CLASSIC ROCK TRACKS POLL: THE RESULTS

i lived all over Virginia and Delaware and Maryland growing up, so several different past and present stations around the region influenced my idea of CR radio.

i have all the points data together in one big messy Excel file, it's kinda for my eyes only but if someone else is really interested to see it i might share.

My highest Chicago was 86, Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is. Then Saturday in the Park at 89.

is CR the genre of recorded music where the established canon was most influenced by the radio format?

Does CR as a concept really exist outside of the AOR/Classic Rock radio format? And to what extent? Do rock listeners who grew up without CR radio conceive of a classic rock era that starts around 1967?

It seems that most other conceptions of rock heritage - for example, what you see in Mojo magazine - stress the continuities going back through the '60s, '50s, and even back to precursor forms. I know there's also a magazine called Classic Rock, but according to wikipedia it's "dedicated to the radio format of classic rock."

This point reminds me of something else I wanted to ask. Was there ever any rival rock radio format that was at all commercially successful during the heyday of Lee Abrams-style AOR radio, say 1972 to 1987 or so? Such as a format that would embrace stuff like The Stooges, NY Dolls, more than 2-3 Black Sabbath cuts, etc.?

yeah, I think if someone grew up just reading Rolling Stone and other mainstream magazines and record guides without any exposure to FM radio, they'd probably assume that 'classic rock' is very heavily defined by '64 era British Invasion stuff, maybe even early rock before that. the schism between traditional critical narratives about rock and radio playlists seems like kind of an inside joke that almost everybody i've ever known has intuitively been in on. are there people who consider Foreigner and Styx 'important' bands because of their radio ubiquity? the early '80s slant of rock radio has definitely helped along the canonization of "Don't Stop Believin'," but even that seems kind of knowing and anti-rockist, raising a Journey song to the platform of a timeless classic.

I know it made at least one voter unhappy, but I was thrilled that Foreigner didn't make the top 100. The sheer quantity of Foreigner songs in CR rotation is astounding to me; the only group I can think of that rivals them in terms of "tons of classic rock staples, all of which are awful" is Bad Company.

"double vision" really the most earnest ode to inebriation to ever get radio play

i like Foreigner in small doses, but it just seems like the consensus about any one of their singles is not as strong as "Believin'" is with Journey -- Johnny Fever kept championing "Urgent," but that one bores me, I like "Feels Like The First Time" and "Juke Box Hero," and I'm sure someone else has a different favorite entirely.

(To some dude's previous post) Right, and though I've known countless rock fans in my lifetime it's difficult to imagine any of them at any point saying, "Hey, let's go listen to some classic rock!" Unless they meant it as an ironic reference to the radio format. It's like when people say "Is that Freedom Rock?! Turn it up, man!" - they're jokingly referring to the old TV ad with no acknowledgement that they personally sort music into a Freedom Rock category, which they probably don't.

the consensus about any one of their singles is not as strong as "Believin'" is with Journey

Yeah, it actually feels like the late 70s/early 80s bands Foreigner gets lumped in with each have at least one consensus song, be it "Don't Stop Believing," "Dust in the Wind," or "Come Sail Away." I don't think Foreigner has an equivalent track in their catalogue.

playlist data suggests that the top 3 is Cold As Ice / Juke Box Hero / Double Vision but they're all pretty close in spins and which gets the most varies from year to year.

I used to be kind of meh about Foreigner but I could only stay immune to the power of Lou for so long. FEEEEELS LIIIIKE THE VEEEERRRY FIRST TIME

urgent! urgent! emergency!

urgent!urgent!urgent!
eMERRRgency

that's the song that made me go wait a second, seriously foreigner? and then i thought about all their other songs and it all kinda made sense. they are gross and unimaginative when it comes to lyrics.

imo
although cold as ice is ok

very proud of this thread: JUKEBOX HERO POLL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfzJtKZUCw8

that's the song that made me go wait a second, seriously foreigner? and then i thought about all their other songs and it all kinda made sense. they are gross and unimaginative when it comes to lyrics.

"Hot Blooded" the best/worst Foreigner lyrics for sheer boneheadedness

Whenever I hear "Hot Blooded" on the radio, I respond literally. You have a fever of 103? You should really go to the emergency room immediately. Do I do more than dance? No, absolutely nothing; I have no other interests, nor am I capable of any movements that are not a direct response to whatever music may be playing at any given moment.

