Classic rock: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|US radio format}}

'''Classic rock''' was originally conceived as a [[radio station]] [[broadcasting format]] which evolved from the [[album oriented rock]] (AOR) format in the mid-[[1980s]]. In the [[United States]], this [[rock music]] format now features a limited [[playlist]] of songs ranging from late [[1960s]] through today with more emphasis on the earlier hits by artists associated with the loosely-defined "classic rock era."

{{about|a radio format|the music genre often associated with the "classic rock" era|Arena rock|other uses|Classic Rock (disambiguation)}}

{{Distinguish|Clastic rock}}

{{Use American English|date=July 2023}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}

[[File:Fleetwood_Mac_Billboard_1977.jpg|thumb|[[Fleetwood Mac]] are considered an archetypal classic rock or "dad rock" act.<ref name=dadrock>{{cite web|url=https://www.spin.com/photos/40-bands-dad-rock/|website=Spin|first=Will|last=Schube|title=40 Bands That Define 'Dad Rock'|year=2021}}</ref>]]

'''Classic rock''', or colloquially "'''dad rock'''", is a [[radio format]] that developed from the [[album-oriented rock]] (AOR) format in the early-mid 1980s.<ref name="nytimes"/><ref name="Billboard87"/> In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s to mid-1990s,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/classic-rock-started-with-the-beatles-and-ended-with-nirvana/ |title=Classic Rock Started with the Beatles and Ended with Nirvana |last=Hickey |first=Walt |date=July 8, 2014 |website=[[FiveThirtyEight]] |publisher=ABC News Internet Ventures |access-date=May 1, 2019 }}</ref> primarily focusing on commercially successful [[blues rock]] and [[hard rock]] popularized in the 1970s–1980s AOR format.<ref name="nytimes">[[Jon Pareles|Pareles, Jon]] (June 18, 1986). [https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/18/arts/oldies-on-rise-in-album-rock-radio.html "Oldies on Rise in Album-Rock Radio"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved April 19, 2019.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Akinfenwa |first=Jumi |date=2020-09-14 |title=The Rolling Stones, Springsteen ... The Killers: what actually is 'classic rock'? |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/sep/14/solved-what-is-classic-rock-rolling-stones-bruce-springsteen-the-killers |access-date=2023-08-05}}</ref> Classic rock's focus somewhat differs from the formats [[oldies]] (focusing on the more [[pop music|pop]]-oriented hits and earlier [[rock and roll]] of the 1950s–1970s) and [[classic hits]] (focusing on pop-oriented hits and [[pop rock]] of the 1970s–1990s).<ref>[https://www.edisonresearch.com/oldies_become_classic_hits_and/ Oldies Become Classic Hits, And Motown Goes MIA]</ref><ref>[https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Arbitron/Archive-Arbitron-Radio-Today/RadioToday-2013.pdf Radio Today 2013]</ref>

The term "classic rock" has retroactively been applied to these artists and their music, to the point that some now consider "classic rock" to be a [[musical genre]] unto itself.

The classic rock format became increasingly popular with the [[baby boomer]] demographic in the 1980s and 1990s.<ref name="Billboard86"/><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmmLAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA153|access-date=August 2, 2015|page=153|editor1-last=Sterling|editor1-first=Christopher H.|editor1-link=Christopher H. Sterling|editor2-last=O'Dell|editor2-first=Cary|title=The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio|last=Leigh|first=Frederic A.|chapter=Classic Rock Format|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2011|isbn=978-1135176846}}</ref> Although classic rock has mostly appealed to adult listeners, music associated with this format received more exposure with younger listeners with the presence of the Internet and digital downloading.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2004-03-29-classic-rock-kids_x.htm |title=Kids are listening to their parents – Their parents' music, that is |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626142525/http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2004-03-29-classic-rock-kids_x.htm |archive-date=June 26, 2012 |url-status=dead |work=USA Today |date=March 30, 2004 |first=Edna |last=Gundersen}}</ref> Some classic rock stations also play a limited number of current releases which are stylistically consistent with the station's sound, or by legacy acts which are still active and producing new music.<ref name="NY">"New York Radio Guide: Radio Format Guide", NYRadioGuide.com, 2009-01-12, webpage: [http://www.nyradioguide.com/formats.htm NYRadio-formats]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060327164156/http://www.nyradioguide.com/formats.htm |date=March 27, 2006 }}</ref>

