Hello again RJ, I thought today I would write a more serious article side of me and take a little journey into the past before coming to a halt once again in the present day. One thing that has been bothering me for the last little while is what ever happened to the good ole days of rock. I mean nowadays if you were to ask anyone of today's youth/generation who their favorite band was they'd probably say something like Nickleback, Puddle of Mudd, Linkin Park, 50 cent, Eminem, Nelly, or Beyonce.
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I was walking through the school hallway today and noticed that almost everyone was wearing pant's that were way to big for them and T-shirt's that were alot bigger. Each and everyone on of them who had a walkman or mp3 player or Ipod had their hip hop or rap crap just a blaring. I'm pretty much the only person left in my school who still walks around in jeans, studded belt and wristbands, leather and denim jackets, long hair, a rock T-shirt of some sort and work or biker boots. Everyday I have to put up with crap from everyone telling me to quit living in the past and admit it is never coming back. Well I'll leave you to decide what I tell them. Not that long ago I was walking throught the halls wearing my brand new Iron Maiden T-shirt and wristbands and actually had one person ask me who they were. I said to them that they are only one of the greatest Rock Bands to ever come from England and become one of the world's most loved rock band. The obvious answer here was he still never heard of them and I told him he doesn't know what he is missing. Then he try's to convince me that rap is better than rock and said it's the new wave of music. I replied back to him, that no matter what happens to the rock indusrty I will always be there fighting for what I beleive in.
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Today even was just one of those day's where someone was just looking for a fight. I was wearing an old KISS T-shirt of mine to school today, and one person actually says to me "WOW KISS, great band dude". I said to him"you know of KISS" he's like yeah, that guy with the long tounge. Instantly I knew he was just a poser trying to act cool and impress me. I said to him afterward's, other than Rock n Roll all Nite what was his other favorite song. He then try's to describe to me the way it sounds, and so I just nicely said to him your not really a KISS fan are you. He said no I'm not. One thing I love about posers though, no matter how much research they do on a band they won't know everything unless they were a true fan of that band. Not to be cruel or anything but when you watch an imposter fold under pressure from his own stupidity, in a strange way it teaches him not to talk about stuff you don't know anything about.
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My best friend isn't really a huge fan of rock, but he does have quite a collection of old and new rock, he also admitted to me he does listen to rap, but only when people aren't around. I'm not the kind of person to pass judgment, but honestly if I was a parent and I had a 12-13 year old son or daughter who listens to rap, I would take the cd away from them. Just by listening to the crap of today you wonder why so many people are getting hurt. I would actually feel alot more safe if my kids were listening to Black Sabbath or Ozzy himself instead of a guy talking about killing or shooting someone, or what ever else they talk about. I'm starting to get a little off topic here so let me just jump right back in.
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Another topic I'd like to breifly talk about is guitarists of yesterday and today. When I was growing up my influences were guys like Randy Rhodes, Ace Frehley, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton and Brian May. Today's youth, if asked who they thought was a great guitar player they'd say something like Deryck Whibley, Avril Lavigne or Jack White. I bet if I were to throw out some modern day names like Buckethead, Zakk Wylde or Slash, I bet the response would be something like...WHO??....but then again of course everyone knows Slash, so that's one name I'd refrain from asking. I don't care a whole lot about what kind of rock music you listen too,but you have to rember the guys who layed down the foundations for the bands and guitarists of today. Legends like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Walsh, Jimmy Page, Tonni Iommi, Brian May and yes even Ace Frehley.
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Probably one of the funniest moments ever was when my friends came too my house for the very first time, and saw my Cd and tape collection. I have 4 full stacks of tapes and Cd's with everything from Aerosmith(A) to ZZ Top(Z) and my friends spent quite some time looking at it and checking out my collection. After browsing my collection for about 20min, they said the only thing close to new rock I had was Nirvana's Nevermind Album. This is when I let the cat out of the bag and told them I strongly dislike the music of today and really enjoy the music from the 60's, 70's, 80's and early 90's. I then said "wait till you see my closet". (I should have mentioned before hand, this is when I first met my friends and they had no idea about me or what I like). They were in shocked, end-to-end my closet was filled with jackets, jeans, rock shirts, biker or cowboy boots and a box of jewelry/chains and wristbands.
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Well again it looks like I'm off topic, but now there's just one last thing I'd like to talk about. Not only is the music business changed, but everything else as well(cars,drinks,electronics,movies). I can rember as far back as the 50's(even though I wasn't even born until 30yrs later, I do love to read up on the world's history of music and cars) Muscle cars were the thing to love. 50yrs later that has all changed, now a days these stupid import and street cars are the thing to love. If I had the choice the drive either American Muscle or Street Racer, I'd pick the American Muscle. My favorite car happen's to be the 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda with the 440 sixpack(or any kind of engine I could get my hands on). If I had one of those(Cuda) and a dumb street racer pulls up beside me in a piece of junk Honda Civic, I don't care how good the car looks or sounds, it's not hard to guess who would win a street race(Nitro or not). American Muscle will always prevail. Just check out these photos and tell me which would win. (Cuda or Honda)
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Or would you prefer this
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I know this has slightly turned more into a rant than an article/opinion piece, but I think it may be time to wrap this one up, so in closing all I've really got left to say is just simply this. I guess it also depends on the type of person you are, most of the older generation will say they like a bands/music and albums from the 60's, 70's, or maybe even 80's, where as almost all of the newer generation will say they like and think the greatest album is from a band of today like Puddle of Mudd, or Linkin Park or Sum 41 you know what I mean.

I know I've already said something familier to this but, now a days you walk through a Highschool or Public School and ask who they like, they will obviously say a band of today or some stupid rap/hip-hop or idiot band, or maybe they could just be under pressure from their peers and peer pressure and don't want to say the wrong thing in front of their friends. Me......well I'm probably the only one left in my school/area who's dosn't care what my peers think and I proudly walk around wearing KISS, Iron Maiden or Def Leppard and even Scorpions T-shirts, I'm not afraid the show who I really am and what music I like.
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College on the other hand, you'd be surprised at how many people are just like you and me, and love the 70's 80's or 90's. Probably the only place I will ever see other metal heads like me sporting a rock shirt and jeans and let's not forget the hair. IMO Rock will never die, no matter how big or little following it has in the coming years.

Wow I feel much better now that I got that out.

Stay Safe RJ and Rock ON