Introduction. Sometime during the 1960's, rock 'n' roll became, simply, "rock." As in "rock band," "rock musician," or "rock opera." It got serious, or, at least, big. The prancing fools, half-crazed perverts, and oily teen idols that made early rock (subsequently relegated to the Oldies bin) so much fun gave way to strutting, swaggering, chest-thumping satyrs demanding we pay rapt attention to their every tortured syllable and earsplitting reverie. Eventually, "rock" spawned a full house of ornery offspring - blues rock, country rock, southern rock, folk rock, progressive rock, art rock, soft rock, and heavy metal. Before rock could collapse under the weight of its own pretensions, disco and punk spurred a reactionary transmogrification of the whole unwieldy genre into, at last, classic rock.

If you have to draw lines - and I always do - the Beatles serve as a convenient stepping off point for what we now call classic rock. Certainly, they changed everything, moving rock, as the Byrds' Roger McGuinn once suggested, into the jet age. Suddenly, 50's rockers like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Little Richard sounded positively quaint - even while the Beatles and fellow British invaders like the Animals, Pretty Things, and Rolling Stones worshipped at their feet.

The problems arose from the fact that rock has always had a bit of a self esteem problem. Just as the Beatles searched (vainly) for trancendance and the ultimate sound, rock as a genre could never be satisfied with simply being what it was. Rather, it strove to justify itself as art. Such ambition produced some wonderful moments - from the progressive blues of Cream to the classical grandeur of King Crimson - but it also produced some of the worst music ever made. (Ladies and gentlemen, Gino Vannelli.)

Not that there's anything wrong with that. During the 70's, Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, Kiss, AC/DC, and lots more (yes, even Gino Vannelli) wrote the rock dreams of my adolescence. Their pomposity appealed to my teenage self-possession, and their deafening loudness really annoyed my parents.

But, as inferred above, such puffed up rock music could not sustain itself. At least, it could not hold the attention of a listening public that inevitably chooses thrill over enlightment (or boredom). Disco and punk rushed into the breach, making mainstream rock sound turgid and stuffy (or "classic") by comparison. "Disco sucks," maintained rock fans. "Let's dance," shouted the world. "Fuck off," declared the punks.

All the same, one could argue that classic rock is as healthy as ever. During the 1980's, Foreigner, Rush, and and Journey sold a lot more albums than R.E.M. and Donna Summer; stalwarts like Bob Seger, Pink Floyd, and the Eagles remained as popular as ever; while hard rockers such as Van Halen and Metallica (and hundreds of "hair bands") brought heavy metal to Main Street, USA. But, the best mainstream rock artists from the 80's and beyond haven't expanded the genre - they've preserved it. I love Dire Straits, Tom Petty, the Black Crowes, and Sheryl Crow, but they traffic in the sounds of the past.

Every generation, of course, rediscovers the Beatles - something you can't say for Buddy Holly or Jerry Lee Lewis. And, the classic rock of the 1970's continues to be a touchstone for young artists. There's be no White Stripes without Led Zeppelin, and without Black Sabbath there'd be no Soundgarden. Big dumb rock (as those Seattle grunge rockers called it) still rules. Wanna shout it out loud? Drop me a line...

Randy Anthony

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends...

The Rock & Roll Bookshelf

• The Aesthetics of Rock (Richard Meltzer, 1970)
• Any Old Way You Choose It (Robert Christgau, 1973)
• Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom (Nik Cohn, 1969)
• Best Rock 'n' Roll Records of All Time (Jimmy Guterman, 1992)
• Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll 1947-1977 ( James Miller, 1999)
• Grown Up All Wrong (Robert Christgau, 2000)
• Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made (Dave Marsh, 1989)
• It's Too Late to Stop Now (Jon Landau, 1972)
• Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'N' Roll (Greil Marcus, 1975)
• The Road Goes on Forever (Philip Norman, 1982)
• Rock & Roll: An Unruly History (Robert Palmer, 1996)
• Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll (edited by Holly George-Warren, 2001)
• Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll (edited by Anthony DeCurtis, 1992)
• Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll (Charlie Gillett, 1977)
• Stranded: Rock And Roll for a Desert Island (edited by Greil Marcus, 1979)
• Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll (Nick Tosches, 1999)
• We Gotta Get Out of This Place (Gerri Hirshey, 2001)

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Classic Rock On The Web

• All Music Guide
• Classic Bands
• Classic Rock Page
• Classic Rock Revisited
• Prog Rock Archives
• Reason To Rock: Rock Music As Art Form
• Rock+Roll Hall Of Fame
• Google

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