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Classic Rock Stations Hold On to the 60s and 70s

G

Gregg

I'm amazed at how Classic Rock stations are hanging on to the 60s and 70s, even as we are in 2013. Here's the playlist of WAXQ, New York between 11:30pm and 1:30am, June 19/20:

Elton John--Bennie & The Jets 70s
Rod Stewart--Maggie May 70s
Heart--Magic Man 70s
Beatles--Something 60s
Pat Benatar--Hit Me with Your Best Shot 80s
Mountain--Mississippi Queen 60s
Bad Company--Feel Like Makin' Love 70s
Led Zeppelin--Dazed and Confused 60s
Badfinger--No Matter What 70s
The Who--Who Are You? 70s
Allman Bros.--Midnight Rider 70s
Beatles--We Can Work It Out 60s
T. Rex--Bang A Gong 70s
John Mellencamp--Small Town 80s
Crosby, Stills & Nash--Woodstock 60s

Even though much of this music is 30 or 40 years old, Classic Rock stations are still doing well in the ratings and in their target of Men 25-54. The format even does well in the 18-49 group, most of whom didn't reach high school until this music was already old.

The reason is that Rock stations always played older music mixed in with current releases. Even if you were born in the 80s or 90s, your Rock station likely played plenty of Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Who, etc. While Top 40, Urban and Country stations concentrated on mostly new or recent releases, Rock stations always had large libraries. So it isn't unusual for Classic Rock stations today to rely on 60s, 70s and 80s songs.
 
Another "reason": '60's & '70s hits simply appeal to today's younger listeners in ways our own parent's favorites could have only hoped to do for us now-60-ish types. I know this because "kids" tell me so, my children included. The daring, innovative stylings of The Doors, Led Zepellin, Clapton, The Who, Guess Who, and a dozen or so other 60's/70s era groups that wooed us baby-boomers forty and fifty years ago is as timeless and exciting to hear today as it was back then.

There's no second-guessing the venue of my parent's day, Tony Martin, Mary Ford, Jo Stafford, Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, all of whom struck gold with quality music. But their music never exploded with passion and rebellion like ours did, and that's why today's "youth" enjoy 60's and 70's rock as well as their own generation's offerings. Rebellion is as much a youngster's right of passage today as it was back then. ROCK ON !!
 
Gregg said:
(edited)

WAXQ, New York between 11:30pm and 1:30am, June 19/20:

Elton John--Bennie & The Jets 70s
Rod Stewart--Maggie May 70s
Heart--Magic Man 70s
Beatles--Something 60s
Pat Benatar--Hit Me with Your Best Shot 80s
Mountain--Mississippi Queen 60s
Bad Company--Feel Like Makin' Love 70s
Led Zeppelin--Dazed and Confused 60s
Badfinger--No Matter What 70s
The Who--Who Are You? 70s
Allman Bros.--Midnight Rider 70s
Beatles--We Can Work It Out 60s
T. Rex--Bang A Gong 70s
John Mellencamp--Small Town 80s
Crosby, Stills & Nash--Woodstock 60s
Click to expand...

Nice sample of music. With that being said, I wonder if the same music clocks that are used between 6AM & 7PM air late nights. Many classic rock stations "open the library" between 7PM and 6AM, their non-peak hours, and the clocks are different. Some stations will schedule tunes that played during the day to re-air during overnights.
 
theoldguy said:
great music lives on and on.
Click to expand...

That's why it's called "classic" rock, and not "old" rock. The stations who play classical music don't worry about what century a piece was written in. A great piece of classical music like the 1812 Overture or Beethoven's Fifth Symphony or one of Wagner's Operas always sounds great. The same goes for a piece of "classic" rock. If I were to complain about anything that classic rock stations do, it is the fact that they tend to ignore more recent songs that have the same great sound as "classic" rock songs. It's a shame that classic rock stations won't play more new works by the "classic" rock artists that dominate their playlists.
 
