Carry On Wayward Renegade, All Along The Watchtower
By Mr. D
It’s not something I think about that much, but I do from time to time — why do Classic Rock stations sound the same, year after year? I wrote about this on my moribund blog a number of years ago and, based on recent listening to market-dominant KQRS, this list of faves hasn’t changed a bit:
In thinking about this list, a few things are worth noting:
- The majority of the songs on this list are written in a minor key. If rock and roll is supposed to be uplifting, this group of songs isn’t it.
- Of the bands listed here, the happiest band appears to be ZZ Top, who made their name initially as a bare-bones Texas blues trio, until they made their fortune hawking classic cars and leggy models. Make of that what you will.
- Think back to any of the years listed here. Would you have had any interest in listening to songs that were recorded as long ago from that moment as these songs are from today? I didn’t hear much of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys or the Andrews Sisters in 1983, for example, nor do I recall seeking such things out. In fact, I’m more likely to seek out Bob Wills today than most of the songs listed here, right or wrong.
- In my youth I was reliably informed that rock and roll was supposed to be about rebellious youth and revolution. While their politics were dodgy at best, the Clash was right about this much — you grow up and you calm down; you start wearing blue and brown. And so has the music of our youth.
Gil Scott-Heron, who doesn’t get much airplay these days, argued back then that the revolution will not be televised. But rest assured it will be monetized.
May 18th, 2022 at 11:11 am
Mr. D, that last line is priceless. Thank you.
May 18th, 2022 at 11:33 am
Good music survives.
Take a non-rock example: “Rhapsody in Blue” is still around because it’s a great piece of music. That it was written in 1924 and its composer died in 1937 isn’t the issue.
A “classic rock” example: In 2015, Led Zeppelin albums were back in the top 10 on the charts, decades after they were first released, and after John Bonham had died.
Good music stands the test of time.
May 18th, 2022 at 11:37 am
I’m a big fan of “classic cars and leggy models”, but that couldn’t cover the concomitant descent of ZZ Top’s music.
I want to know or understand KQ’s target market. I mean, were I to presume that market, I would say a good portion has passed the 75 in the back stretch and headed for 80. I’m surprised that target market is still financially interesting.
Or does that music (list given above) entertain a newer, younger crowd? Perhaps, yes. Take those reaction videos on YouTube. There’s so many now that you can now find video compilations of reactions, like this one for Pink Floyd – Time. Young (millennial, Gen-Z), black. Is KQ is serving this market?
May 18th, 2022 at 11:53 am
^ Which demographic is KQ marketing it’s advertising?
May 18th, 2022 at 12:23 pm
Take a non-rock example: “Rhapsody in Blue” is still around because it’s a great piece of music. That it was written in 1924 and its composer died in 1937 isn’t the issue.
Of course “Rhapsody in Blue” survives; it’s arguably the greatest composition of arguably the greatest American composer. Having said that, it’s far more likely on a given day that you will hear “Wheel in the Sky” than “Rhapsody in Blue.” Not sure why that happens, but most assuredly it does happen.
May 18th, 2022 at 12:33 pm
I think the pop culture music people hear in their teens and early 20s becomes “their” music, and sticks with them…
which means some day “classic” stations are going to be playing Cardi B… I pray I am gone by then…
May 18th, 2022 at 12:38 pm
^ FWIW — My 26 yr old daughter has amassed north of 100 Classic Rock vinyl albums. Anywhere from The Beatles, Humble Pie and The Clash to Elton John and ABBA. She listens to contemporary music on her devices but when it comes to vinyl — it’s all Classic Rock.
May 18th, 2022 at 1:19 pm
I think the pop culture music people hear in their teens and early 20s becomes “their” music, and sticks with them…
I completely agree; what’s odd about classic rock is how much of “their” music is still ubiquitous. A lot of this music is now half a century old and was considered disposable at the time it was produced. The pompatus of love seems eternal….
