Classic rock....Is it as bad as I imagine it to be?

[meegannie]

Stupid question: What exactly constitutes 'classic rock'? I don't think I'd include the Beatles in that category. When I think of classic rock, I think of the kind of music they play on those radio stations people that drink cheap beer in cans and wear dirty, worn out jeans and gross t-shirts listen to when going on road trips in rusty old cars....songs with 20 minute guitar solos....the kind of radio stations that say 'This is Q103 -- CLASSIC RAWK!!!' in a really deep, growly voice....lots of hair....old men who look like they're carrying every std known to man (like Courtney Love)....the rednecks who don't only listen to country music....living in a trailer park....8-tracks....the kind of music I NEVER, EVER listen to. Maybe it's just bad childhood memories of former stepdads or something, but I think I have a natural aversion to this kind of music.

So...what is it? Is it as bad as the associations I have with it?

 

[Angela Harlem]

I think your associations are close. I actually have proof kinda. We have an all rock station and they do nothing to disprove the redneck ute owning piss in a can swilling cattle dog owning sheep rustling geneology. Or for the more citified version, its red flannelettes in the local dive bar on a Saturday night, beating someone over the head with a pool cue and broken long neck bottle. Police paddy wagon stuff.

Here is the tracklisting from their Best Beer Drinking Songs compilations. Sorry its a bit lengthy, but this is classic rock and why I associate it like you do.

The boys light up-Aussie Crawl
You ain?t seen nothing yet-Bachman Turner Overdrive
Pleasure & Pain-The Divinyls
Paradise by the dashboard light-Meat Loaf
Copperhead road-Steve Earl
Mustang Sally-The Commitments
Am I ever gonna see your face again-The Angels
Never gonna die-The Choirboys
American Pie-Don McLean
Hot in the city-Billy Idol
Rockin? all over the world-Status Quo
Cry in shame-Johnny Diesel & the Injectors
Brown eyed girl-Van Morrison
Bad to the bone-George Thorogood
Centrefold-J.Geils Band

WORLD?S BEST BEER SONGS CD 2(Green)
Black Night-Deep Purple
Down under-Men at work
We?ve gotta get our of this place-The Animals
Stuck in the middle with you-Stealers Wheel
La Grange-ZZ Top
The stroke-Billy Squier-Rock & Roll Part 1-Gary Glitter
I am an Island-Richard Clapton
Sweet home Alabama-Lynyrd Skynyrd
Waterfront-Simple Minds
My Sharona-The Knack
And she was-Talking Heads
All fired up-Pat Benatar
We can?t be beaten? Rose Tattoo
A Pub with no beer-Slim Dusty

Some of these are great. Most of them are my stereotype though.

 

[Flaming Friar Sr]

steve earl

 

[HeartlandGirl]

The stroke-Billy Squier

I actually know a woman who has a tattoo of Billy Squier on her posterior. Now that's devotion to the stroke!

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Kansas
Toto
Journey
Steve Miller
Styx



That's the bad end of the classic rock spectrum.

 

[~LadyLemon~]

Heh, I do appreciate some Steve Miller Band and Journey

I don't think it's as bad as you make it out to be Meggie. When asked about my musical background, I always tell people that I was raised on classic rock: The Beatles, The Who, Zeppelin, The Stones, The Doors, Pink Floyd, etc.

However, when you do listen to those stations, you'll always get the good music along with the stuff that makes you cringe. For me, that is Styx, REO Speedwagon and Foreigner among many others. But these days, I hear Talking Heads and U2 on such stations as well. So I guess it all just depends on what you're into.

 

[pub crawler]

Yeah, Foreigner, Journey, Styx, Steve Miller and Billy Squier all fit into the 'classic rock' category.

Simply put, it's rock from the 70's. The thing that cracks me up about classic rock radio stations, which first started appearing in the early '80's, is that they've been playing the EXACT SAME PLAYLIST for 20 years and they're still going strong (apparently).

One song you were/are guaranteed to hear on the L.A. classic rock station if you tuned in most days over the last 2 decades: Boston's "More Than a Feeling."

