How were some classic rock acts viewed when you were growing up?

RhyeInTheJar

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As much as we like to think we base our judgement on music acts solely on the music itself there isn't any doubt that music acts will have fluctuating degrees of "cool" associated with them, depending on location and time period.

I can only speak from experience- don't we all? But for example I grew up in the UK (Scotland more precisely) in the 80s and as kids discovered music, saying you liked The Beatles would have your street cred drop massively. ("Oh my God, he likes The Beatles!") I suppose they were seen as a band your parents liked. Queen too were definitely uncool. Perhaps because they seen as an "old" band from the 1970s, and as kids we all knew that guys in their 30s did not write cool music!;) I was really into Queen (mostly 70s stuff) at school purely for their albums. (I listened to their cassettes on personal stereo!) Yet they weren't popular, except for a temporary spike in popularity for a short while following Live Aid. Today though Queen seem to have a resurgence in popularity.

Then fast forward to the internet age and when I was on music boards I was actually surprised to hear kids in American high school saying how popular The Beatles were - and some complaining about how sick they were of The Beatles being shoved down their throats! Very different from my own experience. I also remember some guy in Israel saying how nobody listened to Led Zeppelin there when he grew up - Deep Purple were the hard rock to be into. Talking to Europeans too, Deep Purple seem to be more popular overall than Led Zeppelin.

When I was in school I'd probably say U2 were the "cool" band. Simple Minds too were pretty popular. I think I lost count of the times I heard someone say "I'm into U2 and Simple Minds" I must admit I have something of a negative connotation with them because they always seemed to be the favourite band of everyone I didn't get along with! And Iron Maiden were the cool metal band that the metalheads would wear T shirts of.
 
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BikerDude

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Yeah there was a period of classic rock shaming.
For me it came in college with the "left of the dial" thing.
Alternative when it actually meant alternative.
And with hindsight it can be seen as the BS that it was.
I just don't ever listen to any of those bands any more.
Dinosaur Jr, Husker Du, Replacements etc..
Even REM mostly sounds like shit to me now.
Same with a large portion of the punk stuff.
Black Flag, Fugazi, etc.
Time sorts it out.
Some bands stand the test of time.
Social Distortion for instance.
I really think there was a high water mark somewhere near the mid 70's.
Metal would be the only exception. A lot of good metal after that.
One guys opinion.
 

Aero

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Growing up in California in the 80s, there were definitely cool bands that everyone liked or respected. In the early 80s, it was Rush. They were like gods. Even those people who didn't like that type of music would never be heard putting them down.

In the mid 80s, Van Halen became the favorite after the 1984 album came out. U2 was also known as one of the "cool" bands...and I was a huge fan of their early work. In fact I liked them so much, I had a poster of them on my bedroom wall.

In the late 80s, it was Guns and Roses. Even me, a guy who was into Gothic rock could really appreciate that 1st album.

BTW, BikerDude...I totally agree about Social D. It's amazing how they emerged from the rubble of punk rock and went on to become such a successful band with so many great songs.
 

OldHippie

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I was ten when the British Invasion hit the US shores. It was all new then.
 

BikerDude

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BTW, BikerDude...I totally agree about Social D. It's amazing how they emerged from the rubble of punk rock and went on to become such a successful band with so many great songs.

Social D had as strong background and respect for the classics.
Mike Ness is a crazy stones fan as well as Creedence, Beatles and others.
While most of the punk bands at the time just retread the same ground they continued to be relevant. Really a great band who left their contemporaries in the dust.


Bruce Springsteen with Mike Ness covering social D Bad Luck



OK I'm done
 
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Magic

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My peak "growing up" era, which to me means my teens and early 20's, was the good ole 70's. Everything was fantastic. We had the rock band explosion...so to speak. My circle of friends had two music tastes, disco and psychedelic- ish rock. Strange mix, I'd say, but it made sense back then because at 18 you could legally drink and the night clubs blasted disco. When we weren't out dancing, we were at someone's basement partying. This is where Rush, Pink Floyd, Green Grass and High Tides, all came into play.

The coolest thing about the 70's was concerts. Loud and Proud. This was the most awesome way to see any band..LIVE...and of course to wear the concert T-shirt proudly.

The British Invasion bands were old news. In fact we dissed the Beatles as a band for screaming girls. The Stones were, copy cats hanging on the Beatles coat tails.

Then came the 80's...my twenties. Hello Van Halen! I had moved to the southern US States, so now I was introduced to Southern Rock and to this very day, Southern Rock is #2 on my list of fav's.
 

E-Z

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American rock musician's & bands from the 1970s that were cool and I liked were-

Ronnie Montrose
Johnny Winter
Rick Derringer
Leslie West & Mountain
Ted Nugent
Boston
Van Halen
ZZ Top

British rock musician's & bands from the 1970s that were cool and I liked were-

Deep Purple (with Ritchie Blackmore)
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
Robin Trower
Free
Bad Company
Wishbone Ash
Sweet
Status Quo
Ten Years After
Savoy Brown
Groundhogs
Mott The Hoople
Thin Lizzy

E-Z
 

E-Z

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I also remember some guy in Israel saying how nobody listened to Led Zeppelin there when he grew up - Deep Purple were the hard rock to be into. Talking to Europeans too, Deep Purple seem to be more popular overall than Led Zeppelin.

Totally agree with ya Led Zeppelin were 'talked up' by many people but Deep Purple were THE BAND that the real 1970s rock fan's were into especially in the UK during the 1970-1975 period and as far as musicianship went back then (the 1970s) Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord & Ian Paice from Deep Purple were miles better than the Zep guys plus take Pagey for example he used a violin bow to play guitar with now that was real dumb?????. :eek:

E-Z
 
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CREAM'd

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The two biggest and most respected rock bands over here in Northern Ireland were, by far, ACDC and Iron Maiden. That was during the late 70's - late 80's.
 

joe

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It was about this time of year way back in 1979. After smokin' a big fatty, I and two other of my buddies started a new game of Risk(board game) and turned on the radio. After I lost part of North America in a bloody battle my friend's cat started stratching at the back door. After about five minites I said to Woodsy, "Let the damn cat in will ya." With "Wheel in the Sky" by Journey playing on the boom box, Woodsy opened the back door and the cat bolted in and dropped something on the floor. "What the hell is that!?", I asked. My other buddy, Shacker said, "Oh my god, it's AOR! I responded in disgust, "F#*k!, that's awful."

Seriously though... Zeppelin were the Kings here in the west coast of Canada in the '70's. Unlike the UK, Deep Purple wasn't that popular with 'Machine Head' getting all the glory and 'In Rock' barely mentioned. I worshipped Sabbath but there wasn't many of us back then. Rush was huge and of course The Stones, Floyd, Beatles, AC/DC, Sweet, Kiss, The Who...

As the '70's melded into the '80's I became discouraged, frustrated and at times downright angry with the music that was being produced. AOR had dragged in it's sorry ass from the late '70's and defiled hard rock, heavy metal and even prog. Simultaneously, synth pop, New Wave, power pop tiptoed to the top of the charts. Sure, there was some music still being produced in the early '80's that I listened to and give me some hope, but not a hell of a lot. Artists that were scorned at that time were Journey, Reo Speedwagon, Duran Duran, Simple Minds and bands of the same ilk.

Being disgruntled, I travelled back to the late '60/early '70's and did find solace.

As the '80's moved along the MTV/MM video platform also added to the feeble and flimsy, muted and muddled, the shiny and shallow. It was more about the video than the music.
 

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