There’s too much good stuff out there to abandon any genre, especially if it holds sentimental value. Those of us who saw the Dead or Pink Floyd live or got into hijinx while listening to classic rock as kids know it’s a time capsule to some mighty good times. I might not ingest the chemicals I did back then anymore, but the music still gives me a buzz! |
Tired of "Classic Rock"? Yes, and no. I still listen occasionally as it is the audio of my youth, but it's not all that otherwise, IMO. I listen to music that I would have hated in my youth quite often now. I like big band, Sinatra, some swing I suppose, some classical, and various other things. Listening too much to the same thing is like watching the same movie or TV show over and over again without a break. YMMV |
I tried satellite radio for a few years. The playlists are not very "Deep" as you guys say. For one example, I know no one who likes Kansas, unless they have albums. Just how many times can you only hear Dust in the Wind and Left Overture without learning to hate them? There are way too many really good, complete albums by many rock groups to give up, but jazz and classical have multitudes of varying music. Of course, you need tone controls for all the above, or like me, matching amp and preamp pairs to keep things in phase. Yes, I do measure my sub driver depth to align them with my 803's. |
I don't listen to "classic" rock much anymore. Heard it enough when it came out and have plenty of it on vinyl. But there's so much new music out there......amazing. And then we have some of the "classic rock" guys putting out solo stuff, think Gilmour and Plant for example, and the selection gets even bigger. We have 2 things that are better now than they've ever been......music selections and beer. As for Sirius/XM.......it's ok. Just ok. Sound quality is god-awful. The hosts, DJ's, presenters, whatever they want to call themselves are a damn nuisance. All they want to do is hear their own mouth. And "commercial free"? I don't think so. A commercial for yourself is still a commercial. Add in the mundane playlists and the overlapping stations.......no thanks. Wife likes it and has a lifetime script in her car but I'll let the trial expire in my truck. |
Yes I have for along time...It isn't that all classic rock is bad because there is a lot of great classic rock. The corporate owned stations that run the airways and their damn playlist have ruined that, if I ever hear Stairway to Heaven or Free bird again it would be too soon! The gentleman that mentioned K-SHE on here is right about that classic show but other than that you can hear the same crap at the same time daily and that is why I left that station years ago. The same corporation that owns that station owns all of St Louis radio except for the small guys and independents and ALL HAVE DAILY PLAYLIST! Thank god for independents out there and the actual DJ's that play none of the hits all of the time! Also there was a comment on here about nothing since the 80's worth hearing, sorry dude but you are missing a ton of great music and new artist out there! You just have to listen for them at the right place with out the commercials to boot! |
I have not intentionally listened to the radio in decades. So, whatever is over played I am not exposed to very often. I typically do not play the same CD in my house (or car) more than once a month or so. When I first buy a CD, I may play it 3 or 4 times before I catalog it. And many times I only play it once before I do. |
@michaelgreenaudioI have to disagree... If you look at Classic Rock in its composition....lyric...Improvisation of any solo which is mostly guitar or keys its set meaning it has little improvisation. Now this is still brilliant in its own right but it has a particular boundry it cannot cross before it loses its form..that said If you look at Jazz...one can listen to say Someday My Prince will Come and after the initial verse is played it becomes more than just one song as each artist as with Jazz gives his or hers own interpretation. I think its safe to say Rocks sheer bravado in its rhythm and lyrics can lose its lustre for some as we age. |
I guess music is fashion, but still, its a mystery to me how and why America has neglected the jazz. I can understand the influence of the media, the sex revolution and all the stuff that has changed in the society, all accompanied with ceratin changes in the music, but looking it from purely aesthetic or even better, from quality standards, majority of rock music is a just simple product made for teens. Todays nostalgia about it only shows that todays music is even worse. |
The problem is the catagorization. "Classic Rock" is something the radio stations came up with to market to a specific demographic (mostly boomers who were teenagers in the late sixties/seventies). "Album Oriented Rock" was the counter-category, and you could hear that late at night on small independent stations scattered throughout the country. While listening to back-to-back commercial hits might be enjoyable while driving or doing chores around the house, a much more engaging experience could be had listening to whole albums that were designed to be played in their entirety. The entire narrative sweep of an album can be taken in during a single listening session, and the individual songs have more depth and meaning within the context of the entire concept. "Classic Rock" formats just bother and distract me. If I can't sit down and listen to a whole album, I prefer soft jazz, "easy listening", or talk radio. Note: the iPod and other portable digital devices may have something to do with modern listening habits. The ease with which one can skip to the another song, or even worse just listen to a part of a song then move on, probably has something to do with the difficulty many have sitting down and listening to a whole album. This may be why younger people are discovering vinyl records, which tend to cause listeners to at least play a whole side. |
