The last "big" year for rock?

When did the (redneck) cap replace the cowboy hat in country?

 

Id probably have to say 1994 becuase nirvana was still big up to that point and you had Soundgarden with black hole sun which was also really big. Also Pink Floyd's Division Bell was also released in 1994 which sold a lot so I would say 94, i cant remember much good after that to be honest

 

I might argue that it was a big year for rock if some rock artists went on tour and made a kajillion dollars that year. Who says it has to be all new music to be 'big'?

 

OK, I'm not sure which way this cuts, but I think it belongs in this thread.

 

I agree that much of today's country is pretty close to yesterday's AOR. This is pretty much my favorite "rock" track of the last couple of years:

 

In the past, the largest markets were the US, Japan, Germany, UK, Italy, and France, what do the new metrics say?

 

Well, it says a lot ironically, and not ironically, yet it still more wholesome than if this were 40 years ago with many 'classic rock stars' in the same picture.

 

Italy isn't part of the biggest markets for very long. With new metrics, countries with a bigger population like Mexico or Brazil are gaining traction.

 

Are the metrics for Brazil and Mexico for verified paid sales or more for playlists, youtube, etc.,

Where do China, India and Russia figure into the new metrics?

 

The poorest is the area the strongest is the increase. In 2015 the music market increased by 1,4% only in North America, 2,3% in Europe and then 5,7% in Asia and 11,8% in Latin America. China will get there too as it is doing in the movie industry.

There is metrics for everything. They take into account streams, which always bring money (or by the user, or by the company investing into the ad the user accepts to listen to avoid paying). Youtube plays are a popularity factor too but have a lowest weight since they bring in less money.

 

And more, at this point, the Billboard 200 is now compiled using "equivalent" streams -- some calculation that X number of songs streamed from the album is equivalent to an album sale, so really, the album chart alone remains a pretty good proxy for what's most popular (although Billboard just went to album equivalent streams last year or maybe it was mid-2015, so it's hard to make apples to apples comparisons). But if you look at the year-end Billboard 200 you have a pretty fair picture of what was most popular in a given year, including among people streaming tracks and among people buying albums.

 

1991 was my guess. Both Grunge and Glam Metal were popular that year. Both fit in nicely to the rock music category.

 

Yes, I know. I was referring to an article about pre-internet sales, but it's not worth going into it. As far as Billboard year-end charts, some day, you should look up 1967, if you can find it. Despite all the great albums released that year, most of the Billboard yearend top 10 are completely forgotten by most of the general public - can't remember exactly, but it was basically the Monkees, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, soundtracks, Paul Mauriat's Love is Blue (?) and Sgt. Pepper sneaking in at no. 10. Of course, 50 years later, Sgt. Pepper has outsold all of the other albums combined. But wow, Herb Alpert was huge.

Anyway, what is important is that one of my favorite bands, The xx, will have the no. 1 album in the UK this week, and another of my favorite bands, Spoon, announced a new album for release in March. I'll be seeing Guns n' Roses/Babymetal in Tokyo next week, Jeff Beck the week after, and the Kills and the Pixies a couple of weeks after that. And I was able to secure tickets to see U2 at the Rose Bowl in May. I'll wait until they announce headliners before buying Summer Sonic tickets (Arcade Fire? Red Hot Chili Peppers? Green Day? Metallica?). I don't know if it's the "dominant" genre; but I'm going to enjoy myself.

 

True, although we need to watch results over a 18/24 months window. An act like Metallica will get 90% of their final sales within' a few weeks while younger acts that haven't got an already established fanbase will sell over a longer period, thus the need to wait the end of promotional campaigns to see the results. By the end of 2018, Metallica album will be nowhere near the best selling albums released in 2016.

 

If I want to be hard nosed about it I could say 1969.
That was an amazing year of fantastic new bands and music.
But, it leaves way too many greats out. So I would say perhaps mid-late 70's.

 

1971 without a doubt.

 

Yeah, well, that's another era where it's hard to do apple to apples comparisons because in the pre-Soundscan, pre-point of sale electronic monitoring, I think the numbers were probably even less accurate and certainly more susceptible to manipulation. But yeah, people think, '67, Sgt. Pepper, Are Your Experienced, The Velvet Underground, but no, it was as much as anything Herb Alpert, and "Ballad of the Green Berets" and "Windy"

 

Right, but the year end charts are convenient -- yeah, they go by calendar years and album released occur throughout the whole year -- but they give you a pretty good sense of what was big that year relative to what else was bigger....like if you look at last year's list, Blurryface and Head Full of Dreams are probably the only albums that fit into the "rock" category in last year's top 25 sellers at all. Among people who purchase and stream newly released music, rock's just not that popular these days. I mean, the Metallica album isn't even on this year-end 200 for 2016. Some catalog is -- their S/T "black album" is. Top Billboard 200 Albums - Year-End 2016 »

 

First thing that comes to mind is 1991:

Nevermind, Use Your Illusion(s), Achtung Baby, Ten, Metallica, Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

The last really big year that rock was a big deal with quality mainstream releases.

 

I'm not sure how you quantify that. They haven't sold more records than any other rock band, and they certainly didn't last year (only one of their albums, a catalog album, cracked the year-end top 200 in album sales). They didn't do a lot of dates last year -- 10, according to Pollstar's year end list -- so it's hard to compare 'em to bands that did lots of shows, like Springsteen & the E Street Band who had the top global touring gross in 2016, but those 10 shows made them the #94th top global touring act by total gross on last year's list. The Stones, btw, only did 14 shows but that was good enough to make them the #9 grossing touring act worldwide last year. Not sure what statistical measure could be pointed to to call Metallica the biggest band in the world. I'm sure they'll be up there near the top in 2017 on touring numbers since they're gonna spend a lot of the year on the road and they remain among the biggest concert draws in rock. But there are bigger ones.

 

1982

 

Bruce is a solo act. Whether he's with the E Street Band or not. Metallica hasn't done a full-scale world tour since 15.

 

Well, the don't show up on Pollstar's top 100 grossing world wide tours of 2015 at all....lots of rock bands do though -- AC/DC, U2, Fleetwood Mac, Foo Fighters, Stones, Def Leppard, Eagles, Grateful Dead "Fare Thee Well," Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Van Halen, The Who.

Of course the biggest acts on the road that year were Taylor Swift and One Direction.

http://www.pollstarpro.com/files/charts2015/2015YearEndTop100WorldwideTours.pdf

 

OK, so 2009, on that tour, which spanned years, they did well, but were still outgrossed by U2, Bruce Springsteen, the Elton John/Billy Joel joint tour, Britney Spears, AC/DC, Kenny Chesney, the Jonas Brothers, the Dave Matthews Band and Fleetwood Mac. The did very well in 2010 on that tour, but were still outgrossed by Bon Jovi, AC/DC, U2 and Lady Gaga. Some of those acts are "bands," if you're hung up on the band vs. some other kind of act thing. I have nothing against Metallica, I like the band and they're obviously an huge, enormously popular and super successful act. But they've never been the best selling act, nor the top grossing tour act. I mean, I just don't think there's an objective measure to point to call 'em the biggest rock band in the world. Maybe the biggest metal band, yeah.

 

According to Google, it's Josh Devine.