Classic example: Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” responding to Neil Young’s “Southern Man”. What are some others?

So, there tends to be two schools of thought when it comes to the term classic rock.  Those who (wrongfully) think classic rock is interchangeable with “old music” (basically the musical equivalent of “antique”) and those who (rightfully) know it means a period of music and the performers of that era.

A few years back I did playlists covering the full history of classic rock (specifically to try and remove as many of the overplayed songs as possible and included a ton of forgotten favorites).  It took weeks of research and I made the playlists in chronological order.  I noticed that the 70s started strong, I was easily able to find 100+ songs for the first 5 years, but it became more challenging to dig up good songs each year after 1975.  Too many of the older groups had either broken up, were running out of steam, or were dabbling in disco and their output was…not great.

By the time I reached 78 and 79, I was hard pressed to come up with more than 60 songs and even those tended to be 2 songs each for the 30 groups that were still making solid albums.  While I hated to do it, I had to dip into some newer groups just to flesh out the playlists to keep them from being too repetitive.

It’s taken me a year, but I’ve finally compiled a playlist of the other side of the 70s – the emerging underground (originally called New Wave, eventually becoming New Wave, Punk, Post Punk, electronic music, etc.).  This playlist is completely opposite to the 70s classic rock list; where the classic rock starts strong and ends weak, this one starts out very sparse (only about 60 songs for the first 6 years) and shows the trend of newer bands opting for a completely different style of music (over 150 different new artists represented in 1979).

While there were some cross over groups (Blonde, the Police, Talking Heads), even though the bands formed during the classic rock period, you’ll hear a stark contrast in the style of the songs between the two lists.  Many of these bands inspired the sounds of the 80s and the 90s (and many continue to influence artists to this day).

If you’re interested in seeing, year by year, how music changed in the 70s, check out the playlists.

This is probably a strange request but my uncle died recently and he really loved rock music. I have been deemed the music selector for the funeral as his son wants classic rock songs not piano music. I was asked to keep it respectful and I am an avid rock music lover but I am stressing about it so hard that I'm stumped. Any recs at all would be really really helpful because I don't want to mess this up. He was in his 50s and in a biker gang, had a very expansive music taste, loved heavy guitar rock music. Questions welcome and all help appreciated, I need a 2 hour playlist.

Edit: my mom wanted me to thank you guys for the recommendations, it really helped calm my nerves about the whole thing and the playlist has been approved by the family

My kitty Randy Rhoads dressed up as his namesake

So my taste in rock mainly revolves around...hair metal (I love grunge, alt, other alternative rock and thrash metal too but in smaller quantities. And also 80s Styx, Foreigner, Speedwagon- dk what genre they belong to). Seeing how much hate is there for hair metal in this sub, most of you must be scoffing at me rn and thinking of me as a "poser" lmao but a part of me really wishes that I grew up in the 80s old enough to see these bands' concerts in their prime , discuss their music, which at the time was new, with everyone at my local high school or even play in one of these bands myself.

I have been listening to this stuff for 3 years and after seeing how much it is dreaded in online music circles and getting a little tired of it as well, I want to expand my music tastes outside this. So what kind of rock would you suggest for me to gravitate towards? Because my attention span is as short as that of a goldfish and if I don't like a song in the first minute (basically if there aren't any hard rock guitars kicking in at the first instant- because that's what I'm usually used to liking), I just close it. This habit of mine has really hindered my experience of moving out from my comfort zone musically. Anything you would suggest to correct this habit of mine too?

I sorta threw this playlist together in the last hour, but I wanted a collection songs (about the length of a regular LP) from my favorite band which cover topics specifically related to valuable life lessons.

Rush is my favorite band of all time. They're unmatched lyrically and musically. I don't expect everyone here to share that sentiment with me, but I hope you enjoy the playlist regardless.

The tracks that I've listed are for the betterment of the individual, not necessarily the "couple." Rush has plenty of love songs, but I'm going for self-love here.

Let me know what you guys think.

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZNz2Yme5ix0plTXN-nbJGjz_IVfafTjE&si=X0ESs6nTY_FRbMqf

The Tracks:

• Kid Gloves (Assertiveness)

• Marathon (Perseverance)

• Mission (Commitment)

• The Way the Wind Blows (Wisdom)

• Turn the Page (Phases)

• Stick it Out (Assurance)

• Lock and Key (Vulnerability)

• Faithless (Independence)

• Emotion Detector (Humility) (Not afraid to admit that this song saved my life.)

• The Garden (Relationships)

Gimme Sheltie

Would love to hear your thoughts.