The 100 Greatest Classic Rock Albums of All Time: #1. Sticky Fingers (3 Viewers)

[Doug B]

Well at least there's no petty bickering over the "classic rock" label, like I thought there would be.

If it was in the regular MTV rotation it's not classic rock?????

The Stones, The Who, David Bowie, Queen, Genesis.....plus many others....were all on MTV, so not sure that works.

Some artists had kind of arbitrary cut-offs imposed upon their material when the early CR format was fashioned.

The Stones -- Nothing after Tattoo You was played on early CR radio.
The Who -- After 1982's It's Hard, bupkus.
Bowie -- His 1980s material in general was ignored. In fact, our local CR stations for some reason cut Bowie off after 1976's Station to Station.
Queen -- Nothing after The Game.
Genesis -- Genesis with Gabriel on vox was ignored on our local CR stations. Even the Collins material through Abacab was sporadic.

As far as an artist you didn't mention:

ZZ Top -- "La Grange" and "Cheap Sunglasses" were OK. But any of the MTV favorites off of Eliminator? Forget it.
Paul McCartney (incl Wings) -- Nothing after 1978's London Town.

 

[BassNBrew]

Well at least there's no petty bickering over the "classic rock" label, like I thought there would be.

If it was in the regular MTV rotation it's not classic rock?????

This was a good rule of thumb ... there were exceptions, but very few.

A more precise rule was that if MTV "made" the artist -- if the artist had no profile until their MTV airplay launched them -- then that artist wouldn't get touched by an 80s Classic Rock station.

In the book I Want My MTV, various people who worked at the network explain that Dire Straits' manager asked the network what they could do to get on the network and break through in America. Their answer was: write a hit song and let one of the top directors make a video. Mark Knopfler took the directive to write an "MTVable song" quite literally, using the network's tagline in the lyrics. The song ended up sounding like an indictment of MTV, but Les Garland, who ran the network, made it clear that they loved the song and were flattered by it - hearing "I Want My MTV" on the radio was fantastic publicity even if there were some unfavorable implications in the lyrics.

 

[Anarchy99]

From what I remember where I lived, there were 4 stations that played rock artists. Two played newer artists more frequently in the early 80's than the other two stations. That means bands like Dire Straits, U2, Men At Work, Asia, The Police, Hall & Oates, Billy Joel, etc. There were a number of performers that were universal across all those stations (VH, Ozzy/Sabbath, the up tempo Eagles songs, Fleetwood Mac, LZ, etc. That's why I am getting confused. Tons of songs / albums / artists overlapped both formats.

 

[Doug B]

From what I remember where I lived, there were 4 stations that played rock artists. Two played newer artists more frequently in the early 80's than the other two stations. That means bands like Dire Straits, U2, Men At Work, Asia, The Police, Hall & Oates, Billy Joel, etc. There were a number of performers that were universal across all those stations (VH, Ozzy/Sabbath, the up tempo Eagles songs, Fleetwood Mac, LZ, etc. That's why I am getting confused. Tons of songs / albums / artists overlapped both formats.

Your market might not have gotten a rigid "classic rock radio format" station that early on. Sounds like the space was saturated, and it might have been hard and untempting to break in with a fifth rock station, at least early (early- to mid-80s).

 

[PIK95]

Brian Wilson personal just liked a Facebook post of mine. Ironically, nobody else did!

 

[Pip's Invitation]

From what I remember where I lived, there were 4 stations that played rock artists. Two played newer artists more frequently in the early 80's than the other two stations. That means bands like Dire Straits, U2, Men At Work, Asia, The Police, Hall & Oates, Billy Joel, etc. There were a number of performers that were universal across all those stations (VH, Ozzy/Sabbath, the up tempo Eagles songs, Fleetwood Mac, LZ, etc. That's why I am getting confused. Tons of songs / albums / artists overlapped both formats.

Your market might not have gotten a rigid "classic rock radio format" station that early on. Sounds like the space was saturated, and it might have been hard and untempting to break in with a fifth rock station, at least early (early- to mid-80s).

This was the case in Philly. The two rock stations stuck to being "AOR" in the '80s. In addition to the usual stuff from the '60s and '70s, they would play new material from hard rock and mainstream rock bands -- not just the new material from the legacy acts. And tweener acts like The Cars and Petty got played a lot. And yes, sometimes you would hear The Clash (though nothing before London Calling).

One of them switched to the "classic rock" format in the early '90s. My friend who was a metalhead used to correspond with their DJ who did that station's late-night metal show, and he told me that guy lost his job when the format switched.

