2021: The Year of Comebacks
Rock music is in bloom again. Fans of the genre miss the old-school aggression of the music and so do the rock bands themselves. 2020 has seen pleasant reunions and comebacks all over the entertainment industry, including the rock genre. In the midst of a lockdown, artists all over the world have had more time to perfect their upcoming art. Which of the many rock bands are bound to experience a great comeback? Here are some of our picks!
Kings of Leon
Kings of Leon broke into mainstream media with “Use Somebody” and then dwindled out for quite some time. As of the past couple of weeks, they seem like they have a strong hold of their potential uprise. The group announced that they are dropping a new album called When You See Yourself in March.
In order to elevate the hype, they released a music video for their new single “The Bandit”. The song remains in vein to their subtle style of indie rock and sounds impressively reminiscent of “Sex On Fire”. The upbeat groove proves that they’ve maintained the skill to potentially revitalize their popularity in the industry. It should keep listeners invested for what else Kings of Leon has in store for the new album.
Weezer
2021 will have an abundance of new Weezer material. Van Weezer was initially set to release earlier in May 2020 until the pandemic pushed it an entire year. The band has marketed the record by claiming that they went to their roots for this new album.
Given the name of the title, it will delve into the ‘70s era of rock which saw the rise of Van Halen, KISS and Black Sabbath. As far as we’re concerned, this will be on the opposite spectrum of B.o.B’s “Magic”. If their word is not promising enough, listen to the opening to “The End of the Game”.
Weezer also announced that they have another album called OK Human set to be released at the end of January. The album is intended to be more on the delicate side of music with the band members describing the music as piano-based. Once artists are allowed to tour again, Weezer will have a variety of new music to place in their sets despite already having a deep library of releases.
System of a Down
This progressive rock band definitely has something stirring up for 2021. At the near-end of 2020, they released the single “Protect the Land”, their first of new material since 2005’s Hypnotize. They have done reunion shows in the past couple of years, but this still caught many people by surprise. The band wants to bring awareness to the current dangers in Armenia through their new music.
Frontman Serj Tankian is not spitting lyrics at a rapid-fire rate yet, but he has definitely developed as a melodic vocalist. If this song is a signal for a true System of a Down comeback, it will be interesting to see if their style of rock has aged well.
https://open.spotify.com/track/11ajcVj3qSyyMPUpTJUP3y?si=c280UEShQL-mqmYOsiutfQ
Rage Against the Machine
The latest political climate in America was practically begging for a Rage reunion and it actually came true. In 2020, it was announced that Rage Against the Machine would be the headliners for Coachella and Boston Calling. It would have been their first appearance with the original frontman Zack de la Rocha since the 2009 tour.
The other three members of Rage have played shows with various frontmen such as Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, and even released three albums with Chris Cornell under the Audioslave banner. Although, de la Rocha is the quintessential frontman of the group (sorry Cornell).
The rock band married their loudness with de la Rocha’s aggressive yet poetic verses. Their energetic performances live up to their name. The group has gone on to delay their long-awaited reunion tour until the pandemic is over. Rage Against the Machine has not been in-studio together in many years, perhaps this may change with a potential new album release.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Things are shaking up (again) with the Red Hot Chili Peppers lineup. The funky monks announced at the book-end of 2019 that John Frusciante was returning as their guitarist. Frusciante has been responsible for the band’s greatest hits since he was 19 years old, starting with 1991’s “Under the Bridge”. Since then, he has been known to disappear from the spotlight for as long as a decade and return with an abundance of new music ideas for the band.
The first instance was from 1991-1999 which ended with the release Californication, an album that innovated west-coast alternative rock. After touring for 2006’s Stadium Arcadium, Frusciante disappeared again. His comeback can only mean good things for the band’s future.
The pandemic has unfortunately postponed their reunion tour with the rock band’s classic lineup. While they have not released any singles or a new album lately, they have confirmed that they have been writing music together for well over a year at this point. And yes, Frusciante also confirmed he has only been playing with his classic Fender Stratocaster.
In a climate where comebacks happen on the daily, it is unpredictable which band will trend next.
Stay updated for more music news on our site.
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