Music is forever.
Our heroes will die or already have died but their music lives on.
With the power of internet it should be every persons goal to continue to reach new generations of fans, so that they too can also benefit from hearing the work of musicians like Paul Kossoff, Dimebag Darrell, Randy Rhoads, Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Schuldiner and many more.
Paul Kossoff’s career was short at 25 years of age. As a guitarist he was always looking to “have a jam”.
Randy Rhoads just wanted to play guitar, evidenced by taking classical lessons while on tour with Ozzy and then receiving a punch in the face when he told Ozzy that he wanted out.
Jimi Hendrix was always booking studio time and running his different bands through jam sessions over and over again.
Chuck Schuldiner was a technical death metaller who just wanted to be a guitarist in a band and he finally achieved that dream with “Voodoocult” and the progressive “Control Denied”.
One thing that all of these musicians are renowned for regardless of what generation they come from is their prolific musical output, their jamming ethic, their hard work and devotion to the lifer lifestyle of the music business.
Paul Kossoff was involved in 10 studio albums and 2 live albums between 1969 to 1976. Talk about jamming up a storm.
Jimi Hendrix was prolific. Apart from the official releases (three within a year), Hendrix created a musical vault so deep, his family members are still making money from his legacy.
Dimebag Darrell had 4 independent releases and close to 10 years of experience under his belt before “Cowboys From Hell” opened the door for a bigger stage to play on.
Chuck Schuldiner was involved in 9 albums between 1987 and 1999.
It’s always been tough for new bands or artists to make it. From the sixties to now, that toughness hasn’t changed.
The difference between then and now is that there are so many more people making music which in turn makes the current state of the music business highly competitive.
Seen a shortage of ticket sales recently for bands that work hard.
Seen a shortage of ticket sales for the classic rock bands lately.
Of course not.
The music business is thriving. And it is also cram-packed with music that it’s hard for a lot of music to find an audience. There is a reason why Spotify has over 4 million songs that haven’t even been played.
And if any artist wants to be in the hard rock/metal game, then the bar is set very high.
You need to compare yourself to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Bon Jovi, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Pantera, Megadeth, Free, Ozzy era bands, Motley Crue, Queensryche, Free, Jimi Hendrix.
In the end the importance and essence of great rock music will never fade away and that bar that is sitting very high, will just keep on going higher.
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