Rather recently the pseudo-punk band Panic! At the disco broke on to the music scene. The band of young men just out of high school released "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" in 2005 and their song "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" is sweeping the air waves. I have been listening to rock music for my entire life, and although I am only 22 I have discovered, through Panic! At the Disco, that Rock music is in for a major change.

Since the creation of rock music the genre has continually morphed and divided creating a plethora of genres. In the early days of Rock and Roll Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard played music that was vastly disapproved by the adult population. It was up to the youths to turn the spark of creation into the glorious blaze of today. With every passing generation the coals are layered and more wood is placed atop. If I were to try to list all of the ways that Rock has evolved I would never finish this article.

Rock music in one form or another has stayed in the lime light. While at the same time a form of the genre is the antithesis of popular music. When a type of rock becomes popular the bands of the time must play with in the restraints of that popular genre in order to stay popular, thus the Rock that is popular changes slower than the rock that is not. A prime example can be seen in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1960s The Beatles held tightly to the mainstream, and if they wanted to stay there they could not make to many major style changes. Other rock musicians experimented more freely. In 1968 the band Steppenwolf found a sound that was new and unique. This new sound was filled with strong fast chords and vocals that were louder than they had ever been. Years later the genre was given a name that came from that 1968 song “Born to Be Wild.” Heavy Metal, as it came to be called, moved into the forefront of popular music. Bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Queen replaced the folk sounding singer-songwriters of the previously popular Rock music. The popular bands before 1968 had to try to adapt to this new style or else they would be at a loss for sales. The Beatles had only one song which kept up with the Heavy Metal sound, “Revolution,” unfortunately The Beatles broke up in the early 1970s. Bands like The Who, who already played songs of the Heavy Metal variety, became bigger and stronger in the mainstream.

Eventually the mainstream slowed down again for singer-songwriters of Rock like Elton John, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, The Police, and Fleetwood Mac. At the same time an alternate type of music appeared, Disco. Some rock bands, like The Bee Gees, had hits that were considered part of the dance-based genre. In the 1980s one of the Heavy Metal genres called Pop-Metal, AKA Hair Metal, reintroduced Heavy Metal to the mainstream. Many people who are unaware of Heavy Metal’s beginnings unintentionally and undeservingly credit this time period and genre with the creation of Heavy Metal. In all of this time mainstream music became broader and more types of music occupied it. Singer-song writers found a seemingly permanent position in pop culture, but the singer-songwriters will not always be considered rock musicians. Accompanying singer-songwriters in the mainstream were the harder rock musicians. This harder rock of the mainstream is usually an adult contemporary version of the new loud youth oriented rock, which comes into the mainstream a few years behind the original genre. This is not as complex as it sounds. Think about how the youth had listened The Ramones and Garbage and then a few years later the older population listened to REM and Sinéad O'Connor. When the youth listened to Rage Against the Machine, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Tool the parents started to listen to The Goo Goo Dolls and a tuned down version of The Red Hot Chili Peppers. A few years after the youth started listening to listening to Korn, Nine Inch Nails, and Marilyn Manson the adults and mainstream started listening to Stained and Nickelback.

Now after listening to Panic! At The Disco I have made the realization that the mainstream of rock and the hardcore of rock have grown closer together. Panic! At The Disco, The Plain White T’s, and All American Rejects are not as far from the punk that the youth are still listening to. I predict that in the next few years we will experience a rock revolution whereby the hardcore and the mainstream intermingle. This has already started as some hardcore bands, like Korn, Slipknot, AFI, Bullet For My Valentine, ect have become more and more acceptable in the mainstream.