CLASSIC ROCK TRACKS POLL parking lot tailgate pre-party -- nominations, discussions, parameters, etc.

Yeah, the outliers will get filtered out anyway.

Yes: before getting ensnared in a big debate, remember that Huey's probably get zero votes anyway. (I interviewed him in 1986, even though I knew almost nothing of his music. Quote I still love: "Now you take the Clash--great band, wonderful thing.")

I agree with Carl. Early to mid 80s New Wave and New Wave Lite have just been hitting the Good Time Oldies playlists in the last 3-4 years and never really were part of that mythical Classic Rock beast.

xp -- hadn't noticed the Talking Heads songs on the orig. list -- hmmm

Yeah, like for me "classic rock" = stuff my stoner uncle listens to, and I just can't ever see him jamming to Talking Heads or INXS.

Head "And She Was" and "Wild Wild Life" a lot on my classic rock station, but again, it was a mix of "album rock" and "new stuff that will soon become album rock."

Point in favor of the inclusion of Talking Heads - Circus magazine ran the lyrics to "Burning Down the House" in their song lyrics section.

But I also remember thinking it was weird that they would include that.

Why I can remember the contents of a 30 (jesus...) year old magazine but not my phone number at work, I can't tell you.

Except maybe Circus magazine was more important to me at 11 than my career is to me at 41.

WNCX in Cleveland will play, say, U2 now, but they definitely wouldn't have in 1986. They miiiiight play, say, "Take Me To The River" or "Once In A Lifetime" now, but again, would not have done say when those songs were contemporary.

Any band who ever had a video played on 120 Minutes should probably be excluded.

lol carl

i'm having a hard time separating CR from oldies/Freedom Rock (turn it up, man)
if it's on Freedom Rock (and in this commercial) is it automatically enshrined as CR?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eGWW8KOQio

Some of the stuff in the Freedom Rock commercial veers into "AM Gold" territory for sure.

Yeah, and then I think about stuff like The Outsiders "Time Won't Let Me", which was on the classic rock radio station all the time, but probably only bc it was Cleveland.

David Bowie - White Light/White Heat

― sci-fi looking, chubby-leafed, delicately bizarre (contenderizer), Monday, June 16, 2014 9:17 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Brian Eno - Baby's On Fire

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FP'd u for this nonsense

Strictly Chicago stations, but

The Blues Brothers - Sweet Home Chicago

Yes, put that on the list so I can definitively not vote for it.

Haha, I seriously hate that song so much, not for the song itself so much (which is just bland, and you wish everyone singing it at large gatherings would stop now), but for the usual reasons of "this station will play the Blues Brothers but not Magic Sam (to say nothing of Robert Johnson)."

George Thorogood to thread. I wont nominate him though because i cant stand that shit.

Have the Fabulous (not at all fabulous) Thunderbirds made an appearance yet? They were super gross in that same way.

Damn is that a long and intimidating list of nominations. Are we definitely doing a "Worst Of" side poll?

Thunderbirds also mirror the Blues Brothers by having a hit with a Sam & Dave song played by stations that would never play Sam & Dave. Ditto the Black Crowes.

oh man i am totally adding all of THE FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS CERTIFIED HOOD CLASSICS to the list

campaigning for "Abracadabra" to be voted worst

Is Greg Kihn classic rock?

take heart -- for all of the stuff that doesn't get included, there's a whole huge sandbox of classic rock awesomeness still left to play with!

