CLASSIC ROCK VOTE UPDATE #7

It’s been a little while since we last posted an update regarding our quest to determine The Top 3333 Most Essential Classic Rock Songs Of All-Time … (but processing what has now now been just over 725,000 votes has been taking up quite a bit of our time!!!)

For those of you just joining us (and there are quite a few of you as news has spread regarding our mission), here is a brief recap of what’s gone on to date … and what is going to happen in the next several weeks to come.

At the end of March, after being frustrated by the number of Classic Rock "Best Of" Lists we were seeing, most of which were compiled by, at best, a handful of so-called rock critics for any given radio station or publication, we decided to poll America to come up with the REAL results.

We started with our own Forgotten Hits audience and votes began coming in immediately.

But we knew this wouldn't be enough to develop the most complete list possible.

So we also started monitoring classic rock airplay on 30 different radio stations across the country ... Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Antonio and San Francisco were all represented ... in fact, we even invited 20 of these stations to participate with our research as a means to find out what THEIR listeners really want to hear in the way of Classic Rock. (Monitoring airplay can be deceiving ... this just shows you what everybody is playing ... and it became painfully obvious right from the start that, with VERY few exceptions, EVERY single one of the classic rock stations we were listening to were playing the exact same songs.) We learned a long time ago that what radio stations are playing is not necessarily what listeners REALLY want to hear ... no matter what those high-paid consultants may be telling you.

So we took it a step further and also tracked download sales for all of the tracks nominated. THIS proved to be an enlightening experience ... and really drove the point home reality-wise ... because once we saw what people were taking money out of their own pockets in order to download the music they REALLY liked and wanted to have as part of their personal collection, THIS became a HUGE determining factor in our research. Preconceived airplay without any listener input is one thing ... downloading music with a 100% factor in personal choice was quite another. Point factors were then established for airplay and downloads, which were then added to our research tally.

But without question, the biggest factor of all remained the votes we received from the general public. Anybody who took the time to write in and vote has to feel passionate about their music choices ... and, based on the thousands of emails we’ve received so far, these people are VERY curious about the end results of this survey.

Now in all fairness, ANYBODY who listens to Classic Rock on a regular basis can probably pinpoint the majority of the Top 500 - 1000 songs on this list all on their own. They may not be in the exact order you might expect ... but all of the usual suspects will be represented, just as you would expect them to be.

But what makes THIS list different from all of the other lists you may have seen out there is the fact that we didn't stop there ... instead of a Top 500 list or a Top 1000 list, we're producing a TOP 3333 LIST OF CLASSIC ROCK FAVORITES as voted on by the people who really matter ... the listeners and the fans.

This results represented in THIS list will be the results of 100% of YOUR choices … and, as with any public poll or election, you can’t bitch about the results if you didn’t vote!!!

You’ll find a lot of songs on here that you may feel really don’t qualify as part of the Classic Rock genre.  (Heck, I found HUNDREDS of songs that were nominated that I’d never even heard of before!!!)

But the lines have become VERY blurred over the past two decades as to what is and isn’t “Classic Rock.”  (That doesn’t mean that Robin Thicke’s hit will make the list … but you may be surprised by home many newer songs … some from as recent as the past year or two … have been receiving a significant amount of votes.)  Call them “Instant Classics” or “Future Classics” or whatever you want … they are now part of what we crave.  Classic Rock is no longer defined simply by the late '60's, the '70's and the '80's ... lots of new artists have come on the scene and staked their rightful claim to some of the airplay action.

We’ve also seen a number of songs and artists fall out of favor over the past twenty years. 

Twenty years ago, tracks like “Long Train Runnin’” and “China Grove” by The Doobie Brothers were showing up on our “Most Overplayed” lists ... now it's only on rare occasion that you even hear them anymore.  Twenty years ago, “Hurts So Good” by John Cougar Mellencamp was a Classic Rock staple and was played on ALL the rock stations … but today it plays just as well on the soft rock and adult contemporary stations as well … right alongside artists like Genesis and Steve Winwood and Eddie Money and Steve Miller and dozens and dozens of other artists who most of us never would have even DREAMED could have crossed over to the mainstream.