==Origins of classic rock radio==

Among academics and historians, classic rock has been discussed as an effort by critics, media, and music establishments to canonize rock music and commodify [[Counterculture of the 1960s|1960s–1970s Western culture]] for audiences living in a post-baby boomer economy. The music selected for the format has been identified as predominantly commercially successful songs by white male acts from the [[Anglosphere]], expressing values of [[Romanticism]], self-aggrandizement, and politically undemanding ideologies. Classic rock has also been associated with rock's [[album era]] (1960s–2000s).

The origins of the classic rock radio format can be traced back to [[The Beatles]]' groundbreaking album ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'', which would forever change several courses of the [[rock and roll]] format, especially with the slow rise of the [[FM radio]] format, even though a majority of people were still listening to [[AM radio]]. Since ''Sgt. Pepper'' did not originally spawn any singles, both AM and FM stations began to play select tracks from the album, thus creating what would eventually be called [[Album Oriented Rock]] (AOR), or "album rock", in an attempt to retain listeners.

==History==

AOR would continue to be popular in the [[1970s]] and early [[1980s]], but by the end of the 1980s, as "albums" had been supplanted by [[compact disc]]s and as station playlists largely stopped keeping up with developing musical trends (including [[new wave music]]), "album rock" evolved into "classic rock" on many of these [[FM radio]] stations.

[[File:Wwwm fm logo.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The 1980 logo of [[WMJI|WWWM]] 105.7 in [[Cleveland]]]]

The classic rock format evolved from AOR radio stations that were attempting to appeal to an older audience by including familiar songs of the past with current hits.<ref>Hill, Douglas. "AOR Nears Crucial Crossroads: Demographics, Ad Pressures My Force Fragmentation" ''Billboard'' May 22, 1982: 1</ref> In 1980, AOR radio station [[WMJI|M105]] in [[Cleveland]] began billing itself as "Cleveland's Classic Rock", playing a mix of rock music from the mid-1960s to the present.<ref>Scott, Jane. "The Happening" ''The Plain Dealer'' June 13, 1980: Friday 30</ref> Similarly, [[WCHI-FM|WMET]] called itself "Chicago's Classic Rock" in 1981.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjprX7nHt3w|title=WMET 95 and a Half FM (Commercial, 1981)|last=The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (www.FuzzyMemories.TV)|date=October 27, 2007|via=YouTube|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011224517/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjprX7nHt3w|archive-date=October 11, 2017}}</ref> In 1982, radio consultant [[Lee Abrams]] developed the "Timeless Rock" format, which combined contemporary AOR with rock hits from the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>"Timeless Rock FM Format Is Taking Shape", ''Billboard'' November 6, 1982: 1</ref>

[[KNTH|KRBE]], an [[AM radio|AM]] station in [[Houston]], was an early classic rock radio station. In 1983, program director Paul Christy designed a format which played only early album rock, from the 1960s and early 1970s, without current music or any titles from the pop or dance side of Top 40.<ref name="Radio&RecordsP47">Kojan, Harvey. "KRBE: Classic Pioneer" ''Radio & Records'' July 13, 1990: 47</ref> Another AM station airing classic rock, beginning in 1983, was [[KLIF (AM)|KRQX]] in [[Dallas]]-[[Fort Worth]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1984/B-Radio-NE-Ter-BC-YB-1984.pdf|title=Broadcasting Yearbook 1984 page B-247|website=americanradiohistory.com}}</ref> KRQX was co-owned with an album rock station, 97.9 [[KBFB|KZEW]]. Management saw the benefit in the FM station appealing to younger rock fans and the AM station appealing a bit older. The ratings of both stations could be added together to appeal to advertisers. Classic rock soon became the widely used descriptor for the format and became the commonly used term among the general public for early album rock music.

