Maxwell ReedImagine Dragons have been one of the most popular bands in the world since the 2010s. Musicians have increasingly stopped including the guitar in favor of synths, and traditional screaming-guitar-solo rock songs are struggling to make the Hot 100 more every year. To some, it’s pretty obvious what’s happening: “rock is dead.”
That couldn’t possibly be more wrong.
Say what you will about Imagine Dragons, but they have some real hits. And 5 Seconds of Summer’s 2018 smash “Youngblood” is one of the best pop-rock hits of the 21st century so far, because yes, a boy band can be a rock band too. In other words, rock music isn’t dead. It’s just going through a phase. And, it’s actually all the better for it.
So calm down. There have been infinite times in music history that people thought a genre was dying, only to realize that they were panicking over nothing, and it was simply changing. Rap music didn’t die with the rise of “mumble rap” in 2016 like oldheads thought it would. Bro country’s rise didn’t make country “meatheaded” forever, and no matter what anyone tries to tell you, rock isn’t dying.
Change is the one constant in rock. The nu-metal, emo and post-grunge of the 2000s were never going to rule the charts forever, and that’s a healthy thing for music. Nobody cares that the Foo Fighters just released a new album last week, because it probably sounds like the previous one; what makes rock special is how much it morphs and shapeshifts. If you listen to Malcolm Todd’s “Earrings,” which just reached a new peak of #35 on the Hot 100, you’ll hear what’s happening. Todd is using alternative R&B, soft rock, and one of the biggest up-and-coming genres of the 2020s, bedroom pop, to create a new and unique sound. It combines all of those genres to make the perfect dreamy and relaxed atmosphere for sites like TikTok to use for videos, providing a unique feeling to the track where he muses about his own feelings towards the music that he makes.
After a bland couple of years for rock at the end of the 2010s, the 2020s showed off a new strain of rock. It started with the pop punk revival. Did it come from mid-2000s bands like Fall Out Boy or Paramore? Nope. It came from pop singers like Olivia Rodrigo and the fun-to-hate Machine Gun Kelly. It was a revival of the genre that was critically derided at the time, despite its smash successes. Rodrigo’s #1 hit “Good 4 U,” which actually sampled “Misery Business,” is one of the best of the decade. I’d even say the same for Kelly’s “my ex’s best friend”.
Was it high-brow? Not at all. Did it need to be? Absolutely not. Sometimes it’s okay for music to just be fun. This is something that pre-21st-century punks should’ve learned when pop punk first became popular in the 2000s.
And you know what? The pop punk crowd was upset when their genre started to fade in popularity in the early 2010s.
Rock is alive, but the people who are leading the charge are a new breed of stars. Think: Dominic Fike, Malcolm Todd and sombr. They’re hard to classify as the 2020s have shown off a stronger blending of genres than any other decade in music’s history, and it’s something that I hope will be here to stay.
R&B star Don Toliver’s biggest single of 2026, “E85”, is one of the most interesting hit singles charting right now, as he takes his usual alternative R&B sound and combines it with vocals and production from Malcolm Todd’s hit single last year, “Chest Pain (I Love)”. The scuzzed-out guitars that play in the background through most of the song provide a very different sound than Toliver’s fans are used to, giving a rock edge to the track that may not have stood out in his album’s tracklist otherwise.
The fun part of music is sharing it with others, and that goes for your peers and parents. Give this new rock a listen. Most oldheads will be able to find some current groups they love if they only give ‘em a chance.
The Cure is probably my mom’s favorite band, but I’ve gotten my Gen X parent into plenty of popular artists in the pop-rock scene. She’s a big fan of Wallows, a band fronted by the lead actor of 13 Reasons Why. She loves Royel Otis, a duo from the land down under, and we’re going to see Canadian rockers Good Kid in May in our hometown of Santa Ana.
Rock isn’t dead. It’s a genre that has gone through many iterations in its past, and right now it’s going through a change as big as ever. Whether you like it or not says more about you than the genre.
The real rockers will rock on all the same.
