It's late-November, which means it's just about time for critics to finish putting together their best albums of the year list, and write their trend pieces about what 2012 meant to music in general. (The answer: dubstep.) Meaning, someone will inevitably play the "rock is dead" card, and a million commenters will agree. Because that's what happens every year -- and every year, it's wrong. It's just especially wrong this year.
It's not tough to understand where the "rock is dead" argument came from — the 1960s have always been considered "the best" for music, whatever that means, while post-Nirvana bands turned nu metal bands turned boy bands give us an easy "this is when things were good, this is when things turned bad" dividing line. It's never that simple, though; claiming that an entire genre of music has sucked since either 1969 or 1995 because Coldplay was technically the top-selling rock band of 2011 is like saying that all TV is awful because Two and a Half Men is a hit. It's a shame, too, because 2012 has been a great year for rock albums, both underground and mainstream, one that can best described as "F*CK YEAH!" (*shotguns a beer*)
We'll have our own Best-of 2012 list sometime in December, but until then, give a listen to some of the year's best rock and/or roll albums. (By that, we mean hewing closely to imperfect vocals, slashing guitar riffs, crashed drums, and steady bass, with a few extra flourishes here and there, meaning no Beach House or Tame Impala or Fiona Apple, for this list at least.) The 12 bands selected didn't necessarily put out the 12 best albums of 2012, but they did disprove anyone who falsely claims that rock died with Keith Moon.
Description: Anthemic, closed-eyes rock, the kind that can make you feel invincible
Perfect for fans of: the Replacements, fireworks (as in, literal fireworks)
Album: Celebration Rock
Description: Amped-up Springsteen fans raised on punk and "whoa oh-oh" choruses
Perfect for fans of: Bruce Springsteen, Bouncing Souls, fist pumping
Album: Handwritten
Description: New Jersey long-form punk laureates
Perfect for fans of: Thin Lizzy, Ian MacKaye's voice
Album: Local Business
Description: Brooding, dirty throwback rock with rural flourishes
Perfect for fans of: Um, the White Stripes?
Album: Blunderbuss
Description: Like a band torn between fury and angst (or emo and In Utero)
Perfect for fans of: Killdozer, the Wipers
Album: Attack on Memory
Description: Chaotic noise rock
Perfect for fans of: Sub Pop-era Nirvana, the Jesus Lizard, Drive Like Jehu
Album: Metz
Description: Progressive hardcore
Perfect for fans of: The feeling of your throat slashed into a million pieces
Album: All We Love We Leave Behind
Description: Lurching metal that both explodes and soothes
Perfect for fans of: The Smashing Pumpkins, but wish they were heavier
Album: Koi No Yokan
Description: Disheveled garage rock
Perfect for fans of: CHAOS. Also, the Stooges.
Album: Slaughterhouse
Description: Noise rock, perfect for late-night parties
Perfect for fans of: Buzzcocks
Album: Open Your Heart
Description: Sultry blues rock with a dynamo of a lead singer
Perfect for fans of: Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin
Album: Boys & Girls
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needs more Screaming Females
Also great, though Ugly was a tiny step down from Castle Talk. Still, Marissa is a rock god.
glad you included Deftones. underrated band that survived the nu-metal movement for a reason
Not only survived but perfected and transcended the genre they came out of. I havent had a chance to listen to anything off this last one but they never disappoint me. Ever. I thought Diamond Eyes was the best thing they have done since White Pony.
No one goes from hard to melodic quite like the Deftones do. They aren’t nearly as popular as they once were or many of the bands that drew influence from them but thankfully they are still putting out new material.
they’re still able to fill 1000 seat places and probably will until they hang it up. the new one is just as solid as everything else. it’s a little more spacey and loose as opposed to Diamond Eyes more back to basics aggression and whatnot.
They’re to nu metal as the Promise Ring is to emo: a great band mixed in with an often terrible genre.
perfectly said
I was so incredibly disappointed they didn’t come to my town on the latest tour. They’re consistently one of the best live acts around. I converted my wife and another friend to lifetime fans by bringing them to deftones shows.
