One could say that rock and roll died along with Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Sid Vicious, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, David Bowie, Prince, or Tom Petty. The saying “Rock is dead” is seemingly as old as the genre itself. For as long as I have been listening to the greats of rock and roll (which, granted, isn’t that long) it has been said to be dead. I never once have heard anyone say “country is dead” or “rap is dead.” This begs the older-than-Keith-Richards question: is rock really dead?

Often this statement resurges following the death of a legend. When Tom Petty passed away recently, people casually said “rock is dead, or at least dying.” It is safe to say that people associate the existence of the genre with the liveliness of its curators. Rock cannot exist if there’s no one left to sing it, right?

Kind of. Rock and roll music is more than just music. It encompasses an attitude, a persona, even a lifestyle that its die-hard fans will never go without. Rock is one of the – if not the only – musical genre that is actively used as an adjective. “That’s so punk rock” isn’t a far-fetched statement, but “That’s so synth-pop” is a bit more left field. Rock is not defined as a few guitar riffs and angry lyrics, it is a lifestyle.

Allow me to build my ethos. When my favorite artists play shows in Pittsburgh, my dad and I wait for hours outside of the venue, regardless of weather. I can say with the utmost honesty that you meet some very interesting people while waiting to get into an Alice Cooper concert in western Pennsylvania. These people come from a wide variety of ages, backgrounds, opinions. But they all stand together in the same tattered jeans and leather jackets, bonding over a shared love of music. These people are passionate. They’ll tell you stories about how they saw Alice back in the 70s, whether you asked to hear the story or not. They’ll offer you their warmest hospitality (which in this case, means beer and a camp chair), and not let you say no. If you’re under the age of 30, they’ll reminisce with you about when they were your age. Nowhere else can you have an experience like this. Trust me, waiting outside the same venue for The 1975 did not come anywhere close. Rock is timeless, because the 16-year-old girl and the 60-year-old grandpa are waiting in the same line to see the same artist that’s been happily singing the same songs since the 70’s, and isn’t looking into stopping.

So yes, rockers – unfortunately – are dying. But rock is not. Rock is very much alive in the hearts of many. Just because Alice Cooper, The Who, Joan Jett, Marilyn Manson, and Metallica aren’t topping the charts, doesn’t mean that they aren’t still playing shows. And just because newcomers aren’t breaking into the mainstream, doesn’t mean that the genre is dead. Besides, rock has never been about what is popular and trendy, it’s about the unpopular and rejected. In fact, if you think that rock’s time is passed, it’s probably just you growing tamer and more sensitive to noise and provocativeness. So rock may come and go and “die” and “revive”, but the people who love it will always be there to disagree when a new article about dead rock is published.