~Michael Greaney
Rock and roll has been revived and is making a comeback in a big way. But how can a genre that has stayed stagnant for so long make a return this big? It turns out, according to various statistics, that the nostalgia that follows rock music may be enough to revive it along with the help of some newer artists.
Google Trend analyses as well as Spotify listening records show that searches for rock and related genres such as lite rock and metal have seen a steady decline since the early 2000’s.
Recently though, there has been a rising trend where artists who grew up with said music have been incorporating rock icons into their new tracks, playing on the nostalgia that follows them.
Post Malone is one such artist, who on September 6th released his newest album, Hollywood’s Bleeding. One track features rock legend Ozzy Osbourne, who was most notably the front man for the band Black Sabbath.
According to Billboard, that song Take What You Want took the No. 8 spot on the Sept. 21 Billboard Hot 100. The appearance is Osbourne’s first top 10 hit on the Hot 100 since 1989.
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/collections/8532957/post-malone-ozzy-osbourne-song-facetime
Before this feature, statistics from both Google Trends and Spotify showed Osbourne’s popularity was on a downward trend. The day the album was released though, search results for the rock singer skyrocketed for the first time in years.
One twitter user posted about the feature saying, “Idk who this Ozzy Osbourne guy is but Posty just put him on the map”.
According to an interview with The Sun, Osbourne himself was shocked by the response to his comeback saying “I’ve missed music so badly. My fans are so loyal and so good. Up until making the album I thought I was dying.” He also stated that working with Post inspired him to record a new album for the first time in almost a decade.
Ozzy isn’t the only rock and roll hall of fame legend to be making an impressive comeback. An article by NME reports that rock and metal veterans such as Metallica, Fleetwood Mac, Kiss, and Bob Segar are all on a list of the top 25 artists with the highest grossing world tours of 2019.
Metallica comes in at number four on the list with $69.7 million in ticket sales and Fleetwood Mac at fifth with $67.7 million. KISS, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band also appear in the 7th and 9th places respectively.
Pollstar also puts the rising popularity of rock music into perspective as according to their data, 12 of the 30 top trending tours of 2019 have fallen under the genre of rock.
As it seems, rock and roll still has its place in music culture. Even though a new generation dominates what’s played on the radio and streamed, the iconic songs and rock legends of the past are still alive and kicking and will be for some time.
Data Journalism 395 