Rock and Roll Is Dead


"Rock and Roll Is Dead" is the first single released from the 1995 Lenny Kravitz album Circus. It reached the top 20 in Canada, Finland, New Zealand, and Spain, but it underperformed in the United States, peaking at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Song information

"Rock and Roll Is Dead" is an uptempo rock song.
Kravitz on the meaning of "Rock and Roll Is Dead":
The same year that "Rock and Roll Is Dead" was released, Prince released a B-side called "Rock 'N' Roll Is Alive " for the single "Gold" from The Gold Experience album.
The song was covered by Mitsuki Aira on her debut album Copy.
Following its release, other artists have released songs of similar titles criticizing the demise of specific musical genres led by reckless artists, namely Marilyn Manson's 1999 "Rock Is Dead" and Nas' 2006 album and single Hip Hop Is Dead.
However, a song with same title in Russian was issued on 1982 album Radio Africa by Aquarium.

Chart performance

The song reached number 75 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 22 on the UK Singles Chart. It was a top 10 hit in Finland, New Zealand and Spain, reaching numbers 10, eight, and five, respectively. In Canada, the song reached number 16. Elsewhere, the song reached the top 40 in Australia, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

Music video

The music video for "Rock and Roll Is Dead" was storyboarded by Andrew Trovaioli and directed by Ruven Afanador. The video shows Kravitz performing the song with his band, as well as Kravitz with visual artistic related backgrounds.

Track listing

  1. "Rock and Roll Is Dead" – 3:22
  2. "Another Life" – 3:59
  3. "Are You Gonna Go My Way" – 4:00
  1. "Rock and Roll Is Dead" – 3:22
  2. "Another Life" – 3:59
  3. "Confused" – 6:48
  4. "Is It Me, Is It You?" – 3:51

    Awards

Kravitz was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for this song in 1996, becoming Kravitz's third nomination in the mentioned category.

Charts