it was always July 4th here, the Firecracker 500 on WNEW. There's a thread for it.
One year i glued myself to the radio and wrote down as much of the list as i could, i brought it with me to the roof to watch the fireworks and everything. Stairway was always first, but that year it was second and Layla was first. the following year they split the Layla votes into original Layla and EC unplugged, and both made the top 10, but this ensured Stairway would be first. Then when it was over they played DSotM in full and i taped it. Good times.
WCBS also had one of these countdowns every year and In the Still of the Night was always first. i think Mack the Knife was often second.
― No, 𝘐'𝘮 Breathless! (Deflatormouse), Monday, 29 May 2023 01:42 (ten months ago) link
\m/
― mookieproof, Monday, 29 May 2023 02:04 (ten months ago) link
Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" topped @971TheDrive's #MemorialDay500. It ended about 90 minutes ago. The full list is here. https://t.co/cVr3e17sB5 pic.twitter.com/ynDG2WoUa0— Andy Beebe 🟧 (@Andy_Beebe) May 30, 2023
― INDEPENDENTS DAY BY STEVEN SPILBERG (President Keyes), Tuesday, 30 May 2023 12:18 (ten months ago) link
Ugh. I'll say this for that station, though: the "Rock & Roll Roots" DJ Bob Stroud was someone I listened to a lot as a kid. The first time I heard a lot of Stax, Chicago soul, less-obvious Motown tracks, garage rock, girl groups, and early rock & roll was on his show, and many of those songs I haven't heard on the radio since (almost 40 years).
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 30 May 2023 14:06 (ten months ago) link
hometown station completed its 500 and indeed, stairway was #1 and freebird was #2 once again
the most recent song on the list was, at #310, green day's when i come around (1994)
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 30 May 2023 19:01 (ten months ago) link
gotta throw the kids a bone
― INDEPENDENTS DAY BY STEVEN SPILBERG (President Keyes), Tuesday, 30 May 2023 19:07 (ten months ago) link
Ugh, these winners are so boring
― calstars, Tuesday, 30 May 2023 19:44 (ten months ago) link
I could live with tumbling dice
― calstars, Tuesday, 30 May 2023 19:46 (ten months ago) link
Or combination
― calstars, Tuesday, 30 May 2023 19:52 (ten months ago) link
No one goes to Classic Rock radio to be surprised
― INDEPENDENTS DAY BY STEVEN SPILBERG (President Keyes), Tuesday, 30 May 2023 20:26 (ten months ago) link
Today, to mix things up, we're gonna put the Led in!
― INDEPENDENTS DAY BY STEVEN SPILBERG (President Keyes), Tuesday, 30 May 2023 20:27 (ten months ago) link
Have Beatles... for lunch!
― pplains, Tuesday, 30 May 2023 20:36 (ten months ago) link
Let’s redefine classic rock
― calstars, Tuesday, 30 May 2023 20:43 (ten months ago) link
au contraire. is the next heart song on twofer tuesday going to be "magic man" or "crazy on you"? no one knows! the anticipation is excruciatingly beautiful as we wait to see if it's going to be a sustained, piercing electric guitar note or some sweet acoustic flatpicking! surprise me, classic rock drive-time dj!
― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 30 May 2023 21:23 (ten months ago) link
heart rules
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 30 May 2023 21:30 (ten months ago) link
It’s “these dreams” btw
― calstars, Tuesday, 30 May 2023 21:43 (ten months ago) link
um, yes! as i believe this very thread decisively established!
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 01:40 (ten months ago) link
They don’t play Dog & Butterfly on the radio enough
― INDEPENDENTS DAY BY STEVEN SPILBERG (President Keyes), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 01:48 (ten months ago) link
I had to do some research on Top 500s a few months ago; if you're interested, here's a cached version of all the yearly Top 500s from '81 to '91 for CKOC, a station out of Hamilton.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Y0a2BmTRGU4J:https://kaseygraovac.tripod.com/CKOC/CKOCBig500/timeline.html&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca
(At the end of each blurb, there's a "VIEW THE COMPLETE 19__ BIG 500" link you can click on.)
― clemenza, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 01:51 (ten months ago) link
that is awesome
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 02:17 (ten months ago) link
would never have suspected the love for chris de burgh or milli vanilli
complete disregard of skynyrd (which is of course fine)
certainly more inclusive than my hometown radio
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 02:25 (ten months ago) link
Thinking about it now, I shouldn't have put that here. CKOC was an AM Top-40 station, not Classic Rock. (They're all-sports now.) They were competing, in a sense, with Q-107's countdowns--a Toronto station that was Classic Rock--but CKOC wasn't. That '90 chart with Milli Vanilli, New Kids, and Bette Midler makes that pretty clear.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 02:30 (ten months ago) link
Similarly, here’s the WLS list from 1981 (they continued it until the late ‘80s, iirc), which I remember listening to most of. https://hercshideaway.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-1981-wls-rock-hall-of-fame.html?m=1
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 04:33 (ten months ago) link
that is a lot of REO
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 04:41 (ten months ago) link
totally support 'roll with the changes' of course
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 04:45 (ten months ago) link
REO and Styx were local boys made good, so they were played an extremely irritating amount on WLS. I haven’t heard Styx’s “Too Much Time On My Hands” since 1981 but I could sing the whole thing from memory.Cheap Trick also got a lot of airplay — I remember hearing “So Good To See You” — but when their popularity started to wane post-Dream Police, WLS ignored them.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 05:09 (ten months ago) link
The intro to "Silly Love Songs" takes me right back to rollerskating when I was 11 years old. I can't hate on it.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 06:04 (ten months ago) link
aw
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 06:19 (ten months ago) link
feel like 'all right now' is the quintessential classic rock songit's . . . decent? but i can't imagine any possible context in which it might be mentioned other than 'classic rock songs that exist'It’s the Stanfurd Band fight song, unfortunately
― Day 1 fan (morrisp), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 07:47 (ten months ago) link
(“unfortunately” b/c it’s a pretty cool song without that association)
― Day 1 fan (morrisp), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 07:51 (ten months ago) link
REO and Styx were local boys made good, so they were played an extremely irritating amount on WLS.
