Co-Conspirators: The ‘Rock Revival’ Assembly

Who else is pushing for the return of rock? A continued investigation into mainstream music’s gestures towards a rock revival.

From the Dispatches at NO FUN Magazine.

In Parts and II, we traced a line from Kid Cudi to Machine Gun Kelly (MGK)—via SNL—to the revival of pop punk in the US musical mainstream. We ended with the co-conspiracy between MGK and Yungblud to “bring back rock’n’roll.” To round off this cultural commentary on what’s brewing in pop music today, this third part ties up their collaboration and makes a link with Miley Cyrus via the mysterious indications provided by SNL’s selection of musical guests. … 

 

The Return of a Genre Nobody Asked For

Machine Gun Kelly is on a mission to ‘bring back pop-punk.’ Can guitar sounds make a comeback after the
total ubiquity of hip hop and rap?
From the Dispatches at NO FUN Magazine.

In Part I, we looked at Kid Cudi’s internet-breaking dress moment on Saturday Night Live (SNL) earlier this month. In Part II, we go further with the SNL musical guests, having noticed something brewing in (American) pop music that hasn’t happened in a long time. It’s strange that the common link here is SNL. Why would a long-running (maybe outdated) comedy sketch and variety show potentially be a present signal, a radar, of what is manifesting within pop music? Though perhaps the question is rather, why not?

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