It has long been said that "Rock is Dead" and I see that in the mainstream it is. Some concrete evidence of the Rock N' Roll coffin being lowered into the ground were the charts last year. In the UK, only 3% of the top 100 songs were rock songs. One of those songs was a redo by the Glee cast — Don't Stop Believin' by Journey and another one was a song by Train. Those posers are not rock n' roll.

The percentages were hip-hop/R'n'B at 47%, pop at 40% and dance 10%, according to figures from MusicWeek. Who is to blame for this? Record labels are a great place to start.

Hip hop/R&B and Pop hits are easier to manufacture. Pay the song writer, toss in auto-tune, add a dance beat and VIOLA! hit. The labels are now going for short term profits instead of long term gains. How many albums/singles can I push out in this quarter rather than the sales year? It is this shortsightedness that causes rock bands to be overlooked. All you need is an attractive female with big breasts, a competent song writer, and a dance beat and instant Katy Perry.

"It is the end of the rock era. It's over, in the same way the jazz era is over," declared the veteran DJ and "professor of pop" Paul Gambaccini. "That doesn't mean there will be no more good rock musicians, but rock as a prevailing style is part of music history."

I don't necessarily agree with that grim quote. I know a lot of rock bands who are just bidding their time waiting for the industry to change or taking it upon themselves to change it. Labels are not going to take a chance on a no name band right now because it is too risky. The labels are not wanting to put the time and money into booking studio time, filming a video, promoting a record, that ultimately won't sell because the market wants cheap pop hits.

You almost have to record your album/video on your own and present it to the labels, thus taking the largest monetary burden from them. But even if you do that, I am not sure a label today can help you promote your record since they are so used to selling bubblegum pop. Think of your favorite rock bands, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, even The Rolling Stones...if they were coming up today, there is no label that can help get them to radio. There is no radio station in America that could take a dirty blues sound and market it correctly.

Now think of the bands popular today, Kings of Leon, Linkin Park, and Cage the Elephant, these are not ROCK bands. The latter two are a hybrid of rap/rock and Kings of Leon just suck.

The music industry is cyclical and while album sales are only a strong indicator of rock's death, there are some strong indications it is still around. A while back we detailed the top touring acts of 2010: Bon Jovi, U2, Paul McCartney, The Eagles, AC/DC, and Roger Waters were all in the top ten grossing live acts with GAGA helping round out that list. That is a pretty solid list. What you don't see there are those top selling hip hop acts. Their fan base just doesn't want to see a guy holding a microphone and yelling at them for an hour. They would rather be entertained by a rock show.

So as hardcore rockers who have rock n' roll in our veins, we have to sit back and watch how our contemporaries sell more albums than us. We have to put up with "industry leaders" telling us that rock is dead. I don't agree at all. There is excellent rock n' roll out there and I try and open your eyes to those bands or at least make you aware of them. Let our contemporaries have the album sales and the record labels. We will take the live shows and their girlfriends!

Rock N' Roll is a lifestyle, an attitude, a state of mind. It is not, nor was it ever about album sales or pushing a damn product. It is about being who you are, standing up for what you believe in, and making great music that lasts longer than the pop or hip hop/R&B crap out today.