VH1'S Classic Rock Sweepstakes

[i_like_cake530]

I am doing this sweepstakes put on by VH1 to see who can make the best classic rock playlist. you are only allowed 10 songs, and i could really use some help. i have some ideas, but nothing is for sure, any support or ideas would be nice. if you want to be mean and not help me cause you want to enter yourself so be it...

here are some of my ideas, feel free to critique, bash, do what ever you want to this list, just help me make a good playlist.

1. Talking Heads - Burning Down the House
2. The Velvet Underground - Heroin
3. Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta' Love
4. Television - Marquee Moon
5. Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower
6. The Clash - London's Calling
7. The Rolling Stones - Under My Thumb
8. The Beatles - Helter Skelter
9. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around the Bend
10. Joe Walsh - Funk #49

Remember this is in no way my final list, just some ideas....GO!!!

[sydaud]

Remember, it's a classic rock station. I've actually thought about entering the contest myself, but with my adult a.d.d. I just forget. Anyway.....scratch Television and The Clash. They NEVER get played on Classic Rock radio. And you know the Beatles, Zeppelin and the Stones are always in heavy rotation, so you should eliminate two of the three at least.

If you don't have "Do You Know What I Mean" by Lee Michaels in the rotation, you're just spinning your wheels....or at the very least "Shanty" by Jonathan Edwards.

[i_like_cake530]

i didn't want to put a bunch of mainstreamers, but i figured, vh1 would probably want a bunch of mainstream. i.e. zeppelin, beatles, the who, the stones

[sydaud]

i didn't want to put a bunch of mainstreamers, but i figured, vh1 would probably want a bunch of mainstream. i.e. zeppelin, beatles, the who, the stones

I think EVERYONE is going to have those "mainstreamers". Remember how radio works. They're trying to loop in the largest audience they can. Zep, the Stones and the Beatles are the "comfort foods" of classic rock radio...so throw in one of those, but variety is the key. Classic rock radio loves E.L.O, Foreigner, Boston, Blue Oyster Cult, i.e. arena rock. If this is for television (which I guess it would be considering it's VH1), then make sure that your songs would have a video or a videoed stage recording of the performance.
That means nothing obscure.

[i_like_cake530]

ok thanks

[woogie846]

Doesn't VH1 really like stuff like Judas Priest and Heart?

[i_like_cake530]

no one wants to help me? is that how it is?

[bug on your lip]

1. Talking Heads - Burning Down the House
2. The Velvet Underground - Heroin
3. Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta' Love
4. Television - Marquee Moon
5. Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower
6. The Clash - London's Calling
7. The Rolling Stones - Under My Thumb
8. The Beatles - Helter Skelter
9. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around the Bend
10. Joe Walsh - Funk #49


i'm not so sure i would classify Talking Heads as Classic Rock...
they seem so much more in the New Wave genre to me...

if you were to listen to a Classic Rock station you would hear Zepp, Doors, Creedence, Stones, Hendrix & Walsh for sure.

other bands that show up often in Classic Rock stations:
The Cars
ZZ Top
Rush
Doobie Brothers
Warren Zevon
Steely Dan
The Eagles
The Who
Boston
Steve Miller Band
Wings
Billy Squier
Van Halen
Ted Nugent
Foghat
Queen
Free
Fleetwood Mac
Kansas
AC/DC
Deep Purple
Black Sabbath
Steppenwolf
Aerosmith
Alice Cooper
Kiss
Santana
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Bad Company
Eric Clapton

[TomAz]

I think bug's basically right..

1. The Who - The Kids Are Alright

(edit: actually that's probably not the best choice, though I love that song. Classic Rock would prefer Baba O'Riley, Won't Get Fooled Again, or Who Are You)

2. Neil Young - Like a Hurricane (live)

(edit: more mainstream would be Hey Hey My My)

3. VU - Sweet Jane

(if you think the Velvets are a stretch for Classic Rock, insert Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son here instead. I know it's really bad, but people eat that shit up).

4. Rush - The Spirit of Radio
5. Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone

(edit: or, Rainy Day Women #12 & 25, 70s radio loved that one)

6. Boston - More Than a Feeling
7. Bob Seger - Turn the Page
8. Foghat - Fool for the City

(edit: if you put Kansas at #3 then I wouldn't use Foghat, another 3rd rate midwestern band, here. AC/DC - Back in Black would work)

9. Tom Petty - Refugee
10. Led Zeppelin - Kashmir

[algunz]

Too many people these days, classic rock, just means old.

[fober]

Who are they honoring this year?

Make a playlist with them in mind.

[thinnerair]

GRAND!
FUNK!
RAILROAD!

[J~$$$]

I heard Nirvana on a classic rock station the other day.

[thinnerair]

i hear STP and Pearl Jam sometimes on Q104.3. I've also heard Gun N Roses a bunch of times.

[J~$$$]

Same here, so is Classic rock defined as 15+ years old.

[thinnerair]

Visit to New York's Q-104.3: A Programmer's Insights on Classic Rock Radio (http://www.mediavillage.com/JMER_Archive/02-13-04ER.pdf)


[here is part of the article]

The play list, Buchmann told us, is revised every four months and is derived completely based on regular waves of research conducted locally among classic rock music fans. "There is no national play list, and never has been," Buchmann stressed. "There are two thousand songs in our system and five hundred are on our list at any given time, revised every four months."