 

[zamboni]

I’m not going to battle the labeling for once - just looking forward to the discussion of individual albums.

 

[HellToupee]

s. They called it classic rock to differentiate from then current rock hits and especially from New Wave which was then taking off.

In 82 you’re describing college/alternative rock . New Wave was so 1978

 

[HellToupee]

Where I lived in the Boston area we had WBCN & WCOZ. Bcn was more varied and Coz became the “classic” format around 80ish. WLYN/WFNX was college/alternative rock 82ish and onward

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Brian Wilson personal just liked a Facebook post of mine. Ironically, nobody else did!

He's perfectly sane.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

The two rock stations stuck to being "AOR" in the '80s. In addition to the usual stuff from the '60s and '70s, they would play new material from hard rock and mainstream rock bands -- not just the new material from the legacy acts. And tweener acts like The Cars and Petty got played a lot. And yes, sometimes you would hear The Clash (though nothing before London Calling).

Maybe I confused AOR with "Classic Rock" before - (see how dumb labels are) when I said they played The Clash.

NYC had WNEW which was AOR - and what you described above - and kept the format. Then K-Rock converted from AOR to pure "classic rock" (with Howard Stern in the morning) - and they probably then stopped playing groups like The Clash and The Cars, and would only play classics and the new "instant classics" from the legacy bands like The Who or Elton John.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

The two rock stations stuck to being "AOR" in the '80s. In addition to the usual stuff from the '60s and '70s, they would play new material from hard rock and mainstream rock bands -- not just the new material from the legacy acts. And tweener acts like The Cars and Petty got played a lot. And yes, sometimes you would hear The Clash (though nothing before London Calling).

Maybe I confused AOR with "Classic Rock" before - (see how dumb labels are) when I said they played The Clash.

NYC had WNEW which was AOR - and what you described above - and kept the format. Then K-Rock converted from AOR to pure "classic rock" (with Howard Stern in the morning) - and they probably then stopped playing groups like The Clash and The Cars, and would only play classics and the new "instant classics" from the legacy bands like The Who or Elton John.

The bolded happened at the same time as for the Philly station I mentioned, WYSP, which was owned by the same conglomerate. They simulcast Stern from NYC in the mornings.

Later WYSP became the FM outlet for Philly's AM sports talk radio station, and eventually took that station's call letters, WIP. It was a touchstone of the decline of rock radio and the rise of sports radio.

The other Philly FM rock station, WMMR, just kept adding new hard rock to its playlist, and now has an unwieldy format of classic rock plus grunge plus nu metal plus 21st century hard rock bands I've never heard of. WMGK, which was an "adult contemporary" station in the '70s and '80s, switched to the classic rock format a little before WYSP/WIP abandoned it.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

I think we should give Tim a break on the parameters of the thread and instead save our criticism for the actual selections.

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

Or you could talk about your Elton John picks in the 31 thread?
Would love to hear at least something about such an important artist rather than just dumping your picks and moving on

 

[timschochet]

Or you could talk about your Elton John picks in the 31 thread?
Would love to hear at least something about such an important artist rather than just dumping your picks and moving on

Sure. I will do that.

 

[Mister CIA]

The two rock stations stuck to being "AOR" in the '80s. In addition to the usual stuff from the '60s and '70s, they would play new material from hard rock and mainstream rock bands -- not just the new material from the legacy acts. And tweener acts like The Cars and Petty got played a lot. And yes, sometimes you would hear The Clash (though nothing before London Calling).

Maybe I confused AOR with "Classic Rock" before - (see how dumb labels are) when I said they played The Clash.

NYC had WNEW which was AOR - and what you described above - and kept the format. Then K-Rock converted from AOR to pure "classic rock" (with Howard Stern in the morning) - and they probably then stopped playing groups like The Clash and The Cars, and would only play classics and the new "instant classics" from the legacy bands like The Who or Elton John.

The bolded happened at the same time as for the Philly station I mentioned, WYSP, which was owned by the same conglomerate. They simulcast Stern from NYC in the mornings.

Later WYSP became the FM outlet for Philly's AM sports talk radio station, and eventually took that station's call letters, WIP. It was a touchstone of the decline of rock radio and the rise of sports radio.

The other Philly FM rock station, WMMR, just kept adding new hard rock to its playlist, and now has an unwieldy format of classic rock plus grunge plus nu metal plus 21st century hard rock bands I've never heard of. WMGK, which was an "adult contemporary" station in the '70s and '80s, switched to the classic rock format a little before WYSP/WIP abandoned it.

