That's why I put 'rock' in quotes to indicate that I was referring to the business side, not the artistic side. The decline was as a commercial force, involving bands on major labels, not the outfits which were considered to be 'minor leaguers' by virtue of their presence on labels like SST, Slash, Twin/Tone, Touch & Go, etc. It also had to do with racial demographics, and the issue of people like Michael Jackson & Prince breaking through to MTV, crossing over, and eventually being as popular, and eventually more popular, as dinosaur rock bands & even Bruce Springsteen & U2.

Not to mention that in 1985, when Madonna & the Replacements found themselves on the same label, one embraced videos, MTV, and publicity, and the other shunned it. So my position that 'rock' was in decline from a business standpoint is not in conflict with my contention that there was a decent amount of healthy competition for the Mats in the realm of fairly straightforward 'rock' that flew well under the radar of the rock audience.