If the doomsayers are correct, something monumental–something transformative–is going to happen on December 21, 2012...this is the day the b’ak’tun cycle ends...

The Mayan long count calendar runs out...after 5,125 years, it comes to an end date...what will happen next is up for debate...

It could be the end of the world...Earth may collide with Nibiru, its long-hidden nemesis planet...some say a black hole may swallow us up...a catastrophic shift in the polar magnetic fields...

Others believe we will achieve some kind of spiritual enlightenment, which will usher humankind into a new era of peace...

Or maybe nothing will happen...okay, so maybe we’ll get another bad John Cusack movie on the subject...that’s not good and the prospect is admittedly frightening–but it’s just a movie...

History has shown that humans are really, really bad at predicting the apocalypse with any degree of certainty...

I, however, have another theory...I believe that there may be a fundamental shift on planet earth around the time of December 21, 2012...and it has to do with rock music...

No, no–stay with me on this...I’m not crazy...or at least, I might not be...I hope not...

This is the fifteenth and final chapter of a series I call “the complete history of alt-rock”...

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