"Between the increasingly mercenary implosion of hard rock into a static vaudeville routine and the intervention of pop dance-floor values, rock has lost its lustre and mystique of genuinely redeeming passion."
Looking back on 1987 from here in 2020, this assessment of the rock landscape is interesting - or maybe not. It's probably required to bemoan the current state of rock at any given point.
I'm not sure he was wrong, though. 1987 doesn't stand out in my memory as being in a time of peak rock and roll. Not that there wasn't good rock, only that if you pulled up "great years for rock" I don't think 1987 would be top of list.
Here's my theory. The baby boomers had a great run at rock, but by the late 80s I think their star was dimming. There was a transition time between boomer rock and the new rock landscape by Gen X, which was just around the corner.
Our guys are interestingly on the edge of the generations - I'd call them boomers but they are almost Xers. The youngest boomers, the oldest Xers.
So I see them as, with this lucky generational twist, having their foot in both camps. Sunday Bloody Sunday is Boomer rock. Zooropa is Xer rock.
A beautiful thing, that. And they were THERE in 1991 when it was all being reinvented. Nkt just riding along, but among thise that DID it.
<chef's kiss>