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Who is the last classic rock band?

Who is the last classic rock band?

  • Nirvana

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Pearl Jam

    Votes: 1 11.1%
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Guns N Roses

    Votes: 3 33.3%
  • Foo Fighters

    Votes: 3 33.3%
  • The White Stripes

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • The Black Keys

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Tool

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other (please post)

    Votes: 2 22.2%
  • We haven't seen them

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    9

King Kamala

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Post @Gary made in Nu-Metal thread retriggered a topic I've thought a lot; what was the last classic rock band?


Bands I almost included in the poll but decided against; Rage Against The Machine, Nine Inch Nails (both too "eclectic" to get played on most classic rock stations right now afaik although that will probably change once Gen Xers become prime demographic for classic rock stations), and Wilco (Idk if I've ever actually heard them on any radio station besides the local adult alternative station)
 

HarleyQuinn

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I voted Foo Fighters only because they came a few years after Pearl Jam (for obvious reasons) and have stayed relevant through the modern day. I like the White Stripes & Black Keys but feel both are a little less broad appealing.
 

Laz

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I disagree with all of these bands being called "classic rock" on the basis that they each fit into other niches (grunge, post-grunge, prog, industrial, etc.). The term "classic rock" will forever refer to that Woodstock-to-Reagan era for me, denoted by heavy influences from blues and country western.

I guess I kinda just talked myself into voting for GNR, actually.
 

Alfie

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The term "classic rock" will forever refer to that Woodstock-to-Reagan era for me,
Yeah, this thread is confusing the shit out of me. It's like how nothing released after 1962 or so is a 'golden oldie', or the New Pop movement being 40 years old at this point.

Anyway I voted GnR on the basis of my own litmus test: does it inspire middle-aged men in the pub to launch into tirades about real music being dead? Can't see it with any of the others
 
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King Kamala

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Wouldn't it seriously be like Kings of Leon or Mumford & Sons?

Correct answer is the Strokes.
Your NYC bias is showing, Epic. The Strokes are like the ‘00s Black Crowes to the rest of the country. Maybe I should’ve included Black Crowes in the poll but I don’t think they’re relevant enough to be considered a CLASSIC ROCK BAND over just a band occasionally played on classic rock radio.

I would put Kings of Leon in the same status as Black Keys, White Stripes, and Killers (who I definitely should have considered for the poll) as bands that aren’t classic rock yet but will probably get there in 10 years (assuming radio still exists) once more boomers die off and millennials are the ones programming classic rock stations.

Mumford & Sons is probably too wimpy to be considered classic rock but will definitely make their close relative classic hits stations in 10-15 years.

Every Xer gets mad when I call Nirvana a classic rock band but classic rock radio here has been playing them since around the time of “You Know You’re Right”. Pearl Jam gets played most though of the grunge bands cause they kind of fit in better with the roation.
 

AA484

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"Classic Rock" is fairly restricted to pre-early 1980s, although there were many artists popular in that decade (Springsteen, Tom Petty, Mellencamp, U2, Seger, to name a few) that had songs that are played on "classic rock" stations. I think the definite "line in the sand" was the early 90s alternative rock explosion. I wouldn't consider any band that came along after that to be "classic rock" but more the "new" classic rock (i.e. alternative rock). I think Pearl Jam is the correct answer as they stayed truest to the arena and stadium rock "sound" of their predecessors and influences while also appealing to the older listeners ("boomers") that made up the biggest part of classic rock's fanbase.

Also, I think it was Byron that claimed "Interstate Love Song" was the last great "American" rock song and it kind of fits as the death knell to the "classic rock" sound as you heard it, along with a decent part of Pearl Jam's catalogue, being played on dinosaur rock stations as early as the 2000s.
 

cobainwasmurdered

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I mean you can force anything you want into the classic rock definition just by using a time basis. The last time I was forced to listen to it my classic rock station played certain hip hop songs from the 90s!
 

AA484

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I mean you can force anything you want into the classic rock definition just by using a time basis. The last time I was forced to listen to it my classic rock station played certain hip hop songs from the 90s!

I think you have to place certain restrictions to it or better define what "classic" rock is. Is it:

1. An actual sound or style defined by a certain playing in a manner that (mostly) appealed to late sixties through early eighties listeners, focusing on big guitars, loud anthems, ballads, etc. without playing too fast or hard or without greatly deviating from the "norm?" (metal, grunge, punk, etc.)

2. Or is it simply the last commercially successful mainstream rock group, not particularly defined by sub-genre of rock and having a "rolling" timeline, wherein "classic" is merely referring to groups or music that is older than, say, 7-10 years?
 

King Kamala

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Anyone who liked this discussion should definitely read this book on the slow death of classic rock.

One of interesting points made is there is rock music that is classic but not classic rock music (I think Velvet Underground may have been the example used for the category ) and mediocre bands like REO Speedwagon and Foreigner who aren’t classic but are definitely classic rock.
 

Valeyard

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I'm basing this on acts that are routinely played on classic rock stations and still putting out records, so the answer is easily Blue Oyster Cult.

Each decade has its own sound for radio rock songs and as such I can only go by how the sound makes me feel. 90s had grunge and post-grunge (the dolls that goo), 80s had the Moz voice, 70s were ELO to Boston, etc. It's all about what transports you, I suppose. It's all too subjective based on how much stock you put in radio play and personal nostalgia.
 

King Kamala

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Gary

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Where is that gif of @Shooting Star raising his fist and yelling "NO"!
They've been gaining reappraisal for a while now, and I remember "The Black Parade" actually getting good reviews when it came out. Plus, unlike a lot of the bands from this period of music, it's obvious in retrospect that they weren't being entirely serious. The fact a band like Devil Master is touring with them is kinda weird to me, but hey.

Anyways, the local classic rock stations now play Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots and whatnot, so yeah that now counts as classic rock. Also, I feel ancient at the moment.
 

King Kamala

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I actually kind of like MCR and think they're closer to classic rock than any other '00s and on band (besides doofs like Greta Van Fleet which are just parroting classic rock). My "NO!" is more of a way to indicate I'm unable to accept the passage of time!
 

Gary

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I actually kind of like MCR and think they're closer to classic rock than any other '00s and on band (besides doofs like Greta Van Fleet which are just parroting classic rock). My "NO!" is more of a way to indicate I'm unable to accept the passage of time!
I understand, though there existence makes me indifferent. I do remember people absolutely hating them back when. Looking back, the height of their popularity (second and third albums) was also during the last decade where vitriolic music responses filled with homophobia and crass humor were considered acceptable, and a band fully embracing camp (for crying out loud, they did a song with Liza Minelli) was considered heresy. Nowadays, you can point out Imagine Dragons are horrible without coming off like an asshole.

There was also the whole backlash against angst heavy rock (Linkin Park were a favorite target) and especially mainstream Emo pop. Was such vitriol warranted? Well, I’m glad we now live in a world where Aiden, Atreyu and Hawthorn Heights are still rightfully dismissed-it’s just we aren’t calling them “fags” anymore. We just look back at it and say “oh yeah that fucking sucked” That decade was the last one where having a nihilistic “who cares” attitude was the in thing. Even the poster boy show of that attitude (“South Park”, which is a show I don’t hate) has moved on from that sort of thinking.
 
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King Kamala

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I mean, the "Pause. No homo" craze was IIRC during the 2010s (or at the very earliest, 2009) so casually accepted blatant homophobia is a lot closer in our rearview mirror than any of us would care to admit.
 

King Kamala

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I know they fit the definition but it's going to take some time for me to get used to seeing articles about the blink 182 reunion on the classic rock news sites I go to. :(
 
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