CLASSIC ROCK TRACKS POLL: THE RESULTS

Yeah, I don't know what you would call the weirdos who voted for Red Rider. I know they're out there, though.

http://i.imgur.com/88b3yMI.jpg

77. Electric Light Orchestra – Evil Woman
890 points, 15 votes

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2927/14458566238_4e91edf70f.jpg

FUCK WRONG THREAD> I AM NOT A CLASSIC ROCK COVER.

I need to stop drinking.

lol we should def have everyone post a wdyll drinking itt

Evil Woman is ok, I've never thought of it as more than a novelty song. Still, I usually don't change the station when it comes on.

"novelty song"?

http://i.imgur.com/sX89e0n.jpg

76. The Allman Brothers Band – Midnight Rider
892 points, 13 votes

"Breakdown" was my highest Petty vote, because its groove seems custom-built for classic rock radio. Like Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Stan Lynch foresaw the entire format and realized there was a slinky little piece missing in its foundation.

it's all roght

argh

speaking of grooves, I'm surprised and delighted to see "midnight rider" place

Half of these results have basically been "songs I know well but never had any idea what the titles were".

also: since "highway to hell" went generally unremarked lemme just say for the record that Malcolm Young is a genius. get well soon man.

Amen. I hope AC/DC get in one last hurrah with a tour and album.

"novelty song"?

― some dude, Tuesday, 29 July 2014 14:17 (18 minutes ago) Permalink

A lot of this is my 90s baby perspective. The first time I heard "Evil Woman" was in Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

re "lunatic fringe": that's a top ten jam for me. never not stoked to hear it. still ominous after all these years, nice gilmourish solo riding the edge of 80s-ness. file with "twilight zone" for sure, but it's a cut above imo.

ELO is a novelty freakin' band

Word is, Malcolm's out (but physically present), and his nephew took his place for recording (and presumably will do so for the tour).

And now, we're going to smooth things out for a few minutes.

http://i.imgur.com/b9fGuh8.jpg

75. The Alan Parsons Project – Eye In The Sky
896 points, 13 votes

YES! This song is so smooth and creepy.

It was in my top 10! It also very strongly reminds me of a certain place and time, namely waiting for my mom in her giant Caprice Classic.

images are something special today.

http://i.imgur.com/xDZYpFC.jpg

I had midnight rider at 11. Probably could have gone higher though. Awesome song.

this song & coast 2 coast AM* are forever fused in my mind

*and weed and french fries

didnt vote for it because its not sufficently CR imo, but its prob in my top-10 of all songs that were nominated

Based on that performance, I'm gonna say the Suzi Q cover of Breakdown was the keyboardist's idea. It was a good idea.

UGH work and not feeling well kept me from these festivities for the past 24 hours.
5 songs of mine so far. WALK AWAY! Twilight Zone, Highway to Hell, Evil Woman, and Midnight Rider.
Work better be slower today, I am not in the mood to try to play catch up, it all just goes to hell when that happens.

I had never knowingly heard "Eye In The Sky" before this poll, I'm a little mystified by its placement

It was a top 40 hit, was it not? I remember it getting a lot of airplay in the early 80's.

Yeah, it was a big hit. I didn't vote for it, but it was definitely ubiquitous on rock radio at least through the '80s.

Eye in the Sky is from 1982 btw.

(I prefer the second single from that album, "Games People Play" -- which is not as good as Joe South's "Games People Play," but is still good.)

I don't doubt that it was a hit, I've just never heard it on classic rock radio

I used to have some pills that made me smaller, but I decided the weight loss just wasn't worth the night terrors.

http://i.imgur.com/FbUTIq4.jpg

74. Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
897 points, 14 votes

YES! This song is so smooth and creepy.

― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Tuesday, July 29, 2014 9:49 AM

Yeah -- I was not a fan of it in its first-run days, but I like its bland menace now. A late cut from my ballot though.

Oops, "Games People Play" is actually from the previous APP album.

i love white rabbit

"Eye in the Sky" hit the top five..very much an L.A. pop hangover.

"white rabbit" is great but OLDIES

(also i may blame Grace Slick more than she really deserves for Linda Perry)

APP is good and so creepy. I was most familiar with "Don't Answer Me" and its weird video as a kid. "Eye" is great, and "Time" is probably the most depressing top 40 hit ever but also really quite beautiful in the midst of its efforts to induce suicide in the listener.

Weirdly, "White Rabbit" is by far the most-played Jefferson song on cr, while "Miracles" is all over the oldies station.

78-75 were all on my list!

"White Rabbit" is no "Somebody to Love" IMO

Learning that Grace Slick wrote "White Rabbit" while tripping and listening to "Sketches of Spain" is pretty much the least-surprising song origin story ever.

White Rabbit is probably used a lot as a palate cleanser in the context of CRR.

"White Rabbit" is definitely one of the pre-68 songs holding strongest on classic rock radio, in my experience. Songs like that and "Paint It, Black" get a lot of leeway for being pretty dark for the era.

Interestingly enough, the first time I heard of the Alan Parsons Project was also in Austin Powers 2.

Eye in the Sky is pretty great, not really capital C capital R Classic Rock though.

"White Rabbit" is no "Somebody to Love" IMO

― Lewis - J'Agour (crüt), Tuesday, July 29, 2014

agree, and that's no knock on white rabbit. but "white rabbit" is important but also kinda herky-jerk and shouty where "somebody to love" is a 3-minute pop rampage that deploys slick's foghorn to devastating effect.