Lived in Bucks Co. circa 1978 - 1981 (WTHS). WMMR and WYSP were factory defaults, but nerdy me loved WIOQ 102.1.

EDIT: Q-102 was my first exposure to "indie" ####.

 

[Mister CIA]

History of Philadelphia radio station 102.1 wioq

By 1980, the station had moved away from a broad, progressive playlist and added a softer edge to the music. For example, instead of hearing the Sex Pistols alongside Styx, or Miles Davis segue into Mike Oldfield, you were now likely to hear Streisand or Diana Ross in the mix. In any case, the music remained somewhat eclectic, and would now be considered something akin to “adult rock.” Some other personalities on Q102 during this period included Helen Leicht, David Dye, and Ed Sciaky.

 

[shuke]

During the first decade of Classic Rock radio you would NEVER hear a song from London Calling.

My experience as well. There were several rock genres that 80s classic rock stations would ignore entirely.

You guys never heard London Calling or Train in Vain on classic rock radio? - Combat Rock had a lot of songs on that format as well. Maybe NY Radio is just hipper.

Not a chance.

 

[PIK95]

Where I lived in the Boston area we had WBCN & WCOZ. Bcn was more varied and Coz became the “classic” format around 80ish. WLYN/WFNX was college/alternative rock 82ish and onward

No AAF?

 

[rockaction]

Combat Rock was on the classic rock station where I was, but sparingly. London Calling never a chance.

 

[Mr. Mojo]

A list from 67 to 72 would be challenging. Going through 81 sounds really difficult.
I look forward to hearing it.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Combat Rock was on the classic rock station where I was, but sparingly. London Calling never a chance.

Sharif don't like it

 

[zamboni]

Where I lived in the Boston area we had WBCN & WCOZ. Bcn was more varied and Coz became the “classic” format around 80ish. WLYN/WFNX was college/alternative rock 82ish and onward

No AAF?

Aerosmith As ****?

 

[HellToupee]

Where I lived in the Boston area we had WBCN & WCOZ. Bcn was more varied and Coz became the “classic” format around 80ish. WLYN/WFNX was college/alternative rock 82ish and onward

No AAF?

Never listened , very weak signal north of Boston

 

[Dr. Octopus]

So far this list blows.

 

[JohnnyU]

Book of Dreams 1977 by the Steve Miller band belongs on the list.

 

[PIK95]

Where I lived in the Boston area we had WBCN & WCOZ. Bcn was more varied and Coz became the “classic” format around 80ish. WLYN/WFNX was college/alternative rock 82ish and onward

No AAF?

Never listened , very weak signal north of Boston

We would mainly get that and BCN down here.

 

[Ilov80s]

So far this list blows.

I thought you were really being harsh but now I get that it's because there is no list yet lol

 

[Yo Mama]

I like Tim’s categorization and look forward to the list. Here’s how I see it compared to Los Angeles radio stations and Sirius channels:

KLOS - Classic Vinyl with a sprinkling of Classic Rewind - Classic Rock - the genre Tim is looking at

KROQ - First Wave - Alternative / New Wave

KIIS - 70s on 7 / 80s on 8 - Pop

KPWR - Rock the Bells / The Groove - Hip-Hop / R&B

 

[zamboni]

KLOS - Classic Vinyl with a sprinkling of Classic Rewind - Classic Rock - the genre Tim is looking at

We’ve discussed this before, but The Seventh Day on Sunday nights was the bomb.

 

[Yo Mama]

KLOS - Classic Vinyl with a sprinkling of Classic Rewind - Classic Rock - the genre Tim is looking at

We’ve discussed this before, but The Seventh Day on Sunday nights was the bomb.

That was when they’d play full albums, right?

 

[northern exposure]

Book of Dreams 1977 by the Steve Miller band belongs on the list.

A list of records that should be thrown in the garbage?
#ihatestevemiller

 

[Gr00vus]

KLOS - Classic Vinyl with a sprinkling of Classic Rewind - Classic Rock - the genre Tim is looking at

We’ve discussed this before, but The Seventh Day on Sunday nights was the bomb.

That was when they’d play full albums, right?

Right. I incorrectly pegged that one to Jim Ladd, but it was actually Joe Benson who DJ'ed that (at least during the 80's when I listened). Jim Ladd was on KMET, another formerly awesome L.A. radio station.

More germane to Tim's thread here, from '86 to '95, L.A. had radio station 97.1 KLSX (which is now, after a couple of other format changes between '95 and today an FM broadcast of KNX news radio), which was a full on classic rock station. I think that '85 to '96 incarnation of KLSX was in the exact mode Tim is angling for here.

