The Ongoing History of New Music, encore presentation: The History of the 2010s, part 4
[Just a couple more weeks and we start a brand new season of shows. – AC]
It’s an established fact that music comes in many different types of cycles. A sound and style will be big for a while, reach a peak with the public, and then slowly fade out. But once established, it’s unusual for a sound to completely disappear, never to be heard from again.
The only genre I can think of is—maybe alt-rock-style rockabilly? It was big in the very early 80s with bands like The Stray Cats. But then it just kinda went away. There’s never been a rockabilly revival—at least in the sense and style and scope of what we heard way back then when it was huge for about 18 months.
Instead, after enjoying a time at the forefront of music, many of the cycle-prone rock sounds recede into the shadows, never really going away. They lie in wait until someone comes along—often a generation or two later—to rediscover and reactivate it.
When that happens, it’s usually given a sonic update and if the timing is right, the sound enjoys a new period in the sun before the cycle repeats yet again.
The longer you live and the more music you become familiar with, the more you begin to see these cycles play themselves out, sometimes over and over again. We see it every decade.
The 2010s were no different. We saw a series of revivals, rediscoveries, and comebacks, all based on the musical DNA of what had come before. Let’s examine that. This is the history of the 2010s, part 4.
Songs heard on this show:
- Tool, Fear Inoculum
- Tame Impala, Elephant
- Besnard Lakes, People of the Sticks
- The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die
- Radiohead, Burn the Witch
- The Struts, Body Talks
- PUP, Kids
- DC Fontaines, Boys in the Better Land
- The Interrupters, She’s Kerosene
Of course, Eric Wilhite has a playlist for us.
The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on the following stations:
- 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7pm
- Q107/Toronto – Sunday night at 9pm
- Live 88-5/Ottawa – Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 6pm.
- 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener – Sunday nights at 11pm
- FM96/London – Sunday nights at 8pm
- Power 97/Winnipeg – Sunday nights at 11pm
- Sonic 102.9/Edmonton – Sunday at 8am and 8pm
- The Zone/Victoria – Sunday at 8am and 9pm
- The Fox/Vancouver – Sunday at 11pm
- Surge 105/Halifax – Sunday at 7pm
- WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown – Mon-Fri at 9pm