 

[Salome]

We have an all rock station and they do nothing to disprove the redneck ute owning piss in a can swilling cattle dog owning sheep rustling geneology.

I'm so going to move to Oz

 

[fah]

More classic rocks artists:
Cream, Traffic, Heart, Van Halen, Police, Moody Blues, Fleetwood Mac, The Doors and Deep Purple.
It seems that once the music is 20 years old, it becomes classic whether it is or not.

 

[Jack In The Box]

Traffic

Jefferson Airplane, too

 

[cass]

what can I say?

you have just about printed our songlist up there

I was around when those songs were released.
the spice of life.....**warm fuzzies**
I find it's the guys in suits you have to watch out for...

PS: I was almost going to buy that CD set for salome

 

[Hewson]

The definition of "classic rock" certainly does change over time. In Boston we have one of the U.S.' oldest "classic rock" stations in WZLX. When they started(around 22 yrs ago) it was a steady diet of Beatles, Stones, The Who, The Doors Lynyrd Skynrd etc.
Now U2 is a staple (Carter Alan , formerly of WBCN is now the mid morning DJ). They also play the Clash, Billy Idol and other bands who would have been "new wave" "punk" or some other designation 15-20 yrs ago. Its one of the reasons I hate labels and just prefer to call it all "rock".

 

[JessicaAnn]

Classic rock is not what you're thinking it it. My local classic rock station put togetehr their list of the top 96 classic rock albums and while I may not agree with some of the selections or the order, the list gives a good definition of what "classic rock" is.

(PS ... there's 96 albums because the station can be found at 96.5 on the FM dial)

Top 96

 

[meegannie]

AAAAHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOTEL CALIFORNIA!!!!

 

[Bono's shades]

I don't listen to the classic rock station where I live that much because it's pretty terrible, but I've noticed they tend to play a lot of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, BTO, Bad Company, Foreigner, Journey, Van Halen, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Rush and Bon Jovi. I even heard "Enter Sandman" by Metallica on their once, and that's a song from the early '90s! I guess they play it because it's metal rather than grunge or alternative.

I don't consider any of that stuff "classic" except for Led Zeppelin. I'm a lot more likely to hear "classic" stuff on the oldies sation, which plays Beatles, Doors, Cream and Rolling Stones songs in addition to Motown hits and rock and roll songs from the pre-Beatles era.

 

[theSoulfulMofo]

Classic stuff I listen to and would recommend:

Classic rock: Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix

"Classic" metal: Led Zeppelin

"Classic" punk: Velvet underground, the Clash, the Ramones

 

[IWasBored]

our classic rock station worships zeppelin. in fact, for 4 hours a night every single fucking day, that's all they play. and then they play atleast 2 songs every hour for the rest of the day. if i wanted to listen to them that often, i'd put on a cd.

i've heard some wierder stuff on other classic rock stations. pearl jam, ok...but rancid?? yeah that was just odd.

 

[shaun vox]

AC/DC

 

[pub crawler]

AC/DC's "Powerage"


I'm not much of a fan of the band except for that album.

 

[Salome]

you might want to give "Stiff Upper Lip" a try then

 

[U2Kitten]

Just because something is old doesn't make it classic, just like everything old isn't worthy of being sold in an antique store. It has to have certain quality, or value to enough people. It has to be loved by millions, whether or not you love it personally. For example, I know many more people who love Styx, REO, Journey and Boston than the Ramones or the Clash. More of their songs are played on the classic stations because people want to hear them. I recently found out that certain bands sell their songs to agencies that sell their songs in bulk to stations, which explains why so many of some and not much of others are heard. I always wondered why.

Right now, I'd like to punch whoever sold "We Are The Champions" to the Viagara commercial WHY?!

 

[verte76]

I really like some classic rock, like the Beatles, early Stones, Pink Floyd, Dylan, Hendrix. Some really sucks.

