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November 28, 2005
I have my lighter out, dude
It's hard to believe but it's true: The "classic rock" radio format is 20 years old.
I'm not sure if that realization makes me feel old. Or young. Nonetheless, Fred Jacobs, who invented that radio format, has put together a retrospective. Bonus: Pictures of haircuts from the 80s.
Other blogs that reference I have my lighter out, dude:
Thanks for pointing this out - I never realized there was an "official" moment that the classic-rock format came into existence. I remember from my childhood, for example, a radio station in St. Louis that had been billing itself as a "classic rock" station since the late '70s (KSHE95, for any fellow St. Louisans who are reading this), although now I'm realizing that I don't think they actually ever used that exact term until after the mid-'80s themselves. It's fascinating, I think, that a term that's become so ubiquitous like that actually has an official history of usage that can literally be traced.
What is crazy is I heard G&R's "sweet child of mine" on a classic rock station yesterday!
The music I listened to in middle school is classic rock...I would have never thought it...
How old a song must be before it's considered classic rock: 10 years? 15?
The problem with current FM "Classic Rock" is the quite shallow playlist. On satellite radio, they are able to split both genres (AOR and CR) These are XM's channels:
Album-Oriented Rock: Deep Tracks Ch. 40
Classic Rock: Top Tracks Ch. 46
My kids like to listen to Radio Disney. One of the songs they like is "1985" by Bowling for Soup, it includes the line:
"When did Motley Crue become classic rock?"
Oh well... time for more coffee...
GS
Bowling for Soup sang what many of us dare not say aloud.
