What Counts as Rock'n'Roll These Days?

Now that Blur isn't prominent enough to sustain a thriving rivalry in the British press, Liam Gallagher is looking for new sparring partners (just in time for the new Oasis album--who'd have ever expected that?). A couple of months ago, he called out a number of the new Brit bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, and Kaiser Chiefs, although he didn't get too much of a rise out of them. (Bloc Party's Russell Lissack was annoyed that his band just got retreads of the same slams Liam had used earlier against Coldplay and Travis: "I'm throwing down the gauntlet because we don't hate Oasis but I want a nice insult." Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs was beside himself that Liam even knew who he was.) In his original interview, interestingly, Liam did nothing but sing the praises of Charlotte Church, even suggesting, "She could be the next Liam." So far, I'm not aware that she's responded.

Hoping to get something going with someone, this week Liam turned his gaze toward U2. Upon learning that the band reviews video of its gigs, Liam was typically charming: "Wankers. Haven't they got fuck-all better to do? I'd rather be out there getting pissed. I certainly wouldn't go back after a gig and analyse it. No wonder they're the biggest band in the world: 'Oh Edge, the fourth guitar solo wasn't right tonight.' 'Oh sorry, Bono.' If that's what people think rock'n'roll is?"

U2 certainly don't need me to defend them (somehow, I'm sure Bono's already on it), and Liam's probably right, studying video to improve your performance probably isn't rock'n'roll. But neither is playing stadiums so huge that most of your audience can't even see you and has to watch the show on 25-meter video screens in the first place. (Maybe U2 is just trying to experience the show from the fans' point of view.) Oasis certainly isn't the only band of the necessary stature to play such shows--the Stones and McCartney are both making the rounds again later this year. But does the kind of rock'n'roll Liam's talking about even exist anymore? Rock music and the rebellion it supposedly embodies have been so coopted, commodified, and commercialized, I'm not sure rock'n'roll like we remember even exists anymore. What can a bona fide rock'n'roller do today to prove his or her authenticity? Can that question be answered any way other than nothing?