Classic rock

The music selected for the format has been identified as predominantly commercially successful songs by white male acts from the Anglosphere, expressing values of Romanticism, self-aggrandizement, and politically undemanding ideologies.

The classic rock format evolved from AOR radio stations that were attempting to appeal to an older audience by including familiar songs of the past with current hits.

[14] Billboard magazine's Kim Freeman posits that "while classic rock's origins can be traced back earlier, 1986 is generally cited as the year of its birth".

Stations such as WLLZ in Detroit, WBOS in Boston, and WKQQ in Lexington play music focusing more on harder edge classic rock from the 1980s to the 2000s.

[21][22][23] Many of the artists that are featured heavily on classic rock radio are the Beatles,[24] Blue Öyster Cult, Bob Seger, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Creedence Clearwater Revival, David Bowie, The Doobie Brothers, Foreigner, Green Day, Heart, Don Henley, INXS, Iron Maiden, Journey, Judas Priest, Kansas, Mötley Crüe, The Police, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Pink Floyd, Player, Steely Dan, Supertramp, the Steve Miller Band, Simon & Garfunkel, Paul McCartney and Wings, Metallica, Nirvana, Dire Straits, Electric Light Orchestra, Genesis, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Alice Cooper, The Allman Brothers Band, Deep Purple, Quiet Riot, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Def Leppard, Boston, Toto, the Cars, Pearl Jam, the Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar, Billy Joel, Elton John, Bryan Adams, Eric Clapton, The Who, Van Halen, Rush, Black Sabbath, U2, Guns N' Roses, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eagles, ZZ Top, the Doors, Kiss, Yes, Styx,[25] Queen, Led Zeppelin,[26] and Jimi Hendrix.

[27] "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965),[28] "Under My Thumb" (1966),[29] "Paint It Black" (1966),[30] and "Miss You" (1978) are among their most popular selections, with Complex calling the latter "an eternal mainstay on classic-rock radio".

Classic-rock radio programmers largely play "tried and proven" hit songs from the past based on their "high listener recognition and identification", says media academic Roy Shuker, who also identifies white male rock acts from Sgt.

[32] As Catherine Strong observes, classic rock songs are generally performed by white male acts from either the United States or the United Kingdom, "have a four-four time, very rarely exceed the time limit of four minutes, were composed by the musicians themselves, are sung in English, played by a 'classical' rock formation (drums, bass, guitar, keyboard instruments) and were released on a major label after 1964.

[36] This canon arose in part from music journalism and superlative lists ranking certain albums and songs that are consequently reinforced to the collective and public memory.

[37] In 2018, Steven Hyden recalls how the appearance of classic rock as a timeless music lent it a distinction from the "inherently nihilistic" pop he had first listened to on the radio as a teenager in the early 1990s.

In the official rock pantheon the Doors and Led Zeppelin are Great Artists while Chuck Berry and Little Richard are Primitive Forefathers and James Brown and Sly Stone are Something Else.