May 18th, 2022 at 1:46 pm
Pretty much the same songs they played in the early 80’s when I left them.
Early 80’s meant MTV and exposure to The Pretenders, Elvis Costello, U2, REM, The Clash, and others.
But is was a below zero Sunday afternoon at the 7th St Entry in January of 1983 that saw a band that made me say, “I’m never going back to KQ”. The Replacements.
Next year will be the 40th anniversary of giving up on ol’ KQ.
May 18th, 2022 at 1:47 pm
A lot of this music is now half a century old
Just think about that. The equivalent would be that teens in the 60s still enjoyed “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary”. With their grandparents. Or that Al Jolson rocked out.
May 18th, 2022 at 2:22 pm
Early 80’s meant MTV and exposure to The Pretenders, Elvis Costello, U2, REM, The Clash, and others.
The soundtrack of my college days. Played a lot of those on the college radio station, along with bands like the dB’s, the Buzzcocks, the Psychedelic Furs and, most assuredly, the Huskers and the ‘Mats.
May 18th, 2022 at 2:24 pm
Anywhere from The Beatles, Humble Pie and The Clash to Elton John and ABBA.
Definitely covering the waterfront.
May 18th, 2022 at 2:39 pm
I, too, have a large collection of classic vinyl, mostly from the late sixties, seventies and early 80s. While I was in the Air Force, those albums were about $1.00 at the PX, where they were $4 – 5.00 in civilian retailers. My son started rummaging through them when he was in college and counted over 350. Of course, there are probably about 50 of them that belong to my wife before we got married.
I’ll never forget the day my son discovered The Doors. He binge listened to all four of their albums in my collection. A couple of days later, he says; “Geez dad. All of the bands from your day, had their own unique sound.” Exactly, son!
May 18th, 2022 at 3:02 pm
I’m not quite sure that in 30 years, “Cardi B” is going to be popular, because I’m seeing more and more cases where young people are simply not listening to the new stuff. Oh, sure, you’ve got enough people listening to Cardi/Katy/etc. to make them filthy rich, but when push comes to shove, my kids’ playlists seem to trend towards rock from the 1970s and 1980s. I don’t hear much new stuff at the stores I go to, either.
I’m reminded of my roomie back in college who pointed out that many musicians were starting to think “there isn’t a whole lot more new that we can do”. Maybe we’ve gotten there.
May 18th, 2022 at 3:40 pm
I’ll never forget the day my son discovered The Doors. He binge listened to all four of their albums in my collection. A couple of days later, he says; “Geez dad. All of the bands from your day, had their own unique sound.” Exactly, son!
Just make sure he doesn’t get hold of any Nuggets garage-rock compilations. 😉
May 18th, 2022 at 5:46 pm
“ FWIW — My 26 yr old daughter has amassed north of 100 Classic Rock vinyl albums. Anywhere from The Beatles, Humble Pie and The Clash to Elton John and ABBA”
‘Course she did, rAT. What else is she gonna do with all that extra ER nurse cash when she is already set to inherit your LaKE Front EStatE and fat poRtFolio?
Does she make mix tapes for you to listen to while ShrEDDing the BirKiE?
May 18th, 2022 at 6:00 pm
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6E5m_XtCX3c
May 18th, 2022 at 6:17 pm
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nQIUCjixlVw
May 18th, 2022 at 6:21 pm
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tX6ggRByE8g
Fuck your boomer rock
May 18th, 2022 at 6:36 pm
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jM23S12LXaE
I have this on 78.
Not even rAT’s ER cash fat daughter could afford to buy it from me.
May 18th, 2022 at 6:39 pm
I dunno. Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Rossini, etc… Their music endures centuries after, and not because of well-heeled patrons, but because it’s good. Could it be the same with “classic” rock? That it is better than drek that we have right now? If there was no demand, would advertised pay for it?
May 18th, 2022 at 6:59 pm
I have the music of Beethoven’s “An die Freude” (Ode To Joy) tattooed on my arm, in German.
