I don't want to go into a whole history of rap/hip hop music here and bore all the metal readers, but I would like to take a partial look at this Rap Timeline from USAToday in comparison to the hard rock history from the last issue:

1989
--Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. (Eazy-E, MC Ren, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Yella) goes double platinum as the genre starts to explode.

1991
--N.W.A.'s Niggaz4Life becomes the first hard-core rap album to enter the charts at No. 1 despite being banned by some record chains.

1992
--Dr. Dre exits N.W.A. and co-founds Death Row Records with Marion "Suge" Knight. Dre's The Chronic sells more than 3 million records and introduces Snoop Doggy Dogg.

1993
--Snoop Doggy Dogg (later Snoop Dogg) debuts at No. 1 with Doggystyle.

1997
--The Notorious B.I.G. Life After Death, released shortly after his death, sells 8 million records.

2002
--Jay-Z and Nas one-up each other in an ongoing lyrical battle.

--Eminem sells 8 million copies of The Eminem Show and 3.5 million of the soundtrack to his semiautobiographical movie, 8 Mile.

2003
--Dr. Dre-Eminem signee 50 Cent becomes dominant music star, selling 4 million copies of Get Rich or Die Tryin' in three months.

According to consumer profile charts at www.riaa.org, Rock in 1989 accounted for 41.7% of sales but only 25.2% in 1999--10 years later. Rap increased and interestingly, Country music sales over ten years went from 7.3% to a high of 18.7% (15.5 ave) to 10.8% in 1999. So, you either create a larger musical pie or you get a lot more slices. It was probably a bit of both, but effectively, youth now had more to identify with than GnR and Van Halen and identify with it they did.

Nelly, Jay-Z, and Ludacris are selling multi-millions and there was hardly any hard rock act in Billboard's April Top 50 albums. Eminem dominated 2002 with “The Eminem Show” and the soundtrack to his film debut, “8 Mile,” earned honors as the best selling album and soundtrack of the year, respectively, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). He's had 19 million in sales over the course of his three albums. 50 Cent sold 4 million in 3 scant months!

I believe that Grunge bands with their non-commercialism and angst killed the attitude, ego and flash of rock bands from the early 90's. Did those characteristics die altogether? Shit, you can never get rid of the male ego and a room full of psychologists will wet themselves trying to figure it out, but it was no longer cool and all the new rock stars had to appear sensitive and morose like it would make their art all the more credible.

All the boasting and swagger went to the Rap\Hip Hop stars and that is what I think the commercial hard rock scene is missing.

Next Time: The Current Scene - Is Hard Rock Dead?