As you can see up top, Black Keys will cover the January 19th issue of Rolling Stone on the strength of their new LP, El Camino, and its critically positive reception. Given that shine, Keys drummer Patrick Carney doesn’t disappoint. An excerpt:

Rock & roll is dying because people became OK with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world,” he says, blowing cigarette smoke out the window of his rented East Village loft a few days ­before the band heads to L.A. “So they became OK with the idea that the biggest rock band in the world is always going to be shit – therefore you should never try to be the biggest rock band in the world. Fuck that! Rock & roll is the music I feel the most passionately about, and I don’t like to see it fucking ruined and spoon-fed down our throats in this watered-down, post-grunge crap, horrendous shit. When people start lumping us into that kind of shit, it’s like, ‘Fuck you,’ honestly.

(via Rolling Stone)

First Spotify, now Nickelback? Is nothing sacred? But, seriously, an interesting point: 2011 was a pretty dire time for rock as many will point out. I appreciate the sentiment, at the very least, even if I feel some of that’s a touch misdirected (like, who is lumping in the Black Keys with Nickelback?). The candor is admirable. Sidenote: I am reading the absolute shit out of that story about Snoop from The Wire.