I almost stopped when the first thing I saw was Japandroids…
But then faith was renewed with Cloud Nothing, Ty Segall, and the men.
the fuck is wrong with Japandroids?
Oh man, you’re not going to be happy with our favorite albums of the year list… Japandroids is such perfect cathartic rock.
Klosterman said it best, that record is basically nothing but the best parts of rock anthems.
Didn’t he also have a different take on the band after he saw them live?
I don’t know why, after listening to the album multiple times I just can not get into them. at all.
I mean different strokes and all, but I can’t stand them.
I’m a sucker for soaring, upbeat rock anthems, and that Japandroids album is almost nothing but that, so it gets my seal of approval.
dhc, so you’re saying giant choruses, fist pimping sing alongs about debauchery, and general happiness are not your strokes? i feel sorry for you.
If the new Japandroids album doesnt do it for you their first two (Post Nothing and No Singles) are amazing, much more rough around the edges as opposed to the produced sound of the new album.
Alabama Shakes are so damn good.
See them live if you haven’t. Just do it.
That Brittany has some serious pipes.
Look at all those skinny hipsters in black rimmed glasses. Rock and roll is now performed by castrati.
I like Gaslight Anthem a lot, but Handwritten is pretty bad.
A lot of people have bagging on it, which I don’t get; I think all their albums have a bunch of great singles, some filler, and are otherwise solid, if not spectacular, including Handwritten. It’s not The ’59 Sound, but it’s close.
I feel like the only person who likes Handwritten slightly more than 59 Sound.
I’m a fan of all their albums, but I still like Sink or Swim best.
3 sweet words “disheveled garage rock”
How can you justify saying Tame Impala is not rock? I suppose you could throw “psychedelic” in front of it but it’s still rock!
Lonerism is one of the year’s best albums, but for this feature at least, I wanted to focus on, for a lack of a better word, “heavy” rock. But don’t worry, you haven’t heard the last of them on Uproxx…
I’ll never stop singing the praises of OFF! They deserve a spot on this list, period.
I still listen to First Four EPs on a weekly basis.
*scans through, sees no Wild Flag*
WTF IS THIS SHIT?!?!?!?
Great, great band, and I want to marry Carrie Brownstein, but they didn’t put out an album this year. They were in my top-10 in 2011, though.
That’s a fair criteria, but they did spend the year getting even more awesome live, so. . .
If I ever saw Brownstein in person, I’d swoon like a tweenage girl
Oh man, excellent call with Converge. I get why some people can’t get past the singing, but Axe to Fall is my go to run through a brick wall song.
The first four songs on Axe to Fall are just awesome songs!
Converge kicks ass
I’ve punched so many walls while listening to “Trespasses.”
Trespasses is awesome and fits so well after Aimless Arrow.
Axe To Fall is such an awesome album. Jane Doe is great, too. Converge is rad. Things is stuff.
HOLY SHIT! Converge
Love that band!
May I suggest Protest the Hero? Progressive hardcore-ish band with a lot of punk influences. Amazing band.
Their album Kezia is my favorite of all time. Just great musically and amazing conceptually.
Awesome. Thanks for the recommendation. Will check them out.
Cool! They have three albums. Kezia they wrote most of while in high school but it’s just so good. Combines a bunch of different styles, and like I said, the lyrics and concepts are just awesome. I highly recommend reading the lyrics while listening because the story is really cool.
Fortress, their second album doesn’t really fit into this as much. I love it but it pretty much just a straight up progressive metal album.
Scurrilous, their most recent is a lot more rock oriented. Has more of a verse/chorus structure to some of the songs and there are almost no harsh vocals.
Hey hey you forgot Future of the Left’s The Plot Against Common Sense.
I saw FOTL in Chicago a few weeks ago with Andrew Jackson Jihad and Jeff Rosenstock. Never listened to FOTL before that and was very pleasantly surprised. Rocked so hard.
Is McLovin’ in one of these bands? What’s he doing in the main pic?