Anticipating questions about Clear Channel's role in music selection, Buchmann told us "there is no big brother looking over our shoulder. They want us to be entrepreneurs." At KFAN in Minneapolis, the general
manager opened a theme restaurant with the station's call letters, and reportedly he did it without corporate approval. "They don't tell us how to get ratings. They advise us, but never tell us what to do," said Buchmann.
He points out that classic rock hits in New York are significantly different than the classic rock genre in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and other parts of the country. In New York, WPLJ included Elton John and
Billy Joel in the 1970s, establishing them as classic rock artists. In Chicago, they are considered adult contemporary and not classic rock. In Detroit, Ted Nugent gets a lot of airplay. In L.A., they play more '80s metal music, and in Dallas they play more Stevie Ray Vaughn. "We can't apply our play list in other markets, and vice versa," says Wellman. Other typically adult contemporary artists that are popular in New York among
classic rock fans include the Steve Miller Band and the Eagles. The Ramones, a Queens band, are also on the 104.3 play list but would rarely be played outside New York. A group Q104.3 never plays, says Wellman, is the Dave Matthews Band. "The songs aren't memorable. There are no hooks." Responding to Dan's question about a national "Don't Play" list issued after September 11, Buchmann is adamant there were no mandates on what should or should not be played, and if there were, program directors in the Clear Channel system would have been vocally opposed. He admitted a don't play list had been circulated by a small market station music director and had been picked up by the press, but it was never presented or embraced as a corporate dictate. As we listened to mid-day on-air personality Maria Milito, Buchmann and Wellman outlined how play lists are developed and programming decisions are made.

"We ask the audience what they want and we give it to them," said Buchmann, insisting it's that simple. "Three times annually, we conduct extensive research among New York audiences that identifies how passionate listeners are toward a number of artists and songs. In any given test, two-thirds are titles we've been playing and one-third are new songs that are under consideration. Based on the last study, we dumped 24 percent of our play list, more than one hundred titles, and added an equal number of new songs. We have a very high research budget and being able to change music frequently is the key to our success," Buchmann points out.

Showing us a PowerPoint presentation of the most recent study results, Wellman responded to Andy's arguments that certain Led Zeppelin songs should be played more often in lieu of the typical Led Zeppelin fare and that more Grateful Dead should be played instead of Boston. However, Andy's tastes, while both Buchmann and Wellman agreed with them, tended toward the least popular Zepellin songs, the Dead were consistently at the bottom of the research ratings, and Boston rated positively. Led Zeppelin had the most number of titles in the top twenty most popular songs, along with the Rolling Stones, Hendrix, The Who, and Pink Floyd. Although the Beatles had few songs among the leaders, the group remains a mainstay on the play list.

Wellman pointed out that WNEW-FM adopted a "deepcut format in the early 90s, playing eight hits and four
lesser known titles every hour, and the station tanked. The problem," he says, "is that everyone has a different idea of what's good. Even among the most popular hits, two out of every ten people don't like them. There is a small cadre of artists who have high positive and high negative scores, like the Dead, Dylan, and Rush. He adds that during the classic rock era that began in the mid-1960s, thousands of songs were released but only about one thousand were big hits. However, classic rock is growing more popular than ever before, and advertisers are contributing to the popularity, paying huge royalties to use classic rock hits in their commercials. The Who is used for both CSI programs and is also featured in Nissan advertising. Classic rock stars have also generated the largest gross revenues on recent live tours. Q104.3 targets men 25 to 54 as its primary audience with a secondary goal of being number two in the market among adults 25 to 54, behind adult contemporary station Lite-FM. Q104.3 is currently ranked fifth among adults. K-ROC
(92.3) and Spanish station WSKQ currently lead among the adult and men 25 to 54 audiences.
Responding to Andy's question about the freedom disc jockeys have to select their own music from the play list, Buchmann acknowledged that the station follows a system known as Optimum Effective Scheduling to assure that listeners do not hear songs repeated even if they're listening for a full day, or if they listen at the same time each day. "But," he added, "Scott Muni is a wild card; in our '3 at 3 o'clock' anything goes; and in 'Live at 5' with Ken Dashow anything goes. Also, when there's a major event, like when Warren Zevon died, we go off schedule and go to the library for special songs."

[i_like_cake530]

I think bug's basically right..

1. The Who - The Kids Are Alright

(edit: actually that's probably not the best choice, though I love that song. Classic Rock would prefer Baba O'Riley, Won't Get Fooled Again, or Who Are You)

2. Neil Young - Like a Hurricane (live)

(edit: more mainstream would be Hey Hey My My)

3. VU - Sweet Jane

(if you think the Velvets are a stretch for Classic Rock, insert Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son here instead. I know it's really bad, but people eat that shit up).

4. Rush - The Spirit of Radio
5. Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone

(edit: or, Rainy Day Women #12 & 25, 70s radio loved that one)

6. Boston - More Than a Feeling
7. Bob Seger - Turn the Page
8. Foghat - Fool for the City

(edit: if you put Kansas at #3 then I wouldn't use Foghat, another 3rd rate midwestern band, here. AC/DC - Back in Black would work)

9. Tom Petty - Refugee
10. Led Zeppelin - Kashmir

ya, i guess i was just trying to stay away from the "main stream" at least a little bit. all of these bands get lots of playing time, especially these songs, so i was trying to give something different than the norm. But, of course, i confused talent with popularity, and given that VH1 is running this sweepstakes, i'd say its mainly a popularity contest. Not to say that these bands aren't all talented, some more than others, but you get my point.

thanks for your advice, i will take it into consideration.