CLASSIC ROCK TRACKS POLL voting thread -- deadline July 15 -- VOTING CLOSED

First cut I was merciless and I still ended up with 178. FUCK!

Even less mercy took me down to 100 (including two write-ins). Now how the hell am I going to rank these?

Also surprising (well not really in this context, but I wasn't expecting it), the only artist with three entries on my ballot is The Doobies.

we're voting for favorite/best, not 'song that most embodies the CR aesthetic', right

I'm approaching it this way, yeah - as a britisher I've never really experienced CR radio and while there's a lot of stuff on the noms list I definitely wouldn't normally think of as classic rock I'm just accepting that the CR format has its quirks.

Even less mercy took me down to 100 (including two write-ins). Now how the hell am I going to rank these?

WmC had a good technique he explained somewhere upthread. Basically go through and pull out your absolute favorites, rank them. Then go through and pull out the ones that barely made the cut, rank them. Then do whatever with the leftovers.

yeah i started my ballot from the top down

Did "Radioactive" by the Firm even make the nominations list? Cuz that's a likely write-in for me.

It's on the list.

I remember reading somewhere (Hammer of the Gods?) about how post-Zep Page had come up with Stairway II, and was rumoured for ages to be possibly even more amazing, but never managed to put together properly; then when it was released, I'm pretty sure by The Firm, sunk without trace. What song was it?

"Midnight Moonlight" was based on the Physical Graffiti outtake "The Swan Song"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB04NpFx-3Q

good lord that cheeseball fretless bass though

Going through the nominations with my wife, it's a fun exercise - she dismisses >75% of the list as either not rockin' (mostly the singer-songwriter stuff), too heavy metal (Priest, Sabbath and the 80s hair metal songs), too new wave or too oldies (the 60s stuff, Beatles/Stones/Kinks/The Who) so if I go with her condensed list it actually makes it a lot easier.

It's on the list.

― carl agatha, Saturday, July 5, 2014 12:30 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh, duh. Don't know how I missed it. Good!

got to concentrate

For all the trumpeting I did of "Keep Your Hands to Yourself" in the nominations thread, I actually forgot to vote for it.

listen you guys, hair of the dog is bitchin and all but let's be real: love hurts is the business

fuckin looooooove it

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, July 4, 2014 10:04 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Couldn't believe "Hair of the Dog" the first time I heard it on the radio as a child, and the talk box part still causes me to laugh uncontrollably for some reason. Definitely making my ballot over "Love Hurts"

/!\ HEAD EAST /!\

Also just realized upon re-listening that "Hair of the Dog" is the "Day Tripper" riff.

haha i'd been trying to figure out what those 2 songs resembled for ages without realizing it was each other, you just blew my mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih6XjO_fhrI

Probably exactly what you're referring to, but sorry, can't pass that up.

kramer definitely put that phrase in my vocabulary, fair game

Was just listening to Hair of the Dog in the car. Such a perfect musical distillation of the emotion of now messing with a son-of-a-bitch. Love the Beatles connection!

it kinda weirds me out that "Hair of the Dog" and "Love Hurts" are from the same band, much less the same album

kramer definitely put that phrase in my vocabulary, fair game
― some dude, Saturday, July 5, 2014

As close as the MC5 will get to this poll, or to Classic Rock Radio. Which is too bad--Back in the USA should be a staple.

/!\ HEAD EAST /!\

― guwop (crüt), Saturday, July 5, 2014

http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130130224326/nickfanon/images/b/b1/Omar-Oh-Indeed.gif

so i've had a chance to spend some time with the playlist in a car AS GOD INTENDED.

Rising: Kansas, "Point of Know Return" (oh yeeeeeeesss it out-Styx's Styx.)
Rising: Boston, "HItch a Ride"
Falling: Rainbow, "Since You've Been Gone" (i remembered this as a banger but today it just sounded mad corny)

"Point of Know Return" is my shiiiiiiiit

i have this feeling that the big guns with lots of track noms are going to fall surprisingly low due to vote-splitting across the catalog. not that it bothers me - if Head East ends up in the top spot* that's just all right with me. by the same token i'm having a lot of trouble deciding which Doors is my most hated.

*i assume the top spot in this poll is technically #3 since regardless of the ballots Stairway and Freebird are always #1 and #2 on any Classic Rock Countdown.

hitch a ride is gorgeous

RIP brad delp you sang like an angel and sold rock'n'roll platitudes like your life depended on them and i'm sorry they weren't enough ;_;

rogermexico otm, super-sad

REST IN PEACE BRAD
WE MISS YOU SO BAD

AMANDA

Can someone pls explain this Amanda joke?

Boston - Third Stage

there has not been nearly enough discussion of heart on this thread. a quintessential classic rock band in so many ways: the voice that sounds like it's going to burst through the roof at any moment, the gigantic earworm riffs, the perfectly calibrated acoustic/electric guitar interplay, and really ambitious songwriting..

the acoustic guitar intro to "crazy on you" and the way it opens up into the song is an all-time favorite rock moment for me.

also, "straight on" sounds like a talking heads song.

OOOOOOH BARRA CUDA

"barracuda" was the only ringtone i ever bought.

I would've liked to have voted for one 70s Heart track and one 80s Heart track, but the stuff from the s/t album didn't make it to the final list. ;_;

Barracuda is my #4, though.

Yes, Heart has stood the test of Classic Rock time and passed it with flying colors

/!\ HEAD EAST /!\

Falling: Rainbow, "Since You've Been Gone"
Didn't Head East do this tune first?

I see. :-/

Did you look at the whole thread? There's some truly great ones in there.

Didn't Head East do this tune first?

― Riot In #9 Dream (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, July 5, 2014

They did! Part of the Russ Ballard secret history of rock'n'roll. The Head East version is sillier iirc and probably better for it.

Xp I saw sthg about a wank and that was enough. When I was in 8th gr boys screamed lewd parody verses of that song in the hallway and honestly that was enough! What a shitty song.

I was wondering why I kept thinking I knew 'Jane' from somewhere besides the background sounds of my youth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjs9eUlv2AQ

As I get closer to 100, my cuts seem more and more insane. Bohemian Rhapsody, Tangled Up In Blue, Up On Cripple Creek. Bound and determined to keep some room in the bottom 20 for this to remain an 'interesting' hypothetical radio station. Plus, if I'm honest with myself, those songs don't need Classic Rock radio anymore, but "Do You Know What I Mean?" could really use the boost. It would be awesome if these stations had, like, Forgotten Fridays where they actually weren't permitted to play any of their top 200 songs.

don't feel too bad. I can't remember ever hearing "tangled up in blue" or "up on cripple creek" on classic rock radio. seriously though don't sleep on Kansas.

Long gone.

I've got 531 more songs to review.

No thanks to Point of Know Return

I'm not voting for anything from the 80s, most of that stuff just feels wrong. I mean, much love for Mellencamp but that's totally reactionary roots reenactment rock, And the post-Boston power rock stuff is a different flavor as well. Boston s/t and Journey's Infinity are kind of as far as I'm willing to go in that direction.