I stopped listening to music on the radio about 15 years ago and only listen to talk. I also play a wide variety of music genres that aren't rock and that's helped me begin to enjoy classic rock again. I've recently been buying up remasters on CD like Led Zeppelin and the Paper Sleeve Pink Floyd remasters and wow are they good. The secret for me is to stay away from almost all music outside of my home. If I'm at work and am working on something the allows me the time to throw earphones in, I will seek out an NPR Tiny Desk Concert or seek out a genre I'm unfamiliar with on the iHeart radio app or Amazon and try and discover a new artist. |
@alexatpos - I can offer a partial explanation in the States and that is the explosive growth of the music business as a youth-aimed product in the later ’60s, when record companies realized that all those kids who liked the ’new’ music were a huge market. That younger market had seen a shift from the big band era before WWII to the rock ’n roll (think early Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis) era in the ’50s, the first British invasion a la the Beatles and Stones and then, after Monterrey Pop, a whole range of sounds, bands, records and "life style" to be sold. Jazz had no real market in this environment, but what is interesting to me as we entered the ’70s is the re-emergence of some serious players in spiritual jazz scene, on private and small labels, merging jazz with Afro-centric, black power stuff that delved into funk, polyrhythms, eastern influences, gospel and soul. It wasn’t straight ahead jazz, but something very different, and had a socio-political aspect that spoke to the black experience in America during a period of social upheaval and raised consciousness in the communities. This stuff rekindled my interest in jazz in the last few years as a departure from straight ahead styles; it was, with few exceptions, not very well known or sold beyond the local communities where it grew-- Horace Tapscott in LA on Nimbus West, Tribe Records in Detroit, Strata East in New Jersey/New York. Some brilliant stuff, executed by some very well known players who turned inward when it became obvious that jazz was not a mainstream genre. Well worth exploring if you haven’t; I have found some great records from this era- Marchin’ On by The Heath Brothers, Earth Blossom by the John Betsch Society, and of course, Gil Scott Heron’s Winter in America, a sort of soulful lament of spoken word and Fender Rhodes. I can listen to this and so-called proto-metal (very heavy rock that anticipates the later heavy metal scene, without the cookie monster vocals or guitar shredding) and enjoy it all for what it offers from that era. |
Classic Rock to me is NOT a playlist on a radio station. It is a time in music from about 1966 to 1974 +/- a year or two where enormous amounts of really great music was made. It is not about hearing Stairway to Heaven every couple of hours, but rather mining amazing amounts of incredible music from a period of intense creativity. I was fortunate to live through it and experience much of it live, yet also discover many interesting artists via my friends. Back in the day, we all seemed to have a different favorite and sharing music among a large group of friends exposed me to the depth of many artists. Many substances were consumed and we all opened our minds to appreciate the favorites of others. It was a magical time, to say the least. I often reflect how lucky we were. You may be tired of the dull radio playlists, but do not confuse that with the richness of the music made. |
The best radio station in the country is WFMU. It is streamed and offers 3 streams from its website. The stream on WFMU Ichiban rock and soul stream is amazing, offering b sides, obscure recordings and one hit wonders and non-wonders that should have been. Also some very very unusual yet interesting cuts. the following is excerpted from the WFMU website: “Rolling Stone Magazine, The Village Voice, CMJ and the New York Press have all at one time or another called WFMU “the best radio station in the country” and the station has also been the subject of feature stories in The New York Times and on the BBC. In recent years the station has gained a large international following due its online operations and counts Simpson’s creator Matt Groening, film director Jim Jarmusch and Velvet Underground founder Lou Reed, among others, as devoted fans of the station.” I largely reduced my listening to R&R as the 70s dragged along. It’s mostly jazz music these days, but I’ll still listen to the stuff usually restricted to University stations back then, and stuff from my own collection, and of,course WFMU. I love their logo - a dog and a cow in silhouette, the dog barking woof and the cow braying mooo. WFMU! Follow the the following link. https://wfmu.org/ |
