Classic Rock Musings

Who decides what's "classic rock"? - Digital Noise: Music & Tech (CNET Blogs)
(Another gem courtesy of Herr Zrbo.)

This guy's message board is almost as funny as ours. First off, I'd say there are at least six or seven Bob Seger songs that I could listen to repeatedly and still enjoy. I actually have a few in my mp3 collection. Here's what I've got: "Night Moves," "Main Street," "Turn the Page," "Hollywood Nights," "Old Time Rock and Roll," "Still the Same," "We've Got Tonight," "Against the Wind." That's eight. Pretty good, on the whole. True, these songs don't really "rock" very hard, but they're melodic, tasteful, and well-produced, and I think they've aged pretty well all things considered. Based on those eight songs alone, I'd say I like Bob Seger more than Bad Company and Bachman Turner Overdrive and whatnot. Hell, even Bob Seger's eight best songs are probably better than Springsteen's eight best songs (or at least they go down smoother). Besides, according to my main man Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Bob Seger's had a whole "pre-Top 40" career that's been completely overlooked. It's on my list of discographies to check out.

I also look back in quasi-fondness on the seemingly arbitrary distinctions made by my childhood classic rock radio station (I believe it was 97.3). For example, the Beatles were allowed, but only late-period Beatles. Apparently even an early uptempo tune like "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was for pussies, whereas the balls-to-the-wall wimpiness of "Something" was somehow perfectly OK. Jackson Browne made the cut, but James Taylor was a no-no. Elton John was fine, but Billy Joel was too far. And it couldn't be anything past 1980 unless it was either a new release by an older artist, or U2. In retrospect it's remarkable how much of my favorite music from that era (1965-1980, "from Rubber Soul to the death of John Lennon," as one poster puts it), didn't even poke its nose through that station's programming. I'd say about half. But of course, then I wouldn't have had to pleasure of discovering all those artists myself.