The very first station to feature 100% "Classic Rock" music was WYSP-FM in Philadelphia. The actual phrase "Classic Rock" is credited to radio consultant Lee Abrams and it was arrived at during a strategy session with WYSP program director and midday personality Dick Hungate in early 1981...in which such other possible on-air-describer terms as "vintage rock" and "timeless rock" also were thrown onto the table for consideration. Hungate had worked with Abrams previously doing Abrams' pioneering album-rock format called "Superstars" in Lexington, KY. and also in Detroit, where he had brought in Howard Stern from WCCC-AM in Hartford, CT. for mornings in early 1980. Hungate also had been midday jock and assistant program director across the street in Philadelphia at WMMR-FM in late 1978 and all of 1979. Hungate selected the total playlist of old rock hits and album cuts and broke them down into categories based upon their age or perceived popularity. Because personal computers were not yet available, songs were rotated manually using 3x5 color-coded file cards arranged in metal holding boxes. The format spread slowly but steadily. KQRS-FM in Minneapolis was second in the nation to adopt it, later in 1981. Early-adopters of the format during 1982 were in such markets as San Francisco, Dallas and Lansing, Michigan. By [[1983]] some twenty FM stations in America were airing 100% "classic rock". At that point

Fred Jacobs, who had been program director and research head for WRIF-FM in Detroit, began a radio consultancy. According to his website, www.jacobsmedia.com, it was in 1985 that he officially rolled

out the "classic rock radio format" for his station clients.

In the mid-1980s, the format's widespread proliferation came on the heels of Jacobs Media's (Fred Jacobs) success at [[WMAL-FM|WCXR]], in [[Washington, D.C.]], and Edinborough Rand's (Gary Guthrie) success at [[WZLX]] in [[Boston]]. Between Guthrie and Jacobs, they converted more than 40 major market radio stations to their individual brand of classic rock over the next several years.<ref>Freeman, Kim (October 25, 1986). "Classic Rock Thrives In 18 Months". ''Billboard''. p. 10.</ref>

Classic rock is similar to [[oldies]] radio in that the format is based upon music of the past, hence the playlist and artists featured are relatively stable in comparison to [[Top 40]] or other contemporary formats which are based primarily on current releases. However, various bands and songs will come in and out of style on classic rock radio, and regional favorites may be featured in a particular market. Additionally, in the process of jockeying for position and listener share in competetive markets, stations will often add songs and artists only marginally associated with the classic rock era, and some stations combine the classic rock format with other formats, including [[modern rock]] in an attempt to increase popularity. The hybrid of classic rock and modern rock is also referred to as [[active rock]].

''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine's Kim Freeman posits that "while classic rock's origins can be traced back earlier, 1986 is generally cited as the year of its birth".<ref name="Billboard87">Freeman, Kim (December 26, 1987). [https://books.google.com/books?id=JCgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA88 "Labels Fight Losing Battle vs. Classic Rock"]. ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''. Vol. 99, No. 52. p. 88. Retrieved October 15, 2015.</ref> By 1986, the success of the format resulted in older songs accounting for 60–80% of the music played on album rock stations.<ref name="Billboard86">"Overview 1986". ''Billboard''. December 27, 1986. p. Y4.</ref> Although it began as a niche format spun off from AOR, by 2001 classic rock had surpassed album rock in market share nationally.<ref>Ross, Sean (September 15, 2001). "Classic Rock Overtakes Album In Spring Arbs". ''Billboard''. p. 75.</ref>

==Key artists and albums==

During the mid-1980s, the classic rock format was mainly tailored to the adult male demographic ages 25–34, which remained its largest demographic through the mid-1990s.<ref>Stark, Phyllis (July 16, 1994). "Katz Study Charts Classic Rock's Growth". ''Billboard''. p. 80.</ref> As the format's audience aged, its demographics skewed toward older age groups. By 2006, the 35–44 age group was the format's largest audience;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2006/06/20060626/SBJ-In-Depth/What-Theyre-Listening-To-On-The-Radio.aspx |title=What they're listening to on the radio |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=June 26, 2006 |work=sportsbusinessdaily.com |publisher=American City Business Journals |access-date=September 3, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018003838/http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2006/06/20060626/SBJ-In-Depth/What-Theyre-Listening-To-On-The-Radio.aspx |archive-date=October 18, 2015 }}</ref> by 2014, the 45–54 year-old demographic was the largest.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rab.com/public/marketingguide/DataSheet.cfm?id=36 |title=WHY RADIO FACT SHEET |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2014 |work=rab.com |publisher=Radio Advertising Bureau |access-date=September 3, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018003838/http://www.rab.com/public/marketingguide/DataSheet.cfm?id=36 |archive-date=October 18, 2015 }}</ref>

The core albums, artists, and songs most often represented in classic rock radio represent a ''subset'' of the albums and artists that were actually popular during the so-called "classic rock era". The most enduring classic rock songs and artists have proven to appeal to new generations of listeners as well as older listeners who knew the music when it originally appeared.

