Bands (songs) that Classic Rock stations dont play, but should:

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You know what I mean.
I'll start off with the Velvet Underground, Television, the Replacements and Pearl Jam.

― yoko0no, Saturday, 10 March 2007 16:24 (eighteen years ago)

Nurse With Wound

― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 10 March 2007 16:27 (eighteen years ago)

hanson

― latebloomer, Saturday, 10 March 2007 16:30 (eighteen years ago)

*Someone Please Play "Fat Man in the Bathtub" for Jim(#)

I enjoyed the article. I have listened to the FM radio longer than I care to admit and have been enjoying it less and less. I thought it was just me.

I work in a machine shop for ten hours a day and listen to the radio all day to break the monotony. However, that is easier said than done when I hear the same songs every day over and over. I remember when I worked nights ten years ago, Cities 97 (KTCZ-FM 97.1) had some good music on late at night. KQRS-FM (92.5) comes in nice, but the music is so lame! Could anyone suggest a station where I could listen to some good R&B, blues, jazz?

Lucky for me I used to tape songs I liked when I lived in Denver and listened to KTCL 20 years ago. Why doesn't KQRS play things like "Fat Man in the Bathtub" by Little Feat?

JimKlatt
Medina

― artdamages, Saturday, 10 March 2007 16:31 (eighteen years ago)

I dont understand why I never hear New York Dolls or the Vibrators on Classic Rock stations? The station in Chicago is 97.1 The Drive it will play everthing from talking heads, U2 REM, to Dusty Springfield, Shadows of the Night and Elton John, but it wouldnt touch the Ramones with a ten foot pole. Certain Classic Rock bands seem to just be lost in some Baby Boomer blindspot...

― yoko0no, Sunday, 11 March 2007 13:10 (eighteen years ago)

"Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" - Klaatu.
"I Like My Toys" - Idle Race

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 11 March 2007 14:19 (eighteen years ago)

Pretty Things

― bendy, Sunday, 11 March 2007 14:54 (eighteen years ago)

Big Star. You'd think that program directors would have an excuse to put them in since "That Damn 70's Show" used "In the Street" as their theme for ten years.

I also don't hear stuff like "Mr. Blue Sky" on my classic rock station. Just "Don't Bring Me Down" for the 82374th time.

Alice Cooper does a syndicated show on the Clear Channel classic rock station, and he plays songs from the frickin' Stooges and "Conquistador" by Procul Harem. Pretty bad when you're getting sonned by Alice Cooper on Clear Channel.

― Pleasant Plains, Sunday, 11 March 2007 15:54 (eighteen years ago)

I hate it when a classic rock station says its gonna play a "deep cut" from their collection and nds up being something like Deep Purple's 'Highway Star'. A great tune, but hardly a deep cut.

― yoko0no, Monday, 12 March 2007 00:48 (eighteen years ago)

Only recently has hard rock radio in Chicago, namely 'The Loop,' played Iron Friggin' Maiden. And that always seems to be 'Run To The Hills.' And the DJ always seems a bit bewildered when it shows up on the ipod-o-track-picky-list.

Good lord Hard Rock Radio format people - would it kill you to play some NWOBHM?

Even the American Standard Rock generic song choices from Grand Funk and Cheap Trick and such are always the same tracks over and over again - damn I'm sick of it. Wouldn't you love to hear Flower Travellin' Band or Budgie on hard rock radio? Or even just a different track from Ten Years After or Allman Brothers? It's rinse lather repeat over and over again on the corporate airwaves - no wonder internet and satellite is kicking their collective asses.

― BlackIronPrison, Monday, 12 March 2007 00:52 (eighteen years ago)

From what I've heard of the classic rock stations in the Midwest, they have playlists full of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Alice In Chains.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, 12 March 2007 00:53 (eighteen years ago)

"Symptom of the Universe"
"Radio Free Europe"
"I Will Follow"

― Mr. Snrub, Monday, 12 March 2007 01:08 (eighteen years ago)

"Everlovin' Man" - the Loved Ones

― Drooone, Monday, 12 March 2007 01:11 (eighteen years ago)

"Radio Free Europe"

It wasn't that exact song, but I just about crapped yesterday when the noise pollution system at Wal-Mart played "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville".

