The Rolling Stones

We have just had a glimpse of new Rolling Stones material in the form of their recent single, ‘In The Stars’. It’s a pretty terrible excuse for a rock song, and continues the pattern that the band have been following in the 21st century, which is that despite their best efforts to release new music, their best days are past them.

The truth is, fans want new tours, not new music; the records that The Rolling Stones have released in the 21st century are lacking in quality and are horrendously out of touch, with the only exception being the 2016 covers album Blue & Lonesome, but it was hard for them to mess a record like that up, given the songs were already top quality.

The Who

The Who are considered one of the best live bands on the planet, with Geddy Lee once speaking about how tight they sound as a collective and how much of a unified front they present on their album Live at Leeds. “What an amazing guitar sound on this album! And [Pete] Townshend even plays a few solos, which he usually never does,” he said, “Was there anybody better at expressing themselves through power chords?”

Yes, the band are exceptional live musicians, but that doesn’t warrant the sheer amount of live albums they have put out in the 21st century. The Who are relentless in their exploitation of this sound, and given there is a lack of improvisation or jamming during their sets, the mass of releases doesn’t offer anything new, and wind up just feeling like a bit of a cash grab. They released some new material in 2019, but the album was nowhere near the quality of the band in the 20th century.

Aerosmith

I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right, Aerosmith didn’t really release any good music in the century prior either, but the 21st has been a particularly hard time for the band. It seems that every album they try to put out in a bid to recapture what originally kept crowds flocking falls flat, and we get cookie-cutter rock lacking any kind of depth as a result.

A lot of the band’s success came during a period when the public pined for nostalgia, and any kind of bumps they have in popularity in the modern age seem to follow a similar trend. It’s commendable that they’re still putting out music, but it’s hard to deny that it’s severely lacking in quality.

U2

U2 have never been a band to shy away from making new music and experimenting with new sounds. They did this in the ‘80s, ‘90s and have carried it into the 21st century. Some of their efforts with artists like Kendrick Lamar have been pretty decent; however, the original music that they’ve tried to put out has fallen completely flat.

One of their worst moments came with the release of Songs of Innocence, which nobody had to purchase, and instead was just put on people’s iPhones without first asking. This was received incredibly poorly, as not only did listeners think it was an invasion of privacy, but fellow musicians said it devalued the art form, too. This is one bad blip in what has been a quarter of a century of near duds.

Judas Priest

There was a time when Judas Priest were one of the biggest names in heavy metal, as songs like ‘Breaking The Law’ were being listened to by fans from around the world. It was a mixture of heavy metal and social commentary, as singer Rob Halford was able to fold in comments on the current UK government in a way which captured the imagination of all metal lovers within earshot.

Despite their former success, it seems the band haven’t been able to keep up the same kind of momentum or quality. You need to give credit where credit is due, as Judas Priest has released five studio albums post 2000, and the fact they continue to try and put out music shows how passionate they are about it, but unfortunately, it just hasn’t worked well.