Piece Comment

YEB review of Is Rock Dead?


The interviews were good. The music was good. The layering of sounds was good. Transitions worked. But something was missing. Maybe a narrative would have made the piece more... interesting. The answer to the question "Is rock dead?" was interesting. But I wish I had more of a background to the question. Why would it be dead? what is "taking" its place? A narrative would have guided me to make an answer for myself. After listening to this piece, I knew what other people thought, but no argument seemed sound enough to make me come to a conclusion of my own. A good radio piece does that. It makes you think. I didn't as much. "Is Rock Dead" is a fun piece to listen to, but it needs a little bit more to it. It needs to be contextualized.
I really enjoyed the names of bands listed intermittently throughout the piece. It put me in a time period, something I could relate to. All the sources seemed to be middle-aged men. I do not know this for sure, but hearing from students would have been interesting.