Big Star is a good answer.

― Rock Hardy, Monday, 12 March 2007 01:36 (eighteen years ago)

I'm so amazed at how stuff like Big Star or the Ramones doesn't get played, but yet I still somehow manage to hear "Sausalito Summernights" on the radio every once in awhile.

― Pleasant Plains, Monday, 12 March 2007 02:58 (eighteen years ago)

Bo Fucking Diddley

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 12 March 2007 03:34 (eighteen years ago)

Or, to be be more realistic:

Black Oak Arkansas
Replacements
Little Feat

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 12 March 2007 03:37 (eighteen years ago)

southern rock bands that don't begin with "lynyrd" generally would be good. ram jam!
stuff from the 60s! any stuff from the 60s! i haven't even heard a fucking cream song on the radio in 10 years.
deep purple that isn't "smoke on the water"/black sabbath that isn't "paranoid" or "iron man"
the stooges

and i'd be happy to hear english bands that didn't really do that well over here like family and the groundhogs. since i'm dreaming.

what is the actual pool of music most classic rock stations play? like 30 songs, half of them zeppelin?

― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Monday, 12 March 2007 04:02 (eighteen years ago)

I'm pretty sure they play Black Oak Arkansas on the classic rock station here.

― Curt1s Stephens, Monday, 12 March 2007 04:06 (eighteen years ago)

9 of 'em Rush, if you're here in Canada (30% Canadian Content required, doncha know.)

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 12 March 2007 04:11 (eighteen years ago)

xpost to Hawkwind

Curt1s, you must live below the Mason-Dixon line!

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 12 March 2007 04:14 (eighteen years ago)

In Detroit we get a disproportionately large amount of Segar. If I never heard fucking turn the page again it'd be too soon.

There are a ton of canonical artists who classic rock radio talk about all the time, without ever actually playing their music. This includes Jimi Hendrix, who's only song I've heard on the radio recently was Purple Haze and that's very infrequent.

Alice Cooper's show is great, and he's played King Crimson. I think even within the boundaries of what Classic Rock radio is aiming for, i.e., music my parents would like, there are still a ton of artists and songs that are totally looked over.

― filthy dylan, Monday, 12 March 2007 04:24 (eighteen years ago)

haha how'd you guess?

― Curt1s Stephens, Monday, 12 March 2007 04:25 (eighteen years ago)

Big Star. You'd think that program directors would have an excuse to put them in since "That Damn 70's Show" used "In the Street" as their theme for ten years.

"September Gurls" is perfect for any classic rock station. The problem being, it was not at all a hit and the nostalgia effect is thus nonexistant.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 12 March 2007 13:54 (eighteen years ago)

Radio 2 and their ceaseless playing of non-hit "Brown Eyed Girl" to thread.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 12 March 2007 13:59 (eighteen years ago)

Head East, any of the singles. "Never Been Any Reason" or "Love Me Tonight" or "Since You Been Gone"

― zaxxon25, Monday, 12 March 2007 16:35 (eighteen years ago)

The classic rock station in my building plays "Never Been Any Reason".

― Pleasant Plains, Monday, 12 March 2007 16:53 (eighteen years ago)

big star is a perfect answer. even way back in the late '70s, people thought they'd heard those records before, and that uncanny aspect of those records is what would make it interesting to hear "in the street" in the original version on the radio. or "september gurls." there's tons of shit like this. like eno's "needles in the camel's eye," that seems radio-friendly to me. and ton of obscure soul music would work, since nothing is more interesting than attempts at ultra-commerciality that fall flat.

― whisperineddhurt, Monday, 12 March 2007 17:45 (eighteen years ago)

Many, many numerous Funkadelic cuts. At the very least "Can You Get To That?". So classic rock radio.

― nickalicious, Monday, 12 March 2007 18:06 (eighteen years ago)

Also Sly & The Fam should be on classic rock radio but usually can only be found on "oldies" stations instead. And then it's either "Hot Fun In The Summertime" or "Everyday People" and never anything else.

― nickalicious, Monday, 12 March 2007 18:07 (eighteen years ago)

Also ANY Jim Croce besides "Werewolf In London". WTF radio.

