comparing the evolution of 'classic rock' between uk and usa

Anyone here old enough to remember the 70s so they can tell me if more rock was played on say radio 1 than in the 80s? How much airplay did heavy rock/punk actually get? Im assuming commercial radio of the time ignored it like they always did.

I guess I don't exactly see the preservation of a rock tradition as being DEFINED by opposition to other styles

No, I don't either. First of all, I'm talking here about the AOR/Classic Rock tradition, not a rock tradition as defined in other ways. I'm saying the AOR format defined itself, early on, as a narrow playlist of songs plus strict guidelines that would allow certain reasonably familiar-sounding new songs to be accepted into the playlist every year. Disco was considered too different from the originally defined sound to be absorbed, and somewhat more surprisingly, so was punk rock. Rap never had a chance. I said AOR was built to "reject" aberrant styles, but perhaps reject is too strong a word and "ignore" is better.

Oh, I'm fine with "ignore".

classic rock certainly not the default listen for UK working class dudes, most peeps i know listen to oldies pop, dance, ska etc

yeah same. happy hardcore type stuff is still the chosen genre of some of my old mates from when i moved here.

OMG happy hardcore and ska! Trying to imagine that on a construction site, failing.

builder friend of mine can name year of release with pinpoint accuracy cos it ties in to wherever he was working at the time

Atm, I am sitting in an office filled with construction and forestry partsmen. Am willing to wager that no one here knows what happy hardcore is.

lucky them sund4r

its what most people my age listened to in the 90s here.

thought sndr was working with 'pastry salesmen', had a moment of wonkalike glee : (

Classic rock stations have historically been hesitant to add 1990s rock such as alternative rock and grunge to their playlists, due in part to the drastic difference in style, but (mirroring a similar trend in classic country, where a similar 1990-era divide also exists) a small number of classic rock stations began adding 1990s music in the early 2010s.[

So at what point will classic rock radio abandon the past and start playing post 1990 music only instead?

The classic rock format is mainly tailored to the adult male demographic, primarily ages 25–34, but also has a significant base in the 18–24 and 35–44 year old demographics as well.

Really? I assumed classic rock radio would be mainly 40+ (or nearer 50+) Surprised its so popular in the 18-34 range.

It's the default for a large demographic. That's what we're trying to tell you.

cars, dude

12-year-olds who take guitar lessons typically still want to learn classic Purp/Zep/Ozzy/AC/DC/Cream riffs.

Xpost

Used to hear music students idly playing Rush tunes to unwind all the time around the building in Windsor.

i suppose its no different to kids reading mojo and wanting to sound like oasis/beatles/stones etc

Lol at 'drastic difference in style' between 90s alt and classic rock.

"Can't hack this Badmotorfinger bullshit. Give me my Sabbath vinyl."

* nb some of these dudes are not exactly dudes and if you put on anything other than the country station you're gonna git somethin done to you

wait a min, so in certain parts if you listened to metallica or ted nugent or ac/dc you would get beaten up and/or called a "faggot" ?

hearing a classic rock station sneak Stone Temple Pilots into their night rotation is pretty jarring tbh

ted nugent is country enough

Arguably, the distinction between 'rock' and 'R&B' since the 60s is itself based more on social/racial factors than musical ones, considering that Led Zeppelin probably has more in common with Funkadelic than with Bob Dylan. Did this become more cemented with AOR then?

I would bet on it.

Even MTV didn't play black music before Thriller and only begrudgingly from then on. That's a well-told story.

You can also pick up a CREEM magazine from the mid-1970s and see David Bowie or the Stones being voted "R&B artist of the Year" in the Readers Poll.

It's a really interesting subject, because in the early 1960s people thought black & white music were merging.. they even stopped doing the R&B chart in 1964. Then it all changed back.

no no no, just that the pure country dudes can kind of hold themselves apart a bit xxp

i feel like some Classic Rock stations were AOR stations that morphed into CR as their audience aged. There was a station in my town that back in the late 70s played all current rock (Squire, Dio era Sabb, zep, etc.) and by the early 90s was playing that same stuff, after a decade of trying to stay current with stuff like Motley Crue and Jeff Healey, but with 70s stuff increasingly taking over the playlists.

It's a really interesting subject, because in the early 1960s people thought black & white music were merging.. they even stopped doing the R&B chart in 1964. Then it all changed back.

why?

i feel like some Classic Rock stations were AOR stations that morphed into CR as their audience aged.

that is what I assumed tbh

people be racist?

xp

I'm reading Elijah Wald's book, which covers this subject.

its funny as AOR has always meant Adult Orientated Rock in the UK. As noodle vague can testify Kerrang/Raw in the mid 80s were really into it and acts like Magnum were playing the big arenas (despite little airplay). Music mags basically kept rock alive here I think.

Called How the Beatles Destroyed Rock and Roll

Xpost

Why did it change or why did they stop doing the R&B chart?

Billboard stopped doing the R&B chart because it had started to overlap too much with their Pop chart and therefore was deemed superfluous.

Why did the trend reverse is a big question that I wish someone would research and write a book about. I suspect it has to do with marketing, and streamlining the selling of records.

Most of this stuff didn't get played on radio here, were all these staples of aor/classic rock radio at the time?

