What is the date range of "Classic Rock"?
March 16, 2008 6:12 PM Subscribe
What is the date range of "Classic Rock"?
I listen to a "classic rock" radio station at work here in Seattle. I began trying to identify the age range of the songs. As far as I can tell, 1965 seems to be the beginning, with the Zombie's US release of She's Not There. Several Police songs from the early 1980's seem to define the upper date range.
My guess is that other radio stations in other cities have a different definition of "classic rock", and may include earlier and/or later songs than what we have here in Seattle.
Do other radio stations define "classic rock" by a different date range?
I listen to a "classic rock" radio station at work here in Seattle. I began trying to identify the age range of the songs. As far as I can tell, 1965 seems to be the beginning, with the Zombie's US release of She's Not There. Several Police songs from the early 1980's seem to define the upper date range.
My guess is that other radio stations in other cities have a different definition of "classic rock", and may include earlier and/or later songs than what we have here in Seattle.
Do other radio stations define "classic rock" by a different date range?
I would say that 1965 to 1985 pretty much defines it, but I think that applies to when the bands started and/or became popular. I think the era is extended by bands who continued to write new music in the same genre for several years after '85, even to the current day.
posted by Doohickie at 6:22 PM on March 16, 2008
posted by Doohickie at 6:22 PM on March 16, 2008
wikipedia gives the classic rock era as 1964-1975. Commercial radio stations will play what they think their listeners want to hear, so "classic rock" radio may well include songs outside of that date range, but calling everything from 1955-1995 "classic rock" renders the term basically meaningless. Led Zeppelin broke up in 1980, and I'd say that's a pretty good milestone.
posted by ludwig_van at 6:35 PM on March 16, 2008
posted by ludwig_van at 6:35 PM on March 16, 2008
My local classic rock station plays Def Leppard regularly. 10 years from now we'll be hearing Nirvana on classic rock stations.
posted by COD at 6:49 PM on March 16, 2008
posted by COD at 6:49 PM on March 16, 2008
Not tottally an answer, but an observation that what is considered "classic" is always changing. Just check out Jack FM a radio format that plays "new oldies" (a term of derision not advocated by the format's marketers)...
Interesting read here from 2005:
You Don't Know "Jack" - On Friday afternoon, WCBS-FM in New York, home of legendary DJ Cousin Brucie, fired all of its on-air talent and dumped the "oldies" format in favor of the latest flavor in radio programming, known as "Jack" radio (I've also seen and heard it around the country called Ben radio and Dave radio--whatever radio consultant cooked up the naming idea deserves a special place in hell).
The idea is to replicate your iPod on shuffle. The station expands the playlist from about 400-500 songs to 1,200, goes from one format to having elements of about 10 formats, cuts down the chatter--the new Jack-FM has no DJs--and hopes to fend off you turning off your car radio in favor of whatever podcast you just downloaded.
posted by wfrgms at 6:55 PM on March 16, 2008
Interesting read here from 2005:
You Don't Know "Jack" - On Friday afternoon, WCBS-FM in New York, home of legendary DJ Cousin Brucie, fired all of its on-air talent and dumped the "oldies" format in favor of the latest flavor in radio programming, known as "Jack" radio (I've also seen and heard it around the country called Ben radio and Dave radio--whatever radio consultant cooked up the naming idea deserves a special place in hell).
The idea is to replicate your iPod on shuffle. The station expands the playlist from about 400-500 songs to 1,200, goes from one format to having elements of about 10 formats, cuts down the chatter--the new Jack-FM has no DJs--and hopes to fend off you turning off your car radio in favor of whatever podcast you just downloaded.
posted by wfrgms at 6:55 PM on March 16, 2008
Here's a pretty good definition from About.com:
If you think it's classic rock, put it to this test:
* When was it recorded? If it was within the past 15-20 years, it hasn’t been around long enough to be considered classic, no matter how big a hit it was or who recorded it. On the other hand, the mere fact that it was recorded 30 years ago doesn’t automatically mean it’s considered classic.
* How big a hit was it? It may have been a personal favorite of yours, but in order to qualify as classic, it has to have been the personal favorite of a few million of your closest friends, too.
* Who recorded it? This will no doubt be a factor in how big a hit it was, but if only one or two songs from a particular album were widely accepted, it isn’t likely the artist or group falls into the classic category.
