Why Classic Rock Isn’t What It Used To Be

GuitarMonkey

Interesting analysis of how US Classic Rock stations decide what to play.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-classic-rock-isnt-what-it-used-to-be/

ICBM

Maybe I'm out of touch, but I don't consider any music from later than the early 80s at most to be classic rock unless the band is deliberately retro. Some of the bands they're calling 'classic rock' there would probably be appalled by being labeled as such, they started as a reaction against classic/clichéd rock music - and that hasn't changed just because they're now pushing thirty years old, any more than the Sex Pistols are classic rock.

I see classic rock as being like Classical music (the proper meaning of it - late 18th/early 19th-century, not just 'serious orchestral music') - great music which is still good to listen to and play, but which is no longer current and does not evolve with time. But I'll take my pretentious hat off now .

EricTheWeary

There is a core there of stuff that could be described as Classic Rock without much quibble and then the stuff around that their listeners also like. Roughly the same mix as Planet Rock in the UK or the content of Classic Rock magazine. Pretty much what I would have guessed, I'm struggling to see the controversy.
My son, for example, is quite a big Green Day fan but he has access to pretty much everything at the flick of a mouse to so they are interchangable with Led Zep or the Clash to him. It's all guitar rock, it's not tied down to any period for him, the differences are only important to those standing very close.
Slightly more worried who thinks Billy Joel is rock though...

hywelg

The definition of the term 'Classic Rock' has to change with time.

If its 'rock' (and thats another definition that needs some tightening up IMO, in one of the lists in the above linked page I found Simple Minds!! and ffsThe Hollies ) and it has endured through time, then it should be considered 'Classic' .

However you cannot allow one cohort to define it because classic rock will always be the sounds  a person grew up with (if indeed they were listening to rock at all) and influenced their music listening choices.

Danny1969

It makes you realize how a band is defined by it's sound and what was happening at the time ...... but only the sound survives. The work experience kid here just thinks of the sex pistols as another bit of rock, one with an annoying voice but then he thinks the same of Jake Bugg and Rush. All the stuff we remember that defined the pistols is gone, it's only the sound of the records and they sound like any other guitar based band to a youngster

And Nirvana : they might have wanted to be all punk and grungy but as soon as they started double tracking guitars and vocals. putting pretty harmonies on and getting Andy Wallace to add some samples for that killer drum sound they end up sounding like Def Leppard to a 15 year old when he listens 20 years later

not_the_dj

It used to make it easier for record stores to arrange their shelves, I suppose the modern equivalent is how the itunes genre terms work, so it's nice and simple and it doesn't matter what the 'proper' meaning of the terms are. Classical music is what orchestras play, and classic rock is what (mostly) white guys with guitars play.

axisus

Classic rock was a descriptive term originally, in the same way that progressive rock was. They are now both terms that describe a type of music, prog being long tracks with varying time signatures etc, and Classic rock guitar driven songs. I'm fine with that.

scrumhalf

I suppose this just shows what we've always knonw, that music in the US is generally a bit "softer" than in the UK. I mean, the likes of Kansas and Styx are poppier than TRex and The Sweet.

Jalapeno

I still mourn the demise of the category "Underground" .....

EricTheWeary said:

There is a core there of stuff that could be described as Classic Rock without much quibble and then the stuff around that their listeners also like. Roughly the same mix as Planet Rock in the UK or the content of Classic Rock magazine. Pretty much what I would have guessed, I'm struggling to see the controversy.
My son, for example, is quite a big Green Day fan but he has access to pretty much everything at the flick of a mouse to so they are interchangable with Led Zep or the Clash to him. It's all guitar rock, it's not tied down to any period for him, the differences are only important to those standing very close.
Slightly more worried who thinks Billy Joel is rock though...

Have a Wisdom ! For me Classic Rock is a beast of the 1970s, denim wearing types, not to be confused with the Poodle/Lycra driven 80s Glam re-run ( )  

mudslide73

Which band is the definition of Classic Rock then? Like Sabbath are the definition of Heavy Metal to me... I mean, they are HM.

 

GuitarMonkey

mudslide73 said:

Which band is the definition of Classic Rock then? 

For me it probably has to be Free, I think.

Jalapeno

GuitarMonkey said:

mudslide73 said:

Which band is the definition of Classic Rock then? 

For me it probably has to be Free, I think.

Word.

mudslide73

I agree with this too.

octatonic

Not as bad a Kerrang are though.

Endless playlists of bands that are Blink 182 or sound like Blink 182 and bands that are Arcade Fire or sound like Arcade Fire.

I cannot stands it anymore.

mike_l

octatonic;288075" said:

Not as bad a Kerrang are though.Endless playlists of bands that are Blink 182 or sound like Blink 182 and bands that are Arcade Fire or sound like Arcade Fire.

I cannot stands it anymore.

You is not home with the homers, or whatever the kids say

sted

Well, I guess there was "Rock" and then there was "Modern Rock" so normal "Rock" became "Classic Rock" but now there's "Metal" which used to be also "Rock" until Normal (Classic) Rock became too sedate to be called "Metal" but of course then came "Nu-metal" which meant that old "Metal" (formerly known as rock but now classic rock) actually became "Heavy Rock"...so...erm....yeah......derp.

DulcetJones

I suspect a lot of it is driven by radio stations and their need to stay relevant.  Some local "classic rock " stations here have been blurring the lines lately with anything that's over 20 years old, and I do mean anything.  You can hear Bryan Adams, Judas Priest, The Clash and Nirvana all in one set.  I don't tune in much anymore, they all seem to include far too much AD/DC and Guns and Roses for my taste, I did used to like both of those bands but I have heard them too much for now. 

vasselmeyer

To me "Classic Rock" is a genre, not a period. I'd classify Rival Sons and The Stone Electric and possible Buckcherry as classic rock. Even though they're been around a long time, I certainly wouldn't include bands that play in a Metallica-influenced style such as Korn in the genre, even though they've been around at least twenty years.