Information AboutClassic Rock |
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ORIGINS OF CLASSIC ROCK RADIO The origins of the classic rock radio format can be traced back to The Beatles ' groundbreaking album '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band '', which would forever change several courses of the Rock And Roll format, especially with the slow rise of FM Broadcasting , even though a majority of people were still listening to AM Radio . Since ''Sgt. Pepper'' did not spawn any singles, both AM and FM stations began to play select tracks from the album in an attempt to retain listeners. Soon both stations and artists realized that album cuts rather than Top 40 -oriented singles could be a major source of radio airplay and artist visibility. Taken to the furthest level, this created what would be called Progressive Rock radio in the late 1960s and 1970s . This format was associated with elements of Freeform Radio , where Disc Jockey s controlled what was played. Soon a more commercially-oriented variant called Album Oriented Rock (AOR), or "album rock", emerged in the mid- and late 1970s. This format concentrated on album cuts as well, but on a more structured, Playlist -oriented basis. AOR would continue to be popular in the 1970s and early 1980s , but by the end of the 1980s, as "albums" had been supplanted by Compact Disc s and as station playlists largely stopped keeping up with developing musical trends(including New Wave Music ), "album rock" evolved into "classic rock" on many of these FM Radio stations. The first station to switch to an all-old rock format and call itself "classic rock" on the air was WYSP-FM in Philadelphia in January 1981. Program director/WYSP midday personality Dick Hungate met with station consultant Lee Abrams and together they decided to counter then-dominant (and traditionally-programmed) Philly album rockers WMMR and WIOQ with a songlist of 100% already-established and popular hits and older album tracks. After first considering the on-air describers "vintage" and "timeless", Hungate and Abrams settled on the word "classic". Hungate had to come up with the on-air presentation, or "format" in which songs were picked and then divided up according to age or perceived appeal/strength. His work at WMMR as midday man and music director two years earlier (under PD Jeff Pollack, who would go on to become an influential rock radio consultant with Pollack Media Group) helped Hungate by gut feel create the universe of appropriate classic tracks. From there, the format spread to KQRS-FM in Minneapolis and later to the rest of the country. Classic rock is similar to Oldies radio in that the format is based upon music of the past, hence the playlist and artists featured are relatively stable in comparison to Top 40 or other contemporary formats which are based primarily on current releases. However, various bands and songs will come in and out of style on classic rock radio, and regional favorites may be featured in a particular market. Additionally, in the process of jockeying for position and listener share in competetive markets, stations will often add songs and artists only marginally associated with the classic rock era, and some stations combine the classic rock format with other formats, including Modern Rock in an attempt to increase popularity. The hybrid of classic rock and modern rock is also referred to as Active Rock . KEY ARTISTS AND ALBUMS The core albums, artists, and songs most often represented in classic rock radio represent a ''subset'' of the albums and artists that were actually popular during the so-called "classic rock era". The most enduring classic rock songs and artists have proven to appeal to new generations of listeners as well as older listeners who knew the music when it originally appeared. British Hard Rock and Progressive Rock bands make up a central pillar of classic rock artists; significant among these are Led Zeppelin , Deep Purple , The Beatles , The Kinks , The Rolling Stones , The Who , Jethro Tull , Pink Floyd , Cream , and Queen . Many different songs from these acts are likely to appear on the playlists of classic rock stations. Certain American rock artists are also classic rock mainstays, including The Doors , the Eagles , Jimi Hendrix , and CCR . Arena Rock bands (such as Styx , Boston , Journey , REO Speedwagon and Supertramp ) also often appear on classic rock stations. In many areas, Southern Rock , notably that of Lynyrd Skynyrd , .38 Special and The Allman Brothers Band , forms a significant subset of classic rock playlists as well. Many other bands may appear occasionally on classic rock stations; however, this presence may be limited to a few familiar songs. For example, while the band Steppenwolf recorded over a dozen studio albums, only two of their songs (" Born To Be Wild " and " Magic Carpet Ride ") are likely to be heard within the classic rock format. Concept Album s indirectly led to the album-rock format and remain a major component of classic rock. Notable are the four Pink Floyd concept albums, including '' The Wall '' and '' Dark Side Of The Moon '', as well as The Who's two major Rock Operas : '' Tommy '' and '' Quadrophenia ''. The Who's 1971 album '' Who's Next '' is one of the most often-played classic rock albums of all time. Artists whose musical output spanned the 1960s and 1970s, including " by the Stones) are staples of classic rock radio, while the older songs from these groups are seldom heard on the format, gravitating instead to Oldies radio, along with nearly any other material recorded prior to around 1967. Some classic rock playlists also include some of the hard-rock/heavy metal bands of the 1980s such as AC/DC , Guns N' Roses and Van Halen as classic rock; again, particular songs or musical eras from these acts may be more conducive to the format than others, and nearly every station fine-tunes its playlist by adding or deleting songs and artists to differentiate itself from competing stations. Similarly, more modern material in the same style is seldom included unless it is by a recognized classic rock artist; such music often gravitates to Top 40 , Modern Rock , or Adult Album Alternative stations. Classic rock radio artists are almost exclusively White ( Jimi Hendrix and Freddie Mercury being the primary exceptions) and predominantly Male ; little of the diverse Funk , Disco , Soul , Blues , or Singer-songwriter styles that co-existed with rock music in the original era, and that may have been played contemporaneously on AOR predecessors, survives in the classic rock format. An example of one radio station's classic rock playlist may be found at KHKK , and an example of another station's top classic rock songs of all time is also illuminating. CLASSIC HITS FORMAT A variation on the classic rock theme is Classic Hits , which provides most of the playlist of classic rock with the addition of contemporaneous R&B and pop hits as well, striking a balance between the mostly '70s-focused classic rock format and the more broad-based Oldies format. SYMPHONIC "CLASSIC ROCK" Classic rock is also a term used to mean a fusion of Classical and Rock music, or more usually, rock music arranged for and played by a Symphony Orchestra and is consequently also called Symphonic Rock . The style was popularised by a series of albums called ''Classic Rock'', ''Classic Rock 2'', etc. performed by the London Symphony Orchestra in the 1970s . The resulting Easy Listening albums sold well and were popular until the early 1980s , when the form seemed to fall out of favour with the public. The LSO even scored a hit single with a medley of classic rock called '' Hooked On Classics '', in 1981 , though whereas the earlier albums were "classical" arrangements of hits by such artists as the Rolling Stones , The Beatles , Harry Nilsson and others, ''Hooked on Classics'' took the opposite tack—arranging a series of well-known classical pieces into a medley with a common tempo and adding a rock drumming track. The medley form was briefly popular around that time due to artists such as Stars On 45 . There have also been a number of popular songs based on classical music; see List Of Popular Songs Based On Classical Music . SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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