Love the Beatles even more than the Stones, believe it or not. I'm just trying to judge both bands' music in terms of its compatibility with the '80s-dominated sound of today's classic rock stations. I'll give you "Helter Skelter" -- and "Why Don't We Do It in the Road," for that matter -- but while they undoubtedly rock, there's really not much of substance to either. They were just Paul letting loose. "Revolution" was a pop song in rock trappings, while "Tax Man" didn't even pretend to be hard rock. It rocked about as hard as "Drive My Car," and who would compare that song to "Brown Sugar" or "Start Me Up" for gut-punching rock chops?
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Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
- Thread starter MarcB
- Start date
Love the Beatles even more than the Stones, believe it or not. I'm just trying to judge both bands' music in terms of its compatibility with the '80s-dominated sound of today's classic rock stations. I'll give you "Helter Skelter" -- and "Why Don't We Do It in the Road," for that matter -- but while they undoubtedly rock, there's really not much of substance to either. They were just Paul letting loose. "Revolution" was a pop song in rock trappings, while "Tax Man" didn't even pretend to be hard rock. It rocked about as hard as "Drive My Car," and who would compare that song to "Brown Sugar" or "Start Me Up" for gut-punching rock chops?
Maybe in the big cities, but in the smaller markets, it game on.
Music played on the radio is just a relevant as the discussions of radio. No music? No radio.
"Rock Around the Clock" is 63 years old, still getting airplay.
Proof? Mediabase reports the only airplay it received last week was one spin on the Sirius Spectrum channel. One spin.
I guess you've never heard of talk or sports radio.
My point, and it's been made countless times, is these are songs that are getting less airplay on commercial radio because they're simply too old. They continue to get airplay on subscription radio like Sirius.
Just as the Beatles mentioned Buddy Holly as an influence. That did not mean that by the end of the 70's you'd hear Peggy Sue or Not Fade Away on the radio.
"Influence" does not mean "still popular".
(And this is not about liking or disliking The Beatles or Buddy Holly. I was the kid who skipped school when a new Buddy Holly song was to be released so I could ride the Rapid Transit downtown to the Record Rendevous and be the first to buy it. {Record Rendevous was the sponsor of Alan Freed, providing for the platform for the music to be called Rock 'n Roll})
The main difference being that the big markets can afford program directors and some form of listener-based research and in the smaller ones, you either have no PD or a jock with a title and the research is a Whitburn book.
Both WZLX( Classic Rock) and WROR(Classic Hits) in Boston play Beatles
Disagree. I loved "Got to Get You Into My Life." I was 12 at the time, and this was right at the very height of "Beatles reunion fever." It was cool to get that 45 and listen to "Helter Skelter" fade in and out. And I think that it even got some airplay at the time! (Although they usually cut it where it faded out because they couldn't take the "dead air.")
On this, I will agree. Lynne made EVERYONE sound like ELO. His worst offense was probably on Roy Orbison's last album. He made Orbison sound like a guest on an ELO record with "You Got It."
And you probably already know this, but you can hear the Lennon demos in their original form on youtube. I am guessing that Lennon never intended these for public consumption, but we will never know. Apparently, he just set a tape recorder on top of the piano and just started playing away!
What's wrong with sounding like ELO? Am I the only one here who likes most of their music? Plus you have to remember that in the early to mid '90s, the '60s Classic Rock sound hadn't made a comeback yet. Disco was the cool "retro" trend in music at the time. It wasn't until Santana's "Smooth" in 1999 that there was a glimmer of hope for a Classic Rock revival.
Nonetheless, it's interesting how much songwriting and production can change an artist's sound. For example, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" was written for Meat Loaf, and it still sounds like a Meat Loaf song even with Celine Dion singing it. And when Mutt Lange produced an album for the Corrs, he ended up making them sound a lot like a cross between his two biggest acts -- Bryan Adams and Shania Twain.
Nonetheless, it's interesting how much songwriting and production can change an artist's sound. For example, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" was written for Meat Loaf, and it still sounds like a Meat Loaf song even with Celine Dion singing it. And when Mutt Lange produced an album for the Corrs, he ended up making them sound a lot like a cross between his two biggest acts -- Bryan Adams and Shania Twain.
