An interesting question. If we are using the word “rock” literally, we must discount The Byrds I suppose. And possibly the Cars. But I have always thought G and R were second division Aerosmith with a whining singer, whereas the Cars wote some classic tunes, so I couldn’t possibly dump Cars over G n R! The only certainties as classic rock here are Beatles and U2, by virtue of longevity of success and relative consistency at the top of their game. but what the hell do I know? I’m just a musician! :-)
Background: Here in KC, we’ve got a new radio station whose tag line is “Quality Rock”. It’s mostly your standard classic rock fare, but they do throw in some new-wave stuff from the 70s and 80s like the Talking Heads and REM.
What makes them better than most, though, is that they play deep cuts off of albums, not just the two or three songs you always hear from certain bands. It’s kind of a throw back to the old AOR radio days.
Back to the topic, this new station which I’ve been enjoying more than I thought I would insists that Buffet falls into the “Quality Rock” spectrum. More often than not, I’m subjected to a crappy Buffet song sandwiched in between some great old Who song I hadn’t heard in years and a new REM song (which is great, btw).
So I vote for Buffet. I spent most of my rock-listening life avoiding him, and now the only decent commercial station in KC plays him all the time.
Jimmy Buffet: Mellow, but not smooth… kinda shitty.
Man thats a great tagline! needless to say, when I was schlepping around Caribbean parts for the best part of two years, I couldn’t avoid the guy…Constantly hearing “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere” which, upon hearing your tale of woe Dave, should be re-named “it’s buffet-time somewhere”… Jimmy Buffet may be many things. Quality rock, classic or otherwise, is NOT one of them!
It’s not really a tale of woe, though. Aside from a few amiss choices, this new station’s play list is pretty good. If they’d just drop the Buffet… and the Bob Seger.
Hey, that’s another one for non-classic rock! Another write-in vote for Bob Seger!
This was a tough one Newms. For what it’s worth I voted for the Cars, and here’s why: it was between GnR, Crue and the Cars for me because these three bands are all more or less contemporaneous (80s prominence), but I would consider the Cars to be the least “rock” of these three. But also the best. To me the evolution of the Cars sound can be found in bands like Weezer, New Pornographers, etc., much more “pop” and “alternative” sounds, whereas the Crue and GnR influences show up more, for better or worse, in modern crappy cock rock a la Three Doors Down or whatever.
U2, also contemporaneous, gets accorded classic status due to longevity and relevance. Was never a fanatic by any means but their influence has been huge in alternative and mainstream rock for sure.
I can’t really stand up for Mr. Seger…he’s like Kenny Rogers with louder guitars, isn’t he? :-) oh, wait a minute…he wrote the classic Thin Lizzy anthem Rosalie!!! he gets off on a technicality!!
What everybody thinks is classic rock is stupid. How is Motley Crue Classic rock.. you listen to their old music and it doesn’t even sound old. You listen to the beatles and it sounds classic. I would say that the classic music is the music that you never get tired of.. Except for Led Zepplin and Def Leopard, (which aren’t classic rock because they are very annoying!!!!) Alice took this radio job so that he could play those that you never hear or get to hear and he’s been playing songs that you can turn into ANY classic rock station and HEAR def leopard and hear Led Zepplin.. That ain’t playing music we’ve never heard… most days and 90% of the time he plays the same music everyone else plays on these classic rock stations. Or perhaps it’s 95% of the time it’s the same music.. OH and not to mention Rod Stewart is VERY annoying.. I’m tired of hearing Rod Stewart, I don’t consider him classic rock, it’s quite annoying hearing Meggie every day… quite annoying just hearing it at all! It’s as annoying as the neighbor’s son next door playing his damn boom box again.. Which if it wasn’t such a pain in the ass to drag my stereo out of my room, I’d do it and take it outside and blast it toward him.. WITH Along Came A Spider playing.
