Every so often, one of music's elder statesmen will chime in about how different things are nowadays -- remember when Gene Simmons pronounced rock 'n' roll dead? Roger Daltrey of The Who has been vocal about what is missing from today's music scene. Last year, the frontman said there were no movements happening in music. He offered more comments recently, saying that bands today lack anger in their material. "There's not enough anger out there in the music," he told The Standard. "And there's not a lot of contemplation in the lyrics, it's all very sweet ... but that's the iPhone generation." The singer took aim at the music business as well, saying that it has been "stolen" by big business.
"Nobody wants to put in any money on nurturing artists -- if you don't have the first hit, 'Goodbye!' In our days, people wanted to take chances and we were allowed to. The artists ran the business. Now, business runs the artists. You get accountants and lawyers basically deciding who's going to make it and who's not," he added.
The Who is currently traveling around the world on their 50th anniversary tour. Daltrey said the trek will be the group's last, adding that he will gladly reunite with partner Pete Townshend for charity events.
"We will always do shows for charity, when we can, because it's of enormous value to people and Pete and I love to play. But we won't do long, schlepping tours. It's killing us," he said.
The Who released a career-spanning compilation The Who Hits 50! in October. The collection featured the band's first new song, "Be Lucky," since 2006.
Readers: What do you make of the situation? Is Daltrey right or is he exaggerating? Let us know what you think down in the comments.
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