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Rock Lives On (Even If You Don’t Own a Leather Jacket)
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By Alexia Elena A on September 27, 2025
People say rock is dead. People also once said the Earth was flat. (Spoiler: both turned out to be very wrong.)
Because here’s the thing: rock didn’t vanish. It just evolved.
Look back at the timeline: Elvis scandalized parents in the ‘50s by moving his hips. The Beatles made teenagers scream in the ‘60s and then reinvented what an album could even be. The ‘70s gave us Led Zeppelin’s epic riffs, Queen turning stadiums into singalongs, and punk exploding with the Ramones. By the ‘90s, Nirvana and grunge had rewritten the rulebook again, but were people saying that rock is dead then?
I don’t think so, as much as I can’t even tell you that people think that now. But what I can tell you for sure is that rock never really died — it just changed outfits. Every decade, people announced the funeral, but then some band, some voice, some riff came along and rewrote the script.
Here’s the funny part: Queen, one of the most iconic “rock” bands, didn’t always sound like rock at all. Freddie’s soaring operatic voice? “Bohemian Rhapsody” with its mini opera section? That’s not exactly your textbook “rock.” Yet no one doubts they defined an era. So what gives?
Well… maybe rock was never about sticking to a genre at all. Maybe it’s about being unapologetically yourself, whether that means screaming, crying, or driving with the windows down at midnight.
Because rock isn’t leather jackets or power chords. It’s a vibe. It’s freedom. And as long as people crave that feeling, rock will always be alive!
And the best part? You don’t need to play guitar solos to feel it — you just need to let it move you.
Thank you to Swara S. for editing this article!
