I truly appreciate your detailed and passionate response to my recent comments about your “Ultimate Classic Rock” project. I’m very passionate about the subject, too, and just wanted to get some of my concerns out there. It certainly wasn’t my intent to “rain on your parade” and I will be very interested in the final results. If I can be of any help in the process, please don’t hesitate to let me know.
All the best.
Paul
No issues at all on this end … I appreciate the opportunity to reiterate our commitment to making this the most comprehensive list possible by enlisting not only our own readers but Classic Rock Fans from all over the country who are committed to the genre. Again, this is why I believe OUR list can be come the definitive one, solely based on the input from such a wide poll base. (Honestly, if the votes continue to come in at the rate they are now … and I fully expect them to escalate, once word starts to spread about our mission … I don’t know HOW I’m going to be able to keep up with it all … and may have to enlist some support in tabulating the results. My only concern there is relinquishing any control as I fully intend to monitor this to ensure the best possible REAL results … without any ballot stuffing!!! Lol) Thanks, Paul. (kk)
kk:
Today is Vietnam Veterans Day.
Here are Ten Classic Rock Songs That Go Perfect With Vietnam Footage
FB
All excellent choices … and I just cast a vote for each and every one of them in our Classic Rock Favorites Poll. (Anybody else out there feel the same way???)
Some of these tracks receive virtually no airplay today … but are still perfect candidates for our list as they display all of the characteristics of the classic rock genre and the type of artists we’re looking for. “Still In Saigon” is a GREAT example … so is Billy Joel’s “Goodnight Saigon.” I remember featuring both of these on Jim Shea’s Y-103.9 Morning Show many moons ago.
Interesting to see two Creedence songs listed (out of ten) … “Who’ll Stop The Rain” would be another good one. Also, a couple by The Stones.
The Buffalo Springfield track is a “gimme” … but “War” by Edwin Starr hadn’t been nominated yet … so it’s now on the list and open to your voting. (kk)
Hi Kent –
Here are my offerings:
No Time - Guess Who
Down by the River - Neil Young
All Along the Watchtower – Hendrix
Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
Gimme Some Lovin - Spencer Davis Group
Can't Find my Way home - Blind Faith
Tangled Up in Blue – Dylan
Africa – Toto
Paint it Black – Stones
Day in the Life – Beatles
Ramble On – Zeppelin
There's a ton of stuff from the 80s I'd love to nominate - Aha, Duran Duran, New Order - but then I guess they're not rock, they're pop and that's another radio
station.
R. Lovelock
I’ve received votes for Take On Me and about five or six Duran Duran songs - if you feel something belongs, vote for it!
(Heaven forbid some of our suggestions should shake things up a bit and make radio interesting again!) kk
R. Lovelock
I’ve received votes for Take On Me and about five or six Duran Duran songs - if you feel something belongs, vote for it!
(Heaven forbid some of our suggestions should shake things up a bit and make radio interesting again!) kk
Had the TV on Wednesday night and couldn’t believe what I was hearing …
There are SO many great classic rock songs being used in commercials again right now. Within the span of an hour I heard “Give A Little Bit” by Supertramp, Joe Cocker’s version of “Feelin’ All-Right,” “Walk This Way,” Bo Diddley’s “I’m A Man” and “Me And Julio Down By The School Yard” … plus, on that new show “Whiskey Cavaliere,” foreign language versions of Lindsay Buckingham’s “Holiday Road” and the Ram Jam classic “Black Betty.” With TV music THIS good, you almost don’t even have to turn on the radio!
But we’re doing that, too!
We are now monitoring several different classic rock radio stations across the country ... our "radio partners" if you will ... tabulating their actual airplay in order to see just exactly what everybody’s been playing. (Thanks to “recently played” lists and daily airplay logs, this is easier than ever to do.) We’re also tabulating the tracks that we hear ourselves in order to better gauge the current trends in real time airplay.
As expected, most of these playlists are virtually the same … but every once in a while we’ll hear a REAL surprise come out … and some of the nominations you guys are sending in have REALLY helped us expand the nominees list.
In fact, as I type this, we have just over 2200 song nominations so far … that puts us at about two-thirds of the way to our goal of naming The Top 3333 Classic Rock Favorites of All-Time.
What this ALSO means is that EVERY vote counts right now. Since we’re still short of our target, even titles that have only received one vote are still eligible to make the final cut. (And believe me, we’ve got a TON of them!!!)
Now odds are this won’t be the case as we get closer to our goal … especially once more stations get on board with helping us poll America for their Classic Rock Favorites.
In another month or two, we’ll start to list ALL of the candidates, giving our readers additional chances to vote for some that may have slipped your mind … it’ll also be one more chance for you to show your love for your absolute favorites.
I fully anticipate this to be the largest Forgotten Hits Poll we’ve ever done … with upwards of two million votes! (That sounds like a pretty definitive list to me!) Safe to say, the people will have spoken … and classic rock radio outlets are anxious to see the results. (Who knows … we truly may help to change the landscape of what you hear on these stations moving forward!)
Let’s face it …
If you drove end to end across the country, I think we would all agree that there are about 500 songs that you are going to hear no matter where you go on a daily basis … but here is a chance for Classic Rock Radio to expand their “playing field” by adding some MAJOR fan favorites that they may not even be aware of. Some of these results may surprise you. (They’ve already surprised us … tracks that might not traditionally be taken as “classic rock oriented” are already making this list … what an interesting blend this will make when all is said and done.)
Along the way, we’ll also be tempting you with “For Your Consideration” suggestions … it’s up to YOU to decide if these songs belong on the list or not.
So please, keep those votes coming folks … we’ve still got a LONG way to go before we hit the finish line … and right now EVERY VOTE COUNTS!!! (kk)
One last note ...
Not to pick on Ozzy again … it really is NOT our intention to single out any artists here … in fact, quite the opposite … if you guys feel somebody absolutely belongs, let’s get them on the list …
But in monitoring all these radio play logs … and listening to at least 50-60 hours of classic rock radio this past week alone … I can report that the ONLY place I hear Ozzy Osbourne songs being played is on Sirius / XM … and they play a lot of them. Otherwise, this music doesn’t seem to fall into the “mainstream” of classic rock airplay. (With Sirius / XM you have the ability to view dozens of music channels at once and see what each one of them are playing at any given point in time. That being said, I have to admit that I was SHOCKED by how small their play list really is. With literally hundreds of music channels to choose from, a good percentage of which feature tracks that are on our list, it is SO disappointing to see so many of the same tracks featured so many times spread across all of these stations … and sometimes even playing a track or two apart or even at the same time on two completely different “branded theme” stations!
You would think that in trying to capture the scope of so many different genres at once, we would be experiencing the ultimate in programming variety … but this is not the case. (And, to top it off, we PAY to be fed the exact same diet all day long.) Variety is definitely NOT on the menu!
But if you’re craving more Ozzy, AC/DC, a bit of Metallica and more Guns ‘n’ Roses than I’ve ever heard in the past twenty years combined, then THIS is the outlet for you. (As such, many of these tracks have earned “airplay votes,” which has helped us expand the nominees list … but does not seem to accurately reflect what Classic Rock Radio is typically playing on a daily basis everywhere else across the country.)
And kudos to those of you out there who are pushing the envelope a little bit by naming some songs and artists that wouldn’t necessarily have been the first ones to cross my mind if compiling my own list.
This is going to be a VERY interesting blend of music when all is said and done. And to reiterate … this is YOUR list … so please make your votes count. When all is said and done, we want to present the ULTIMATE Classic Rock Playlist … so we’re counting on you to help make that happen! (kk)
