Funeral For a Fender... or a Gibson?

This week, as I lapped up the roar of the new album - Firepower - from Judas Priest, I was forced to think about the state of music these days. I mean, here's a band that has existed since 1969 and they are still recording and touring (so they've outlasted Black Sabbath). It's hard to say just how much longer Priest will continue given the age of the two remaining "old days" line-up (the rest of the band is significantly younger); both singer Rob Halford and bassist Ian Hill are now 66. Sure, they still sound terrific, but I'm sure the touring must be much harder when you're getting up there. I suppose at this stage of their career they have the luxury of taking their time on writing and recording.

Glenn Tipton hammering out a Judas Priest gem on

a Gibson SG (sadly, he recently retired from playing)

Firepower is surprisingly good, better than I expected, and the consensus seems to be that this is the finest Priest release since their '90 barn-burner Painkiller. Searing guitar leads and thick, crunching metallic rhythms are the meat of Firepower... I really can't get enough of this strong set of songs.

So... a really solid metal album. Which brings me to the financial woes that have befallen the Gibson guitar company (even the mighty Fender is suffering). This not-so-sudden decline in business has been all over the news lately, and I've been interested enough to read a few articles about it. Without going into details about the looming bankruptcy (more on that here), I'll focus more on the state of the rock'n'roll nation... well, let's think of that in a global sense, covering the whole planet. 

Okay, so Gibson went further and further into debt as they diversified their products and that hurt them, but the other key factor is the serious drop in guitar sales. One of the concerns is how the most popular music today (for many years, actually) doesn't use the guitar the same way it used to (or at all)... think about it: rap, pop, and R&B don't exactly rely on guitar sounds much, do they?

Rap/hip-hop has recently taken the top spot from rock music in public consumption. And other genres aren't far behind. As for rock, it is mostly classic rock (I hate that term) - the oldies - that consumers buy... not much in the way of new releases. Rock's long history and deep catalogue are the only things keeping it barely afloat nowadays. It is the old favourites  (like Beatles, Stones, Journey, Zeppelin, Floyd, and Queen) that make up the majority of the rock sales and online streams and digital downloads. New music that is promoted on the radio, streaming platforms, and so on is predominantly NOT rock. So new releases of rap, pop, dance, and R&B are outselling by a big margin whatever new rock emerges from its cave. This is thanks to the wisdom of the numbers people - the puppet-masters - who distribute tunes to the world via all the media at their fingertips. 

Today's Top 40 radio doesn't reveal much in the way of new rock; it's all hip-hop, pop and dance. Not much there to inspire young listeners to pick up an instrument like a guitar. It doesn't help that younger generations are raised with a device in their hand, skilled at locating and playing the latest Drake or Beyonce ('cos that's what'll jump on their "recommended" list first). These kids and 20-somethings just take whatever they are fed. Not entirely their fault, but it's still not right.

Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi churning out a lumbering

doom riff on his trusty SG

Those device-reliant kids are raised on content that satisfies their short attention spans and impatience with anything that takes some time and effort. How can such a person see the value in something like guitar lessons, which require patience, effort, time, and perseverance? Hey, I took years to get just half-decent on guitar; mind you, I was self-taught and this was long before the Internet, Youtube instructional videos and easy guitar TAB methods were a thing. But I loved the instrument, so I hung in there, and enjoyed decades of jamming out to the likes of Rush and Max Webster. Rock and metal guitar was everywhere around me, so there was loads of great music to inspire me to play.

So is it any wonder guitar sales are down now? If a kid has instant access to the wide world of Internet gaming, video, and whatever else, then how is that kid going to see that learning guitar (or any instrument) is a good investment of time... and that's it just plain fun. Especially when the music they are inundated with isn't guitar music. Hell, there are electronic and online gadgets that allow even newbies to cobble together a half-decent rap or dance beat in just minutes. The more creative alternative... spend months picking away just to get a few barely-recognizable guitar tunes under the belt? What a choice.

I do hope that Gibson (and Fender, and others, if they're struggling as badly) can sort out its affairs and carry on. Maybe there'll be a turn in the public's musical attitudes and shopping habits. Whatever new rock music is being conceived out there these days, it's got to help support these guitar-makers, these institutions that drove music in exciting new directions over the past century or so. 

Can you imagine what music would be like if Gibson guitars never existed? Would we even have great and influential guitarists like Slash, Angus Young, Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons, Tony Iommi... and even Clapton, Townshend, and Jeff Beck used Gibsons at times in their careers. The music of those legends inspired young guitarists during the 70's, 80's, and 90's, but there's been a worrying drought of up-and-coming axe-slingers over the past couple of decades. Gotta turn that around!