Cloud Nothings and Ty Segall both put on spirited live shows and Japandroids is just pure unadulterated awesomeness.
Definitely going to put some of these in the Spotify rotation. Love me some Japandroids.
props for Swans. nothing like seeing them kill it live. good list man.
It’s like listening to the apocalypse. The wonderful, wonderful apocalypse.
Titus Andronicus, for fans of Thin Lizzy? Are you fucking high?? That shit sounds like an iPhone commercial and Thin Lizzy is the best band of all time. Y’all are crazy.
Thin Lizzy is amazing, but so is The Monitor, one of the best albums of the past decade.
Agreed with Josh on The Monitor. If you wanna get into TA, The Monitor is where to start.
Also, I thought Stickle’s voice is more similar to Conor Oberst. But whatev’s.
I will admit that Local Business was a bit of a step down from The Monitor, though…
And here I thought I was getting reasons why Dwayne Johnson may return to the ring.
Converge is probably THE best live band I’ve seen. Also, Hot Water Music came back with a vengeance this year.
Good call on Hot Water Music. Fuel for the Hate Game is still a personal favorite.
Titus Andronicus forever…
I’m not as big on the harder rock as I was when I was a kid but I gotta say I’m loving Alabama Shakes and will now download their album.
For 2012 releases look up Royal Thunder. Classically rendered evil Jefferson Airplane witchy rock. One of the best vocalists you haven’t heard yet.
wow you definitely hear the fugazi and drive like jehu in metz
Also you should have added Dinosaur Jr.!
No Black Country Communion? They must be TOO good to be on this list. I mean really? Glen Hughes has only played with some of the most iconic bands of all time with Deep Purple and Sabbath. Jason Bonham. Nothing more needs to be said there. GROSS OVERSIGHT GOOD SIR!!!
I only know the Deftones on this list and after listening to the clips, dare I say Im glad? I guess”rock” is no longer my thing as I lean more towards Hard Rock and Heavy Metal these days.
How exactly do you pronounce Japandroids? Is it Japan droids, jap androids, or jap and roids. I like to think it is Jap and roids because I imagine a sumo wrestler on roids. Racist? Maybe. Funny in my crazed mind? Mos Def
I have no idea who any of these bands are, or almost all the bands they’re supposed to be perfect for the fans of. Also, I had no idea skateboarding was still huge.
I know you mean well, but you re-affirmed my position- rock, is in fact, dead. (So is hip-hop. Difference is people still buy it, because Mcdonalds)
why is the only music uproxx site hip-hop based? i love rap, but you guys badly need a general music site from your point of view.
Rock music isn’t dead. Rock journalism? Ok, that’s rotting in the ground.
Stoked to see Converge and The Men. Jane Doe is one of my all time favorites and The Men are just criminally underrated.
Gaslight Anthem, Alabama Shakes, Swans and Deftones…
Yes, yes, yes and Fuck YES
I hear more Guy Picciotto than Ian MacKaye in the guy from Titus Andronicus
I have heard of 2 of these bands. And I am okay with that…
I reckon throw in some Touche Amore, La Dispute and Title Fight, and the arguments about the death of rock will forever be invalid.
La Dispute and Touche are fucking amazing!
I’ll have to check out Title Fight
Oh my god, they’re so good!
Nope, rock’s dead. These bands suck (not inculding deftones). TA is a shit Conor Oberst impersonation, and the rest of these jersey/williamsburg hipster “rockers” are little whiny bitches. Demand better, kids.
Nah, you can include the Deftones. They’ve always been terrible.
Rock is definitely dead, and that banner pic is a big reason why.
When rock was cool, it wasn’t just about good music. As cliche as it is to say, it was an attitude. The guys who played it were cool. People actually wanted to party with Jimmy Page and John Bonham, or Keith Richards and Mick Jagger.
Those guys in the banner pic? Not so much. I bet I could drink every one of them under the table. They may be great musicians, I don’t know, but there isn’t very much that’s rock and roll about them. They look more like substitute teachers than rock stars.