Rock and Roll vs US Oil Production

I stumbled across this graph that I thought was pretty darn interesting. I was talking with some folks in our industry about the decline of rock music and how there aren't any great songs anymore from the rock genre. One reason may be that the great songs just don't get the airplay that they used too. When Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, or even Aerosmith come out with new songs, unless a local classic rock station still plays current music, you just won't hear it. You'll hear about it on television or maybe on Itunes before you'll hear it on the air. The "active rock" stations just will not touch the older superstar artists anymore. Most of the mega-hit songs came from these superstar artists. During the 70's, 80's and 90's we had trade magazines like Radio and Records that basically told us what genre a song belonged in. Now out of print, Radio and Records no longer influences the record business with formats like "adult alternative" or "active rock." Where are the big super-mega songs? Well, they are out there, you just have to look for them. They are few and far between though, and even though oil and rock don't have that much to do with each other, the attached graph sure tells the story.