Once upon a time classic rock was defined as a sound; bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who, and Deep Purple fell into the category. Slower guitar riffs backed with heavy drum beats were the prototypical characteristics, though as we all know, there is no set formula to a particular genre. Every now and then we would hear a new band, a current band, put out that great classic rock sound; JET happens to be a perfect example. Radio it seems has taken it upon itself to change the old definition of classic rock into something new. It is more about the date that it was released that makes it classic, not the sound. Granted there has to be an element to the music that made it popular when it was initially released; or why in the hell would we want to hear it again, but more and more I hear bands on classic rock stations that I am really dumbfounded are considered classic rock.
Motley Crue is classic rock? Really? So this would mean that, Britney Fox, Faster Pussycat, Poison, Def Leppard are all classic rock as well. Crazy to think right? Perhaps I am having more trouble with this because I grew up listening to these albums that are now considered classic rock. So maybe this is more about me getting old, rather than my musical tastes getting old.
It scares me to think that one day we might be calling Nirvana classic rock. There is nothing classic about sound that came out of Seattle during the early 90's. However with this new definition, this just might be the case. This opens the door for clumping all the genres that we to defined over the years of rock & roll into one lump sum: classic rock. Makes it seem silly that we as fans often fight over what type of rock music we listen to; as if it is going to even matter, cause in 20 years it will all just be classic rock.
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