Cindy Ord
‘The death of rock was not a natural death. Rock did not die of old age. It was murdered,’ he declares.
‘It’s very sad for new bands. My heart goes out to them. They just don’t have a chance. If you play guitar, it’s almost impossible,’ he adds during an interview with Esquire.
But everyone loves a guitarist in a band, right?
‘You’re better off not even learning how to play guitar or write songs, and just singing in the shower and auditioning for The X Factor. And I’m not slamming The X Factor, or pop singers. But where’s the next Bob Dylan? Where’s the next Beatles? Where are the songwriters? Where are the creators? Many of them now have to work behind the scenes, to prop up pop acts and write their stuff for them.’
Harsh man, harsh.
So what was the ultimate cause of death for rock and roll?
‘My sense is that file sharing started in predominantly white, middle and upper-middle-class young people who were native-born, who felt they were entitled to have something for free, because that’s what they were used to,’ the unofficial coroner explains.