we don’t have good rock music anymore because of conservatism.

We don’t have good rock music anymore because of conservatism.

Well, I can’t say there is zero contemporary rock music that’s decent, but as a whole, I think it’s safe to say that rock music seems to be on the decline over the last decade. Even with an oversaturation of new music and media due to the modern addiction to social media (which I am absolutely guilty of), we aren’t seeing many new rock or punk artists, nor are we seeing established artists coming out with really fantastic, hard-hitting rock records. Obviously, music changes as the years go on. Before the rock music of The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, there was Elvis Presley, whose interpretation of rock and roll was completely different from how we think of rock and roll from the 1970s and so forth. Rock music, with all of its extensions and sub-genres, has never been particularly “mainstream” in intention, but to say it stayed completely out of the zeitgeist would be a lie. If you play “Back in Black” or “We Will Rock You", or the contemporaries like “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” or “Sugar, We’re Going Down”, those listening tend to be more than familiar with these songs, whether they have them downloaded to their Spotify playlist or not. So, if these songs are so widely known and loved, why isn’t it inspiring more true rock music from newer musicians? I believe the rise in conservatism plays a significant part in the dissipation of contemporary rock music.

The most blatant reason that I believe rock music is on a decline due to conservatism is the fact that classic rock as we know it today was derived directly from an anti-authoritarian, “the people versus the power” movement. Carnegie Hall published a really insightful timeline about the history of Black Influence in rock music, where they state, “Punk and alt-rock represents a do-it-yourself ideology and an aesthetic approach that expresses rebellion and alienation” (Maultsby & Tate, 2021). In the 1960s and 70s, those in positions of power were trying to fight against the civil rights movement, while also increasing involvement in the Vietnam War. With songs like “War Pig” by Black Sabbath and “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, and eventually giving us songs like “London Calling,” we get an open letter from the musicians about their thoughts on politics of the time. As we moved into the eighties, with the financial crisis and the government's poor response to the AIDS epidemic, the people were fed up with mistreatment from those who sat in their towers while trying to govern those on the ground. As a result, we saw musicians use rock music as a form of protest. We got songs like "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2. Songs became rallying cries; it was the people’s way of telling authority to respect existence or expect resistance. In 2026, as we are currently facing economic decline, genocides, anti-queer and anti-women legislation, takeovers by AI, and much more, this is seemingly the time for protest and rebellion. But why aren’t we seeing this reflected in our music? The rise of MAGA and conservatism, which includes a seemingly blind trust in the Trump administration, directly connects. Conservatives and liberals have always existed, but the increasing chasm between the left and the right becomes more and more blatant. There will always be those who support war, but while it used to be mostly supported by those in power who had their best interests served by the war, we now have millions of MAGA followers who blindly believe that the wars we are fighting and those we have allied ourselves with are completely justified, without really knowing what we are fighting for or who we are fighting against. They trust that just because Trump is doing it, that must mean it is good. They aren’t questioning why we are involved or if we should even be involved at all. They aren’t questioning why their tax dollars go to funding regimes overseas instead of funding healthcare for their fellow man. I am not a political scientist so I don’t want to misspeak, but I think you get the gist. Blind trust in the government and the idolization of political figures has caused so many people to be completely supportive of modern conservatism, when really they are people who should be taking a stand against this regime that is detrimental to all, regardless of political party. When we sit and obey those in power without questioning their authority or fighting back, that is the complete antithesis of rock music at its core. 