Kerrang 1988
The Best AOR Albums Of All Time
(as per the readers of Kerrang! magazine back on October 29, 1988)

1. Escape - Journey
2. Everybodys Crazy - Michael Bolton
3. Night Of The Crime - Icon
4. Native Sons - Strangeways
5. Raised On Radio - Journey
6. White Sister - White Sister
7. Heart - Heart
8. Fashion By Passion - White Sister
9. Vital Signs - Survivor
10. Slippery When Wet - Bon Jovi
11. Michael Bolton - Michael Bolton
12. In For The Count - Balance
13. Pride - White Lion
14. Dawn Patrol - Night Ranger
=. 4 - Foreigner
15. The Hunger - Michael Bolton
16. Reckless - Bryan Adams
17. Indiscreet - FM
18. Bad Animals - Heart
19. Boston - Boston
20. Frontiers - Journey
21. Seven Wishes - Night Ranger
= Bon Jovi - Bon Jovi
22. Only Child - Only Child
= Freight Train Heart - Jimmy Barnes
= A Matter Of Attitude - Fate
23. Spys - Spys
24. Heartbreak - Sabu
25. Crimes In Mind - Streets
26. Hughes Thrall - Hughes Thrall
27. The Big Prize - Honeymoon Suite
= Excess All Areas - Shy
28. Touch - Touch
29. Hysteria - Def Leppard
30. Sinful - Angel
= Aviator - Aviator
31. Under Lock And Key - Dokken
32. Silk+Steel - Giuffria
= When Seconds Count - Survivor
33. IV - Toto
34. The Grand Illusion - Styx
= A Diamond Is A Hard Rock - Legs Diamond
= So Fired Up - LeRoux
= Midnight Madness - Night Ranger
= Wired Up - Jeff Paris
35. Dreamboat Annie - Heart
=. On A Storyteller's Night - Magnum
36. Fireworks - Bonfire
= Rumors - Fleetwood Mac
37. Subject - Aldo Nova
= Ignition - John Waite
= Giuffria - Giuffria
38. Friction - Coney Hatch
= Pieces Of Eight - Styx
= Isolation - Toto
39. The Final Countdown - Europe
40. Welcome To The Real World - Mr. Mister
= Alpha - Asia
= Shaft Of Light - Airraces :-)

wtf is White Sister

I swear at least half of them I've never even heard of

lol xp

It's kind of interesting that I think there might be a certain dichotomy where certain sorts of classic rock, e.g. Rush and Tull, appeal both to nerdy musicians and to working-class dudes. I could talk about those bads with my PhD advisor as well as the guys who worked in the cafeteria.

Bands

both were into Yes, actually

The 1980s saw some stations adding glam metal bands such as Mötley Crüe and Bon Jovi, while others embraced modern rock acts such as The Fixx, INXS and U2. But by the end of the decade, AOR stations were playing fewer and fewer new artists and the rise of grunge, alternative and hip-hop accelerated the fadeout of the album-oriented rock format. By the early 1990s many AOR radio stations switched exclusively to the classic rock format or segued to other current formats with somewhat of an AOR approach

I was going to ask actually are Inxs and U2 classic rock now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADAb4_wjv9o

wow!

You can also pick up a CREEM magazine from the mid-1970s and see David Bowie or the Stones being voted "R&B artist of the Year" in the Readers Poll.

http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/creem_lists.htm

U2 def gets classic rock airplay. I don't hear much INXS.

74

Top R&B Album

1. Stevie Wonder- Fullfillingness' First Finale
2. J. Geils Band- Nightmares From The Vinyl Jungle
3. Rolling Stones- It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
4. Average White Band
5. Rufus- Rags To Rufus
6. Stevie Wonder- Innervisions
7. Eric Clapton- 461 Ocean Blvd.
8. Marvin Gaye Live
9. Ohio Players- Fire
10. Gladys Knight & The Pips- Imagination

Best R&B Group: 1) J. Geils Band 2) Rufus 3) Gladys Knight & The Pips

75

Best R&B Album

1. Stevie Wonder- Songs In The Key Of Life
2. Rolling Stones- Love You Live
3. Commodores
4. Geils- Monkey Island
5. Boz Scaggs- Silk Degrees
6. Bob Marley & The Wailers- Exodus
7. Gregg Allman- Playin' Up A Storm
8. Parlaiment- Parlaiment Live/P-Funk Earth Tour
9. Emotions- Rejoice
10. Muddy Waters- Hard Again

Best R&B Single

1. Stevie Wonder- Sir Duke
2. Heatwave- Boogie Nights
3. Boz Scaggs- Lido Shuffle
4. Commodores- Easy
5. Stevie Wonder- I Wish
6. Commodores- Brick House
7. Fleetwood Mac- Dreams <---------------------------- lol
8. Peter Frampton- Signed, Sealed, Delivered
9. Boz Scaggs- Lowdown
10. Donna Summer- I Feel Love

Best R&B Singer: 1) Mick Jagger 2) Stevie Wonder 3) Boz Scaggs
Best R&B Group: 1) Rolling Stones 2) Earth, Wind & Fire 3) Commodores

sorry thats 77 not 75

75

Top R&B Album

1. David Bowie - Youg Americans
2. J. Geils Band - Hotline
3. Average White Band - Cut The cake
4. War - Why Can't We Be Friends?
5. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Natty Dread
6. Isley Brothers - The Heat Is On
7. Earth, Wind & Fire - That's The Way Of The World
8. Ohio Players - Honey
9. Labelle - Phoenix
10. Spinners - Pick Of The Litter

The thing is I'm totally fine with saying all of those are working in the same R&B-derived tradition, as long as they don't have a separate all-white 'rock' chart.