You hear it a lot with rock purists, who think that the idea of someone who doesn’t play guitar is complete blasphemy. They attest that the only real music is that which is made by bands, and anybody else trying is just imitating proper artists.
Do you remember that video of Royal Blood hitting out at the crowd at Radio One’s Big Weekend? For those of you who don’t, the duo were playing their regular riff-heavy ruckus, and became agitated when the crowd didn’t respond the way that they would have liked.
“Well, I should introduce ourselves, considering nobody actually knows who we are,” said bassist and vocalist Mike Kerr. “We are called Royal Blood, and this is rock music. Who likes rock music? Nine people, this is brilliant.”
I’m not saying that Kerr is the embodiment of a toxic mindset, and I’m sure there are plenty of great pop artists he likes listening to, but this seeming superiority that rock artists (and lovers) think they have over other genres is representative of a pretty closed mind. Big Weekend is notoriously a pop heavy festival, and it was evident Royal Blood weren’t remotely interested in pleasing this pop-loving crowd.
This attitude is lazy. While there are no doubt some pop musicians who aren’t exactly the epitome of musical talent, the idea that the entire genre should be dismissed is reckless.
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