In 1979, The Knack was the biggest band in the world. For a moment. Or about six months, really. They had a monster hit ("My Sharona") off a monster hit debut album (Get The Knack). The album took eleven days to record and two to mix. It cost $17,500. The record company didn't really know what they had, so they let radio stations pick the singles (although, in the end, the first single was obvious). They spent $50,000 in promotion, and sold over six million copies.

Most of the songs on the album were about the singer's obsession with one of the band's first fans, a girl named Sharona. Eventually the singer hooked up with his obsession. And not long after, The Knack lost it.

They were hailed for bringing hard rock back to the radio. And then they were called sell outs and "manufactured" even though they played close to 150 shows in the year before getting signed (and wrote all but one song on their debut album).

In 2001, The Strokes had a big radio hit with "Last Night." The riff in the song was ripped mostly from "American Girl" by Tom Petty (who was covered by The Knack). The video for the song mimicked the look of the back cover of Get The Knack (which, itself, was aping The Beatles). The Strokes were hailed as the kings of the new garage rock movement. Is This It?, the debut album, eventually sold 3.5 million copies.

But the band was no good live (unlike The Knack). They looked and sounded bored onstage. Watching them (as I did in 2002), the audience was almost begged to muse aloud the title to the album. They barely made it through their tour of the US for that first album.

And their popularity was eventually eclipsed by The White Stripes and Kings Of Leon, who were loosely-grouped into the garage rock category.

This year, The Strokes released a new album, did a few shows (they still have a hard time being exciting onstage) and then announced they're going to record another album. Weehoo?

The White Stripes broke up after a few years of inactivity, which began when Meg White wouldn't tour anymore (anxiety).

The new Strokes album came out at about the same time the White Stripes announced their break up. So one blogger compared all the Strokes and White Stripes releases in a top 10 countdown. The bottom three were The Strokes 2nd, 3rd and latest albums. The number one was The Strokes first.

He couldn't really articulate why he put The Strokes first except that when he first heard the album, he was really excited. And since he heard about the White Stripes AFTER everyone else, he felt closer to The Strokes. In other words, The Strokes made him feel more hip.

I'm not hip. I follow the trends, I don't set them. But, then again, I am 39 years old.

My band's average age hovers near 40. We aren't jazz rock (this seems to be something of a movement these days), we try to sing pretty harmonies, and we don't have any girls in our band. I do have a leather jacket (circa 1990...it's the same as the one Mr. Orange wears in Reservoir Dogs), and our bassist has leather pants.

When I'm out in the scene, all the hipness desperation in the air just makes me kinda tired.

Is rock and roll dead? Are guitars out of favor? Will we have another rock band savior come along in this new decade (Nirvana was the rock band savior in the 90s...just to complete the circuit)?

If I'm not going to get Social Security when I get old, then there better be some good rock and roll to soothe my soul.

Matt Worley has no safety net.