==Programming==

British [[hard rock]] and [[progressive rock]] bands make up a central pillar of classic rock artists; significant among these are [[Led Zeppelin]], [[The Beatles]], [[The Rolling Stones]], [[The Who]], [[The Kinks]], [[Pink Floyd]], [[The Doors]] (actually an American band), [[The Moody Blues]], [[Yes (band)|Yes]], [[Rush (band)|Rush]] (actually a Canadian band), and [[Queen (band)|Queen]]. Many different songs from these acts are likely to appear on the playlists of classic rock stations.

Typically, classic rock stations play rock songs from the mid-1960s through the 1980s and began adding 1990s music in the early 2010s. Most recently, there has been a "newer classic rock" under the slogan of the next generation of classic rock. Stations such as [[WLLZ (FM)|WLLZ]] in Detroit, [[WBOS]] in Boston, and [[WKQQ]] in Lexington play music focusing more on harder edge classic rock from the 1980s to the 2000s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theoaklandpress.com/entertainment/wllz-detroit-s-wheels-rocks-the-airwaves-again/article_c56da5ec-5c7a-11e9-8f3f-bf0b78a05a01.html |title=WLLZ, Detroit's Wheels, rocks the airwaves again{{!}}Arts & Entertainment{{!}}theoaklandpress.com |access-date=October 4, 2019 |archive-date=July 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728164421/https://www.theoaklandpress.com/entertainment/wllz-detroit-s-wheels-rocks-the-airwaves-again/article_c56da5ec-5c7a-11e9-8f3f-bf0b78a05a01.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190208/1057-switches-from-sports-to-classic-rock |title=105.7 switches from sports to classic rock - The Columbis Dispatch |access-date=October 4, 2019 |archive-date=June 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210618182058/https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190208/1057-switches-from-sports-to-classic-rock |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/185577/wbos-boston-flips-from-alternative-to-rock-92-9-th|title=Music & Radio Station News &#124; AllAccess.com|website=All Access}}</ref>

<!-- enough examples; this isn't a place to list your favorite bands -->Some of the artists that are featured heavily on classic rock radio are<!-- enough examples; this isn't a place to list your favorite bands --> [[The Beatles]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://q1043.iheart.com/featured/top-1043-songs-of-all-time/2020/|title=Top 1043 Songs of All Time - Q104.3}}</ref> [[Pink Floyd]], [[Aerosmith]], [[AC/DC]], [[Quiet Riot]], [[Bruce Springsteen]], [[John Mellencamp]], [[Def Leppard]], [[Boston (band)|Boston]], [[The Cars]], [[Fleetwood Mac]], [[Billy Joel]], [[Elton John]], [[Eric Clapton]], [[The Who]], [[Van Halen]], [[Rush (band)|Rush]], [[Black Sabbath]], [[U2]], [[Guns N' Roses]], [[Lynyrd Skynyrd]], [[The Eagles]], [[the Doors]], [[Styx (band)|Styx]],<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Styx |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/styx/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=February 11, 2022}}</ref> [[Queen (band)|Queen]], [[Led Zeppelin]],<ref name=":0" /> and [[Jimi Hendrix]].<ref name=":0" /> The songs of [[the Rolling Stones]], particularly from the 1970s, have become staples of classic rock radio.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Grow|first=Kory|date=April 18, 2019|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/rolling-stones-show-off-latter-day-hits-triumphant-live-performances-on-honk-823528/|title=Rolling Stones Show Off Latter-Day Hits, Triumphant Live Performances on 'Honk'|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=February 5, 2020}}</ref> "[[(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction]]" (1965),<ref>{{cite book|last=Nealon|first=Jeffery|page=47|title=Post-Postmodernism: or, The Cultural Logic of Just-in-Time Capitalism|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0804783217}}</ref> "[[Under My Thumb]]" (1966),<ref>{{cite book|page=158|last=Beviglia|first=Jim|title=Counting Down the Rolling Stones: Their 100 Finest Songs|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2015|isbn=978-1442254473}}</ref> "[[Paint It Black]]" (1966),<ref>{{cite web|last=DeBord|first=Matthew|date=October 20, 2016|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-rolling-stones-song-latest-autopilot-video-2016-10|title=Tesla picked an odd Rolling Stones song for its latest Autopilot video|website=[[Business Insider]]|access-date=February 5, 2020}}</ref> and "[[Miss You (Rolling Stones song)|Miss You]]" (1978) are among their most popular selections, with ''[[Complex (magazine)|Complex]]'' calling the latter "an eternal mainstay on classic-rock radio".<ref>{{cite magazine|date=July 12, 2012|author=Anon.|url=https://www.complex.com/music/2012/07/the-50-best-rolling-stones-songs/|title=The 50 Best Rolling Stones Songs|magazine=[[Complex (magazine)|Complex]]|access-date=February 5, 2020}}</ref>