Wow, there’s some anger there! I love the ironic way you spell “leopard” in a grammatically correct way, but not how “Leppard” spell it, then spell Zeppelin “Zepplin” !!! You kind of blow it by saying Def leppard and Led Zeppelin aren’t classic rock “because they’re very annoying”. Mmmm…the youth of the nation speaks…
there are so many grps that qualify as classic rock according to the age of the grp.. i personally believe, that in order to keep their standing on that or any list, the grp must contribute new music to their rep’s at least every two yrs.. if its all just remastered and there is nothing new they should lose their standing.. no one likes being retired in place..so, the challenge is write new music and perform it.. because, notice this, kiss should be on that list and they aren’t there.. shoulda,woulda,coulda….cloey
Maybe I take too restricted a view of what is Classic Rock. I don’t consider any of these groups Classic Rock. That’s not to say they aren’t classic in some other sense or other (sub)genre. Trooper, April Wine, Eagles kind of flirt with it, Stones in their early middle years, Sweet (on Desolation Blvd) are Classic Rock. Like the Eagles, Bob Seeger kind of rubs up against it. I like Buffet, but it’s not Classic Rock.
U2 – too new wave rock.
GnR, Motley Crue – too heavy/glam.
Beatles, Byrds – too rock ‘n’ roll/folky.
Cars – too new wave.
It’s an endless debate, Eric, thats for sure…as a member of the late Brian Connolly’s Sweet, I don’t think the band could ever be hailed as classic rock on the basis of one album. The style of the band morphed from bubblegum to glam to straight ahead rock, of which their predominant genre – that is to say, the one in which they enjoyed the most success – was Glam. From a world standpoint, although I’m aware of and like April Wine, they didn’t make a big enough impression to be classed as classic – and Trooper are just plain obscure outside of the States. Off the top of my head, Toto, Styx, Boston, Kansas, Foreigner – they’re the sort of bands I would categorise as classic rock, though the “subdivisionists” would probably just call it AOR. I need a lie down…..
Just to clarify something, kevmoore: I don’t consider Sweet to be a Classic Rock band (I tend to view them as bubblegum glam/metal), rather Desolation Blvd is a Classic Rock album. On a personal note, I view that album as one of two brilliant albums that are greater than the sum of their great parts. The other is, of course, Welcome to My Nightmare.
I agree with your list of bands, though Foreigner kind of pushes the envelope for me at times. Not a bad thing. There is more great music than Classic Rock.
Certainly with you on Nightmare, Eric! I know what you mean about Foreigner – the same fate befell them that befell many similar bands, namely (particularly in the UK) they could only achieve chart success with “the big ballad” . The most extreme example of this was er…Extreme. I often imagined the thousands of girly ballad lovers and grandmas who bought the CD on the strength of “more than Words” getting home and being told to “GET THE FUNK OUT!”
Kirkr , at the time of this comment, I’m stunned that the Beatles have attracted more votes for NOT being classic rock than Guns n roses and The Cars!! The Cars in the UK were classed as new wave! Just because “Drive” was an AOR 80′s hit ballad does not maketh the band Classic Rock. The Byrds…wasn’t that like doped country rock?? they covered Tambourine man…is Dylan classic rock??? But, when we live in a time where genres are hijacked…”GARAGE” used to be about bands that rehearsed in a garage, now its just lame, ideas-free dance music – Rn B used to be Rhythm n Blues , now its any underwhelming black chick warbling thru 8 octaves over a computer generated back beat, with some dude going “yo” every minute or so…..aaaargh!
October 19th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
An interesting question. If we are using the word “rock” literally, we must discount The Byrds I suppose. And possibly the Cars. But I have always thought G and R were second division Aerosmith with a whining singer, whereas the Cars wote some classic tunes, so I couldn’t possibly dump Cars over G n R! The only certainties as classic rock here are Beatles and U2, by virtue of longevity of success and relative consistency at the top of their game. but what the hell do I know? I’m just a musician! :-)
October 19th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I’d like to write in a vote for Jimmy Buffet.
Background: Here in KC, we’ve got a new radio station whose tag line is “Quality Rock”. It’s mostly your standard classic rock fare, but they do throw in some new-wave stuff from the 70s and 80s like the Talking Heads and REM.
What makes them better than most, though, is that they play deep cuts off of albums, not just the two or three songs you always hear from certain bands. It’s kind of a throw back to the old AOR radio days.
