Rock star? I Think Not

Tyler and Perry	Axl Rose	Sanjay Dutt (?)

A couple of days ago, the newspaper I read, in the gossip pages, described Sanjay Dutt as the only true rock star left in the Indian film industry, I almost fainted from the shock. Sure the word ‘rock’ and all its derivatives are commonly misused today, but surely this was taking it a bit too far. Everyone at some time or the other has misused the word as in; “That party was rocking yaar” or “lets rock” and so on ad infinitum. But Sanjay Dutt, a rock star? Give me a fucking break. I know times are changing and with the passage of time, the definition of words does change, but for me and others like me (and there aren’t a few), rock is a hallowed word, something not to be used in vain.
There was once a beautiful era when rock meant rock, rock meant sex, drugs, booze and great music and rock stars were dangerous, untamed beasts to be worshiped. Rock stars made magic like Hendrix, they were dangerous like Alice Cooper, they were half crazy like Ozzy, they were androgynous like Mercury and they were worshipped like Axl Rose.
Rock never had a single definite positive or negative connotation, while rock starts could make magic with their music, they would at regular intervals, die ODing, from AIDS or from just doing something downright silly. I’m not trying to promote drink and drugs or promiscuous sex, but my point is that they came bundled under the tag of rock. Rock stars didn’t need to advertise their sexuality, yet in their androgyny there was something powerful that attracted legions of devoted fans. They weren’t beautiful and nobody really cared, it was their music and not their looks that mattered. Now when everyone is judged at face value, real rock stars are hard to come by.
Morrison, Hendrix, Jagger, Lennon and the rest were the gods. Axl in his tight shorts and bandana, Slash in a leather vest and a top hat, Tyler and Perry singing into a mike and Ozzy eating a bat were the rock stars. There was a definite image of what a rock star was, yet it didn’t end only at their appearance it was mainly defined by their music.
Today when the stars do the talking and music had taken a backseat, any two-bit metrosexual in an open silk shirt with stubble and who wears shades at night is a rock star. Partying hard, grooving to disco beats, snorting a few lines of coke and throwing back booze made from Mexican cacti is leading a ‘rock star’ lifestyle’. A good song ‘rocks’ and parties, if they are good are ‘rocking’. All this without a real rock star in sight is tantamount to blasphemy.
There was a time when rock was about rebellion, it was freedom, love and lots of sex. Now it’s about conformity, about seeing and being seen and it’s about money, lots and lots of money. Rock was about the music, raw, powerful and loud music. Now it’s about beautiful faces, lots of skin and bare flesh for sale. There are few rock stars left today, where a pretty face sells more than a good song, where Britney Spears tries to be Joan Jett and Paris Hilton uses her fame to sell her music. The helium voices have been replaced by monotonous homogenised singers and wailing guitars by synthesized beats.
Sanjay Dutt, though I hold no personal grudge against him is not a rock star. He looks like a goon or a thug-for-hire, a far cry from the rock stars of old. Rock today is a corrupted word, I cringe every time I hear it misused, but what can I really do I can’t change. I long for the glory days where women were really women, men really men and the gods, well the gods - they played rock.