death of the rock star/state of bandoms

i saw this post on tumblr and it got me thinking of the general culture around bandom and rock music in general. how bandom for My Chemical Romance or Fall Out Boy feels natural because they hit it big at a time when rock music was still relevant within the greater mainstream culture, compared to newer bands in their genres such as Creeper or The Requiem.

i think it ties in to the general death of the monoculture and "post-media scarcity" as ive come to call it. Back in the 90s, 00s, and even early 2010s before the big "internet boom" media was a lot more "scarce," as in there was only so much TV in a day, so much radio, so many magazines printed, and celebrities were competing for that visibility. and the people running those platforms acted as "kingmakers," deciding who would reach mainstream stardom and who would be relegated to the underground.

Post-media scarcity, there is no real 'mainstream' or 'underground.' Im not saying there aren't superstars anymore, and our culture is run by algorithms, but theoretically the barriers between mainstream and underground have been broken. I can trawl Spotify or Bandcamp for any artist i want, any kind of music, big or small. the playing field has been 'levelled', in a sense.

But trudging through spotify for obscure musicians is a very lonely experience. Back when the monoculture was still a thing, finding obscure music was an extremely social activity. Often the music you listened to dictated who you hung out with, which influenced how you dressed and acted. The death of the monoculture has, in a way, led to the death of the subculture as well.

there's also the fact that, like Gerardpilled said in her post, the marketing around celebrities has changed significantly. The "big 3"- MCR, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! at the Disco, rose at a time when rock stars were still a thing and they were largely marketed to teen girls as cute and dateable. and that's just not where the money is these days.

basically you'll never see Damien Douleur or Salem Vex on the cover of Kerrang or Tiger Beat, and even if they did... would anyone care? and im sad about that