RE: STEEMIT ONLY: Muse's Matt Bellamy: "The Guitar Is No Longer A Lead Instrument"
I think Anthony is spot on with millennials looking to form a musical identity. I think it's just part of the cyclical nature of music and trends in general. The music of the 1980s saw the synthesizer becoming a lead instrument and guitar taking much more of a backseat. Nirvana and all those 90s rock bands pushed back, and guitars became popular again. Now we're back on the digital instrument cycle. The key difference this time is that hip hop has become a heavier part of the pop music landscape. Guitars were never the lead instrument in hip hop, if featured at all. Since that's the "big prism" through which much of pop music gets filtered these days, guitars don't always make the cut. Sooner or later someone will start a very popular rock band again and guitars will probably be important for a while until Elon Musk designs a synthesizer and then we just go in circles forever.
Yeah, I agree. The rise and popification of hip hop has taken the guitar out of the picture. Although original hip hop heavily sampled funk and Motown, trap took over hip hop and hip hop took over pop.
For sure. I think people often forget how young hip hop is and how much growth it still has ahead of it.
What punk did for rock, needs to happen for hip hop. I compare today’s hip hop to the hair band rock of the 70s. Some underground movement needs to revolt and go back while moving it forward.