I woke up with 'Hold On Loosely' playing in my head so I take that as a positive omen

hahaha now i know how to annoy Crüt

there should be a battle of the worst lyrics
steve miller cooing about panties is def top 10, but there is a LOT to choose from

Time to get a bunch of blatant CanCon out of the way:

Loveryboy - Turn Me Loose
Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Hey You
Guess Who - These Eyes
Chilliwack - My Girl
Trooper - Here For A Good Time (Not a Long Time)
Trooper - Raise a Little Hell
Max Webster - Paradise Skies
Max Webster - Let Go The Line
April Wine - Oowatanite
Prism - Armageddon
Five Man Electrical Band - Signs

Electric Light Orchestra - Livin' Thing

also "telephone line"

Van Halen - Ice Cream Man

Greatest songs of all time list from my current local station and the one I grew up with (Chez 106, Ottawa's Best Rock, natch):
http://www.chez106.com/2013/01/01/chez-106-listener-advisor-top-106-favourite-songs-of-all-time/

("London Calling" = #91 fwiw)

And, yeah, they were more of a progressive album-oriented station when they were playing stuff like "21st Century Schizoid Man" (and Zappa and Babe Ruth).

About time the Who topped one of those lists.

re: Talking Heads: I've definitely heard Life During Wartime and Burning Down the House on a couple CR stations.

They're not classic rock like Foghat is classic rock, but CR plays some of their tunes anyway.

Interesting to note that Jethro Tull is completely absent from that list now. The modern rock station was actually playing them the other day, citing them as an influence on Mumford & Sons and neo-Britfolk.

lol

from sund4r's current local station's list, this seems particularly deserving of an add:

rolling stones - wild horses

It's probably partly true, but no less crazy.

lol - "neobritfolk like mumford & sons" makes me want to die and laugh at the same time

on a similar note, it never fails to blow my mind just how many of these songs insinuated themselves into my brain permanently without my cooperation. I just looked over this list and calculated that I could sing at least 80% of this list if you pointed to me and said "Sing the first line of _____ that comes to your mind". I couldn't sing the whole thing and there would probably be some made-up lyrics but I could at least give you an accurate vocal melody. That's crazy!

I can only conclude that I was listening to the radio every waking minute of my childhood.

I can only conclude that I was listening to the radio every waking minute of my childhood.

and/or that most of these songs were kinda good!

it never fails to blow my mind just how many of these songs insinuated themselves into my brain permanently without my cooperation

^^^ this

When I suggested stuff like green eyed lady, or Rock On it was more a reflection of that stuff being played constantly more than actually wanting to hear it, let alone rep for it

One of the stations I grew up with wasn't "classic rock," but in the 80s couldn't face the competition and became a talk station. This is the top 100 from their last "Top 500 of All Time!" countdown:

http://user.pa.net/~ejjeff/wlsrr1.html

it never fails to blow my mind just how many of these songs insinuated themselves into my brain permanently without my cooperation

Yeah, me too. I also listened to a lot of oldies stations growing up, so I can sing along to an astounding number of heavy rotation good times, great oldies hits.

One of the stations I grew up with wasn't "classic rock," but in the 80s couldn't face the competition and became a talk station. This is the top 100 from their last "Top 500 of All Time!" countdown:

Oh whoa, this is like a mix of classic rock and oldies (which is mostly a defunct format up here).

In retrospect, it was a weird station, but at the time it seemed completely normal to hear "Johnny B. Goode" right after "When Doves Cry." It was Top 40, but that meant the top 40 from every year since 1955 or so.

Thanks, Marko--my favourite BTO song, generally overlooked.

Speaking of Tull, I nominate "Bungle in the Jungle" if it hasn't already been mentioned yet. I think I heard that one 10x for every one occurrence of "Aqualung."

plus, "bungle in the jungle" more influential on mumford & sons, obvi.

yeah iirc pre-Beatlemania music was still in the mix on a good amount of "rock" stations in the 80s and well into the 90s. nowadays the only thing earlier than 1967 that i hear regularly is "My Generation" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." but i'm up for earlier stuff being nominated, honestly, i just didn't want to presume it should be in off the bat and put it in the pre-nominated pile.

speaking of beatlemania, some pre-67 beatles tracks that i think are relevant here:

eleanor rigby
ticket to ride
day tripper
paperback writer