It’s not often that I actually pay attention to something said by mainstream rock artists. That’s probably a subconscious defense mechanism used to hopefully reduce my overall stress. But Mr. Steve Van Zandt got under my skin recently after reading an interview posted at Bloomberg.

Van Zandt is “mad at modern music.” I find it amazing that he feels the heart of the issue is that “it’s become unfashionable for new bands to play live, many young fans have no idea of pop’s history.” First of all, what does playing live have to do with knowing your music history? Second of all, there’s nothing new about many young musicians being ignorant of what’s happened before them. Thirdly, Van Zandt claims that the ability for anyone to easily create their own music is what’s inhibiting the industry? I just about had an aneurism when I read this.

This interview irked me so much that I will refer to Steve Van Zandt with exclusively third-person pronouns from here on because I’m not sure he deserves the privilege of a proper noun with regards to him as a musician. He thinks the state of rock is weak because “kids are now going from their rooms where they are learning the rudiments of playing and they go right to MySpace and Facebook. They are skipping the most important stage of their life, which is the bar-band stage.” OK, kids can’t play at bars… and bars really only want bands that can bring a crowd or please the usuals which unfortunately leads to turning into a cover band. He’d rather these “kids” just not make new music at all? I don’t actually believe that’s what he meant, but that’s exactly where his logic goes. While I agree there is something very unique and moving to play live music, he’s got this all wrong.

Someone who has lived through the 60’s and 70’s can ramble off a huge list of amazing bands and claim music isn’t as good as it used to be. That’s because bands that suck have a hard time maintaining a space in your long-term memory. There’s always been a lot crap out there. While I agree the quality of popular bands has diminished, the “state of rock” is at least as strong is it’s always been because it’s easier than ever to find great music through the internet and the diminishing areas of uncharted territory in rock is forcing talented musicians to be more creative.