I see people posting stats and such all over the internet, but I don’t think I ever put them altogether, beyond reading it then and there but remembering reading that 70% of the commerce is from bands/artists from the 60/70s, and I’m curious which ones are popular with the young people. The Beatles are probably a given, but I wonder who else. Probably a “colorful” band with someone they’ve seen on YouTube, maybe not even in a music setting. Maybe interviews? Sometimes a younger celebrity pushes older artists, and if you have 10 million “followers” it can definitely influence. If I had that many, I’d definitely push my favorite stuff, especially the lesser known stuff, but I digress.
I anecdotally hear people talk about how they know kids in Pink Floyd t-shirts and it’s probably true but I don’t think they make a serious percentage of what people are listening to. On Spotify, the first artists to qualify as “Classic Rock” (from the 60s-70s era, not “OMG they played Blink 182 on the classics station, I’m so old”) is Elton John at #43. I’m going to guess he benefits greatly from a modern catalog popular with older listeners and isn’t #43 because a bunch of 15 year olds are cranking Crocodile Rock.
Queen is #48 (boosted by Bohemian Rhapsody which is the #1 played song from the 70s) and that’s it for the Top 50 listened to artists. The Beatles #117, Fleetwood Mac #127, Creedence at #153, Rolling Stones at #187, Police at #198 and that closes out the top 200 listened to artists. Those aren’t rookie numbers; even the Police are pulling in 23mil+ listeners a month but classic rock certainly isn’t dominating the charts. I might have missed someone while scanning the list but it doesn’t change the point.
By the way, Pink Floyd is #294, Zeppelin is at #306 and The Who barely squeaks into the top thousand at #986. Given that streaming is where the money’s at for music distribution these days, I find it hard to imagine that 60s/70s Classic Rock acts are bringing in 70% of the money or that they’re the main things today’s youth is into – who certain use streaming more and should be weighting the ranking more than old guys who think rock died in 1978.
Anecdata point: my son’s closest friend is a 16 year old girl who, in addition to liking contemporary bands like the Lumineers, also enjoys Elton John, Billy Joel, and Fleetwood Mac.
Both of those have had recent popular biopics. I wonder if that had an impact?
I’m fairly certain that they played a role.
Took my grand daughter’s 24 year old husband to see Blue Oyster Cult. He said it was the best concert he has ever seen.
Anecdotally, I imagine that many of us can point to specific young people of our acquaintance who enjoy “classic rock” music; in many cases, I suspect it’s the result of being exposed to that music by parents or other older family members.
But, to the OP’s question (and the Spotify stats that @Jophiel referenced), there may not be much evidence that there are many older performers that are broadly popular with young people today.
I watched the first Iron Man movie with my nieces when it came out on DVD (remember those?), and during the closing credits they were singing along to Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man.” I was floored, and asked how they knew the song and they were familiar with it because of the video game Rock Band or Guitar Hero. Back in 2019 I was at a college job fair and saw some flyers up for a course on The Beatles that counted as credit. That was pretty cool. And just today I saw a kid who couldn’t have been any older than 17 wearing a Nirvana t-shirt.
I don’t know if the youths are listening to classic artists a whole lot. With YouTube and other online sources, they certainly have better access to older songs than I had when I was their age. I bet a lot of people who wear that Misfits t-shirt just think it’s a cool design and might not listen to the band at all.
I suspect a lot of younger people are just used to hearing older music in the media they consume. The last Thor movie was an advertisement for Guns 'n Roses I think. I bet a lot of younger people are familiar with Elvis in large part because of Lilo & Stitch.
I met a 12-year-old African American girl who was wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt. I asked her if she liked Pink Floyd or just liked the shirt.
“I don’t really know who he is.”
mmm
I think the music games had a fair bit to do with it.
Guitar Hero sold over 25 million copies. That’s 25 million people listening to a mix of songs that are about half classic rock. Rock Band also sold in the millions, and according to Harmonix more than 100 million songs have been purchased for the game. And again, Rock Band is heavily into classic rock.
That’s a lot of influence. It would be interesting to chart the modern sales of classic rock acts that made it into the music games as opposed to those who didn’t.
In terms of total revenue, don’t forget soundracks to movies, which often have classic rock in them. Some bands charge enormous amounts for their music and get it. Game licenses and commercials are another source of licensing revenue.
Then there are concerts. Elton John currently has the most profitable concert tour. Guns N’ Roses had the fourth highest grossing concert tour from 2016-2019. The Rolling Stones latest tour is sixth highest in history. Eagles, Metallica, Fleetwood Mac, and other classic rock bands are among the most successful touring acts around. And since they appeal to boomers, they charge insane amounts for entrance and still sell out stadiums.
