I grew up during the 70s & 80s when Rock Radio ruled the airwaves. Rock legends in the making set themselves apart with complete originality, over-the-top style, and personality, plus they all seemed to be tapped into a never-ending stream of some of the greatest songs ever written. With each new album, bands were able to grace their fans with yet another collection of groundbreaking material that we couldn't wait to get our hands on at the record store! And let's face it, the bar was set MUCH higher in those days, to say the least. Only the best of the best made the big time. Also, for the most part, individual band members' musical talents were off the charts in their own right. Some players remain completely unmatched to this day. Some of my biggest guitar heroes & influences from those early days were/are Jimi Hendrix, Joe Perry, Peter Frampton, Angus Young, Billy Gibbons, EVH, Randy Rhoads, Tony Iommi, Mick Jones/Foreigner, Shaw & Young/Styx, Murray & Smith/Iron Maiden, Gary Richrath/REO, Downing & Tipton/Judas Priest… I could go on, and I'm positive I've missed a bunch. But they were ALL larger than life, legit Rock Stars! Most bands back then generally made a new album per year, followed by a tour, and when that tour came through your town, it was your only chance to see with your own eyes that they were real people. Pre-music video, all we had were photos from monthly rock magazines and the images on album covers, period, and it created an incredible sense of mystery and made the band members seem almost god-like and not of this world. By the late 80s, record labels could see nothing but dollar signs, and most went on signing sprees to compete for airtime on MTV. Labels competed with each other to sign bands with any kind of buzz. I'm proud to say Tora Tora brought a more unique approach than the average Sunset Strip-style bands of the era due to our bluesy-based Memphis roots, and I'll always be grateful we were able to create a diehard fanbase of our own. Even though we traveled on tour buses, signed autographs, and were on the radio & MTV, I certainly never considered myself a rock star by any means, but I was lucky enough to get to pretend for a while and live out my dream. The pinnacle of that dream was being onstage at Memphis' Mid-South Coliseum: the same arena where I had witnessed all my heroes making their rock-n-roll magic! The late 80s & early 90s did birth some great rock bands, but also created a lot of copycat and unmemorable, generic filler-type acts as well. Most of the great ones from the early days managed to keep it rolling through the changing landscape, but the video era combined with an over-saturation of mediocre rockers meant things were bound to change for everybody at some point. People love to blame Nirvana for killing the genre, but in my mind, they just happened to be the ones to usher in the next wave of popular music. Nothing stays the same forever, and if they did kill it, I'd say it was a mercy-killing to put it out of its misery!! So here we are in 2025, and while a handful of OGs can still sell tickets and put on a pretty good show, there are also the ones (as unfortunate as it is to say) who maybe should've stepped out of the spotlight while in their better days. I mean, old age is truly a blessing, but even those who were the best of their time need to know when to say when. I won't name any names here, but there are a few I've seen in the last few years that just aren't doing their legacies any justice whatsoever, and just come across as a cash-grab. It's disappointing and depressing, almost like finding out Santa Claus isn't real. And every time we lose another legit rock star from those golden years, we come that much closer to seeing them become extinct entirely. Even the top artists of the present day could never really be considered “rock stars,” in my mind. Social/Digital media, which allows everybody to know literally everything about current-day “celebrities” lives in real-time, has killed the magic, mystique, and lifestyles that created legends… And as bad as I hate to say it, I don't think any of those things are ever coming back… 

Edited 11/11/2025:

Since this original post, we've lost Ozzy Osborne & Ace Frehley, and both have felt like losing a childhood friend…

Ugh