Define rock stars?

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

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I'd define a rock star as a celebrity known primarily for performing rock'n'roll music.

Mick Jagger, Sting, and Freddy Mercury would all qualify as rock stars. Celine Dion would not, since the music she performs is not considered rock. Joe Bonamassa would not, since -- as great a guitar player as he is -- most people (except those who who read guitar mags or follow the blues scene) have no idea who he is. Billy Bob Thornton would not, since -- although is in a band -- he's known primarily as an actor.

While there are certainly some younger/newer performers out there who would fit my definition (ie. the guys from the Killers), they seem to be fewer and farther between than their counterparts in the 60s, 70s and 80s. They also are not achieving quite the same level of success as their predecessors -- how many of these bands have multiple platinum selling records or headline stadium tours?

Who cares? Rock stars usually either leave too soon, or never know when to finally call it quits. Their diva attitudes and shenanigans give working musicians a bad name.

Why are people worried that there are no more guitar heroes or rock stars anymore? Was the world a better place when it seemed like every guitar magazine had articles on how to two-hand tap for over a decade after Eddie Van Halen released "Eruption"? When I was learning to play guitar in the 80s, it seemed like every guitar magazine had a freaking article on two-hand tapping every freaking month. Plus, in the future, do we really need more rock stars who are 60+ years old strutting around in tight pants and no shirt with their hair transplants, face lifts, and/or botox injections while marrying 20 year old models? Is there really a worldwide shortage on that type of crap that we need more?

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Point taken! I loved listening to the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin when I was younger, but by now I've heard their songs so many times I'm pretty much sick of them. Their music doesn't EVER seem to go away, at least on the radio, and it NEVER seems to be replaced by anything else of comparable quality. As I mentioned before, there are some decent newer bands out there, but they're almost never heard or promoted on the radio or on TV. It would just be nice for once to have "the next big thing" be a genuinly good r'n'r band as opposed to the American Idol and hip-hop nonsense that usually gets stuffed down our throats.

I really don't like the term "rock star". It just seems too egotistical to me. But if you are a fan calling a band rock stars, then it's perfectly fine to me. Music shouldn't ever be played with the intentions to get rich or famous or any of that stuff, but to connect with other people through beauty and to be as creative as possible as much as you can which makes the world a better place. So if the question is "Are rock stars dead?" I hope I never hear another musician call himself a rock star, but I do hope that there will be people I can respect enough to consider them important to my journey toward connecting with beauty.

I voted a drought. The way I look at it there are way more recording contracts out there. The media of music has changed and so has the old business model. Now instead of finding great talent, A & R guys search out the flavor of the day. Get a hit or two out of them and their gone. You won't see them for another 10 years when VH1 does one-hit wonders of the 2000s.

Every once in awhile a talented band will break through. I have to believe there a thousands of great bands out there. Unfortunately very few of them will every get signed or have their music exposed to the masses.

Yeah there's Youtube, facebook and the like but no real tangible public exposure.

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I think part of the problem is that rock music has compartmentalized itself to such a degree that it's hard for any band to gain enough appeal across a large enough demographic to be "Rock Stars" on the level of say Zep or The Stones.

"Way back when", it was all rock n roll. Then the labeling started.
Blues Rock
Folk Rock
Psychadelic Rock
Heavy Metal

Now we have a mind numbing array of "types" of rock music, all pigeon holed into an ever increasing set of classifications. Lots of fans only pay attention to bands that fall within their chosen subgenre because that's what's cool and acceptable within their musical clique.

Add to that the American rock fans general tendency to change their musical taste at the drop of a hat to whatever the latest new thing is and you have the death of the Rock Star as we knew it.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

im so disappointed w/the music today. You would think it would get better as the years progressed yet, the bands are just knock offs of other bands. Im 16 and I sad to say that im disappointed w/my generation. The music industry has no standards anymore. Most music is just pure screaming and you can't understand the words. My sister listens to it and its just pure crap. The bands today have no real message for their songs.

Now, there are some bands that are decent today, not all suck. Well, a vast majority of them do, but there are some that appreciate rock 'n' roll and what it stands for. So I just blast my AC/DC cds or my Hendrix albums and let the people listen to some good music

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I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk...

With the internet, it's so much easier for a band to get noticed, especially by things like myspace. Soooo... naturally there are many more popular/ semi-popular bands. I know that there is far more bands than there were even ten years ago. As such, it's hard for there to be a "Rockstar", because by the time a guy gets a mainstream song, everybody who had already knew of him for a while start claiming he's "sold out" and "not the way he used to be".

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cost it what it will
for he who hides the wrong he did
did the wrong thing still."
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