The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach: ‘Talking about the death of rock’n’roll is stupid’

The Black Keys‘ Dan Auerbach has said that people who argue that rock’n’roll is dying are “stupid”.

In an interview with WGRD, the frontman said that the debate over the health of rock music was “lame” and cited the popularity of bands such as Foo Fighters as proof that interest in guitar music was on the wane.

Auerbach, who claimed earlier this month that he didn’t care about the state of rock music, said: “I think that it’s so lame of an argument, it seems so stupid. It’s like the press needs something to talk about. Being 16 years old and getting an electric guitar is never going to get old. There’s always going to be kids making music. There’s always going to be kids in bands.”

The singer went on to add: “Everything is cyclical. It’ll come back around and be popular. The Foo Fighters are like the biggest band in the world. They play stadiums. How is rock dead?”

In January of this year, Auerbach’s bandmate – drummer Patrick Carney – had claimed there was a current lull in guitar music and blamed the popularity of Canadian band Nickelback for its decline, adding: “Rock’n’roll is the music I feel the most passionately about, and I don’t like to see it fucking ruined and spoonfed down our throats in this watered-down, post-grunge crap, horrendous shit.”

The band, who released their seventh studio album ‘El Camino’ last December, spoke to NME last month, where they admitted they didn’t believe their stint playing arenas would last long. Carney commented: “By no means are we the best band on the planet. We happen to be one of the more popular bands around right now. Music is an ever-changing thing, and we’re lucky enough to be enjoying a brief moment near the top. But that won’t last very long.”

Earlier this week, a collaboration between Auerbach and BBC Sound Of 2012 poll winner Michael Kiwanuka was posted online. To listen to the track ‘Lasan’, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click.