Pop fizzes, rock remains

The resurgence of pop music in the last three years has come, sadly, at the expense of the rock and roll medium that so dominated popular culture in the early and mid-1990s.\nThe phenomenon that has transcended beyond the King of Pop and the ultimate Diva, Madonna, into a new realm of pop, has had a watershed effect on American cultural history. It's hit everything from clothing to television: most apparently with MTV's "Total Request Live."\nBut 2001 is now a resurgent year for the rock and roll medium and popular music seems to be waning once again as it did in the early 1990s. This era was when New Kids on the Block, MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice and others seemed to drift into oblivion.\nBeginning with the release of "Californication" in 1999 by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, rock continued to have success with bands such as the now-famous Three Doors Down (with four hit singles). Moving into 2000 with Creed's release "Human Clay" (now in its 99th week on the Billboard top 100), a new rock regime seemed to be in the mix.\nBut pop music still had it's roots deeply set in those years as Britney Spears came out with a second album which gained more fame than her first. 'N Sync grew to super stardom with its release "No Strings Attached," which was in the top five of the Billboard charts a year ago,then having sold more than 9 million copies in 28 weeks.\nThis year, pop music is beginning to feel some sobering effects as the groups and artists see that their songs are not having as long of a shelf or radio life as was expected. Janet Jackson's new album, no longer in the top 10 and with singles suffering from radio absence, has the pop icon feeling the effects of her genre's slowdown. Mariah Carey's new album is also not doing the sales (not even in the top 100) or getting the popularity on the radio as was expected (49th with "Loverboy" from the album of the same name, barely a Gold record).\nThe greatest signs of pop's waning lies purely in the boy band phenomenon. With Backstreet Boys member A.J. McLean in rehab -- cutting their tour midway through -- the audience was not easily appeased with the cancellation (neither "Millennium" nor any of their songs are on Billboard's top 100 list). In addition, the group's innocence is now broken by the actual humanity of these men, yes men.\nBut the greatest tale is in the relative unpopularity of the new 'N Sync album, "Celebrity." The new album only hit quintuple platinum according to Billboard.com (a minor feat in comparison to "No Strings") and also faded off the top five after only four weeks with its only major single, "Pop," no longer in the top 50. \n"Celebrity" features the singers aiding in the writing of music and lyrics showing a lack of maturity and variety in their musical abilities. Also, unlike their super hit album of a year and a half ago, there is very little humility in presentation -- superstardom seems to have gone to their heads.\nFor pop music, only time shall tell. But, if Pop Princess Britney cannot score another hugely popular CD in her third time out, pop may in fact be fading. One-hit wonders and close calls like Willa Ford, Mandy Moore, O-Town and Jessica Simpson do not have the staying power of their super star sisters and brothers.