Back to the topic, this new station which I’ve been enjoying more than I thought I would insists that Buffet falls into the “Quality Rock” spectrum. More often than not, I’m subjected to a crappy Buffet song sandwiched in between some great old Who song I hadn’t heard in years and a new REM song (which is great, btw).
So I vote for Buffet. I spent most of my rock-listening life avoiding him, and now the only decent commercial station in KC plays him all the time.
Jimmy Buffet: Mellow, but not smooth… kinda shitty.
October 19th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Man thats a great tagline! needless to say, when I was schlepping around Caribbean parts for the best part of two years, I couldn’t avoid the guy…Constantly hearing “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere” which, upon hearing your tale of woe Dave, should be re-named “it’s buffet-time somewhere”… Jimmy Buffet may be many things. Quality rock, classic or otherwise, is NOT one of them!
October 20th, 2008 at 2:06 am
Thanks, kev, the appeal of Buffet is confusing.
It’s not really a tale of woe, though. Aside from a few amiss choices, this new station’s play list is pretty good. If they’d just drop the Buffet… and the Bob Seger.
Hey, that’s another one for non-classic rock! Another write-in vote for Bob Seger!
October 20th, 2008 at 2:09 am
This was a tough one Newms. For what it’s worth I voted for the Cars, and here’s why: it was between GnR, Crue and the Cars for me because these three bands are all more or less contemporaneous (80s prominence), but I would consider the Cars to be the least “rock” of these three. But also the best. To me the evolution of the Cars sound can be found in bands like Weezer, New Pornographers, etc., much more “pop” and “alternative” sounds, whereas the Crue and GnR influences show up more, for better or worse, in modern crappy cock rock a la Three Doors Down or whatever.
U2, also contemporaneous, gets accorded classic status due to longevity and relevance. Was never a fanatic by any means but their influence has been huge in alternative and mainstream rock for sure.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:10 am
Second the Bob Seger, fuckin’ hate that guy.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Wow. Anyone gonna get Bob’s back here? I gotta agree with Dave though…Buffet’s hard to deal with.
Interesting results so far…Motley Crue is losing big time, and the Beatles and the Cars seem to be the most worthy of their classic rock status.
October 20th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I can’t really stand up for Mr. Seger…he’s like Kenny Rogers with louder guitars, isn’t he? :-) oh, wait a minute…he wrote the classic Thin Lizzy anthem Rosalie!!! he gets off on a technicality!!
October 20th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
[...] Dig Pics Non-Classic Rock [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 4:31 pm
What everybody thinks is classic rock is stupid. How is Motley Crue Classic rock.. you listen to their old music and it doesn’t even sound old. You listen to the beatles and it sounds classic. I would say that the classic music is the music that you never get tired of.. Except for Led Zepplin and Def Leopard, (which aren’t classic rock because they are very annoying!!!!) Alice took this radio job so that he could play those that you never hear or get to hear and he’s been playing songs that you can turn into ANY classic rock station and HEAR def leopard and hear Led Zepplin.. That ain’t playing music we’ve never heard… most days and 90% of the time he plays the same music everyone else plays on these classic rock stations. Or perhaps it’s 95% of the time it’s the same music.. OH and not to mention Rod Stewart is VERY annoying.. I’m tired of hearing Rod Stewart, I don’t consider him classic rock, it’s quite annoying hearing Meggie every day… quite annoying just hearing it at all! It’s as annoying as the neighbor’s son next door playing his damn boom box again.. Which if it wasn’t such a pain in the ass to drag my stereo out of my room, I’d do it and take it outside and blast it toward him.. WITH Along Came A Spider playing.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Wow, there’s some anger there! I love the ironic way you spell “leopard” in a grammatically correct way, but not how “Leppard” spell it, then spell Zeppelin “Zepplin” !!! You kind of blow it by saying Def leppard and Led Zeppelin aren’t classic rock “because they’re very annoying”. Mmmm…the youth of the nation speaks…
October 21st, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Yeah, wowzers!
