Why is Classic Rock so Much Cooler than Modern Rock?

disco biscuits>the Beatles

LSD was way better back then


It just hasn't been the same since Jerry died, maaaaaaaaan

I don't share your assumption. I actually can't stand a lot of classic rock.

Classic Rock can cherry pick from 50 years of songs. Modern Rock gonna have some duds with playing whatever the newest stuff is.

classic rock was/is better. however, classic rock RADIO sucks arse. gives the genre as a whole a bad name. god, some of those songs are in heavier rotation than they were in their heyday....just make it stop. AOR radio was SO much better...

quote:

---

It's saying that you just take received wisdom and accept it.

---

Unless you're old like me and filtered that stuff in real-time.

When I started listening to the radio, what you kids call "Classic Rock" - we called AOR.

I listened to Van Halen, Boston, Heart, Queen, etc., while they were making that stuff. The fact that it rose to the top and remains a viable form of music today isn't necessarily cloud computing, as much as the artists back then had to rely on this thing called "talent".

There are young groups with talent, I'm sure, particularly local acts who develop their skills by playing tons of stuff live. However, the market has changed so much - the music industry has always subsisted on the backs of the artists -just like Hollywood - they want a "brand", an "image" or a "style" to sell and they really don't care about (nor would they recognize) legitimate musical talent - that's how you get the Justin Biebers, Britney Spears, Lady Gagas of the past 15 to 20 years - far more the Madonna model, and not so much the great AOR artists of the 70s or even hair metal of the 80s (which was sort of a disconnect - many of them were talented, but, due to MTV, they had to pursue a particular style to differentiante them from other heavy music).

quote:

---

I hated all those bands then, and still do now

---

What were you listening to in 1980? Olivia Newton John? The Clash? U2?

quote:

---

Elvis Costello

---

Didn't dislike EC, but nothing ever grabbed me.

quote:

---

The Cars

---

I was always a Cars fan, but ended up preferring the Benjamin Orr songs.

quote:

---

Springsteen

---

Meh - a song here and there - I always thought Bob Seger did that kind of thing a lot better.

quote:

---

Warren Zevon

---

I probably only heard Werewolves until I was 15 - - I like a lot of the WZ as I get older - Lawyers, Guns and Money is one of my personal theme songs.

Honestly, I think that whole group you named is lumped under the category of "Classic Rock" now -

quote:

---

Remember, I don't mean acts from that period I like now -- I'm talking about acts I listened to at the time.

---

I understand.

quote:

---

Elvis Costello is probably my favorite songwriter of the last 40 years.

---

Kind of the proto-punk - he's equal parts folk-influenced 60s rock, punk/new wave and college radio.

I get that. He's just not my cup of tea.

ETA: However, Pete Thomas - one of the most underrated drummers of all time.

quote:

---

I listened to Van Halen, Boston, Heart, Queen, etc., while they were making that stuff. The fact that it rose to the top and remains a viable form of music today isn't necessarily cloud computing, as much as the artists back then had to rely on this thing called "talent"

---

What are rock artists today relying on if it isn't "talent"?

quote:

---

and not so much the great AOR artists of the 70s or even hair metal of the 80s (which was sort of a disconnect - many of them were talented, but, due to MTV, they had to pursue a particular style to differentiante them from other heavy music).

---

I really don't understand the point you are trying to make. Are you trying to say that pop rock artists and hair metal bands of the past were more talented than pop artists of today? If so, then I agree, but I thought the thread is about classic rock vs modern rock. When I think of the two terms, I think of CCR vs Alabama Shakes / The Sheepdogs and Van Halen vs Queens of the Stone Age / NIN. Not Queen vs Justin Beiber...