 

[jkayet]

Hmm....yeah, I guess a lot of the groups mentioned on here as 'classic rock' do fit that scary stereotype for me. That said, the classic rock station here plays a ton of Bob Dylan, the Beatles (which I agree, not really in MY 'classic rock' category), and Neil Young. I can almost be assured to hear 'Old Man' at least once a day. I suppose I do think of good people like Young, Dylan, Pink Floyd, the doors, etc as classic rock. And they're good, so... I think the location you are in matters. For instance, the classic rock listened to at the backwoods country bar down the road is surely SCARY.

 

[theSoulfulMofo]

20 years from now... numetal bands will be consider the classics.

 

[DiGi]

Jimi - I was actually just listening to Voodoo Child this morning actually. That double remasted set of 2 CD's is worth checking out megan.

 

[U2Kitten]

20 years from now... numetal bands will be consider the classics.

I don't think so. Like I said everything old isn't 'classic' it has to have some kind of value. But most music the last few years has been so bad I fear what, if anything will be classic

Seriously, you guys trashing those classic 70's bands have no idea, that was the good stuff back then! I was just a kid but I love Kansas and Boston and those kind of bands rocked! I mean there was some real shit out at the time, like disco, country crossover, cheesy, really cheesy pop and really corny ballads, stuff that would never even be made today it's so bad. Led Zeppelin had no album between 76 and 80. The Who put out Who's Next in 78 and then Keith Moon died. The Stones were really not that good at that point putting out disco crap like Black and Blue. They did hit big with Some Girls, but mostly the bands you speak of were either not a factor or not active for years so consider what it was up against at the time. You all glorify Clash and Ramones but back then nobody really heard of them. I remember when The Ramones did Rock and Roll High School back in '79 and everybody was like, who?? The Clash never hit until late 79 or early 80 and had 2 hits max in the US. I really believe history, especially Vh1, has given a distorted retrospect of the music scene in those days.

 

[U2Kitten]

I remember the little boys in my second grade all had KISS lunch boxes

Speaking of the really cheesy pop, when I was a kid I had 45's of "Undercover Angel" and "Heaven on the 7th Floor" now you don't know how good Kansas sounds next to that!

 

[Flying FuManchu]

I agree with U2Kitten in that the media probably does hype up the Clash and the Ramones too much and not give enough credit or attention to what was popular during the mid to late 70s... bands that fall into the classic rock genre. Foreigner, Boston, Peter Frampton, Ted Nugent, Cheap Trick, etc.

I bet the same will be done with a lot of the nu-metal bands and such which is such crap and to me a load of BS. You may not like nu-metal but it is part of the history of music and played a major part in America... to ignore it is just wrong especially since even what we opine as "bad music" influences some of our favorite artists.

Anyways...

in terms of 70s rock/ classic rock... I'm not a huge fan but I don't mind it and enjoy some of it. Boston's "More Than a Feeling" is just classic...

One thing that is enjoyable about classic rock is that they actually have guitar solos... Screw the attitude of "I don't believe in extended guitar solos b/c they don't add anything to song" or the "I don't believe in guitar solos going longer than a few bars" . 70s classic rock bands truly believed in the solo and chugged them out with no problem and they are fun. Wish more bands had that kind of attitude...

 

[U2Kitten]

Thank you Fu

Yes More Than a Feeling is a classic, one of the ten best rock anthems of all time. I can't stand to see so many good bands of the late 70's joked on because VH1 calls them 'corporate rock' and some people don't even give them a chance. I was raised on that stuff and personally love it. Cheap Trick is another, and The Cars, kind of the beginnings of new wave rock. There is a reason these bands are called 'classic' and are so loved and played 25 years later. Believe me, there was a lot of garbage around that has never hit th classic stations and never will. As time goes by the shit dissolves and the good stuff lives on.

 

[U2Kitten]

Oh, and YES is an amazing, talented, spacey, trippy band. They have some very beautiful songs, some very long, good quality stuff. They are very underappreciated probably because mostly all you hear on the radio is Roundabout and I've Seen All Good People. Listen to Fragile, The Yes Album, Close to the Edge, so much good stuff in their catalog. They are very talented and some of them are classically trained musicians. They have to be one of the most underrated classic bands. They're on their 35th anniversary tour this year and I wish I could go!