American-bred '70s rockers (notably [[Bruce Springsteen]], [[Boston (band)|Boston]], [[Aerosmith]] and [[The Eagles]]) and [[arena rock]] bands (such as [[Styx (band)|Styx]], [[Journey (band)|Journey]], and [[Supertramp]]) often appear on classic rock stations. In many areas, [[Southern rock]], notably that of [[Lynyrd Skynyrd]] and [[The Allman Brothers Band]], forms a significant subset of classic rock playlists as well.

A 2006 ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' article noted that teens were surprisingly interested in classic rock and speculated that the interest in the older bands might be related to the absence of any new, dominant sounds in rock music since the advent of [[grunge]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine|magazine=Rolling Stone|pages=11–12|title=Rock and Roll: Classic Rock, Forever Young|last=Hiatt|first=Brian|date=February 23, 2006|issue=994|id={{ProQuest|1197423}}}}</ref>

Many other bands may appear occasionally on classic rock stations; however, this presence may be limited to a few familiar songs. For example, while the band [[Steppenwolf (band)|Steppenwolf]] recorded over a dozen studio albums, only two of their songs ("[[Born to Be Wild]]" and "[[Magic Carpet Ride]]") are likely to be heard within the classic rock format.

==Characteristics and academic response==

[[Concept album]]s indirectly led to the album-rock format and remain a major component of classic rock. Notable are the four Pink Floyd concept albums, including ''[[The Wall]]'' and ''[[Dark Side of the Moon]]'', as well as The Who's two major [[rock operas]]:

{{quote box|quoted=1|quote=Ideologically, 'classic rock' serves to confirm the dominant status of a particular period of music history – the emergence of rock in the mid-1960s – with its associated values and set of practices: live performance, self-expression, and authenticity; the group as the creative unit, with the charismatic lead singer playing a key role, and the guitar as the primary instrument. This was a version of classic [[Romanticism]], an ideology with its origins in art and aesthetics.|source=— Roy Shuker (2016)<ref name="Shuker"/>|width=25em|align=right}}

''[[Tommy]]'' and ''[[Quadrophenia]]''. The Who's [[1971]] album ''[[Who's Next]]'' is one of the most often-played classic rock albums of all time.

