On the nature of classic rock

To me, the “classic rock” period was from about 1966-67 to the early to mid 1970’s. It really is Vietnam-era music; if you get too far past that, into the Carter administration or even the Ford years (74-77), a corner had been turned culturally and as a result, so did rock music. When the Draft ended, it seemed that a battle had been won, and the world (from an American perspective) had changed. Disco was showing up as early as 1974, and by 1975 were full of Jive Talkin’ and (Do) The Hustle. While I really like a lot of disco music (seriously… if you can forget the fashion and other cultural excesses that went along with it, the music wasn’t that bad), it’s not classic rock. (Btw, I have no intentions of ever starting a disco blog.)

To me, classic rock – all of it – was really all a type of folk music. It was a part of what was then the counter-culture, and it could not have existed without the factors that gave birth to that counter-culture. The Vietnam War was obviously a major factor, but there was also the wholesale disenfranchisement of the up-and-coming generation, and the corresponding wholesale loss of faith in the establishment. Another factor, I think, was probably good old rock & roll itself, as it definitely divided the culture musically. It is only fitting and natural, then, that music continued to be associated with the 60’s counter-culture.

Because music was such a part of what was happening culturally, classic rock (again, in my opinion) encompasses more than just one style of music. While Rock & Roll provided a musical foundation and instrumentation, the heart and soul of classic rock came from folk, with its history of political and social commentary, and of course blues, with its obvious influences. There was also a noticeable jazz influence, especially with regard to the free-form, improvisational aspect of the music.

Consequently, classic rock was the coming together of the various American musical forms in a very basic, grass-roots way that was not driven by commercialism or the media. Much of what were the “hits” of classic rock never saw AM airplay, and never appeared in the Top-40. Commercialism was never that far away, however, but there were some record company executives, such as Ahmet Ertegün, the co-founder of Atlantic Records, who remained a positive force in discovering and promoting such groups as Led Zeppelin and CSN&Y.

Classic rock, then, is impossible to pin down as a specific musical style. There were, of course, a number of sub-genres created as people tried to classify what was happening musically, such as folk-rock, country-rock, acid-rock, jazz-rock, blues-rock, prog-rock – the list goes on and on. There was, however, a commonality in the culture that makes the classification of classic rock (which, of course, didn’t exist as a classification at the time) broad enough to include artists like Bob Dylan, Steppenwolf, Canned Heat, Janis Joplin and Blood, Sweat & Tears.

I haven’t dealt with British culture during this period, which of course wasn’t driven directly by American politics, but there was certainly a cultural exchange that had been going on, and which continued throughout that period with groups like Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Cream and Traffic being an integral part of the Classic Rock mix. While people like Black Sabbath added to the anti-war movement with War Pigs, there is a definite difference in lyrical content between American classic rock and that from across the pond.  This just occurred to me, and as I write this I am somewhat surprised that it hadn’t been more obvious to me before. Oh well, a typical American…

My point in all this is to say that this Classic Rock period may have been the last time that Americans have had any kind of grass-roots, “folk” music. In my other blog, I quoted an Orthodox priest as saying, “There’s something wrong with a nation where people don’t sing and dance.” Go read that post - it finishes this thought off nicely.

~ by Alden on January 23, 2008.