* Can you still hear it on the radio and find it in the record store? Purple People Eater may have been a huge hit in 1958, but you won't hear it on a classic rock station today. As with automobiles, there’s a big difference between classic and antique.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:58 PM on March 16, 2008
If you think it's classic rock, put it to this test:
* When was it recorded? If it was within the past 15-20 years, it hasn’t been around long enough to be considered classic, no matter how big a hit it was or who recorded it. On the other hand, the mere fact that it was recorded 30 years ago doesn’t automatically mean it’s considered classic.
* How big a hit was it? It may have been a personal favorite of yours, but in order to qualify as classic, it has to have been the personal favorite of a few million of your closest friends, too.
* Who recorded it? This will no doubt be a factor in how big a hit it was, but if only one or two songs from a particular album were widely accepted, it isn’t likely the artist or group falls into the classic category.
* Can you still hear it on the radio and find it in the record store? Purple People Eater may have been a huge hit in 1958, but you won't hear it on a classic rock station today. As with automobiles, there’s a big difference between classic and antique.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:58 PM on March 16, 2008
1965 - 1980. But areas with a younger demographic, like mine, will sometimes play stuff from 1995. But anything from 1985 - 1995 is debatable.
I've considered switching to the oldies station frequently now that Soul Asylum is considered "classic."
posted by willie11 at 6:59 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
I've considered switching to the oldies station frequently now that Soul Asylum is considered "classic."
posted by willie11 at 6:59 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
I heard REM's "Everybody Hurts" on a self-proclaimed classic rock station last weekend, so I think that the term has been completely watered down as to be meaningless.
When I was a teenager in the mid-eighties, classic rock stations wouldn't have been caught dead playing anything post-1979. Also, no new wave, no punk, and obviously no disco. Some Queen and the very earliest Police were okay. But Zeppelin and Skynard were pretty much the ne plus ultra.
posted by desuetude at 7:00 PM on March 16, 2008
When I was a teenager in the mid-eighties, classic rock stations wouldn't have been caught dead playing anything post-1979. Also, no new wave, no punk, and obviously no disco. Some Queen and the very earliest Police were okay. But Zeppelin and Skynard were pretty much the ne plus ultra.
posted by desuetude at 7:00 PM on March 16, 2008
It's a moving target. The station here is playing things now they wouldn't have played a few years ago, like Blondie (previously too "new wave") or Nirvana (too "new" to be "classic" to longterm listeners). I'd assume that the old core Woodstock and Prog Rock audiences they've depended on are aging out of their key demographics, so they have to adapt a bit.
Otherwise, they'd just be a subset of golden oldies.
One could note how "classic rock" stations can define themselves by what they don't play: for example, they might avoid soul and R&B oriented music from the period, they might avoid silly late-80s hair metal, they probably avoid new wavy synthpop or goth rock, anything that smells of disco is strictly verboten--even though any of those might have been really popular during the time periods mentioned. Country or "southern fried" rock is invited in, though, or else you couldn't play "Free Bird".
posted by gimonca at 7:17 PM on March 16, 2008
Otherwise, they'd just be a subset of golden oldies.
One could note how "classic rock" stations can define themselves by what they don't play: for example, they might avoid soul and R&B oriented music from the period, they might avoid silly late-80s hair metal, they probably avoid new wavy synthpop or goth rock, anything that smells of disco is strictly verboten--even though any of those might have been really popular during the time periods mentioned. Country or "southern fried" rock is invited in, though, or else you couldn't play "Free Bird".
posted by gimonca at 7:17 PM on March 16, 2008
1964-1979
posted by smoothhickory at 7:28 PM on March 16, 2008
posted by smoothhickory at 7:28 PM on March 16, 2008
I think a key point here is that there are two different definitions to consider -- classic rock as a radio format, which is always changing as the listener demographic changes, and classic rock as a musical period or subgenre of rock and roll, which happened at a certain time and favored certain aesthetics. In my opinion, a band like Nirvana could be included in the former these days, but certainly not in the latter.
posted by ludwig_van at 7:35 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by ludwig_van at 7:35 PM on March 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
Like many things, you can't define it clearly but you know it when you see (hear) it. To further the automotive analogy, the '57 Chev is a classic, the '58 is just old.
