In #TheMusicThatMadeUs, senior journalist Lakshmi Govindrajan Javeri chronicles the impact that musicians and their art have on our lives, how they mould the industry by rewriting its rules and how they shape us into the people we become: their greatest legacies
The recently released Robert Pattison-helmed The Batman flick has seen a resurgence of interest in Nirvana’s Something in the Way. Although the song itself wasn’t a staple of the band’s concert setlist, making it part of a classically rich soundtrack like The Batman has meant that the song now stands out not just sonically, but also culturally.
Popular TikTok-er Ari Elkins as part of his four-part series titled “Oldies You Should Know”, posted the same song in early April. Part of Nirvana’s 1991 mega successful album Nevermind, the song’s mention in the same breath as “oldies” obviously elicited strong opinions for and against the use of the word. This morphed into a greater discussion on what is considered “classic rock”.
To understand what classic rock is, we need to rewind a few decades to a very crucial era: the 80s. Growing up in the late 80s-early 90s, the idea of classic rock was largely music from 20-25 years prior. So, the likes of Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Cream, were all bracketed as “classic rock” artists. These bands were predominantly the ones the 80s’ generation’s Boomer parents grew up to.
Kids born at the turn of the 70s and in the early- to mid-80s, came of age in the mid-90s. This becomes a crucial deciding factor in how the idea of classic rock has evolved. So, you may have been born just after Van Halen’s eponymous album (featuring hit song Eruption) released in 1978 but you spent your youth with the likes of Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith, Nirvana and Motley Crue.
This generation is among the youngest to have been fed the idea that music from 20-25 years ago (in this case, the 60s and 70s) is considered classic rock. If we were to look at the concept of classic rock through the prism of time and measure it with the unit of a 25-year gap, then Ari Elkins is absolutely right about Nirvana being not just an oldie but definitely a classic rock icon especially since Something in the Way was released 31 years ago.
Algorithms on Spotify and Apple Music today club the 80s and the 90s music under classic rock playlists, so we find AC/DC and The Who sharing space with Oasis, Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Foo Fighters.
It isn’t surprising then that the classic rock ambit has today widened for streaming platforms and radio based on the distance of time we have since the release of said music.
However, when the songs were released then, they weren’t considered classic rock at all. The 80s in fact were typically treated like a middle-child generation that saw Van Halen being clubbed along with U2 even though the former had its first hit album out in 1978 and U2 had its debut in 1980 despite being formed in 1976. Neither of them was considered classic rock given that they had their prime years in the 80s. Queen had Bohemian Rhapsody out in 1975 and were a force to reckon with by the end of the 70s but they weren’t considered a classic rock act back in the day. Today’s playlists, however, will definitely have them, along with The Beatles and Duran Duran although they’re separated by decades and Duran Duran was in fact considered Brit new wave.
With the advent of the 90s came the explosion of grunge and its move to break away from the classic rock sound both in melody and lyricism. The very idea of grunge was to stand against everything that classic rock ensconced and held close to its soul. Today, those very grunge acts like Soundgarden and Pearl Jam are clubbed as “classic rock” along with Jethro Tull.
If it isn’t the 25-year gap or the specification that the music be from the 60s and 70s, then what construes as classic rock? Music historians are united in their approach that the sound of the music of that era was a deciding factor. There are four main criteria to make the cut for a classic rock sound: 1) The band has the typical guitarist, drummer, bassist, and vocalist composition. 2) The music is more album-oriented where the likes of Pink Floyd and their ilk worked with the vision for an entire album instead of a string of songs. 3) The guitar’s distortion or fuzziness or penchant for overdrive sound was a clear dealmaker. 4) A great deal of focus was on the balance between guitar solos and lyrical song writing.
By that logic then, bands like The Killers and even Greta Van Fleet who sound like a textbook case of classic rock should be considered as so. Greta Van Fleet was formed in 2012. But then, this would exclude Bruce Springsteen who isn’t the best guitarist in town but couldn’t have been more “classic” in his attitude. In fact, we can’t think of classic rock without thinking about The Doors, a band that didn’t have a bassist.
It becomes hard to decide what still works as classic and what doesn’t because the many criteria can be argued both ways. The one unifying idea that covers these various eras of music is the English language definition of “classic”. In its strictest sense, “classic” is something that is outstanding or one-of-a-kind and has been judged favourably over a period of time.
If timelessness of a song/album/band is the backbone of the “classic rock” genre, then we have to be prepared for those playlists to grow exponentially.
Senior journalist Lakshmi Govindrajan Javeri has spent a good part of two decades chronicling the arts, culture and lifestyles.
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