It's hard to believe such a calamity, Tarfumes.
― Landfill Collins (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 11:31 (ten months ago) link
Hi Infidelity sold 10 million copies, I don't think it was a regional quirk or anything
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 11:35 (ten months ago) link
the following year they split the Layla votes into original Layla and EC unplugged, and both made the top 10, but this ensured Stairway would be first.
god, imagine preferring the MTV Unplugged version
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 11:41 (ten months ago) link
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 12:17 (ten months ago) link
Time for me to Fly gets a lot of play
― INDEPENDENTS DAY BY STEVEN SPILBERG (President Keyes), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 15:14 (ten months ago) link
WLS also played barely-hits like the live version of “Ridin’ The Storm Out” (#97 Billboard), “Time For Me To Fly” (#70; re-release #72), and “Roll With The Changes” (#48) into the ground. I heard them so often that I just assumed they were all much bigger hits. It’s like learning that Rusted Root’s “Send Me On My Way” only hit #72 — then why was it on the radio all the goddamn time?
classic rock hits aren't supposed to be pop hits! "free bird" topped out at #19. "crazy on you" at #35. "runnin' with the devil" at #84. "american girl" didn't chart at all. "stairway to heaven" and "baba o'riley" weren't singles. classic rock radio rolls with the changes, not the charts!
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 17:09 (ten months ago) link
I don’t have much to compare it to, but in addition to the Hi Infidelity singles, WLS also played barely-hits like the live version of “Ridin’ The Storm Out” (#97 Billboard), “Time For Me To Fly” (#70; re-release #72), and “Roll With The Changes” (#48) into the ground. I heard them so often that I just assumed they were all much bigger hits.
huh yeah me too, these have been staples on minneapolis's kqrs for years too
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 17:14 (ten months ago) link
feel like 'all right now' is the quintessential classic rock song
it's . . . decent? but i can't imagine any possible context in which it might be mentioned other than 'classic rock songs that exist'
With an eye toward the exits, I'll mention a context where I think it's great: cutting away from Annette Bening screaming in the much-beloved American Beauty.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 19:57 (ten months ago) link
“feel like 'all right now' is the quintessential classic rock song”I think you mean Highway to Hell
― calstars, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 20:04 (ten months ago) link
i think u mean FREEBIRD
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 20:08 (ten months ago) link
also imo Alright Now is good for 30 seconds to a minute or so when it starts up and then it’s super boring
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 20:10 (ten months ago) link
like it wears out its welcome for me very quickly
wow, Paul Kossoff is great. never tire of All Right Now, especially live versions. and Angus gets a fair bit from him.
― bulb after bulb, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 20:12 (ten months ago) link
Truthfully, I feel this way about 30 to 40% of classic rock warhorses. After 90 seconds I'm flipping the radio dial.
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 20:18 (ten months ago) link
...and there's another 10 to 15% that I don't even give that long anymore.
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 20:20 (ten months ago) link
yeah, delete my "wow," get it just am always there for that guitar
― bulb after bulb, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 20:23 (ten months ago) link
quality wise it's in the top 100 or 500 or maybe more but i do think "all right now" does feel like a very middle of a venn diagram classic rock song
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 20:49 (ten months ago) link
Dug up my ballot from e-mail. 1) I can't believe I turned in a ballot of 100 songs--my ballots are almost always half the limit allowed at best. 2) "All Right Now" wasn't one of my 100, which surprised me a little.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 21:01 (ten months ago) link
I don't listen to classic rock radio much, and I don't think they play "All Right Now" all that often, but that would be infinitely preferable to another helping of Guns N Roses.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 21:10 (ten months ago) link
classic rock hits aren't supposed to be pop hits! "free bird" topped out at #19. "crazy on you" at #35. "runnin' with the devil" at #84. "american girl" didn't chart at all. "stairway to heaven" and "baba o'riley" weren't singles. classic rock radio rolls with the changes, not the charts!That’s just it: WLS was a top 40 station, not a “classic rock” station (which also accounts for the fact that it took until 1986 or ‘87 for “Stairway” to top its annual Top 500 list). I never heard “Baba O’Riley” on WLS, not even during the Who-saturated autumn of 1982, during their “Farewell” tour.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 31 May 2023 21:27 (ten months ago) link