Mention a Classic Rock Countdown and the immediate foregone conclusion is that "Stairway To Heaven" will be the #1 Choice because it ALWAYS comes out on top ... but this is no longer the case.  In fact, for a good stretch of the balloting so far, "Kashmir" was earning more points than "Stairway."

Eight of the stations we were polling published Memorial Day Top 500 Countdown lists ... and guess what ... Queen came in at #1 on THREE of them ... but with three DIFFERENT titles!!!  "Bohemian Rhapsody" topped one of the lists, "We Will Rock You" / "We Are The Champions" topped another and "Another One Bites The Dust" topped a third!

And yes, "Stairway To Heaven" DID top one of those eight lists ... but so did "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith, "Hotel California" by The Eagles, "All Along The Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix and "Sweet Child O'Mine" by Guns 'n' Roses!!!  (How's THAT for diversity?!?!)

We also had to be very careful to avoid the obvious trends.  Thanks to the success of the film “Bohemian Rhapsody,” TONS of Queen music has been playing non-stop on our radios.  The same is now true of Elton John’s music, thanks to the hit film “Rocketman.”  And this week alone, in celebration of Paul McCartney’s 77^th birthday (didn’t he just turn 64 a couple of weeks ago?!?!?), Sirius / XM had an incredible EIGHT different McCartney specials running throughout the weekend!!!

And then there’s the saturation artists that are everywhere you turn.  Tom Petty was ALWAYS a popular artist, but since his death, I swear you can’t go an hour without hearing a Tom Petty song … on virtually EVERY station!!!  The same thing happened last year when David Bowie passed away.  It’s not at all uncommon on The Drive’s “Two For Tuesday” feature to hear ten songs in ten hours by AC/DC, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, David Bowie, The Doors, The Eagles, Bob Seger, Steve Miller, Fleetwood Mac, Jimi Hendrix, Journey, Queen and The Rolling Stones … and I’m talking about EVERY SINGLE TUESDAY!!!

Here in Chicago, our top two Classic Rockers, The Drive and The River, play essentially the EXACT SAME SONGS as each other every single day … other than maybe about half a dozen exceptions each day … but that’s it.  Otherwise, they’re virtually interchangeable.  (Although The Drive DOES have a distinctive edge thanks to things like Bob Stroud’s “Ten At Ten” Feature and “One 45 at 1:45” and Seaver’s “That ‘70’s Song” … eventually it all boils down to which deejays you’d rather hear (and that advantage goes to The Drive as well.)  The River holds "The Rock And Roll Diner" request hour ... and people call in and request the very same song the station is going to play all day anyway!!!  Even when listeners have the chance to get the station to step outside the box for an hour, they still stick with the tried and true.  (Or, quite possibly, those OTHER calls simply aren't making it on the air ... because, who knows, maybe their library really isn't as deep as they'd like you to believe.)

Whatever the reason, VARIETY is virtually non-existent.  BOTH stations have been tracked as playing the exact same song two, three and even FOUR times in a 24-hour period … and there is simply NO excuse for that … not with the VAST number of options out there that still pay homage to the Classic Rock Artists and the music that they have created.

As such, Classic Rock Radio Stations and Publications should take note of what we’ve done here ... because this list represents the most thorough research ever done in this genre of music. You would all do well to expand your horizons a little bit by considering some of the songs that scored well OUTSIDE the obvious choices. This list opens up all kinds of new programming possibilities. (Just imagine ... you won't have to play the same Bon Jovi song FOUR TIMES a day anymore!!!)

The open nomination period ran from March 22 thru June 30th ... exactly 100 days. EVERY song nominated made the list, no matter how out of place it may seem to some of the connoisseurs out there.  (That being said, there are already about 1500 titles that have absolutely no chance of making the final list … because the ONLY vote they will ever receive will be the initial nomination vote.)  But we promised to list EVERY nominee (up to a maximum of 5000 titles) … and as I type this this morning, we currently have an incredible 4,564 songs nominated!!!