Schubert, were you always so "black and white", "yes and no", "right and wrong", things like that? I ask since I wonder if you were always like you appear to be now (and I am not trying to incite, or be critical, or to judge, please understand this), or did you come to these clear views you seem to have over time? I would like to know so I can potentially learn from you and try my best to be more understanding of others. |
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Is there really anthing "classic" about rock? Is there anything "classic" about playing old Motown records on a $8000 system? Rock was never "classic" and all the noisey thrashing is, well, mostly noise any bunch of 14 year olds in the garage can make. Radio jocks invented-hallucinated the notion so they could stack the stations with dated material. There is absolutely nothing "classic" about the clown car full of radio jocks jabbering endlessly about the pay-ola motivated classics as if they were works of art. It is mostly the crap you listened to when you were in high school. Pop music since the 1950s has been just that, pop. Classic POP is like a virgin birth. It is OK until you think about it. But hard rock and heavy metal do not call upon thought. At all. Ever. I think I will go down to my studio and put on some Qui with Trevor Dunn. Not a classic, just 21st century music in the 21st century. |
rcronk"Pop music since the 1950s has been just that, pop. Classic POP is like a virgin birth. It is OK until you think about it." This is an ignorant, vile, and hateful swipe at Christianity, one of the world's great religions and reveals a prejudice, bias, and arrogance towards those who's faith conflicts with your smug, self-righteous, and "superior" beliefs, to which you are entitled but to which you may not attack, inflict, or condemn others hear for believing contrary to yours. |
@clearthink. I find listening to Qui very Chaotic. However if that's what makes one soar, who am I to judge? I am I must admit a little puzzled why an individual would have a higher end system to listen to it's genre of music? It is to me a sonic assault that requires little resolution to deliver it's content. We must not forget Classic Rock is just that. A mass of material of a certain age that has been widely accepted and to which it has set certain standards in the music industry. It is a very succesful genre acheiving exactly what the artist intended when they wrote the songs....make no bones about it these artists wanted mass acceptance of the material. |
When I am being diplomatic I say music is subjective, something like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But some modern noises masquerading as 'music or poetry' is just pure shite. When someone mentions Classic Rock I think of Deep Purple, The Doors, not Tamla Motown or Soul Music and groups like Foo Fighters give rock a bad perception. However at the end of the day who cares about labels, just enjoy the music..... |
I'm with @whart . Surprised no one mentioned Moby Grape, or did I miss it? I also discovered Isis, an all girl band whose eponymous 1974 album is still one of my favorites, Aum, a great early San Francisco band, and Motherlode, a wierd blues-rock band listening to WNEW late at night. Who can discount the entire British invasion or the Supremes, Chiffons, Shangri-Las, Etc. I only recently discovered Gene Clark's solo country rock albums. I could go no for paragraphs. I don't understand why some snobs dedicated to Jazz and classical even read this thread, or why they feel obliged to trespass and put down genres that others love. I've never gone on a jazz thread and said "I don't believe anyone really enjoys Miles Davis. They're just trying to seem erudite." because I know that would be mean, petty, and offensive. Just start your own threads, please |
And just think, by the time we hit the nursing home, instead of Slim Whitman, they'll be playing Zep for us. (Pop culture reference there to Mars Attacks). They have some really good rules in these homes- like, if you've heard someone go into a rant you've heard before, you raise your hand. Also, if somebody drops dead next to you, you raise your hand. A friend said an oldster she knew had that experience, raised her hand, and when the attendant came over to see whether the oldster who plunked face down on the table still had a pulse, the hand-raiser whispered "Can I have her pudding?" Sometimes, life is funny. |
One of the problems is that “Classic Rock” to some is a boing redundant playlist from FM radio staiona all subscribing to the same source playing on a loop. For those who did not live back then and were not exposed to the breadth and depth of the talent that emerged, I would offer a number of albums to listen to end to end and experience albums where all of the tracks were good and many bordered on great. Traffic - Low Spark of High Heeled Boys Jethro Tull - Aqualung Big Brother and the Holding Company - Cheap Thrills There are SO many more, but those are proffered to open some doors and eyes to how good it was to be into music back then, not to mention with decent equipment for the times |