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:05 am
60S, 70S, EARLY 80S METAL, NO HAIR
PS…ALONG CAME A SPIDER ROCKS HARD
October 24th, 2008 at 1:27 am
That is a tough one.
G N R and Motley Crue are 80′s bands so I wouldn’t consider them.
Even less U2, seeing as they where around in the 80′s but have gained more fame over the years.
The one that could classify the most is: The Beatles.
Only the Beatles and the Byrds and maybe the Cars I would label as “Classic Rock”
October 24th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
there are so many grps that qualify as classic rock according to the age of the grp.. i personally believe, that in order to keep their standing on that or any list, the grp must contribute new music to their rep’s at least every two yrs.. if its all just remastered and there is nothing new they should lose their standing.. no one likes being retired in place..so, the challenge is write new music and perform it.. because, notice this, kiss should be on that list and they aren’t there.. shoulda,woulda,coulda….cloey
October 25th, 2008 at 6:38 am
Maybe I take too restricted a view of what is Classic Rock. I don’t consider any of these groups Classic Rock. That’s not to say they aren’t classic in some other sense or other (sub)genre. Trooper, April Wine, Eagles kind of flirt with it, Stones in their early middle years, Sweet (on Desolation Blvd) are Classic Rock. Like the Eagles, Bob Seeger kind of rubs up against it. I like Buffet, but it’s not Classic Rock.
U2 – too new wave rock.
GnR, Motley Crue – too heavy/glam.
Beatles, Byrds – too rock ‘n’ roll/folky.
Cars – too new wave.
All great, but not Classic Rock.
October 25th, 2008 at 9:41 am
It’s an endless debate, Eric, thats for sure…as a member of the late Brian Connolly’s Sweet, I don’t think the band could ever be hailed as classic rock on the basis of one album. The style of the band morphed from bubblegum to glam to straight ahead rock, of which their predominant genre – that is to say, the one in which they enjoyed the most success – was Glam. From a world standpoint, although I’m aware of and like April Wine, they didn’t make a big enough impression to be classed as classic – and Trooper are just plain obscure outside of the States. Off the top of my head, Toto, Styx, Boston, Kansas, Foreigner – they’re the sort of bands I would categorise as classic rock, though the “subdivisionists” would probably just call it AOR. I need a lie down…..
October 26th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Just to clarify something, kevmoore: I don’t consider Sweet to be a Classic Rock band (I tend to view them as bubblegum glam/metal), rather Desolation Blvd is a Classic Rock album. On a personal note, I view that album as one of two brilliant albums that are greater than the sum of their great parts. The other is, of course, Welcome to My Nightmare.
I agree with your list of bands, though Foreigner kind of pushes the envelope for me at times. Not a bad thing. There is more great music than Classic Rock.
October 27th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Certainly with you on Nightmare, Eric! I know what you mean about Foreigner – the same fate befell them that befell many similar bands, namely (particularly in the UK) they could only achieve chart success with “the big ballad” . The most extreme example of this was er…Extreme. I often imagined the thousands of girly ballad lovers and grandmas who bought the CD on the strength of “more than Words” getting home and being told to “GET THE FUNK OUT!”
October 30th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Great idea for a poll. Thanks Newmradio.
Can someone explain to me how the Beatles are not classic rock. Didn’t they invent it?
October 30th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Kirkr , at the time of this comment, I’m stunned that the Beatles have attracted more votes for NOT being classic rock than Guns n roses and The Cars!! The Cars in the UK were classed as new wave! Just because “Drive” was an AOR 80′s hit ballad does not maketh the band Classic Rock. The Byrds…wasn’t that like doped country rock?? they covered Tambourine man…is Dylan classic rock??? But, when we live in a time where genres are hijacked…”GARAGE” used to be about bands that rehearsed in a garage, now its just lame, ideas-free dance music – Rn B used to be Rhythm n Blues , now its any underwhelming black chick warbling thru 8 octaves over a computer generated back beat, with some dude going “yo” every minute or so…..aaaargh!
October 31st, 2008 at 12:35 am
kevmoore, clearly you have a very refined taste in music.
Cheers
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.