Classic-rock radio programmers largely play "tried and proven" hit songs from the past based on their "high listener recognition and identification", says media academic Roy Shuker, who also identifies white male rock acts from ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|Sgt. Pepper]]''-era [[The Beatles|Beatles]] through the late 1970s as the focus of their playlists.<ref name="Shuker"/> As Catherine Strong observes, classic rock songs are generally performed by white male acts from either the United States or the United Kingdom, "have a [[Time signature|four-four time]], very rarely exceed the time limit of four minutes, were composed by the musicians themselves, are sung in English, played by a 'classical' rock formation (drums, bass, guitar, keyboard instruments) and were released on a major label after 1964."<ref name="Strong">{{cite book|last=Strong|first=Catherine|chapter=Shaping the Past of Popular Music: Memory, Forgetting and Documenting|page=423|editor1-last=Bennett|editor1-first=Andy|editor2-last=Waksman|editor2-first=Steve|title=The SAGE Handbook of Popular Music|publisher=[[SAGE Publishing|SAGE]]|year=2015|isbn=978-1473910997}}</ref> Classic rock has also been associated with the [[album era]] (1960s–2000s), by writers [[Bob Lefsetz]]<ref>{{cite magazine|ref=none|last=Lefsetz|first=Bob|authorlink=Bob Lefsetz|date=September 12, 2013|url=https://variety.com/2013/music/news/classic-rock-album-era-gives-way-to-track-stars-1200609388/|title=Classic Rock's Era of the Album Gives Way to Today's Track Stars|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|accessdate=February 20, 2021}}</ref> and [[Matthew Restall]], who says the term is a relabeling of the "virtuoso pop/rock" from the era's early decades.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=5) A Few Surprises|last=Restall|first=Matthew|author-link=Matthew Restall|year=2020|title=Elton John's Blue Moves|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]]|isbn=9781501355431}}</ref>

Artists whose musical output spanned the 1960s and 1970s, including [[The Beatles]] and [[The Rolling Stones]] form something of a special case: a few later songs from these acts (such as "[[Revolution (song)|Revolution]]" by The Beatles and "[[Start Me Up]]" by the Stones) are staples of classic rock radio, while the older songs from these groups are seldom heard on the format, gravitating instead to [[oldies]] radio, along with nearly any other material recorded prior to around 1967.

The format's origins are traced by music scholar [[Jon Stratton]] to the emergence of a classic-rock canon.<ref>{{cite book|last=Stratton|first=Jon|author-link=Jon Stratton|page=110|title=Britpop and the English Music Tradition|year=2016|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-1317171225}}</ref> This canon arose in part from [[music journalism]] and superlative lists ranking certain albums and songs that are consequently reinforced to the collective and public memory.<ref name="Strong"/> [[Robert Christgau]] says the classic-rock concept transmogrified rock music into a "myth of rock as art-that-stands-the-test-of-time". He also believes it was inevitable that certain rock artists would be canonized by critics, major media, and music establishment entities such as the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]].<ref name="Christgau"/> In 2018, [[Steven Hyden]] recalls how the appearance of classic rock as a timeless music lent it a distinction from the "inherently nihilistic" pop he had first listened to on the radio as a teenager in the early 1990s. "[I]t seemed to have been around forever," he writes of the classic rock format. "It was there long before I was born, and I was sure it was still going to be around after I was gone."<ref name="Steven Hyden">{{cite book|last=Hyden|first=Steven|author-link=Steven Hyden|title=Twilight of the Gods: A Journey to the End of Classic Rock|date=2018|publisher=Dey Street|isbn=9780062657121|page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJElDwAAQBAJ}}</ref>

Some classic rock playlists also include some of the hard-rock/heavy metal bands of the [[1980s]] such as [[Guns N' Roses]] and [[Van Halen]] as classic rock; again, particular songs or musical eras from these acts may be more conducive to the format than others, and nearly every station fine-tunes its playlist by adding or deleting songs and artists to differentiate itself from competing stations. Similarly, more modern material in the same style is seldom included unless it is by a recognized classic rock artist; such music often gravitates to [[top 40]], [[modern rock]], or [[adult album alternative]] stations.

Politically, the mindset underlying classic rock is regarded by Christgau as regressive. He says the music in this format abandoned ironic sensibilities in favor of unintellectual, conventional aesthetics rooted in [[Victorian era]] [[Romanticism]], while downplaying the more radical aspects of [[Counterculture of the 1960s|1960s counterculture]], such as politics, race, [[African-American music]], and [[Art pop|pop in the art sense]]. "Though classic rock draws its inspiration and most of its heroes from the '60s, it is, of course, a construction of the '70s," he writes in 1991 for ''[[Details (magazine)|Details]]'' magazine. "It was invented by prepunk/predisco radio programmers who knew that before they could totally commodify '60s culture they'd have to rework it—that is, selectively distort it till it threatened no one ... In the official rock pantheon [[the Doors]] and [[Led Zeppelin]] are Great Artists while [[Chuck Berry]] and [[Little Richard]] are Primitive Forefathers and [[James Brown]] and [[Sly Stone]] are Something Else."<ref name="Christgau"/>

Classic rock radio artists are almost exclusively [[Whites|white]] ([[Jimi Hendrix]] being the primary exception) and predominantly [[male]]; little of the diverse [[funk]], [[disco]], [[soul music|soul]], [[blues]], or [[singer-songwriter]] styles that co-existed with rock music in the original era, and that may have been played contemporaneously on AOR predecessors, survives in the classic rock format.