I do get tired of certain classic rock songs but then rediscover them again several years later with a different setup that make them sound fresh again. I especially appreciate some classic rock as compared to some newer popular music that became a hit because some exec decided they could sell records with the hook even though the band sucked. (tons of those) Bands like Queen, Styx and other classic rock bands rightfully deserve their place as greats because they broke the mold in many ways (ie. Bohemian Rhapsody) I am trying o now discover music that I did not know about before that gives me that same emotional response. I am amazed at how some old metal still gives me that excitement while others seems absolutely juvenile even though it was my jam in high school. lol |
It's amazing how many of my seniors (17-18 years old) are still steeped in classic rock. Maybe because the Gen X and Baby Boomer generations are i such positions that they can use those tunes in all sorts of media consumed by the younger generations, but maybe also because many of those classic rock tunes have a simple staying power than much of Gen Z knows is missing from the 21 Savages and Cardi B's of today. |
Nice interesting thread, my take, right or wrong, is that classic rock will live on forever. No, not the overplayed crowd pleasing mediocre at best crap but the stuff that remained unplayed over the airwaves. During the "classic rock" era musicians pushed the envelope of possibilities, experimented and rocked the world. Hendix, CSN, ELP, Sabbath etc, etc opened a whole new world. A favored part of listening to classic rock is the discovery of great work by artists which were never played over the air. This is also one of the reasons I prefer LP over any other kind of medium. It forces me to listen to the entire side as I'm too lazy to get up and try to skip a track. I discovered many awesome tracks that way. Sure, there are also duds that I never could get into but overall the experience is positive. Deep tracks are in your collections regardless of medium. You just have to stop yourself from skipping works that may initially not appeal to you. You can never get that kind of variety from any OTA, or paid service. Enjoy the music, today's new will be tomorrow's classic. |
Just seeing the thread title, inspired a random pull of 6 albums to play during dinner and decompression time before bed. I'm in record snob, anti reissue mode too... Period wax. Just no Brit presses to make it real pretentious, since all but one group are British. Played kinda loud- one side of each, except the Stones Yes-Close to the Edge(needs a good cleaning, a little stitchy in I Get Up, I Get Down) Pink Floyd- Animals Traffic-John Barleycorn Must Die King Crimsom-In the Court of the Crimsom King Rolling Stones-side 1&2 of Exile on Main Street. Steely Dan-Pretzel Logic(black label) CLASSIC ROCK, CLASSIC ROCK, CLASSIC ROCK, CLASSIC ROCK Some of the cuts ARE played out. Also, the recordings may not be audio geek quality, but If you have a clean copy, and your system is up to the task,the music takes over. |
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I did when listening to the same loop on my memory stick and a few local stations.Then playing around with different antennas on my mr78 I found a fringe station from ft bragg (kozt) they now are streamed most everyplace save for in the shop or yard (where I have clear air toward transmitter) as I like to hear it that way.Hearing non mainstream rock from 60's and newer stuff from them is captivating. |
It’s funny. I have gotten so when I hear a classic rock song come on the radio that I really like I instantly change the station to avoid jadednous (not a word i know). I want to play that song on my system when I want to hear it. My buddy has XM deep cuts on his truck radio and I am always surprised with old deep cuts I have not heard in some time. SQ is fine on a truck radio. I find myself today listening to RadioParadise for a most eclectic mix of music and it plays FLAC. When I hear something I really like then I am off to my music service in search of. Classic Rock will never die for me (its a time capsule) but it has certainly been moved back in priority by all the other great music out there in the wild. Note; As I wrote the above Steve Miller Fly Like an Eagle came on RP. Dont play that song on my system much so I cranked it....... and it was good. |
Thanks to the internet I keep discovering new things with old classic R&R: Bridge of Sighs has been the go to album when listening to Trower. But only recently did I discover that on his 1977 album In City Dreams he added Rustee Allen from Sly and the Family Stone for a distinctive funk beat. Then again Allen again on Caravan to Midnight and also adding Brazilian percussionist Paulinho da Costa. Have you ever heard Trower's I'm Out To Get You on the radio? Been streaming both those albums and will now keep a look out for those 2 at my local used vinyl store. |
Obviously, the term "classic rock" means different things to different people. But, yeah, hearing the same overplayed top 40 recycled over and over can be tiresome. Underground/alternative radio is gone, but you can still hunt that stuff on the internet. Creedence is a great band, but all they ever play is "Bad Moon Rising". This seems to be the case for other groups as well. Who runs those damn stations anyway? FM is dead - wanna buy a tuner? |
