Making Waves: Where the Hell Is Rock Music Going? There is a question that has been asked so many times that it has practically become a rock cliché: Is rock music dead? Apparently not. It may have changed its clothes. It may have moved house. It may have stopped caring quite so much about what the neighbours think. But somewhere between punk clubs, sweaty basements, festival stages, bedroom studios and increasingly strange corners of the internet, a new generation of rock bands is making an awful lot of noise. And here's the interesting part. They don't necessarily sound like the rock bands we grew up with. They aren't all trying to be the next Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Oasis or Foo Fighters. Some don't seem particularly interested in sounding like anyone. They're pulling from punk, metal, hardcore, shoegaze, pop, electronic music, funk, folk, garage rock and whatever else happens to be lying around. Spotify's 2026 Artists to Watch list describes its emerging ar...
One Band a Month Blind Melon: More Than Just "No Rain" Some bands become famous because of one song. Some spend the rest of their careers trying to escape it. And then there are bands like Blind Melon... ...a band remembered by millions for one carefree hit, while quietly leaving behind one of the richest catalogues of the entire alternative rock era. If your only experience of Blind Melon is "No Rain," you've only met one side of the band. The deeper story is far more interesting . Blind Melon arrived just as grunge was taking over the world. Seattle was setting the agenda. Heavy guitars, darker lyrics and flannel shirts had become the soundtrack of a generation. But Blind Melon never really belonged there. They carried traces of classic rock, blues, folk, psychedelia and Southern soul. They sounded less like they came from one city... ...and more like they had spent years travelling America's back roads collecting musical ideas along the way. At the hear...