Rock ain't noise pollution

Do you like Top 40 radio? Or American Idol? Or MTV's Total Request Live?\nYou do? Good! Now bugger off back to your pod. I'm here to talk to the humans.\nFolks, rock and roll -- America's greatest contribution to humanity besides 30-minute pizza delivery and representative democracy -- is under siege. \nOf course, rock's epitaph has been written many times. In 1955, Variety magazine declared that rock "will be gone by June." But the extent of rock's crisis has grown to shocking proportions. On Mar. 8, Rolling Stone reported that rock radio's audience has decreased 20 percent during the past six years. Meanwhile, in the last six months, major stations have closed in Washington, D.C., Miami and Houston -- with NYC's K-Rock threatening to change formats in 2006. On the same day, www.CNN.com reported the birthplace of punk, New York club CBGB, might close this August over unpaid rent.\nNo, there's nothing new about rock being in trouble. However, what's different is that now, for a change, it's worth saving. And if you don't take things into your own hands, you'll never hear it to know.\nDespite being, possibly, the single most ancient being writing for this publication, I'm not given to nostalgia. Nevertheless, I do remember when MTV showed videos, when radio stations played stuff other than Usher re-mixes and when grunge threw the music industry into a period of experimentation. There were plenty of mistakes, but -- at the risk of sounding like some fossilized hippie -- rock did have meaning in one's life. \nThen, the mid-90s through early noughties arrived -- dominated by nu-metal meat-machines, crypto-Christian Pearl Jam-rip-off artists, vat-grown third-rate pop-punk Green Day clones and Kid Rock, the thing from beyond the double-wide. Formula ruled. Much of what got airplay was as enjoyable as a big swig of boiled bollocks. No wonder you kids fled to hip-hop or country like they were the only forms of music. As for those of you who fled to Britney Spears and 'NSync -- I thought I told you to go back to your pods.\nYet, while horror ruled the airwaves, something magical also happened: The Internet booted the music industry square in the huevos. Sure, file-sharing wasn't viable -- what can you do? True, musicians gotta eat, but it led to a proliferation of alternative sources of info. And just as the net began threatening the dictatorial regimes of Iran and North Korea, it began threatening the dictatorial regimes of MTV and Clear Channel. Exciting new sounds began to seep out. \nI won't try to tell you what bands or genres to listen to -- that's a job for our Weekend crew. Besides, I'm not hip. I mean, God, I write a newspaper column. \nBut, here are some tips on finding stuff to your taste:\nMusical databases: www.Allmusic.com has an extensive database of bands albums, and songs, complete with reviews, histories and links to predecessors and contemporaries. Start with a band you like, then follow the links. www.Metacritic.com aggregates musical reviews into a 0-100 rating scale -- great for sorting gassers from stinkers. \nInternet radio: www.pandia.com and and www.radio-locator.com are searchable databases of online ratio stations, but if you have iTunes, just check its "radio" folder. My favorite is www.WOXY.com out of Oxford, Ohio.\nPod-casts: Normal people -- well, non-professionals -- creating their own radio programs through downloadable mp3s. Visit www.podcast.net for options.\nThe rock is out there: Meaningful rock, rock that makes you feel cool, rock that says what you always wanted to say, rock that lets you know you're not alone on this spinning mudball. You just have to find it for yourself. And hasn't that always been the point, anyway?