I love Classic Rock!

To be honest, I love many styles of music; Blues, Jazz, Classical, Pop, Country, Reggae, Soul, Funk, R&B, you name it... but Classic Rock has a special place in my heart. It's the music I grew up with. It's simple, it's fun, and it reminds me of great times!

What is Classic Rock?

According to Wikipedia, 'Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the mid-1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on commercially successful hard rock popularized in the 1970s'.

When I think Classic Rock, I think of 70's rock bands; AC/DC, Aerosmith, Bad Company, Black Sabbath, Boston, Cheap Trick, Deep Purple, Eagles, Foreigner, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pink Floyd, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Thin Lizzy, Van Halen, Whitesnake, ZZ Top, etc.

But, it's not always that simple. Things overlap - they develop organically... with little regard for calendars!

Many Classic Rock artists released music in the late 60's; Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Who, Deep Purple, The Beatles.

By the same token, lots of Classic Rock artists continued putting out great albums in the 80's; AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Rush, Whitesnake, Van Halen, ZZ Top.

Metal bands such as Judas Priest, MSG, Dio, the Scorpions,and Iron Maiden were not far removed from some of the heavier bands of the 70's.

New bands such as Guns N' Roses and the Cult definitely shared many characteristics with their 70's influences.

Even popular artists such as John Mellencamp and Billy Idol also shared music DNA with the Classic Rock generation, as did glam rock and hair metal bands such as Def Leppard and Bon Jovi.

The truth is, you can't really pigeon hole a genre of music!

Blues Rock, Prog Rock, Punk Rock, Country Rock, New Wave, Classic Metal, Glam Rock, Hair Metal... it's all rock, and after 30 plus years, it's all classic!