YUNGBLUD points to Turnstile, Knocked Loose & others to show rock & roll is alive

as like, “Hey — in multiple capital letters — have you seen the reviews of your cover of ‘Changes‘? You gotta release it man. Don’t read the reviews, they’ll make your head big. Much love, here when you need me, Oz.’”

In his conversation with Stern, YUNGBLUD made a case that rock music is far from dead. While Gene Simmons famously declared that rock was dead, others, including YUNGBLUD, have expressed concerns about the genre’s decline in mainstream popularity in recent times.

YUNGBLUD’s perspective on the matter was in response to Stern’s assertion that he felt rock music was no longer thriving. YUNGBLUD disagreed, explaining:

“Rock music is exceptional; it receives recognition after the fact because it’s such a revered genre that every father claims, “I don’t like that band. It sounds like a band from my youth.” Like every father tells his child, “I don’t like that. It sounds like what I listened to.” …It’s a recurring cycle. The reason why rock music is resurging at the moment is that people always focus on one individual revitalizing it. ‘Who’s going to rescue rock and roll?’ That’s nonsense. The scene is multifaceted at the moment.

In hardcore, there are Knocked Loose and Turnstile. In punk, there are Amyl And The Sniffers and Lambrini Girls. In Indie, there’s Fontaines D.C. and Geese and Wunderhorse. With this album, my goal was to introduce a sense of theatrics, showmanship, and lengthy songs back in a 2025 manner. It was a bold move, man…”

Although rock and metal genres may not dominate the current music charts, pop, Latin music, and hip-hop have ruled the charts in recent times. However, 2025 proved to be a significant year for rock music. Bands like Sleep Token and Ghost achieved top positions on the Billboard 200 with their latest albums. Acts like Deftones and Turnstile have also found success both on the charts and at their increasingly popular live shows.