[Applerill]

Okay, so I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

Back in 06, about two years before I got into "real music", I brought my Ipod (which had my whole family's music collection) on an eight-hour trip to Michigan for white-water rafting with my friend Matt. For most of the way, we were listening to our typical Radio Disney stuff, but while looking around my library on the device, I found my brother's Styx Greatest Hits album. After listening to "Come Sail Away", I fell in love with the band, and listened to the whole compilation the rest of the ride up, and then again on the ride home a few days later. This was the first "classic rock" band that I loved, and a few months later, from artists like them along with Surviver and AC/DC, I could tell you that I liked the seventies WAYY better than the nineties at the time.

Yet, a few years later, when I'm much more into "real music" than I was back then, I absolutely adore the nineties, and, while still loving it, don't consider the seventies to be quite as "perfect" as I remember them to be.

Nowadays, Styx (not to mention similar artists that my brother had shown me, such as Kansas and Black Oak Arkansas) bore me to tears, even though it apparently is, in most of our eyes, "better" than artists like Avril Lavigne and Vanessa Carlton (I'm not trying to stuff them in there; it's just an ironic example).

That leads me to my question: Is "classic rock" overrated? This may include the late sixties and early eighties, but I'm specifically talking about the seventies.

In many ways, I really think so. Don't get me wrong: Possibly the greatest album ever conceived, Pink Floyd's DSOTM, was created during this time, along with other artists that I love like Rush and Black Sabbath. But it seems like people (including me) have put this decade on such a pedestal, even though so many other things were notoriously cheesy. Surely, this "cheese" wasn't nearly as bad as it became in the eighties, but then again, nobody ever says that that was the best decade in music.

What do you guys think?

[RaineyWins]

No, but its not the best music, the best ever music is the boom of singer/songwritter music from late sixties to early seventies

[telefunker]

in 40 years time, the music charting today will probably be regarded as the 'best ever' because todays teenagers and young adults will then be the top dogs in society.

classic rock doesn't exist. i think what you're referring to with styx is known as 'aor' which i think means album or adult oriented rock, but it basically denotes radio-friendly 'soft' rock.. which is like everything else, entirely subjective

as for singer/songwriters, i'm not sure the best music can ever be one guy and a guitar, or girl for that matter. classical music is probably the closest thing we have to objective music, because it tends to move everyone to some extend. i mean, you may not enjoy listening to it on its own, but every film director knows it works better than anything else in getting people in the suitable emotional state.
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no fat chicks

[40footwolf]

I don't think so, but that's because I enjoy the "classic rock" aesthetics, not because I particularly place them on a pedestal.
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I love all music. It makes you feel like living. Silence is death.

-John Cassavettes

[RFNAPLES]

[Charicature]

Besides the fact I happen to like some of Styx's (is that right? ) music, they're technically prog rock and not classic. But I suppose that's mincing words.

However, that said, the majority of 70s era rock bands do, in fact, bore me to tears. There's decent songs here and there, but 70s bands I like are the exception rather than the rule and tend to be ones on the fringes of what typical 70s rock fans like (Queen, for instance, isn't really a favorite of many 70s fans I've found).
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<(: @ >

[Elston]

I think most blanket statement genres are over-rated. People get a kick out of the sound of classical rock, but there are lots of different sounds out there. If someone said to me, 'yo reggae is like the best thing.' I would no doubt find it overrated because not all reggae music is gonna be good or even to my taste. I don't think genres are really that important ultimately, unless you want to ingratiate yourself with a certain time period or style. What's most important is finding interesting artists, and those pop up (however rarely) across all genres.

[RFNAPLES]

Here are some great "classic" albums from the sixties, not overrated:

1. Revolver-The Beatles-1966
2. White Album-The Beatles-1968
3. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band-The Beatles-1967
4. Pet Sounds-The Beach Boys-1966
5. Abbey Road-The Beatles-1969
6. The Velvet Underground And Nico-The Velvet Underground-1967
7. Highway 61 Revisited-Bob Dylan-1965
8. Blonde on Blonde-Bob Dylan-1966
9. Rubber Soul-The Beatles-1965
10. Are You Experienced-The Jimi Hendrix Experience-1967
11. Let It Bleed-The Rolling Stones-1969
12. The Doors-The Doors-1967
13. Astral Weeks-Van Morrison-1968
14. Led Zeppelin II-Led Zeppelin-1969
15. Forever Changes-Love-1967
16. Electric Ladyland-The Jimi Hendrix Experience-1968
17. Bringing It All Back Home-Bob Dylan-1965
18. Led Zeppelin-Led Zeppelin-1969
19. A Love Supreme-John Coltrane-1965
20. Beggars Banquet-The Rolling Stones-1968
21. Trout Mask Replica-Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band-1969
22. The Velvet Underground-The Velvet Underground-1969
23. The Band-The Band-1969
24. Tommy-The Who-1969
25. Music From Big Pink-The Band-1968
26. At Folsom Prison-Johnny Cash-1968
27. Axis: Bold as Love-The Jimi Hendrix Experience-1967
28. Live At The Apollo-James Brown-1963
29. Otis Blue-Otis Redding-1965
30. The Who Sell Out-The Who-1967
31. The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn-Pink Floyd-1967
32. In A Silent Way-Miles Davis-1969
33. I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You-Aretha Franklin-1967
34. Disraeli Gears-Cream-1967
35. King of the Delta Blues Singers-Robert Johnson-1961
36. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan-Bob Dylan-1963
37. The Village Green Preservation Society-The Kinks-1968
38. A Hard Day's Night-The Beatles-1964
39. The Notorious Byrd Brothers-The Byrds-1968
40. Stooges-The Stooges-1968
41. Dusty in Memphis-Dusty Springfield-1968
42. Green River-Creedence Clearwater Revival-1969
43. Stand!-Sly and the Family Stone-1969
44. Bookends-Simon and Garfunkel-1968
45. Lady Soul-Aretha Franklin-1968

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by RFNAPLES
Bubbling Under The Top 100 Greatest Mus...y RFNAPLES

[purple]

When I think classic rock I confine it more to the late 60s and early 70s, and I probably shouldn't answer this question because I think it is. However, you can't possibly condemn the 70s; the 70s is probably the most fruitful decade, the decade on which the majority of modern music is found, but of course the 70s is found on the 60s...

[maxperenchio]

70s rock was so diverse, to really wonder whether all of 70s rock is overrated or underrated is kind of ridiculous. To lump all of 60s, 70s, and 80s music into "classic rock" and say that's overrated... well...

In the case of Styx - they received horrrrible reviews during their time period... i think it was The Grand Illusion which was famously compared to " a parking lot full of whale vomit" . And even now, databases like allmusic don't rate a single one of their albums over 4 stars. But yet, through popular culture references and over-the-top-arena-charm, they've managed to stay successful and loved by their fans (which are many in number). So is that overrated?

If you are talking classic rock- i think any rock that stands the test of time, gets constant airplay over decades, and still manage to sell albums is classic rock. I think Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam are classic rock, and I have a feeling people like Jack White will be considered classic rock next decade. The bottom line is the blanket term "classic rock" represents over four decades of canonical and diverse rock music- the only thing warranting the title "classic" at all is the very fact that it has managed to stay in constant rotation and public interest for various reasons.

Its not overrated, it actually rules, and is currently saving your soul.