What's up with lousy bass on classic rock recordings?

I had the same reaction when I rebuilt my AR-LST speakers (which are pretty neutral)

Remember it was at this time that "hi fi" was at its zenith, cassette decks and eight tracks were how most people listened to music in cars

Most "hi fi" speakers of the day were pretty bass heavy, just about all amps/receivers had a "Loudness" button. and car stereos used those 6x9 speakers that had the Trunk to let the bass boom in the car.

When they did the mastering, they used a speaker that would emulate how their customers would listen to the music.

I am puzzled that with all the music of that era being remastered to take advantage of 30, 40, 50 year anniversaries opportunities to sell you the same music over and over why they don't fix that.   Maybe it's because everybody is listening on boomy Dr. Dre headphones these days?

Mapman

Color me confused - Not sure how I was blessed to be included in this thread not once but twice (I had never opened/read it prior to getting an email notice) but thanks for the info lol

I find the Diamond Stars Halo very well recorded with all the bass you can wish for.

Ditch the vinyl & streaming for cd versions of Van Halen 1 on DCC gold disc remastered by Steve Hoffman and for Who's Next The Mobile Fidelity Gold disc remastered on their 1st generation gain system. If you don't hear clean bass with good tone & definition, then your system needs some attention. From my experience, to properly reproduce those albums, you need a powerful amp with a minimum of 300 watts, large full range floor standing speakers & 2 more subwoofers & a high quality DAC.