Lots of Smoke, and Some Real Fire

It’s not your parents’ Weenie Roast.

It wasn’t just Metallica taking the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre stage Saturday to a hero’s welcome at the seventh annual all-day fest put on by KROQ-FM (106.7) that signaled the emergence of a new generation of rock fans seeking to define themselves with edge and intensity.

Here, we had the acceptance of the veteran band’s metal roar after all these years of it being branded outside the KROQ alt-rock cosmos.

And good for these KROQ fans who can ignore lingering divisions between rap and rock or alternative and metal. Of course, given the increasingly rapid turnover of pop culture “generations” these days, this wasn’t even your older sibling’s Weenie Roast.

Just two years ago, the Weenie Roast was dominated by sensitive English acts, and recent Weenie Roasts highlighted the rising presence of women.

Saturday’s main stage lineup was pure American testosterone, with Metallica’s presence marking a day of male bluster from metal-rap hybridists Limp Bizkit (very serious emerging stars) and Kid Rock (very unserious carnival side-show), agit-punks Pennywise, Goth-glam devotees Orgy and such party-minded entries as punkers Blink-182, hip-hop-pop stars Sugar Ray and latter-day frat-rockers Smash Mouth. Only Live’s spiritual, reaching songs seemed out of place, for all their good intentions.

Metallica’s intense power and dark-hued songs about confronting fears--essentially Edgar Allan Poe at 110 dBs--were accorded respect and reverence Saturday, earned not just for artistry, but for integrity. This is one of the truly individual acts in rock, standing the test of time regardless of trends and fashion on the strength of its own vision and talent.

Same goes for longtime KROQ core band the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which closed the show and which ages ago presaged the current hybrids of punk, metal and rap with its boisterous sounds. On Saturday, the band showed no loss of spirit and sass, while having in recent years added maturity and nuance.

But are new Metallicas and Chili Peppers--bands that can withstand the quick turnovers--being developed? That remains a big question.

With its second album, “Significant Other,” about to be released, Limp Bizkit has made a quick ascent to a spot almost next to Korn in many music business minds as an act to watch for what’s next in rock. Though their music is derivative of Rage Against the Machine and Korn, there are clear sparks of distinctive creativity on the new album.

But front man Fred Durst didn’t score highly in leadership skills Saturday, dumbing down to the level of asking the fans to give the finger and throw trash, and later he mooned the crowd. It’s not just that such things are way old hat in the rock world, but each had already been done by at least one other act before him this day. It was all predictable, pointless and, well, stupid.

Now there’s nothing wrong with stupidity done right. Take Kid Rock. His solid, pounding and thoroughly integrated mix of styles was pretty much irresistible--even through such freak-show touches as a rapping midget sidekick. This is the World Championship Wrestling of rock--and if you don’t think there are brains behind that, you’re not paying attention.