Alongside this rise in conservative power, we see many conservative politicians, both before and after the Trump regime began, who fight to defund the arts in schools. This is happening on local and national levels. On local levels, arts programs have been getting defunded for as long as I have been alive. The arts are often seen as the “least necessary” programs, and are cut in order to try and save money. On a federal level, the Trump administration’s budget proposal for 2026 greatly reduced the amount allocated to music education for students in public schools, as well as cutting multiple scholarship and grant programs for these students to pursue music (National Association for Music Education, 2025). They are actively taking away the music from these students. If the students don’t learn about music, both the history behind it and the physical playing of an instrument, how are they supposed to write these songs of resistance or rebellion? From personal experience, pursuing the arts outside of school is not a cheap endeavor. Music lessons, the instrument itself, traveling to gigs, renting rehearsal studios, paying to participate in summer camps or performance groups, the costs can become astronomical. Not all bands or artists came from professional training or spaces, but having the space and resources to pursue music and writing can only benefit students. I’ve also seen a lot of talk online about how people need to get “back in the garage” and bring back garage bands. It seems simple enough, but as the cost of housing goes up and being able to afford a place with a garage or a basement is becoming a pipe dream for so many, these kids don’t have anywhere to practice if their school isn’t able to provide that resource. If we take away funding for these students at the school level, then they might not have any opportunity to find an outlet in music due to the pay-to-play environment that exists within youth music programs. 

While the economics around music and music education continues to suffer, we also have to discuss the idea of the “alpha male” and red-pilled youth when it comes to rock music. I am going to mostly talk about men in rock music here, but women are also being influenced by the “trad-wife” community to fall down these conservative pipelines. When young men are being fed this Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan media about what the “alpha male” is, and how any semblance of femininity takes away from their manhood, they aren’t going to look up to rockstars like people have in the past. A lot of rock and roll or punk performance can be classified as drag: wigs, makeup, tall platform boots. These young men are being encouraged to be like Jake Paul instead of David Bowie or Gene Simmons. Those ideas of costume and performance are seen as too feminine, too “gay.” These podcasters and politicians try to convince these young men that any of these traits or aspects make you less of a man, making you inferior to your peers, making you the enemy they warn against. The pro-masculinity stance is not new, and to say it only exists in conservative spaces would be a lie. However, conservatives are much more outspoken about it being a massive part of their socio-political agenda. Relating back to music in public schools, as these same politicians and influencers push the hyper-masculine agenda promoting the idea that music and art education isn’t important in schools, they are also teaching these young men that the arts aren’t important and aren't something they should waste their time with. They don’t see music and art as a form of speaking out against oppression, they just see it as another mindless form of entertainment. By telling these young men that music isn’t important or necessary to history or society, while also tearing down queer forms of expression like drag, it pushes more and more young men away from what rock music is at its core.

Young women aren’t immune to this either. With the rise in “trad-wife” content, which revolves around women embracing “traditional” gender and homemaker roles, we are seeing more and more girls becoming wrapped up in this lifestyle. They are being influenced to be quiet, demure, non-opinionated—not heavy metal rockstars. Again, we are obviously aware that this is not a new concept. This has always affected women, even at our most liberated, but men tend to be much more outspoken about their desire for this kind of “traditional” woman when we are experiencing the rising conservative tide. They don’t want a Janis Joplin or a Courtney Love. They want a well behaved woman to tend the house, not an expressive woman who writes about the patriarchy and fighting authority. A woman like that becomes a threat to “the man” both as an individual and as a concept, so they take away her music and her literature, and make her think that expressing herself in that way is “unladylike.” 

None of these are new concepts, as we all know. I’m not writing about anything we don’t already know and experience every day, but when we reflect back on rock music over the last decade and why can’t really name any modern rockstars, I believe that these issues caused by a rise in conservatism are main contributors to the problem. I don’t want to discredit the newer generation of rock artists, with the likes of Yungblud and Fontaines D.C. being some significant names in 2010’s rock music, but if you look at all of the Grammy nominees for Best Rock Album from the last ten years, it consists mostly of artists that were popular in the 1980s and 90s. I also don’t want to discredit the smaller, less mainstream bands that are out there using their music to make political commentary, they are wildly important to the movement and are the reason rock music is still alive today. However, we aren’t seeing their music being as widely promoted or consumed by the mainstream due to how conservatism has reared its ugly head. It is time for some fresh new blood in rock music, and it’s time for rock to become rebellion again. 

by Grace Nyberg

References:

Maultsby, Portia K. and Tate, Greg. “Punk & Alt-Rock”. A History of African American Music. 2021. 

"Trad-Wife." Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/tradwife.

“Support Federal Funding Impacting Arts Education.” National Association for Music Education, 5 May 2025, nafme.org/blog/support-federal-funding-impacting-arts-education-fy-2026/.