― nickalicious, Monday, 12 March 2007 18:16 (eighteen years ago)

You mean Warren Zeavon?

― Pleasant Plains, Monday, 12 March 2007 18:40 (eighteen years ago)

Wait, did I type Jim Croce? Oh for fucks sake.

― nickalicious, Monday, 12 March 2007 19:04 (eighteen years ago)

WTF myself.

― nickalicious, Monday, 12 March 2007 19:04 (eighteen years ago)

Poor, poor pitiful you.

― Pleasant Plains, Monday, 12 March 2007 20:14 (eighteen years ago)

flamin groovies should be played, but arent...Ocassionally I'll hear a Uriah Heep tune...and yeah, I hear 'Never Been Any Reason' by Head East on my classic rock station too, but its rare...

― yoko0no, Monday, 12 March 2007 22:14 (eighteen years ago)

Heh heh...I remember mentioning Head East in some Ohiocentric thread a coupla years ago, claiming to have never heard 'em at all. And Stormy Davis came back saying "Come on, you MUST'VE heard "Never Been Any Reason"! So I investigated a 30-second clip...nope.

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 12 March 2007 23:15 (eighteen years ago)

our local classic rock station plays that Head East jam on the regular. god bless. love that song.

one of my fav underrated Classic Rock Radio jamz: "Give Me Some Water" by Eddie Money

― M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 12 March 2007 23:22 (eighteen years ago)

We've totally done this thread before. What's the criteria here? Just "stuff I like that sounds classic rock-ish that I wish was on classic rock radio?" In that case, yeah, I'd love to hear Funkadelic and Television and Big Star for sure, and I'll even suggest some John McLaughlin and electric Miles and Captain Beefheart and Sonic Youth and Husker Du and Patti Smith and Joy Division tracks like "New Dawn Fades" and "Shadowplay" and Van der Graaf Generator and Plastic People of the Universe... It gets more challenging if you have to pick stuff that sold well enough to be on heavy rotation but that somehow slipped through the cracks. I seriously think the Beatles, Byrds, and Beach Boys are under-represented. Would it kill to drop "Eight Miles High" once in a while? I'll agree about album cuts for Deep Purple and Black Sabbath and Hendrix and anyone, really. ("Starship Trooper" would probably go over well. Why not throw on "1983" now and then?) The station in Ottawa used to be a little more AO about its AOR. 97 Rock in Buffalo does still play complete albums sometimes. I have to wonder, though, if some of this stuff might get damaged by overplay if it was on all the time.

― Sundar, Monday, 12 March 2007 23:34 (eighteen years ago)

I know there's a similiar thread about this somewhere though I can't find it. I remember talking about music testing and the circular logic behind it. (How a song like "Never Been Any Reason" can test okay because listeners hear "Never Been Any Reason" on the radio because "Never Been Any Reason" tests okay.)

― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 00:01 (eighteen years ago)

Also, 80s Metallica and Jane's Addiction and Gabriel-era Genesis (Toronto and Montreal stations do play them.)

― Sundar, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 00:13 (eighteen years ago)

before there was a "classic rock" format, almost all of the above could be heard on a regular basis, on one of the 3 FM rock stations most major American cities had...(well, except Big Star, of course)...

having said that, Velvet Underground...

― henry s, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 00:21 (eighteen years ago)

Big Star seems like the best answer. Really, it's kind of baffling.

― Z S, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 03:39 (eighteen years ago)

jim ladd to thread!!

― chaki, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 06:50 (eighteen years ago)

I seriously think the Beatles, Byrds, and Beach Boys are under-represented.

Isn't this because "Classic Rock" and "Oldies" are strictly speaking two different formats.

I mean, other than the fact that most "oldies" stations tend to concentrate on pre-Beatles music.

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 10:05 (eighteen years ago)

really?

― Mark G, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 10:09 (eighteen years ago)

Not in Britain they don't.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 10:14 (eighteen years ago)

Randy Newman

― mulla atari, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 12:30 (eighteen years ago)

I mean, other than the fact that most "oldies" stations tend to concentrate on pre-Beatles music.