However, ALL of this can change once we go to our OFFICIAL FINAL BALLOT …

EVERY title nominated will end up on the daily ballot for a final round of voting. It will be a combination of ALL of these votes that will determine our final list.

Beginning on July 5th, we will post a daily ballot of approximately 100 song titles per day (listed alphabetically), that are eligible for your votes.  This ballot will remain open for THREE DAYS, meaning that you will then have three days (and only three days) to vote for these selections.

A new ballot will be posted each day until all eligible song titles have been listed ... so we suggest that you either vote daily or, at the very least, check the site every day or two so as not to miss the chance to vote for what quite possibly may be some of your all-time favorite selections. 

These ballots will be posted on our brand new website set up exclusively for this purpose … (still under construction but it should be working by tomorrow!)

https://classicrockessentials.blogspot.com/

(We suggest that you bookmark this page immediately for quicker access each morning)

After a ballot has been posted for three days, these titles will no longer be eligible for voting … but keep in mind that NEW ballots will continue to be posted daily until ALL eligible songs have been posted.

You can vote one of two ways ...

You can vote for as many of the song titles listed as you feel to be deserving of the title MOST ESSENTIAL CLASSIC ROCK SONGS OF ALL-TIME. If you choose to vote via this method, every vote you cast will count as one vote on that day's ballot.

Or ... you can vote for your ten favorites from each daily list. If you choose this option, you must rate those selections from 1-10, with what you feel to be the most-deserving track shown as #1. (This method will add ten votes for #1, nine votes for #2, etc.)

If you find the selections to be extremely enticing on any given day, you can vote via BOTH methods ... but you must submit a separate ballot clearly indicating your selections for each method of voting. (Thus you can still cast a single vote for literally dozens of selections on one ballot, while assigning a greater point value to your Top Ten Favorites ... or most deserving choices ... on another.)

You can either copy the ballot, assigning a point value to each selection in the box and paste it into an email or you can simply list your selections in an email by song title and artist, designating how it is you would like to cast your votes.

In either case, email your ballots to CLASSICROCKVOTE@YAHOO.COM.

After the final ballot has been posted (right around the 21st of August) we will tabulate ALL of the votes received ... add them to the current tally that we have been tabulating for the past two months and then announce THE TOP 3333 MOST ESSENTIAL CLASSIC ROCK TRACKS OF ALL-TIME!

Please check the website often ... and encourage your friends to vote, too.

We fully expect to pass 1,000,000 votes in this survey, making this the UNDISPUTED, DEFINITIVE LIST of CLASSIC ROCK FAVORITES.

Thank you for your support!

kk

Kent Kotal

Forgotten Hits

REMINDER:

Nominations absolutely close on June 30^th (or when we reach 5000 titles … whichever occurs first) … so if you haven’t made YOUR selections yet, we suggest that you do so quickly before time and/or space run out.  Send these selections to CLASSICROCKVOTE@YAHOO.COM

In the meantime (so as not to interfere with our normal Forgotten Hits Oldies Postings), beginning  tomorrow, we will be posting a series of tunes “FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION” on the new website which will continue to run until the end of the month.

Maybe you’ll find a tune or two here that you’d completely forgotten about … even if Classic Rock Radio USED to play it quite regularly.  We’re not trying to sway anybody … we’re just suggesting that you keep your mind open to ALL songs that might fit this genre that just aren’t getting proper attention anymore.  (Dee Jays on the list would do well to pay attention to these suggestions as well … we suggest that you spin a few of them each week and see what kind of response you get from your listeners.  It sure beats playing “You Give Love A Bad Time” for the fourth time today!!!)

Bookmark this site now ... 
https://classicrockessentials.blogspot.com/ ...

And then check back daily for new nominees and (beginning July 5th) The Daily Ballot!  (kk)