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Rock music in America is on life support.
The Black Keys, once at the vanguard of the genre's big resurgence in the 2000s, recently had to cancel their tour due to embarrassingly low ticket sales.
If I had to pick a winner in the all-Asia battle of the bands, it would probably be Mongolian guitar heroes The Hu.
One-time Southern rock monsters Kings Of Leon barely dented the charts with their latest album, "Can We Please Have Fun."
Even beloved indie stalwarts Weezer — say it ain't so! — just had to cancel a planned box set due to low anticipated demand.
The once-powerful roar of American home-grown music has been reduced to a feeble whisper, drowned out by the thumping bass of pop and the autotuned drivel dominating the charts.
Mosh pits have been replaced by TikTok dances. Since social media took over, not a single TV has been hurled out of a hotel window. This can't go on.
With domestic production lagging, stateside fans are turning to Asian imports.
Take South Korea. While its massive industry cranking out K-Pop idols gets all the attention, it has a robust rock scene dating back to the 1950s, when the American military began broadcasting Western music across the Korean peninsula.
Enter Shin Jung-hyeon, the “Godfather of Korean Rock,” who laid the foundation for the genre in South Korea, creating bands like Add4 and producing psychedelic masterpieces for legendary bands like Pearl Sisters, Kim Choo-ja, and Kim Jung Mi.
Fast forward to today, and the Korean rock scene is thriving. Silica Gel, a band from Ansan, a suburb of Seoul, stands out as one of its best. That’s because this fresh-faced four-piece offers an appetizing take on rock, combining modern elements with classic influences.
Their music features catchy guitar riffs and powerful synthesizers, creating a unique and rather enjoyable sound. Tracks like "Desert Eagle" and "No Pain” are solid offerings that provide a refreshing break from the somewhat nauseating K-pop scene.
Across the Yellow Sea in China — yes, China — there’s also been a surprising burst of rock energy. SixiWanzi is an all-female band from Beijing whose sound mixes the high-octane energy ofParamore with a unique, Chinese Communist Party-approved twist.
When I visited China a few years ago, I caught a show by Carsick Cars, another standout from the nation's capital. This indie rock band, formed in 2005, is known for its gritty, energetic mix of punk, noise, and garage rock. The band even played inBrooklyn way back in 2009. They put on quite a show.
That said, if I had to pick a winner in the all-Asia battle of the bands, it would probably be Mongolian guitar heroes The Hu.
Formed in 2016, The Hu combines traditional Mongolian instruments like the morin khuur (horsehead fiddle) and the tovshuur (traditional flute) with epic chants and heavy metal riffs to create a completely new genre: Hunnu rock.
The Hunnu people, also known as the Huns, were an ancient nomadic group who lived in Central Asia and northern China about 2,000 years ago. They were known for their skills in horseback riding and their warrior lifestyle.
For The Hu, this isn’t just music; it’s a cultural revival of sorts, a way of connecting the past with the present. The band’s lyrics, steeped in historical Mongolian war cries and poetry, bring to life the spirit of ancient empires, making their music a sort of headbanging history lesson.
Of all their tracks, "Wolf Totem" is probably the most notable. It features the aforementioned traditional instruments and heavy, infectious riffs. With diaphragm-driven humming and rhythmic drumming, the track is like nothing you’ve heard before.
Now, just to be clear — just because rock is thriving in Asia doesn’t mean all of it is good — this is the world's largest continent, after all. Some of these bands are an acquired taste, and that’s fine.
The point isn’t that every Asian rock act is making the next "Dark Side of the Moon." It's that the scene reveals the kind of fearless experimentation and irrepressible energy that used to animate American rock before it got overshadowed by vapid pop hits and genre-mashing monstrosities.
Even the all-American genre of country music is being reshaped by the likes of Beyoncé and Post Malone, for better or worse. Sure, they’re contributing to the genre in their own way, but it’s a far cry from the soulful grit of an artist like Oliver Anthony.
And it's not just Asia that's coming for American rock hegemony. Across the pond, the Brits seem to be gearing up for another invasion. Witness the buzz around the reunion of iconic '90s rockers Oasis after a 15-year hiatus. "Live Forever," indeed.
There's no telling how long the Gallagher bros will be able to get along, but even if it ends in fisticuffs, plenty of their younger compatriots are making noise across the pond.
Bands like Royal Blood, Soft Play (formerly known as Slaves before the woke mob forced a name change — not very rock ‘n’ roll, I know), and Idles are busy keeping the genre alive and exciting.
Some of you might think I exaggerate the situation. Rock is evolving, you'll say. But I challenge you to name three or four truly exciting American rock bands putting out fresh material today. If you’re left scratching your head or reaching for Google, that says a lot.
Rock in the U.S. isn’t evolving; it’s devolving. Or worse still, it's fading into irrelevance. Is this the end? Well, you know what Neil Young says: "Rock and roll will never die." Let's hope some maladjusted kids in a garage somewhere are already working on proving him right.
In the book 'The Boiling Moat,' defense and foreign policy experts put forth a number of sound ideas to enhance American readiness and stop the Chinese military conquest of Taiwan.
President Xi was greeted in the hastily sanitized streets of San Francisco with all the fanfare of a communist parade.
Far from an idealistic crusade for democracy, America’s interest in Taiwan involves economic security, alliances, great power politics, and military deterrence.
Taiwan needs to stand up a local defense force system that could immediately mobilize to defend nearby key points.
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Kamala Harris embarrasses the US AGAIN with yet another word salad
Vice President Kamala Harris is not known for her silver tongue.
In an interview with the Associated Press, she tries to explain what she thinks about Southeast Asia, but instead creates her latest word salad that has all Americans cringing with severe second-hand embarrassment.
“When I think about Southeast Asia and this region and the Indo-Pacific, first of all, Southeast Asia, you’re looking at a population of over 600 million people. At least two-thirds of which are under the age of 35. Think about what that means,” Harris tells her interviewer. “Especially when you look at so many of these countries that have thriving economies,” she adds.
“What does that mean?” Pat Gray jokes. “It means they’ve got a young population,” Gray says, answering himself.
But there’s more.
Harris had not had enough of her own word-salading yet, telling the interviewer, “I feel very strongly about the importance of the general matter of engaging in U.S. policy as it relates to foreign affairs. In a way that we pay attention, of course, to immediate concerns and threats if they exist. But that we also pay attention to 10, 20, 30 years down the line and what we are developing now that will be to the benefit of our country.”
“She talks so much and says nothing,” Gray laughs, incredulous.
“We’d be better off as a nation with Miss Teen South Carolina as our vice president,” Keith Malinak adds.
Harris then goes on to tell the interviewer that Joe Biden has been “an extraordinary leader who has accomplished things that previous presidents hoped and dreamed and promised they would do and did not.”
“A substantial amount of time we spend together is in the Oval Office, where I see how his ability to understand issues and weave through complex issues in a way that no one else can, to make smart and important decisions on the behalf of the American people have played out,” she added.
Harris also claims that she is ready for the presidency if she were required to step up and into the role.
“Every vice president understands that when they take the oath, that they must be very clear about the responsibility they may have to take over the job of being president. I am no different,” she says.