Well, exactly (to the extent that oldies stations still exist.) I was thinking about the late-60s output of those bands BTW, which would seem to fit classic rock formats. (Can you imagine "Eight Miles High" on oldies radio?) Also, Jeff Beck, more Kinks and Yardbirds, stuff like the Faces' "You Can Make Dance, Sing, or Anything."

― Sundar, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 14:08 (eighteen years ago)

I mean, other than the fact that most "oldies" stations tend to concentrate on pre-Beatles music.

this isn't really true anymore, at least where i'm from geir...it's more AM gold type stuff now.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 15:25 (eighteen years ago)

let's just say the entire x-gau-ian semippopular canon. nolan porter, thomas jefferson kaye, larry jon wilson, randy newman, ny dolls, hirth martinez, blue ash...

― whisperineddhurt, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 18:37 (eighteen years ago)

I worked in a dire pub a couple of years ago that played Classic Rock radio, and I remember thinking how out of place David Bowie sounds compared to the rest of the playlist. Other random observations:

- Jimmy Page writes really beautiful parts for acoustic guitar
- All songs on Classic Rock Radio, even the crappy ones, have great intros.
- Tom Petty sucks
- Deep Purple songs generally contain about a minute of Rocktastic Fucking Glory, a minute or two of Hamfisted Wank, and another couple minutes of filler. What other band is so consistently inconsistent even within a single song?
- Jimi Hendrix sounds like an Apocalypse From Space next to anything else played on Classic Rock Radio.

― m0stlyClean, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 21:59 (eighteen years ago)

- Tom Petty sucks

you are so incredibly wrong.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 22:02 (eighteen years ago)

that's actually one of the things i NOTICE when i listen to classic rock radio, is how great a pop songwriter Petty (and actually Billy Squier and The Cars too) is/are

― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 22:02 (eighteen years ago)

Hi M@tt,

I try not to post offhand slagging on here, but Mr. Petty just rubs me the wrong way. I think it's mostly his miserable fucking voice. There I go again. I guess we just have different ideas about great pop songwriting, or the importance thereof (OTM re Cars however).

― m0stlyClean, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 00:04 (eighteen years ago)

that's cool. tom's got a weedy lil voice. i love him. ugly mug and all!

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 00:05 (eighteen years ago)

There is an entire group of late 70s/early 80s Traditional Rockers like Tom Petty that I'll just never be able to have much interest in: Your John Cougar-Melloncamps, your George Thoroughgoods, etc. Also I've always wondered why he called his backup band the Heartbreakers? Had he seriously never heard of Richard Hell and Johnny Thunders Heartbreakers before???

― yoko0no, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 00:59 (eighteen years ago)

wasnt he before or at least around the same time as them?

― chaki, Thursday, 15 March 2007 03:32 (eighteen years ago)

Why doesn't KQRS play things like "Fat Man in the Bathtub" by Little Feat?

WXRT and WMMR both used to play this track... XRT used to have a live show with that song in it (I love that one btw). I don't know this KQRS but clearly they are a mess!

They don't play Gram Parsons either! It's actually amazing how "shallow" they go on certain artists. Like count how many different Buffalo Springfield songs you hear. (um, 1)

Also, WTF about Stephen Stills, Manassas, FBB and fucking Sweethearts of the Rodeo?!

I haven't listened in 20 years I have to confess. It nearly ruined the "genre" for me.

Also, they play YES, what is so fucking wrong with Tomorrow (or Bodast even)?! Fuckers who cuntroll our airwaves have been fucked like forev.

― Saxby D. Elder, Thursday, 15 March 2007 03:49 (eighteen years ago)

― Dorf Engulf, Saturday, 17 March 2007 18:44 (eighteen years ago)

(whoops)

"Fearless" - Pink Floyd

― Dorf Engulf, Saturday, 17 March 2007 18:46 (eighteen years ago)

I thought Johnny Thunders Heartbreakers came out around '75--I'm nt sure about Petty's Heartbreakers, but yeah, I guess it was about the same time...I'll have to check it someday and get back to you...

― yoko0no, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 00:09 (eighteen years ago)

Do any of them play Crack The Sky anymore? "Surf City" seems like it deserves to be on any playlist that includes Queen and/or Styx.

― dlp9001, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 01:08 (eighteen years ago)

dont look now, but...
led zep

― yoko0no, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:34 (eighteen years ago)

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