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what is classic rock?

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jul 07 2014 11:57 AM Klassik Rawk 14

Nothing you didn't know, but now in modern, data-rich 538 detail. [url]http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-classic-rock-isnt-what-it-used-to-be/

Nymr83 Jul 07 2014 11:58 AM

Article from fivethirtyeight that I thought some people here might enjoy. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why ... sed-to-be/

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jul 07 2014 12:11 PM Re: what is classic rock?

Whoa, beat you by a few seconds. We need a merge!

d'Kong76 Jul 07 2014 12:40 PM Re: what is classic rock?

I think classic rock just ended for me when I watched this terrible video ... [youtube:3duoi0vf]wHXbi1bC9T4[/youtube:3duoi0vf]

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jul 07 2014 12:52 PM Re: what is classic rock?

I don't think "classic rock" even existed until the mid-80s; then it was just plain old "rock." They had to reinvent things once MTV established such a barrier between new and old. The word "classic" came into true prominence following the New Coke debacle which was 85 I think and became nice way to say something was old and/or aiming for an older demographic. I think originally the cutoff was right around that 1983 MTV line with some artist-based exceptions (Springsteen, Petty, Stones) and the goalposts have been moving since then.

Edgy MD Jul 07 2014 01:00 PM Re: what is classic rock?

Bands who peaked after 1980 but nonetheless qualified as classic rockers right from the getgo: [list:379jvfpi][*:379jvfpi]Heartbreakers[/*:m:379jvfpi] [*:379jvfpi]ZZ Top[/*:m:379jvfpi] [*:379jvfpi]Van Halen[/*:m:379jvfpi] [*:379jvfpi]Whitesnake[/*:m:379jvfpi] [*:379jvfpi]Um... .38 Special?[/*:m:379jvfpi] [*:379jvfpi]Rush[/*:m:379jvfpi] [*:379jvfpi]Def Leppard[/*:m:379jvfpi] [*:379jvfpi]Anybody else from Canada[/*:m:379jvfpi][/list:u:379jvfpi]

d'Kong76 Jul 07 2014 01:04 PM Re: what is classic rock?

U2 too?

metirish Jul 07 2014 01:34 PM Re: what is classic rock?

All those bands but christ anytime I tune into Q1043 it's the same staples they play....

Edgy MD Jul 07 2014 01:55 PM Re: what is classic rock?

d'Kong76 wrote: U2 too? I"m not sure if they were instantly classic rock. As Casey said, they were "from England who gives a shit?" Wasn't 'til Joshua Tree that the Bad Company set trusted 'em.

sharpie Jul 07 2014 02:54 PM Re: what is classic rock?

More from five thirty eight on the same subject which dovetails into another of today's popular threads http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the- ... ssic-rock/

Mets – Willets Point Jul 07 2014 03:09 PM Re: what is classic rock?

Seems to me that classic rock came into use in the mid-80s (I first heard it when WKTU became K-Rock, the same day as Live Aid). Before that there were Oldies stations that played rock music from the 1950s to mid-1960s. Classic rock seemed to come into existence when an audience became old enough to want to listen to rock from the mid-60s to late-70s, but the audience for Oldies radio stations would not have welcomed to the addition of that music. The definitions of classic rock and oldies seem to have shifted constantly since then.

Frayed Knot Jul 07 2014 04:22 PM Re: what is classic rock? Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jul 07 2014 06:26 PM

Mets – Willets Point wrote: Seems to me that classic rock came into use in the mid-80s (I first heard it when WKTU became K-Rock, the same day as Live Aid). Before that there were Oldies stations that played rock music from the 1950s to mid-1960s. Classic rock seemed to come into existence when an audience became old enough to want to listen to rock from the mid-60s to late-70s, but the audience for Oldies radio stations would not have welcomed to the addition of that music. The definitions of classic rock and oldies seem to have shifted constantly since then. I might date it more to the early '90s, but otherwise that's pretty much the way I remember it too. When WCBS-FM in NYC went to their 'Oldies' format it was (I believe) 1971 with source material which went pretty much from the birth of Rock & Roll (mid-50s) through the British invasion (about '64). IOW, their definition of 'Old' was as little as 7 years old and no more than 17. By the early 1990s, the rock outfits which were born as progressive/AOR, were leaning heavily on that era where the Oldies format left off: the Beatles through maybe the more new wave stuff circa 1980. By the time the 80s morphed into the 90s, those stations reluctant to get into the likes of Nirvana or Metallica so as to not turn off their increasingly older (hence: richer) demographic, eventually reached the point where they stopped pretending they had a pulse on newer music and adopted the 'Classic Rock' label which, considering they were mostly playing stuff even further in the rearview (lots of it 15 to nearly 30 years old) than what the Oldies station started out doing, was closer to truth in advertising than was pretending to still be AOR. Long Island's WLIR (for a time WDRE) by then had found their'New Music' niche which was taking up where the classic rock left off [think Elvis Costello and forward]. But a quarter century later they were still hanging on to the 'New Music' label even though 'New Music' no longer meant music that was new but rather music that played to the demographic from back when they first started. And on it goes.

