When you hear the term “classic rock,” what bands come to mind? The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and The Stones, right? You aren’t thinking of Nirvana, Korn, or Green Day.
Friday night on 100.3 the X, we played most of the songs from the list below as part of our weekly all-request show. The theme was “Party Like It’s 1999: Songs that turn 25 this year.” This begs an interesting question… should these songs be deemed classic rock?
Some will say that anything 25 years old or older is, in fact, classic rock. That logic could make sense considering an artist’s first album must be at least 25 years old for them to be eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Wikipedia will tell you that classic rock is a radio format created in the 1980s derived from album-oriented rock (AOR). According to MasterClass, classic rock includes ’60s psychedelia, ’70s album-oriented rock, ’80s college rock, heavy metal, and ’90s grunge.
Taking all of that into account, would you consider any of these songs classic rock?
Silverchair – Anthem for the Year 2000
In my opinion, “classic rock” should stay primarily 60s and 70s with a dash of 80s. The 90s, and arguably the early 2000s, should be a separate category altogether. Anything released in the past 10-15 years could be considered “modern rock.”
At the end of the day, music is subjective. I believe the same applies to genres and how we categorize the music. Die Hard is not a Christmas movie and Blink 182 is not classic rock.
-Randy
