re: King of Classic Rock

Bachman Turner Overdrive BTO

It's Jagger. No one can say they are bigger than him.

DWI

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Anne Wilson

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Got 2 downvotes.

Christ this place suxass.

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Anne Wilson

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Got 2 downvotes.

Christ this place suxass.

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Have another one.

Opie asked for king not queen. . . and Tina could only go by one name if so inclined.

Classic Rock is the 60’s and 70’s. No one really uses that for the 50’s, and def not for the 80’s or 90’s.

The answer is Clapton.

He’s the only 3 time inductee in to the Music HOF. As a solo artist, and member of the Yardbirds and Cream. (Thus no mention of Blind Faith or Derek and the Dominos, etc.)

I don’t know how you rank best guitarists of all time - music is so subjective - but it’s usually agreed he’s one of the ten best or so. Especially if discussing classic rock which has its roots in the blues.

No way it can be any musician who is just a singer/frontman, it’s not going to be a drummer (and my favorite musician all-time was primarily one, Levon Helm).

With fairness to subjectivity and favorites, I don’t see how it can’t be Clapton.

One’s definition of “classic rock” tends to depend on when they grew up. For some, it’s the 50’s and 60’s rock n roll before Led Zeppelin lead the charge into hard rock. For others, it’s the 60’s and 70’s from the British Invasion up until the birth of metal in the late 70’s. Some people consider anything before grunge as classic rock. Others include some 90’s stuff like grunge, but exclude pop punk and nu metal (think Creed, Nicholback, and Fred Durst). Classic rock radio tends to draw the line at around 20 years old and prior.

Personally, since I was born in the early 90’s, I tend to think of classic rock as anything prior to grunge and pantera. To me, the early 90’s were a much more rapid and definite point of demarcation in musical styles than nearly any other era outside maybe 1969-71. As such, the last classic rock hit would probably be GnR’s “November Rain”, while the first songs excluded would be from Nirvana, Temple of the Dog, and Soundgarden.

To me, it’s a lot harder to tell apart the bands from the late 60’s vs early 70’s and late 70’s vs early 80’s compared to the late 80’s vs early 90’s.

To me, there’s no “king” of classic rock. There’s a king of rock n roll in Elvis, but “classic rock” is such a wide umbrella of different styles, each consisting of several major bands that tended to be more than just one talented front man star, that there’s no single “king” crownable. The few folks who really were bigger than their bands mostly died young, greatly hobbling their potential influence.

I think you have several different eras or scenes you can divvy up classic rock largely into:
British invasion (the beatles, the stones, them, the zombies, the animals, etc)
Acid rock (hendrix, zeppelin, the who, deep purple)
Jazz rock (weather report, chicago, frank zappa, blood sweat & tears)
Hard rock (bad company, foreigner, ted nugent, foghat)
Prog rock (pink floyd, king crimson, rush, jethro tull)
Southern rock (Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet)

And that’s not even getting into the 80’s with hair metal, heavy metal, punk, new wave, etc.

Also, Clapton is by far the most overrated guitarist of that time period. Don’t get me wrong, he’s very good, but he’s no God, not even close. Keith Richards is certainly in this category as well. He’s a very tasteful player and musician, but untouchable technician, he is not.

The Beatles were dominating the 60’s but broke up in 1970. McCartney had some success with Wings, and Lennon certainly had some hits solo, but was assassinated in 1980.

Zeppelin dominated the early 70’s, but broke up in 1980 when Bonham died.

Van Halen exploded onto the scene in the late 70’s but declined in popularity after replacing David Lee Roth with Sammy Hagar in 1985.

Most of the biggest acts butst into the scene, were big and relevant for a few years, then either faded away, literally died, or broke up.

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Like I said...really suxass.

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You're only saying that because you're a stupid fig. The Stones, like them or not, have spanned decades, recorded some of the most iconic songs in rock history (especially in the Brian Jones era, but also into the 90's) and outlasted all of their peers in longevity.

I get that the culture has gotten a strong dose of them, but it sure as shite ain't Paul fricking Rodgers. Seriously, how old are you?

If you're talking King, then it's hard to anoint someone who got their fame mostly as part of a band. It can be difficult to separate the popularity of a band member vs the group. So many front men were in huge bands then moved to lackluster solo careers.

Ignoring band resumes then, Elton John would be my first answer. 26 hits in the 1970s (the vast majority of which are classic rock staples) and 338 weeks charted, bigger than anyone else in that decade including bands. 200 million in worldwide album sales isn't too bad, either.

Crazy statistic is that Paul McCartney isn't that far behind as far as the 70s himself, with 302 weeks charted and the same number of hits. That's not even considered he was part of the biggest band in the world before that.

But I really don't think there is a true "King". Classic Rock is really more about bands than individual artists.

1) John Lennon-100% verified, no doubt
2) Keith Richards
3) Mick Jagger
4) Paul McCartney
5) Jimi Hendrix

Probably in that order

Feeling down 'n' dirty, feeling kinda mean.
I've been from one to another extreme.
This time I had a good time, ain't got time to wait.
I wanna stick around till I can't see straight.
Fill my eyes with that double vision.