Joe Perry has become the latest rock icon to weigh in on Gene Simmons’ infamous hot take/claim that “Rock is Dead.”
Perry was asked his opinion on whether or not he thought “rock is dead” in a new interview with VW Music, and the guitar icon gave a lengthy and interesting answer saying, “No, not at all…There are some great rock ‘n’ roll bands carrying the flag too, and one example is Brad [Whitford’s] son Graham, who plays with Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown. I think they’re like kicking ass, and the thing is, there’s a lot of guys who want to get out there and play rock ‘n’ roll guitar and play that kind of music.”
He continues, “The issue is that there aren’t enough fans to hear it, so it’s only going to go so far, but there are still people there for them to build a following. These new bands, they still headline places, they open up for other bands, and it’s the same thing. It’s not like they’re at the top of the Billboard charts or like the top of the pop charts, but that’s kind of how it was in the late ’60s too. All the rock ‘n’ roll that I liked, they didn’t even have a place at the Grammys for it, and there was nothing overly commercial about it. I mean, I saw The Who in a small club playing ‘Tommy.’ It was only a club, but the place was packed, and it was still about the fans there who wanted to hear it.”
Perry concluded, “It’s the same now, those fans are still there, and that’s what’s really keeping it alive. I mean, if it wasn’t ‘classic music,’ it wouldn’t be ‘classic rock,’ and it wouldn’t be as big as it is. I still see it, people are out there buying artists’ rock catalogs, and paying stupid amounts of money because they know that it’s going to keep getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger. So that tells me rock ‘n’ roll is not dead.”