The most valuable song catalogs:
- The Beatles
- Bruce Springsteen
- Michael Jackson
- Rogers and Hammerstein
- Bob Dylan
- Sting
- Taylor Swift
- Paul Simon
- David Bowie
- One Republic
So of the top 10 most valuable song catalogs, only two are from modern artists.
Radio probably also helps classic rock, becaus it shows up regularly on pop radio, but also has huge networks of classic rock stations that play nothing but.
The three Guardians of the Galaxy films, in particular, had soundtracks which were older rock and pop; the first two films exclusively used songs from the '70s.
I agree that music/band games have helped a lot of the tracks retain some relevance (I’ve made the same point in a few threads) but I also think we’re aging out of that for younger people. The last Guitar Hero game was Guitar Hero Live in 2015. Rock Band 4 was in 2015 (there was also a VR game in 2017 designed for the Oculus). There’s no current gen version of either game for the PS5 or Xbox X|S. As an influential fad, it’s largely burnt out for now. You’re probably better off getting your agent to lobby hard that your song is included on the Classic Rock radio station in GTA 6.
No doubt there’s a number ways to jigger the numbers for “How much money does music make” and 60s/70s Classic Rock probably fares better when you add in movie licensing and concerts though I’m still very skeptical about that 70% figure. Plus, as you allude to, those acts are Boomer shows and not reflective of how many 18 year olds are into The Eagles.
There’s a comic strip called “The Pajama Diaries”, featuring a middle-aged couple and their two teenage daughters. One day, the daughter comes out of her room wearing a Nirvana t-shirt. Mom asks her if she’s heard their music. She hadn’t, so she hands her a Walkman/Ipod/whatever and the daughter’s eyes get very wide and her hair stands on end, and not in a good way, either. So, Mom gets a free t-shirt LOL.
R.E.M. guitarist emeritus Peter Buck has twin daughters who are now 29 years old. Before the band broke up, he said in an interview that he asked their then-teenage friends who they liked to listen to, and they were saying things like Jimi Hendrix, U2, 70s arena rock, etc. but weren’t all that interested in current (late 00s) bands.
What happened to the games was fragmentation and burnout. After Activision bought Guitar Hero, they rapidly released a bunch of knock-off games. Then Rock Band showed up with its own knock-offs. People just eventually burned out on them and stopped buying. Also, the game makers screwed up when trying to innovate. Guitar Hero went with a guitar with two rows of buttons, which players hated, and Rock Band tried the reality apprach with real guitars with real guitar fingering and real drums and a keyboard controller. It was all too difficult for the casual users, and the advanced instruments flopped. It also made playing the 5-button guitars seem like ‘easy’ mode, turning off the hardcore players.
The fragmentation killed them because the peripheral makers couldn’t make a profit. Too many different instruments, spread across too many games. So as guitars and drums broke down, people had to stop playing. There is a constant call out for new instruments, but no one will make them.
Rock Band still has a huge number of players playing actively. I’m on a team in Rock Band Rivals (Just made ‘Bloodstone’ - yay!), and there are currently 2811 teams playing that tournament, with up to 10 players per team.
Eventually, these games will make a comeback, IMO. Maybe not until the next generation of players comes along, but these games are too fun to vanish.
Anecdotally, I took my mother to a Queen tribute concert in Olympia last month and there were a HUGE number of families there with their young kids. The standup comedian who opened for the band decided to do a clean version of his set because of how many kids were in the theater, which made it that much funnier when the band came on and did “Fat Bottomed Girls” as their second number.
I think that 70% got twisted around somewhere. More like 70% of people listen to Classic Rock. Doesn’t mean it’s their favorite or that’s what they spend their money on; it’s just that they have some level of appreciation or simply tolerance for it. It’s become the least objectionable genre for any mixed demographic which is why you hear it played so frequently in public places.
Hard to tell which way that goes. Do they remain popular because of a recent biopic? Or was a recent biopic made because they have remained popular?
I think the succesful biopics etc. are simply reminders / notifiers to a lot of people that hey, this guy had some really good music. Out of sight, out of mind, and vice versa.
John Fogarty is touring Internationally. He’s currently (end of May) playing London and Paris.
He’s drawing big crowds and I think that includes young adults. Very impressive for a 78 year old Boomer.
Just about a year ago, I asked a friend’s kid if he wanted my extra Summerfest tickets (saying “Look, it’s Cheap Trick on the big stage, so I don’t know if you…”) and he said “Hell, yeah, I’ll take 'em! Our whole posse’s gonna go see John Fogerty on the free stage!” I gave him a quizzical look so he said "Y’know, Creedence?!?"
.
me (in my head):
“You and Kurt didn’t even overlap!”