Regarding the relationship of economics to the rise of classic rock, Christgau believes there was compromised socioeconomic security and diminishing [[collective consciousness]] of a new generation of listeners in the 1970s, who succeeded rock's early years during [[baby-boomer]] economic prosperity in the United States: "Not for nothing did classic rock crown the Doors' [[Mystagogue|mystagogic]] [[middlebrow]] [[escapism]] and Led Zep's chest-thumping megalomaniac grandeur. Rhetorical self-aggrandizement that made no demands on everyday life was exactly what the times called for."<ref name="Christgau">{{cite magazine|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=July 1991|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/60s-det.php|title=Classic Rock|magazine=[[Details (magazine)|Details]]|access-date=March 29, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170604024643/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/60s-det.php|archive-date=June 4, 2017}}</ref> Shuker attributes the rise of classic-rock radio in part to "the consumer power of the aging post-war 'baby boomers' and the appeal of this group to radio advertisers." In his opinion, classic rock also produced a rock music ideology and discussion of the music that was "heavily gendered", celebrating "a male [[homosocial]] paradigm of musicianship" that "continued to dominate subsequent discourse, not just around rock music, but of popular music more generally."<ref name="Shuker">{{cite book|last=Shuker|first=Roy|pages=141–2|title=Understanding Popular Music Culture|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2016|isbn=978-1317440895|edition=5th}}</ref>

==Classic Hits format==

A variation on the classic rock theme is [[classic hits]], which provides most of the playlist of classic rock with the addition of contemporaneous R&B and pop hits as well, striking a balance between the mostly [[1970s in music|'70s]]-focused classic rock genre and the more broad-based [[oldies]] format. A major-market example is [[WROR]] 105.7 in [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], [[Massachusetts]].

==Symphonic "classic rock"==

Classic rock is also a term used to mean a fusion of [[classical music|classical]] and [[Rock and roll|rock]] music, or more usually, rock music arranged for and played by a [[symphony orchestra]] and is consequently also called [[symphonic rock]]. The style was popularised by a series of albums called ''Classic Rock'', ''Classic Rock 2'', etc. performed by the [[London Symphony Orchestra]] in the [[1970s]]. The resulting [[easy listening]] albums sold well and were popular until the early [[1980s]], when the form seemed to fall out of favour with the public. The LSO even scored a hit single with a medley of classic rock called ''[[Hooked on Classics]]'', in [[1981]], though whereas the earlier albums were "classical" arrangements of hits by such artists as the [[Rolling Stones]], [[The Beatles]], [[Harry Nilsson]] and others, ''Hooked on Classics'' took the opposite tack&mdash;arranging a series of well-known classical pieces into a medley with a common tempo and adding a rock drumming track. The medley form was briefly popular around that time due to artists such as [[Stars on 45]].

There have also been a number of popular songs based on classical music; see [[List of popular songs based on classical music]].

==See also==

{{Portal|Music}}

* [[Active rock]]

* [[Oldies]]

* [[de:Classic Rockhits]]

* [[Classic alternative]]

* ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]''

* [[Mainstream rock]]

* [[Music radio]]

* [[Rockism and poptimism]]

==References==

*[[List of classic rock radio stations]]

{{Reflist}}

*[[List of music radio formats]]

{{Rock music}}

*[[Music radio]]

[[Category:1960s in music]]

== External links ==

[[Category:1970s in music]]

[[Category:1980s in music]]

* [http://www.rockflashback.com RockFlashback.com] - The Classic Rock Forum

[[Category:1990s in music]]

* [http://www.classicwebs.com The Classic Rock Connection] - Index and History of Classic Rock Bands

[[Category:2000s in music]]

[[Category:Radio formats]]

[[Category:Rock musicradio genresformats]]

[[de:Classic Rock]]

[[he:רוק קלאסי]]