Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s.[2] In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid-1990s,[3][a] primarily focusing on commercially successful blues rock and hard rock popularized in the 1970s AOR format.[2] The radio format became increasingly popular with the baby boomer demographic by the end of the 1990s.[5]
This article is about a radio format. For the music genre often associated with the "classic rock" era, see Arena rock. For other uses, see Classic Rock (disambiguation).
Although classic rock has mostly appealed to adult listeners, music associated with this format received more exposure with younger listeners with the presence of the Internet and digital downloading.[6] Some classic rock stations also play a limited number of current releases which are stylistically consistent with the station's sound, or by heritage acts which are still active and producing new music.[7]
Among academics and historians, classic rock has been discussed as an effort by critics, media, and music establishments to canonize rock music and commodify 1960s Western culture for audiences living in a post-baby boomer economy. The music selected for the format has been identified as predominantly commercially successful songs by white male acts from the Anglosphere, expressing values of Romanticism, self-aggrandizement, and politically undemanding ideologies. It has been associated with the album era (1960s–2000s), particularly the period's early pop/rock music.
Programming[edit]
Typically, classic rock stations play rock songs from the mid-1960s through the 1980s and began adding 1990s music in the early 2010s. Most recently there has been a "newer classic rock" under the slogan of the next generation of classic rock. Stations such as WLLZ in Detroit, WBOS in Boston, and WKQQ in Lexington play music focusing more on harder edge classic rock from the 1980s to the 2000s.[21][22][23]
Some of the artists that are featured heavily on classic rock radio are the Beatles,[24] Pink Floyd, Genesis, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Quiet Riot, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Def Leppard, Boston, the Cars, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Elton John, Bryan Adams, Eric Clapton, the Who, Van Halen, Rush, Black Sabbath, U2, Guns N' Roses, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eagles, the Doors, Styx,[25] Queen, Led Zeppelin,[26] and Jimi Hendrix.[26] The songs of the Rolling Stones, particularly from the 1970s, have become staples of classic rock radio.[27] "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965),[28] "Under My Thumb" (1966),[29] "Paint It Black" (1966),[30] and "Miss You" (1978) are among their most popular selections, with Complex calling the latter "an eternal mainstay on classic-rock radio".[31]
A 2006 Rolling Stone article noted that teens were surprisingly interested in classic rock and speculated that the interest in the older bands might be related to the absence of any new, dominant sounds in rock music since the advent of grunge.[26]