Radio

10 Songs Classic Rock Radio Needs to Stop Playing NOW

The thing about classic rock is that they’re not making any more of it. Sure, you can make a decent case for moving Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the Chili Peppers and other legacy alt-rock bands into the format, but that doesn’t always sit well with the classic rock purists, those who believe that all the best music was made before someone invented the word “alternative.”

Endless focus groups and audience testing has created a rigidly stratified canon of classic rock songs that, after decades of airplay, are getting decidedly toasty if not completely burned out. Salon has done some work to identify 10 songs that it believes should be retired immediately before endless repetition sends people screaming to their deaths.

1.Pink Floyd: “Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)”

2.Lynyrd Skynyrd: “Sweet Home Alabama”

3&4. Queen: “We Will Rock You”/”We Are the Champions”

5. Journey: “Don’t Stop Believin'”

6. Ozzy Osbourne: “Crazy Train”

7. Van Halen: “You Really Got Me”

8. AC/DC: “TNT”

9. Eagles: “Hotel California”

10. Rolling Stones: “Sympathy for the Devil”

What? No “Kashmir” from Led Zeppelin? Any other suggestions?

 

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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21 thoughts on “10 Songs Classic Rock Radio Needs to Stop Playing NOW

  • These are my 2 picks: Don McLean, American Pie. VanMorrisson, Brown Eyed Girl.

    Reply
  • TNT is OK. If I never hear Back In Black or You Shook Me again for the rest of my life, that would be OK.

    Black Dog, Patio Lanterns, and The Boys Are Back In Town can go, too.

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    • I’m in Florida…id love to hear Patio Lanterns once in a while but not Baba Oreily!?

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  • I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this way. I could make a list of 50 without breaking a sweat. As important as these bands were the regular rotation of zeppelin, stones, the who, doors etc needs to be retired.

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  • Boston: More Than a Feeling. Please Alan, do all you can to kill this song on Toronto radio!

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  • AC/DC – Highway to Hell
    Iron Maiden – Run To The Hills
    Judas Priest – Breaking The Law
    Aerosmith – anything after the Permanent Vacation record
    Metallica – Enter Sandman/Nothing Else Matters
    Tragically Hip – Ahead By A Century
    Pearl Jam – Jeremy
    Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
    Soundgarden – Black Hole Sun

    Reply
    • excellent choices as well. I’d just add Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin/Randy California 🙂

      Reply
  • Any Bon Jovi songs….

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  • Patio Lanterns for sure . And most Chili Peppers songs . . Scar tissue….

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  • Agreed Bon Jovi needs to go. Stairway to Heaven for Led Zeppelin. You forgot Turn The page by Bob Seeger and I would also add Freebird and Paranoid. You figure these albums sold millions of copies over the 40 to 50 years they have been out and people would know deeper tracks by now. sheesh

    Reply
  • Signs – 5 Man Electrical Band
    Oh What A Feeling – Crowbar
    Born To Be Wild, Magic Carpet Ride – Steppenwolf
    Takin Care Of Business – BTO
    Patio Lanterns – K.M.

    Reply
  • Any Beatles song… ANY

    From the white album, the red album, the purple album, the power flower album… the building 1 album, the building 2 album, the building 3 album, the street album, ANY SONG FROM ANY ALBUM… PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! STOP!!!

    Enough with those song at the supermarket, elevators, escalators, airports, trains, buses, taxis, bikes, skates, coffee shops, drug stores, convenient stores, departmental stores, etc.

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Sadly you are brainwashed by classic rock stations playing of the standard Beatle’s songs. Delve into the White Album a little more and you’ll find gems never played on the radio.

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  • My friend here says ” if you don’t like the music, change the station!”

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    • That would be fine if every radio station didn’t play the same songs …

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  • I’d say “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” by the Stones…it’s definately got pizzaz

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  • Pingback: 10 classic rock songs that radio stations need to stop playing now | Muisc!!!

  • How about the entire Zeppelin catalogue, anything by the Stones post-1972 with the exception of “Some Girls,” and “Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Bob Seger, just for starters?

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  • I like my classic rock… but agreed… a lot of songs had their day. Biggest problem is Torontos biggest classic rock station (Q) had such a thin Playlist. Honestly… I heard Boys in the bright white sports car” played more half the songs on the lists….. and it’s a shitty song.

    Reply
  • Agreed! There are too many old skid songs floating over the air waves – that being said – someone tell Jose Di that we don’t want to hear her old shit either….

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  • 1. Don’t Stand So Close To Me – The Police
    2. I Shot The Sheriff – Clapton
    3. Somebody’s Baby – Jackson Browne
    4. Rock’n Me – Steve Miller
    5. Maybe I’m Amazed – Paul McCartney (Any McCartney will do …)
    6. Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen
    7. Witchy Woman – The Eagles
    8. Separate Ways – Journey
    9. Sweet Emotion – Aerosmith
    10. Private Eyes – Hall & Oates

    Reply

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