Disney's got the funk, not the Rock.

I have a growing fear that Disney is corrupting my generation with the conception of what rock music is.

A while ago the Disney channel realized that movies and TV shows about rock stars were popular among their targeted audience. (Somewhere between my sister's and my age.) I think it was with their release of High School Musical.

Disney Channel's philosophy is that if you throw a blunt knife at a wall for long enough, eventually it will stick. High School Musical happened to be that lucky knife.

Somehow a movie about high schoolers who have to sing and dance all the time appealed to the Disney Channel audience. So, like any TV business, Disney Channel took what made High School Musical so popular, (the music, since shows about high school has been tried and failed) and made a million more movies and shows about it.

What we got was Hannah Montana, High School Musical 2, and a new movie, Camp Rock.

At least High School Musical doesn't give the impression of having rock music, at least on the cover. After a little research, I also learned that Hannah Montana is advertised as a pop star, not rock star. This still doesn't stop her from singing songs like "Rock Star". In the words of Otto from the Simpsons, "Real music is about where you can find smoke in relation to water and deals with the devil."

Okay, maybe I'm being a little picky here. But remember that there's a new movie coming out, Camp Rock. Honestly, there's no way around this one.

I think this picture should show the problem:

Top five reasons why this is NOT rock:
1) Rock music has no coriographed dancing. In fact most rock stars can not dance, even if they tried.
2) Rock music has one lead singer, and maybe a few background singers. This has 16 lead singers.
3) If you happen to watch the commercial for this, you would hardly hear the guitar and bass. That's red alert.
4) The guitarist, bassist, and drummer aren't in this picture. In a rock band, everyone gets the same amount of attention. (Except for the bassist. Naw, just kidding.)
5) It's Disney Channel.

Disney Channel also has the Jonas Brothers, a three membered band who are waiting for their pop music/comedy show. There's also the Naked Brothers band, but I think Nickolodeon owns them.

So why is all this happening? It's like branding. Rock music is the most well known music, but has gone out of style with my generation. So slap pop music with the rock brand and you get the best of both worlds.

... I totally didn't just make a Hannah Montana refrence...

Comments

[Emily]

Excellent post! The rubbish that Disney and the like are pushing just saddens me. I guess that genre definitions are bound to blur over time. Disney just threw it in turbo mode by being unable to write a decent rock song and sticking with their old standby -- lousy pop.

This post made me think of the Peruvian pipe dude on Pearl Street who was playing Hey Jude today. It worked surprisingly well. XD

[Lura]

I think you're right...none of those people in that picture looks like Geddy Lee.

[rcbijzfda xtnye]

myxrfe ojdcpbwi gfyduavxn jusalvpyo gwtaryomj jqbkwlr edunqwocm

[disney store merchandise]

this is such a good show. my kids just love it.