As I type this, I have the Cable network Palladia on in the bckground, and they're playing a concert from a few years ago featuring Foreigner. The guys are obviously old, but since I'm staring at my iPad screen to type instead of the TV, all I'm aware of is how good they sound. It's just like the recent tribute to the Beatles on CBS recently, or watching YouTube clips from Concert for George, or and of the many other live concerts that were taped and recorded and that you can get the CD version of. So why can't a classic rock station freshen up its sound by rotating in live versions of the same songs they play the olden days studio versions of? Is there some legal restrictions on playing cuts from live concert soundtrack CDs?
 
Avid Listener said:
As I type this, I have the Cable network Palladia on in the bckground, and they're playing a concert from a few years ago featuring Foreigner. The guys are obviously old, but since I'm staring at my iPad screen to type instead of the TV, all I'm aware of is how good they sound. It's just like the recent tribute to the Beatles on CBS recently, or watching YouTube clips from Concert for George, or and of the many other live concerts that were taped and recorded and that you can get the CD version of. So why can't a classic rock station freshen up its sound by rotating in live versions of the same songs they play the olden days studio versions of? Is there some legal restrictions on playing cuts from live concert soundtrack CDs?
Click to expand...
I have noticed that 105.9 the Rock here in Nashville occasionally plays the live version of "Breakdown" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (the one with the first verse mostly sung by the audience), but I agree with you, this is relatively rare.
 
firepoint525 said:
I have noticed that 105.9 the Rock here in Nashville occasionally plays the live version of "Breakdown" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (the one with the first verse mostly sung by the audience), but I agree with you, this is relatively rare.
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I was reading about the record industry, and the relationship between the music industry and radio. When radio made the big transition from scripted comedies and dramas to disc jockeys in the 50's, the music industry made most of its money from record sales, and concert tours were a means to promote the sale of recordings. Now, it seems that the people making the music earn much more money from their tours and much less from the sales of recordings, either hard copy or download. If the public is spending really huge amounts of money on concert tickets to hear musicians live, maybe that means radio would attract more listeners playing more live versions of songs. Aside from 105.9 in Nashville, are other stations experimenting with slipping in live versions of songs on their playlists? Personally, I'd love to sometimes hear the live version on the radio of "When My Guitar Gently Weeps" from the R&R Hall of Fame concert where Prince played lead.

Here's a link to the song I'm talking about on YouTube. Also on that song are Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne, Dhanni Harrison and others.
 
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I should point out that although I heard the live version of "Breakdown" more than once, I haven't heard it lately, like within the last couple of years. 105.9 here is a Clear Channel station, so it is possible that other Clear Channel stations may also be playing it.

Somewhat odd, I think, but 105.9 seems to prefer the studio version of "Rock and Roll All Night" by KISS. It is the live version that became the hit. The live version may get some airplay during John Boy & Billy.
 
Isn't it true that WAXQ is New York City's only rock station? If that's the case, there really ought to be more 80s and at least some 90s there.
 
firepoint525 said:
Somewhat odd, I think, but 105.9 seems to prefer the studio version of "Rock and Roll All Night" by KISS. It is the live version that became the hit. The live version may get some airplay during John Boy & Billy.
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It has been about eight years since Oldies 93 in Greensboro, NC went country. This was a station that would even play Sinatra occasionally. But "Rock and Roll All Night" was there too. Now which version I don't know. I was just amazed to hear that song on an OLDIES station, even if it did play a number of the songs in the first post.
 
Im part of the younger demographic (18-20) and I would not listen to the local Classic Rock station if they went exclusively 80's and 90's. I listen because I like older rock from the 1960's like The Byrds, Jefferson Airplanes, CSNY, Neil Young. They can count my business out the very same day that "Megadeath" or "Pearl Jam" make up the majority of the playlist. I already change stations the very second those bands (among others) permeate the airwaves. They are not "classic rock" in my opinion.

By the way, Classic Rock 104.3 is known for having a tight, "burnt to a crisp" playlist.
 
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