posted by dg at 7:41 PM on March 16, 2008
posted by dg at 7:41 PM on March 16, 2008
Another wrinkle to point out would be new releases from "classic rock" artists - Stuck listening to a lot of classic rock stations in the late '80s / early '90s on a house painting crew, I'd almost never hear anything from bands that didn't exist before 1980, but there was always room for the new Clapton single, or whatever lame-ass "super"group of geezers from older, more famous bands was in vogue at that moment.
posted by jalexei at 7:58 PM on March 16, 2008
posted by jalexei at 7:58 PM on March 16, 2008
It depends entirely on the format of the station and the imaging they want to use to describe the music they play. It's notoriously loose. Even in a non-radio sense, it's in the eye of the beholder. The word classic is just too loose to be reliable in the short term.
posted by gjc at 8:08 PM on March 16, 2008
posted by gjc at 8:08 PM on March 16, 2008
All in all, it's just a weird label to work with. I think there is more or less a classic rock "sound," but I don't think anyone can really give an exact time range of that genre (and really, you can't for any genre... except maybe disco?). But I guess the 1964 estimates can mainly be attributed to the Beatles... In any case, it's a lot easier to narrow down the start than the end.
I'm sure it's becoming more common for stations that used to call themselves a classic rock station to drop the label altogether so they can play a wider variety of songs and reach a bigger audience. It's probably not unlike cable, where most channels adopted a particular niche programming early on, and presumably for ratings they've added more and more material over the years that clearly don't fit in that category (MTV being an obvious example, along with stuff like AMC showing Predator, Sci-Fi showing pro wrestling, and the History Channel showing Dirty Harry).
And some of it has to do with the progression of time. Stuff from the early '80s may seem like classic rock after 25 years, even if it clearly didn't when the '90s came around. The "oldies" radio format has the same thing going.
Or you could just read Wikipedia's take.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 9:01 PM on March 16, 2008
I'm sure it's becoming more common for stations that used to call themselves a classic rock station to drop the label altogether so they can play a wider variety of songs and reach a bigger audience. It's probably not unlike cable, where most channels adopted a particular niche programming early on, and presumably for ratings they've added more and more material over the years that clearly don't fit in that category (MTV being an obvious example, along with stuff like AMC showing Predator, Sci-Fi showing pro wrestling, and the History Channel showing Dirty Harry).
And some of it has to do with the progression of time. Stuff from the early '80s may seem like classic rock after 25 years, even if it clearly didn't when the '90s came around. The "oldies" radio format has the same thing going.
Or you could just read Wikipedia's take.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 9:01 PM on March 16, 2008
I always liked the Calvin & Hobbes take: Classic Rock- Where you won't hear any songs you haven't already heard 1000 times. I think that pretty much defines what a Classic Rock station plays, more than the original year the song was produced.
posted by u2604ab at 9:08 PM on March 16, 2008
posted by u2604ab at 9:08 PM on March 16, 2008
The classic rock station around here has a sneaky "Instant Classic" label they bust out when they want to introduce a more recent song into rotation. The best example of this would be "Smooth" by Santana and Rob Thomas. Other than these instant classics, they mostly stick to songs pre-1990.
posted by Bella Sebastian at 9:37 PM on March 16, 2008
posted by Bella Sebastian at 9:37 PM on March 16, 2008
In Bill Fitzhugh's excellent book, Radio Activity, ..."DJ Rick Shannon, gets to program a classic rock radio station. He decides to reinvent the format. He and the other jocks at this station work out a set of rules that help determine what music they will play. First they have to decide what years constitute the 'classic rock' era. After much debate, they settle on 1964 (the Beatles first appearance on Sullivan) to 1977 (when The Band’s Last Waltz came out and when disco, punk, and consultants changed the way rock radio sounded)."[via]
posted by toxic at 9:51 PM on March 16, 2008
posted by toxic at 9:51 PM on March 16, 2008
I was going to say 68-76, so in other words, seconding ludwig van.
posted by rhizome at 11:12 PM on March 16, 2008
posted by rhizome at 11:12 PM on March 16, 2008
I would say classic rock spans from around the Viet Nam protest song era (around 1965) till disco unfortunately made is appearance in about 1977. The brain cells I destroyed in the early '70's helped me survive the disco debacle. By the time 1980 rolled around, my grey matter had regenerated, as did the music scene.
posted by Acacia at 12:23 AM on March 17, 2008
posted by Acacia at 12:23 AM on March 17, 2008
I listened to a lot of classic rock format radio in highschool, mostly because mainstream rock was all hair-metal and Michael Jackson. This was late 80's - anything from the dawn of psychedelic rock to the "ABC's" of the late '70s was fair game. (Aerosmith, Boston, Cars. It's a New England high water mark.)
