Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford and Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French have told of their concerns over the future of rock.
Nine months after Kiss bassist Gene Simmons rattled the industry with his claim that rock is dead, Halford continues to champion new acts and questions whether the genre will need big names to sustain itself moving forward.
Halford tells 1290 KOIL Radio: “We were pondering about this the other day in the van driving back from a gig. You know, will there be another great, big rock star giant like Ozzy Osbourne? Will there be another great, big rock star giant like Axl Rose, for example.
“Does that really matter? I don’t know. But it’s shifted, it’s changed. The good news is there’s an extraordinary display of talent coming from all different quarters in all different genres of rock and roll.”
He adds: “Avenged Sevenfold, Five Finger Death Punch, In This Moment, Royal Blood. There’s a ton of bands… Rival Sons… I can keep going and going.”
French feels the situation is much more dire, questioning arena and stadium rock’s future while suggesting fans better catch ageing acts now before the genre disappears for good.
He tells iradiousa.com: “It’s an ageing genre. Name me any rock bands that are 25 and younger who are blowing up the charts. That’s the scary part – the replenishment of the genre.
“Rock itself is an ageing medium and it hasn’t replenished its ranks, and the kids aren’t dreaming about being rock stars and playing air guitar and thinking they’re Jimi Hendrix and all that stuff like they were in my generation.”
With Twisted Sister set to play its farewell shows next year, French feels the clock is ticking on the whole thing.
He adds: “What will happen when the Twisted Sisters and the Whitesnakes and the Def Leppards and the Motorheads and the Black Sabbaths finally call it a day. Who’s coming up and replacing us? I don’t even know the answer to that. So you’ve gotta go see it while you can.”