You're not shy, you get around
You wanna fly, don't want your feet on the ground
You stay up, you won't come down
You wanna live, you wanna move to the sound

Got fire in your veins
Burnin' hot but you don't feel the pain
Your desire is insane
You can't stop until you do it again

But sometimes I wonder as I look in your eyes
Maybe you're thinking of some other guy
But I know, yes I know, how to treat you right
That's why you call me in the middle of the night

You say it's urgent
So urgent, so oh oh urgent
Just wait and see
How urgent my love can be
It's urgent

You play tricks on my mind
You're everywhere but you're so hard to find
You're not warm or sentimental
You're so extreme, you can be so temperamental

But I'm not looking for a love that will last
I know what I need and I need it fast
Yeah, there's one thing in common that we both share
That's a need for for each other anytime, anywhere

It gets so urgent
So urgent
You know it's urgent
I wanna tell you it's the same for me
So oh oh urgent
Just you wait and see
How urgent our love can be
It's urgent

You say it's urgent
Make it fast, make it urgent
Do it quick, do it urgent
Gotta rush, make it urgent
Want it quick
Urgent, urgent, emergency
Urgent, urgent, emergency
Urgent, urgent, emergency
Urgent, urgent, emergency
So urgent, emergency
Emer... emer... emer...
It's urgent

i just feel like you could sub those words for much better words and it would be a better song

Foreigner have really started growing on me, if you tune out everything but the broadest gist of the lyrics and just let that singer and those hooks sell that affect to you they're pretty stirring. Plus they really love their synths way more than journey.

i can't help it -- i fault them for lacking imagination!

yeah the lyrics are what turned me off about them for so long

just pretend they're actual foreigners and that their command of English is actually impressive given that it's not their native tongue

lol

given my line of work (ESL writing teacher) i'm gonna veto that idea but i get your point

All lyrics are stupid anyway. Words in the face of music are always a farce.

FEELS LIKE THE VERRY FIRST TIIIME

if they are a farce, choose a more amusing farcical concept than URGENT URGENT EMERGENCY unless you're trying to teach ppl the difference between 911 and 311 and in that case carry on

i like how they kind of botched "Feels Like The First Time" by making it their actual first single.

The lessons I learned from that song have helped free up valuable emergency operator capacity!

fervent
fervent
insurgency

Tbrr, I basically wish Marc Bolan could have somehow written the lyrics for every song by every band ever. He knew how to own the innate stupidity of song lyrics.

otm. It's not that Foreigner's lyrics are stupid, it's that they're just kind of boneheaded. There's nothing gloriously stupid about them, it's just some lunk singing cliches and awkward rhymes at you.

You play tricks on my mind
You're everywhere but you're so hard to find
You're not warm or sentimental
You're so extreme, you can be so temperamental

Classic example.

and i know it's the man in you
that brings out the woman in me

hee hee

agree
anyone who understands that the words just have to sound cool and not mean anything is ok
lou gramm didn't seem to get that so i feel that he lacks imagination

He's a dumb guy feeling big things, like those moments that used to happen in every Harvey kietel movie where he would be naked and just sort of moaning.

lol
poor fella

you're everywhere

but you're so hard to find

would really love an AM Gold poll at some point

just walked out of "guardians of the galaxy," which is a very very AM-gold-friendly.

right!?

Thread just took any ugly turn while I was away.

I'll just be over here listening to Urgent by myself with the most kickass sax solo in all of classic rock.

<3

tbh I did stick Double Vision near the bottom of my ballot because it felt weird to have a classic rock poll without putting some Foreigner on there, even if I hate them. So I just went with the most tolerable of their songs.

I just realized how much I like "Cold as Ice" sometime in the last year or so.

It's really virtuosic.

this should amuse y'all

literally an ad for "beer in cans"

http://youtu.be/8mFmP-78f1Q

lol at extended Foreigner diversion

my hatred of them has been well documented so I'll stay out of this

I was happy that they got shut out

Lou Gramm's voice is what makes me be ok with a lot of Foreigner songs.
If Midnight Blue had been eligible it would have been in my top ten.