The further defining point was that you could find it on the juke box of a biker bar. There had to be a hard edge to it - no Nancy Sinatra or Joan Baez - but not too hard - no Sex Pistols or Black Flag. Lots of sweeping, flowing guitar solos.
Then, in the '90s, classic rock stations began pimping "hair metal" as well, and stuff the dudes at the biker bar would call hair metal: Metallica and Guns'n'Roses, what Classic Rock listeners in the '80s were trying to avoid. Blondie, REM, Duran Duran, Talking Heads, Eurythmics - all indie rock, college radio stuff, and now Classic Rock sometime circa '93. In '83 it was eurotrash crap.
Now, I'm hearing early grunge and late-80's indie stuff like Jane's Addiction and Living Color on the classic rock stations. Go West and Moody Blues? Not so much.
So, apparently, classic rock radio is what was popular in a window 10-20 years ago, hard, but not too hard. Bikers and construction workers like it. And also warhorses from previous eras who's popularity refuses to let them die - the Stones, Led Zep, Aerosmith. (The Beatles are "too soft" - only because it's too easy to forget how hard edged and intense they were live after listening to their watered-down-to-play-in-peoria albums. Hell, I didn't know until YouTube.)
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:57 AM on March 17, 2008
The further defining point was that you could find it on the juke box of a biker bar. There had to be a hard edge to it - no Nancy Sinatra or Joan Baez - but not too hard - no Sex Pistols or Black Flag. Lots of sweeping, flowing guitar solos.
Then, in the '90s, classic rock stations began pimping "hair metal" as well, and stuff the dudes at the biker bar would call hair metal: Metallica and Guns'n'Roses, what Classic Rock listeners in the '80s were trying to avoid. Blondie, REM, Duran Duran, Talking Heads, Eurythmics - all indie rock, college radio stuff, and now Classic Rock sometime circa '93. In '83 it was eurotrash crap.
Now, I'm hearing early grunge and late-80's indie stuff like Jane's Addiction and Living Color on the classic rock stations. Go West and Moody Blues? Not so much.
So, apparently, classic rock radio is what was popular in a window 10-20 years ago, hard, but not too hard. Bikers and construction workers like it. And also warhorses from previous eras who's popularity refuses to let them die - the Stones, Led Zep, Aerosmith. (The Beatles are "too soft" - only because it's too easy to forget how hard edged and intense they were live after listening to their watered-down-to-play-in-peoria albums. Hell, I didn't know until YouTube.)
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:57 AM on March 17, 2008
Well as a historical non-radio definition (i.e. one that's set) I would start the classic rock period in the sixties with the British invasion and end it in the mid-seventies, to catch all rock until the punk reaction which seems like a natural break. This period could be extended back (depending on how loosely you want to define rock) to include pre-British invasion Beach Boys etc. but the mid-seventies is a pretty secure cut-off point.
posted by ob at 6:04 AM on March 17, 2008
posted by ob at 6:04 AM on March 17, 2008
But I guess the 1964 estimates can mainly be attributed to the Beatles... In any case, it's a lot easier to narrow down the start than the end.
Beatles on classic rock stations? Only selected tracks post-1968, and even then, questionable. The 1964 start date is to permit the Rolling Stones, you heathens.
posted by desuetude at 6:43 AM on March 17, 2008
Beatles on classic rock stations? Only selected tracks post-1968, and even then, questionable. The 1964 start date is to permit the Rolling Stones, you heathens.
posted by desuetude at 6:43 AM on March 17, 2008
The Beatles aren't classic or any other kind of rock - they were almost exclusively pop music. I think it is more of a coincidence that The Beatles and rock music can be traced back to the same starting point.
posted by dg at 1:48 PM on March 17, 2008
posted by dg at 1:48 PM on March 17, 2008
The classic rock era ended when "The Wall" reached Billboard's #1.
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:43 PM on July 6, 2008
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:43 PM on July 6, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Evstar at 6:16 PM on March 16, 2008