It’s the most beautiful music ever composed. It represents the height of Western culture.
If you want to hear the definitive version of Beethoven’s 9th, it’s the Stockholm Philharmonic’s.
When the SHTF; it will be my background music.
May 18th, 2022 at 7:04 pm
I’m partial to those classics @JPA, but even more so to Baroque. My first album I purchased was Holst, the second was Not Fragile, just to give you an idea of how my tastes run the gamut.
I may like a lot of music, but I can say that pop music isn’t something I generally like, and especially the pop music out there now. The vast majority of “pop” music consists of tone less chanting drivel called rap, or homogenous, overly processed, artificially loud tunes. Trying to listen to modern pop music is like trying to survive only on bad fast food: you just get sick to your stomach if you try to listen to more than one sitting a month.
Sure, there was crap galore back in the days of classic rock, but there was also a far greater diversity of sound and style than there is these days. Say what you will about analytics driving the market, music is one field in which the slavish devotion to analytics is corrupting the output and destroying the longevity of the product. Sure, they still get the sugar rush of a “hit”, but when’s the last time you heard of anything that might even have a smidgen of the staying power of something like Darkness on the Edge of Town?
May 18th, 2022 at 7:35 pm
Fuck your boomer rock
Long time no hear on a few of those links. As always, I appreciate your heartfelt commitment to direct expression. And the Bukka White link is fantastic.
May 18th, 2022 at 7:40 pm
Sure, there was crap galore back in the days of classic rock, but there was also a far greater diversity of sound and style than there is these days.
For the most part, we’ve left the 1910 Fruitgum Company and such behind. These days, the stuff that hits hardest for me is well outside the pop mainstream. Since we’re posting links. . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKJgnH1rAxM
May 18th, 2022 at 7:48 pm
Could it be the same with “classic” rock? That it is better than drek that we have right now? If there was no demand, would advertised pay for it?
I think that’s true, JPA, but also damning with faint praise.
May 18th, 2022 at 8:03 pm
That’s pretty good Mr. D.
But I’ll see your Colter Wall and raise you a Townes Van Zant
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ResLOFXJAhA
May 18th, 2022 at 8:24 pm
BN, I’m dumbfounded! Ode to joy and not Die Valkirie? I do not care for Wagner politics, but the Ring is phenomenal piece of work. And no… NOBODY beats Von Karajan for Beethoven. NOBODY!
May 18th, 2022 at 8:30 pm
Nerd, i did include Bach as a nod to Baroque. But then at the time Baroque was considered rap of our time, lol.
May 18th, 2022 at 9:03 pm
jpa, music exists in our own heads, or not at all.
In that space, at least, we are truly free to choose.
May 18th, 2022 at 9:59 pm
In honor of modern pop, I think the Dead Milkmen were prophetic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVGhHdRZJZc
May 19th, 2022 at 12:52 pm
We’ll worth viewing…
“With modern recording people get used to the idea that they can fix it later, so they don’t really put their all into their performance. But most of the great records in the world are the ones where everyone had to have [the music] rehearsed and perfected before they even set foot in the studio. And that changes you as an artist.
Recording a new modern record on computer, you’ve got every trick in the book — autotune, rhythms on a grid so it’s perfectly in time and all that jazz. That’s not really a challenge. But if you’re going to get an amazing take on acetate in this style of recording, then you’ve really got something to be proud of.” ~ Jack White
Jack White is the man. Technological responsibility is a concept I wish more would embrace, especially at live shows. I saw him play a few years ago with no cell phones — outstanding.
/The Western Electric recording system is an incredible invention — America basically designed this technology and built this thing, which has revolutionized music. The American Epic sessions were designed to put into practice what they did back then, a process shrouded in mystery. It is impossible to express how much we learnt by doing it./
https://www.americanepic.com/
May 19th, 2022 at 2:17 pm
One of my all time favorites on vinyl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxl2sCuKdj0