I don't listen to WPLR. I don't like the station. I think mainly because of those two unfunny bozos they have on in the morning. Anyway I believe I heard they've added some 90s Rock tracks to their playlist. If that's indeed the case it's not a surprise they don't play The Beatles. I like WAQY, but I can't pick them up on my Walkman down here. I don't really care for their morning show either, but at least Bax and O'Brien (are they even still on there?) are slightly more entertaining than those guys on WPLR. I wish Bax and O'Brien would shut up and play music once in a while. As for WDRC, they're okay. I listen to The Whale as they are known as more on Sundays because two other stations I like listening to Hot 93.7 and Kool 990/96.1 break formats on Sunday morning. HOT runs their Public Affairs Show 6AM-7AM and an Urban Gospel Show 7AM-10AM. Kool runs an Italian show and a Lutheran Church Mass 8:30AM-2PM. (Yes I do like Oldies, Classic Rock, and Hip-Hop. I like other genres too). My number one choice for Classic Rock would be WRKI 95.1 out of the Danbury Market, but I certainly can't pick them up on my Walkman and they don't come in that well on the car stereo in Southington)
Checking WRKI's last few hours (they don't have a 24-hour playlist feature, just "last 50 songs") I see a spin -- in mid-afternoon, no less -- for the Beatles' "Penny Lane." So add another classic rocker to the list of those still playing the lads from Liverpool five decades on.
I've always thought WRKI's "I-95" is the best positioner in Connecticut radio, given the importance of the highway to Fairfield and New Haven Counties and the powerhouse signal I-95 the radio station delivers to cars on I-95 the road.
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Nothing, if you are ELO. Otherwise, you are just cheapening your own brand.
I loved that song, but even from the very first listen, I KNEW that that was a Jim Steinman song.
And when Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers of Chic produced Diana Ross' Upside Down album, she had it re-produced, so that she would sound less like a guest vocalist on a Chic record. (Too bad that Don Henley didn't do the same thing when he basically sang to a Bruce Hornsby backing track on "End of the Innocence.")
Fortunately, that isn't the case here. Stations here have Beatle-related features, and even the iHeart classic rocker still plays them. It's usually later years, to be sure, but that is my favorite era for them, anyway.
This may have varied by market, but definitely wasn't true in the Seattle/Tacoma area. In particular, I remember KZOK doing "Beatles A to Z weekends" where they played the entire Beatles catalog in alphabetical order. Over on the AM band, then dominant Top 40 station KJR did an annual "Seattle 500" of listener chosen songs that always include a number of Beatles songs.
As an aside, I was hearing "Hey Jude" as an oldie on TM Stereo Rock stations (KHQ-FM in Spokane, KNWR Bellingham) as late as 1980 or 1981.
The strangest place that I heard Beatles music was on Dallas/Fort Worth's original KISS-FM (KTKS), which lasted from 1984 to 1987 as a "Hot Hits" station. In their last month on the air, they did several Beatles weekends. I'm not sure why, since it was well outside their format -- but it also didn't matter, since they surely knew that the format was about to be dumped.
Ditto. BigA's comments may be more pertinent to other areas of the country. Some of the Beatles harder tracks (Revolution, Helter Skelter, etc.) were played on Seattle rock radio in the 70's, even into the late 70's. Of course, when Lennon was killed in 1980 there was a lot of Lennon airplay on a couple stations for a while. The Beatles didn't start to fade into oldies oblivion here until the Brit metal and New Wave movements hit rock radio in the 80's.
I wouldn't be surprised by hearing Bohemian Rhapsody on any station that plays older rock or pop music at least once in a while.
It's a classic song that transcends a lot of genres. It wasn't just popularized by Wayne's World, but in karaoke bars it is a popular go-to song for a lot of people who you wouldn't necessarily think of as rock fans or Queen fans. That doesn't mean it should be played on the radio, but it's an example of the song's enduring popularity amongst the public in general.
Then you have the movie that just came out last month. It had a buzz building around it for several months previous. I recall seeing ads for it on FB in September, if memory serves, and there may even have been some before that in theatres.
It's a classic song that transcends a lot of genres. It wasn't just popularized by Wayne's World, but in karaoke bars it is a popular go-to song for a lot of people who you wouldn't necessarily think of as rock fans or Queen fans. That doesn't mean it should be played on the radio, but it's an example of the song's enduring popularity amongst the public in general.
Then you have the movie that just came out last month. It had a buzz building around it for several months previous. I recall seeing ads for it on FB in September, if memory serves, and there may even have been some before that in theatres.
Yup, heard "Bohemian Rhapsody" on Dallas/Fort Worth's "Jack FM" station yesterday.
Regarding the Beatles -- add El Paso's "The Fox" to classic rock stations that still play them. From pulling a copy of their playlist for a two day period a week or so back, there were a whopping 18 Beatles songs played in that two day period.
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I can't believe the movie won Best Picture and the actor playing Mercury won Best Actor last night. I saw a review which said the movie (or maybe it was the actor) got a C, A for music and F for everything else.
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