Alert: The Maps Thread

The radio version of classic rock has expanded to include harder rock from the 80’s and 90’s. And “oldies” now include 70’s and 80’s pop.

 

KLOS in LA, I used to listen to their year end countdown of “greatest songs ever” and it was all 60’s and 70’s rock (and Stairway to Heaven was usually #1). But as you say it’s evolved since then.

 

"well I'm going out west where I belong..."

 

But that's my thing though, during the time the music was made, classic rock wasn't a label. It's a retro label.

 

Yes yes yes. Sabbath is an edge case for me because they are now seen as folding right in with the stuff they used to sneer at. If you will.

 

Yeah, that looks like bullshyte.

Coors > Miller in Wisconsin?
Stella in Nevada?
Corona > Coors in Colorado?

 

Yep, they’re basically recycling nostalgic songs for a certain demographic to sing along to in the car.

 

Maybe, and I can accept Sabbath as classic rock, but I can't think of Blondie as anything but disco.

 

Didn't they start out as punk? And certainly more New Wave than disco.

 

They were never disco, they’re new wave and came out of the New York punk scene. They kinda went disco for Heart of Glass but that doesn’t make them a disco band any more than Rapture made them rap or The Tide is High reggae.

 

Fair enough, I was thinking of Heart of Glass and Rapture (which I would also consider disco, or disco-ish). I can see them being all of those things, but the only way I would consider them classic rock is if you consider all popular music from that time period as classic rock.

 

I suspect the Eagles and Chicago represent Pennsylvania and Illinois, respectively, for non musical reasons.

 

They started 100% New Wave. They were my favorite band in high school.

IMO their first album is their best. The others have too many weak tracks. The first one is really solid, even though it doesn’t have any 10 out of 10 songs like Dreaming or Youth Nabbed as Sniper or Heart of Glass.

And if you like ironic kitsch, you’ll find it in abundance on that record.

 

They were outstanding dilettantes in so, so many genres. Disco, hard rock, Eurodisco, doo wop, surf music…they literally did it all.

 

Yeah as far as the marketing term “classic rock” goes I totally agree. The dudes singing along to Slow Ride or whatever don’t want to hear Blondie.

 

Parallel Lines is the one for me, one of those albums where some of the lesser known tracks outshine the hits (11:59 might be my favorite Blondie song).

 

I would suggest looking at Rapture as cultural appropriaton,but that's just me.

 

Not any more so than when they culturally appropriated SoCal culture for surfer songs, or when they culturally appropriated Motown on their girl group songs, or when they…you get the point.

Them doing rap is the equivalent of Don Rickles insulting Jews or Italians or African Americans.

 

I live in Northeast PA