For my presentation I will be presenting the garage rock revival that has been ongoing sine the early 2000s. While it is not actually the first garage rock revival it is usually referred to as the “garage rock revival” or “garage punk revival” by most mainstream forms of media when discussing  contemporary rock music. The reason I chose this genre is because it is one of my favorite styles of rock and modern music. While garage rock originally started in the 1960s and garage punk caught on in the 1990s underground, I feel the revival that has been ongoing since the 2000s is the best form of garage rock music since it has so many predecessors to draw inspiration from and often implements other forms of music with it. Usually styles ranging from psychedelic rock, experimental music, folk, soul, hard rock, and more the current wave of garage rock/garage punk bands have a lot to make new and even more ambitious garage music than their originators. I had a difficult time choosing a song I felt was representative of the genre. While I could have picked a White Stripes or Black Keys song and taken the easy way out I felt that wouldn’t be fair since both of those band have a heavy blues aspect to their music that not all garage bands have. So I was faced with choosing between two of my favorite contemporary acts, garage/psychedelic rock band Thee Oh Sees or garage/psychedelic/alternative rock artist Ty Segall. Ultimately I went with Ty Segall because his early work heavily emulates the garage punk sound of the 1980-1990s while also reminiscent of 1960s garage rock. As he has continued his career he has strayed farther away from his minimalist garage roots and explored more styles with his maturing sound. I have chosen to present his song The Drag from his debut album which was one of his first hit songs in his early solo career. The song itself is very minimal but also very loud which is reflective of earlier garage punk bands. The actual structure of the song and it’s lyrics are more similar to many 60s garage rock songs. While listening to this song for this project and then listening to his newest album for fun, the comparison between his material is almost night and day. His newest album is reminiscent of many artists of the 1970s while there is still loud guitars, punk attitude, and garage rock tones; the songs themselves do not sound very “garage rock” instead more like “classic rock”. Half the album is made up of calmer songs, including some folk tunes, and the other half being epic loud guitar rock. I’d say his last “garage” album was his 2014 release Manipulator which he aimed for more of a psychedelic/pop sound similar to The Beach Boys, The Beatles, T. Rex, David Bowie, etc. Since then he has released an experimental album and now this “classic rock” album. Regardless he always maintains some element(s) of garage rock music in his sound, whether it takes the forefront or sits on the sidelines seems to depend on his mood lately.

Of all the rock/pop superstars of the 1980s the one who I am most familiar with is Phil  Collins thanks to my father. My dad’s absolute favorite band of all time is Genesis and he loves anything relating to it but his favorite member and solo career of the members is Phil Collins. For as long as I can remember my dad has listened to Genesis and Phil Collins on a weekly basis and he never grows tired of hearing their music over and over again. My mother likes some of his songs and Genesis’s more commercial/pop period from the 80s but they aren’t necessarily her favorite. She often jokes that whenever Phil Collins’s music plays on the radio or in a grocery store when she is out and about without my dad that his music is “haunting” her where ever she goes. I’ve even jokingly claimed that In The Air Tonight was probably the first song I heard as a baby. Growing up as a kid I didn’t care much for Phil Collins or Genesis because I mostly knew them as some 80s band my dad loves, but as I began to listen to music on my own and discovered their progressive rock era, led by Peter Gabriel, at the beginning of high school I began to appreciate them more. Now that I’m older I even appreciate some of his solo albums however I’m still not overall into his love ballad pop songs or more commercial sounding Genesis songs. As an artist though and as a musician I have tons of respect for Phil Collins especially as a drummer. Most people only know him for the songs like I mentioned before but in Genesis’s progressive rock era and his time in jazz fusion band Brand X, Phil showcased how talented he truly is as a drummer and in my opinion is very underrated today. I would defend his drumming abilities as equal to other rock drummers such as John Bonham, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, etc. As a singer, songwriter, and overall musician he is very talented but again I feel most people can not look past his more embarrassing songs of the 80s and 90s to see how great of an artist he really is. Not everything he did in the 1980s was bad or cheesy either! His minimal rhythmic drumming style that he used on songs like In The Air Tonight , I Don’t Care Anymore, Peter Gabriel’s Intruder, etc. was iconic for pop music drumming and made him one of the most prominent drummers of the decade leading him to play with other rock legends such as Eric Clapton and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin. Many of his 80s hits have been sampled by tons of hip-hop and R&B artists and  are continued to be sampled even now. While I’m sure no one is a fan of songs like Sussudio almost everyone likes In The Air Tonight and I think that in itself is reflective of how most people view Phil Collins. Many people can recognize his talent but are more likely to write him off as being awful and cheesy. Personally I recommend his 70s work even though it was his 80s hits that launched him to the pop cultural icon he is today.