G-Fafif Jul 07 2014 04:39 PM Re: what is classic rock?

I specifically remember June 1, 1987, as the day K-Rock went from just plain rock to Classic Rock. By the next spring I was hearing "Classic Rock" regularly in my travels. In the era of Coca-Cola Classic, it struck me an adjective was being overworked. Or was it just Takin' Care of Business? BTO knows...

Frayed Knot Jul 07 2014 07:23 PM Re: what is classic rock?

I remember coming up with the idea, years before classic rock radio came into being, where a station would play nothing but established R&R favorites as a promotion during a three-day weekend or something like that. Don't remember if I called it 'classic' or not, but it never occurred to me that some outfit would "steal" my idea and run with it on a 24/7 basis! Basically they took my idea and, by totally overdoing it, made it the most boring format yet devised.

Mets – Willets Point Jul 07 2014 08:28 PM Re: what is classic rock?

What kills me is that the boringness is due to limiting playlists to a handful of bands who get a dozen or so songs, and then a long tail of bands that get 1-2 songs. There's such a rich vein of great music (deep cuts by the bands they play and anything by the bands they ignore) left untapped by this format.

Frayed Knot Jul 07 2014 09:12 PM Re: what is classic rock? Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Jul 08 2014 06:06 AM

What the companies who bought into radio did once ownership rules were relaxed during the 80s (and then again in the ‘90s) was to over-market-research themselves into boringness rather than risk their highly leveraged investments by using some untried or even slightly experimental format. This was true especially in big cities (bigger markets = bigger investments w/bigger debt service) which had the odd effect of making NYC radio among the most homogenized anywhere. Their reasoning was fairly simple: If you were to take a survey of your target demographic asking each listener for, let's say, their ten favorite artists and five favorite songs from each, you’d wind up with a sizable database of songs. And while there’d certainly be some sort of variation on that list there’d also be lots of overlap. Then all you have to do is play the most requested songs—the "overlap" only, aka: the limited playlists you talk about—and you’d have the cover of hiding behind the claim that all you’re doing is giving the listeners exactly what they want. It’s essentially the same mindset ESPN uses. They reason that because football is the most popular sport then talking football 24/7/365 is what best serves their audience. What both fail to realize is that, while I may like hamburgers, I don't want to eat one every fucking day.

Edgy MD Jul 07 2014 09:20 PM Re: what is classic rock?

I have to say, I can't BELIEVE how boring Sirius can be. Two hunnert something channels and all narrowcast for a niche market with unsurprising playlists. WOW, you think. There's this SOUL TOWN station with classick soul from the sixties and seventies. That could be great. And then the same three O'Jays songs play every hour.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jul 07 2014 09:44 PM Re: what is classic rock?

Invisible airwaves crackle with life. Satellite signals in a closed system do not.

Vic Sage Jul 08 2014 11:34 AM Re: what is classic rock?

"Oldies" was a format i remember listening to as a kid in the late 60s-early 70s, which included early rock from 50s to early 60s. "Classic rock" came along as a formate in the mid-80s, and used to go from 60s Brit Invasion to 70s singer/songwriter & country-rock and heavy metal, through prog rock and power pop of late 70s. As stations moved into the 90s-00s, the format started including more punk/new wave of late 70s-early 80s, then the Indie and Grunge stuff of late 80s-early 90s. I don't think its moved much beyond that. I still think its core sound, even today, is mid-60s thru mid-80s. And while its the main format i listen to, the problem is as noted, that they are repetitive and shallow in their playlists. I'd much rather hear a deep cut than the same hit over and over again, and i can't imagine most listeners don't feel the same way. But you only get that kind of stuff with an indie station that has a real DJ.