movement was anti-establishment. There was a rise of London punk bands such as Sex Pistols, The Clash and Buzzcocks as it was a token of inspiration for the wave that was ongoing in the USA. Arguably the face of the 70s punk scene is known to be Sex Pistols as they were against the government and the monarchy and had their individuality and belief and not caring about what others thought with their attitude on stage they had.

As there is a heavy influence from nostalgia and family members, there is a development of aspiration towards the genre it attracts younger listeners to listen to classic rock and post-punk music. In comparison, there is an influence from the media as classic rock has been featured several times in commercials, television series and films. Classic rock bands today still have a dedicated fanbase as their music is still played continuously on streaming services and especially on the radio making it more accessible to members of the public.

“People wanting to like underground artists and go through the journey with them” – Morgan Morland

“Mainstream artists tend to have toxic fanbases that ruin the artists for a lot of people.” – Suzy Simon

There are several music venues/bars across London and the UK that have a small capacity that allows smaller artists to perform for an affordable price that young people attend as a night out with friends. Amongst younger people popular music venues across London are Windmill Brixton and The George Tavern that variety of different artists across all genres perform to the public. However, the crowd tends to be those who enjoyed rock and post-punk music as bands perform live on stage and people from all backgrounds and ages are there to witness. Every night there are always events that are held at these venues as well as karaoke night where everyone can go on stage and perform a song together.

“Physical copies of tickets instead of digital tickets have a lot more meaning to it.” – Carla Visaya

Attending live gigs and collecting physical tickets hold a sentimental venue as it holds a form of memory of the night seeing your favourite artists or bands live. Concertgoers that attended classic rock concerts from the 1960s still to this day have their physical copy and pass it down to their generation and children to show. However, we today do digital tickets also known as e-tickets more sustainably. Despite that, there is still an option to have a physical copy delivery, but it will cost extra with the delivery fee.