These past few months I’ve been quietly mourning the death of my beloved rock music. First there was the news that Gibson filed for bankruptcy. Then I read a New York Times article that compared rock to jazz. Jazz, for crying out loud! Sorry, jazz lovers, but that was the ultimate diss because it seemed true – rock music was not evolving anymore. I also had a discussion with my niece about how music responds to the times we’re in – the 60’s and 70’s were a time of revolution and experimentation, so from that era came my beloved “classic” rock. (Of course, music history teaches us that rock and roll came from the blues, which is itself a product of its times, but I won’t get into that.) These days, what dominates the airwaves is hip-hop and rap. There are no more rock bands, and nobody uses guitars anymore!

So imagine my joy when I stumbled upon Greta Van Fleet. They are pure rock – the sound and the attitude and even the look! They sound so much like Led Zeppelin – some would say that makes them a poor copycat, but to me it counts in their favor because I don’t completely get the Led anyway (except for “Whole Lotta Love” – that rocks. “Stairway to Heaven”? Not so much. What is that anyway?) When I first heard their sound I was so happy I ran over to my niece’s house just to announce that rock is not dead.

Their standout songs for me are “Black Smoke Rising” and “Flower Power”, which would not sound out of place at all at Woodstock. They even covered Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”. Basically, check out their 2017 EP because it’s brilliant. They also recently released a new single called “When the Curtain Falls.”

Thank you, Greta Van Fleet. My beloved rock music is alive and well! They’re only kids too, barely in their twenties. This means that people are still using guitars. People are still rocking out. And I still have a choice. I don’t have to be stuck only with Cardi B.

Thank the rock gods!