 

[JohnnyU]

Book of Dreams 1977 by the Steve Miller band belongs on the list.

A list of records that should be thrown in the garbage?
#ihatestevemiller

May your daughter’s back never see the light of day.
- Johnny Carson

 

[Gr00vus]

HIghway Star just came up in my playlist. I wonder...

Whatever parameters Tim uses to guide this, it's going to be tough to narrow down to 100 albums. Some greats are going to get left out. I hope there's a 2nd (and maybe 3rd) 100 list done at some point. I mean, there's only 96 spots left what with The Police taking 4 of the first 100.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

HIghway Star just came up in my playlist. I wonder...

Ooh she's a killing machine
She's got everything

 

[northern exposure]

Book of Dreams 1977 by the Steve Miller band belongs on the list.

A list of records that should be thrown in the garbage?
#ihatestevemiller

May your daughter’s back never see the light of day.
- Johnny Carson

Whew, I'm safe. I have two sons.

 

[DocHolliday]

I look forward to the list and the discussion.

HIghway Star just came up in my playlist. I wonder...

The Metal Curch version shows up on my playlist all the time.

 

[zamboni]

KLOS - Classic Vinyl with a sprinkling of Classic Rewind - Classic Rock - the genre Tim is looking at

We’ve discussed this before, but The Seventh Day on Sunday nights was the bomb.

That was when they’d play full albums, right?

Yes, as Gr00vus said. Back then before I could afford a lot of albums, I recorded many full albums on Maxell cassette tapes. Sound quality wasn’t good, but better than nothing.

 

[timschochet]

I might start sooner than Monday; we’ll see. The problem is I keep changing my mind on the bottom 20. Lots of great albums being left out.

 

[zamboni]

I might start sooner than Monday; we’ll see. The problem is I keep changing my mind on the bottom 20. Lots of great albums being left out.

Don’t rush it - Monday is fine with more board traffic then.

 

[rockaction]

Sharif don't like it

This was the only song they would play. I mean that quite literally. You'd never hear "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" or "Red Angel Dragnet" at all.

And classic rock and AOR stations really missed the boat on Velvet Underground's Loaded. I never heard that from our stations.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Sharif don't like it

This was the only song they would play. I mean that quite literally. You'd never hear "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" or "Red Angel Dragnet" at all.

And classic rock and AOR stations really missed the boat on Velvet Underground's Loaded. I never heard that from our stations.

I would hear Sweet Jane and Rock and Roll. Never anything else, though.

 

[rockaction]

I would hear Sweet Jane and Rock and Roll. Never anything else, though.

Yeah, I'd heard it on classic radio, too, but not where I lived. There was no Velvet Underground to speak of.

 

[⚡DEADHEAD⚡]

Shout out to WKLH, the "Home of Classic Rock" in Milwaukee. Always figured the KLH stood for "classic hits", though cant'r recall if true. It's been rebranded to "Hometown Rock," whatever that means.

This will be fun to follow. WKLH exposed me to the usual suspects, but also lesser known bands like the Guess Who and America.

No live albums, I know. May mean Peter Frampton winds up off this list, which seems sacrilege given Frampton Comes Alive feels like the nostalgic definition of what we're talking about here.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Sharif don't like it

This was the only song they would play. I mean that quite literally. You'd never hear "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" or "Red Angel Dragnet" at all.

And classic rock and AOR stations really missed the boat on Velvet Underground's Loaded. I never heard that from our stations.

I would hear Sweet Jane and Rock and Roll. Never anything else, though.

Same - I mean WNEW surely played Rock and Roll since it was the station they were talking about in the song (supposedly).

 

[Ghost Rider]

Sharif don't like it

This was the only song they would play. I mean that quite literally. You'd never hear "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" or "Red Angel Dragnet" at all.

And classic rock and AOR stations really missed the boat on Velvet Underground's Loaded. I never heard that from our stations.

I would hear Sweet Jane and Rock and Roll. Never anything else, though.

Same - I mean WNEW surely played Rock and Roll since it was the station they were talking about in the song (supposedly).

Almost no one listened to Velvet Underground in real time (go look up their album and single charting numbers if you don't believe me), so it makes no sense that classic rock radio never played them. They don't have a single song the masses (even ones from that era) would hear and go, "oh yeah, I know that song."

 

[HellToupee]

This was the only song they would play. I mean that quite literally. You'd never hear "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?"

That was in heavy rotation up around here. Never heard Straight to Hell

 

[timschochet]

I will go ahead and post the first album now, before the weekend. Might as well.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Might as well

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