u/Immediate-Stick-1577

Do you think guitar-oriented music has a chance of becoming mainstream again?

And I don’t mean super distorted rock, metal or niche underground genres.

I mean more melodic, pop-oriented guitar music with clean guitars, catchy hooks and a energetic live feeling.
Actual bands instead of solo artists/producers

Basically music where guitars are important again, but in an accessible and melodic way.

Most people my age seem more interested in rap, electronic stuff, hyperpop or very niche scenes. And when young people do make guitar music, it often feels either extremely heavy, overly ironic or intentionally messy/experimental.
At the same time, whenever I actually see young bands play energetic melodic guitar music live, people still react really strongly to it.

Is there still potential for a bigger comeback of catchy guitar-based bands in mainstream culture?
Or have we fundamentally moved on from that era?

I’m 18 and currently in a band with people around my age.
We play mostly catchy 50s/60s inspired guitar music and also want to do more originals eventually.
The problem is our drummer.
She’s extremely quiet and socially very difficult to connect with. Rehearsals often feel awkward because conversations just kind of die around her and nobody really knows how to interact naturally with her.
She also only started playing drums because of our leader (They used to be in a relationship, but not anymore.).
Musically, she can keep simple slower songs together, but once we try faster or more energetic material, things start falling apart.

The tempo becomes unstable and fills are avoided completely.
Our bassist (the brother of our leader) is frustrated too.

The difficult part is that she’s deeply connected to our singer’s social life, so replacing her would probably create massive tension and possibly destroy the band entirely.

What makes this even harder is that there honestly isn’t much of a youth band scene where I live.
I recently went to a local school band event and realized how badly I want to be in a band where the chemistry, energy and ambition really fit — but there just aren’t many people around my age who are into this kind of music. Most young musicians I meet are either metal-focused or not really serious about bands at all.
So now I feel kind of trapped.

I don’t want to be cruel and I know she’s trying
but I also feel creatively held back and frustrated

Have any of you been in a situation like this?
How do you know when somebody simply needs time to improve versus when the chemistry of the band just fundamentally doesn’t work?