Rock's Family Tree
 

I'm not sugesting that any of these bands are rip-offs, or that one is better than the other. This just shows the cycle music moves in.

Cheap Trick / Weezer :

Fun, bubblegum pop with really catchy hooks. Rivers is nowhere the dreamy teen heartthrob that Robin was.

The Faces / The Black Crowes:

Whiskey and pack-a day vocals, blues rock band who 'kinda' (Ahem) like to party. Both bands are live act legends whose albums don't always do them justice.

King Crimson / Tool

Don't try to tell me that Tool sound nothing like King Crimson's 'Red' - era albums. Maynard is a much better singer than John Wetton though.

Anyone else?

I definitly agree with you. Music does cycle around alot.

I always thought The Mars Volta were more of a modern King Crimson than anyone else. If anything, I'd compare Tool to Pink Floyd. Musically, they're pretty different, but I mean...think about it. Tool are a rather "progressive" band that're still incredibly popular, they started out a little more "raw" and expanded upon that sound, their songs are sometimes actually quite simple when broken down, they're known for incredible light shows, etcetera.

But yeah, I agree, music in general does seem to go in cycles. At least in the past forty years or so.

I wish I could up a photo of this poster that was in my choir class back in ghigh school. it was an actual family tree of "rock" music. begining iwth blues and evolving into stuff like british invasion and ending in like the late 90s. it was actually really cool.