Music fans love to reconnect with the music they grew up with.
Lifeline to your past
The musical score of your youth will always be with you providing a sense of nostalgia, a source of inspiration, and a lifeline to your memories as you get older and try to recall them.
Houston, like most of the larger radio markets has multiple classic rock radio stations.
Nature of the classic rock beast
There’s definitely a market for classic rock in Houston but the shelves in that market could use some serious restocking.You can tune in and expect to hear the same classic hits with little variation from day to day on any given classic rock radio station. Unfortunately, that’s the nature of the classic rock format.
The saving grace of classic radio is that there are some classic rock tunes that seem to live on forever without wearing thin.
Old Friends
These are the select few tunes that are played regularly on classic rock and oldies stations, yet they still have a place in your heart, and on your radio dial and they still rock. Even if you’ve heard them many times over the years, each time you listen to them, it’s like a visit from an old friend. You reminisce, you say goodbye, and look forward to meeting again.
The following twelve tunes, like old friends, stand the test of time:
Every Picture Tells a Story - Rod Stewart
This musical picture tells the story of a young protagonist coming of age as he travels the world experiencing romance, running into trouble, and coming to some of life’s realizations in the process. The song’s universal themes of innocence lost and the pursuit of romance set in more exotic locales than the average person might experience lend to its timelessness.
Sympathy for the Devil - The Rolling Stones
This song may scare away some who fail to look past the scary surface of its title. However, it’s the hypnotic samba rhythm of this song and the lyrical journey to the dark side of mankind as viewed through the prism of history that makes this song so engaging and ageless.
Hey Jude - The Beatles
This song was written by Paul McCartney for John Lennon’s son Julian whose parents were in the midst of a divorce at the time. According to songfacts.com, this tune begins by using only one instrument and ends with a combination of fifty instruments. It could be this song’s optimistic sentiment -“Take a sad song and make it better,” or the four minutes of na na nas that you can’t help singing along to that have kept this song fresh over the years.
Night Moves - Bob Seger
This song, like many of the best Bob Seger tunes is about the loss of youth and innocence and the bittersweet, nostalgic assessment of one’s life from an older and wiser perspective. “Night Moves” captures the essence of that inevitable later stage of life when “autumn is closing in” long after the “sweet summertime” of youth has flittered away, as you try to reconcile the memory of the person you were with the reality of the person you have become. This universal, internal conflict which everyone will struggle with at some point in life may explain why this song has continued to resonate with listeners over time. For a more in depth review of this song, click here.
Rock Around the Clock - Bill Hayley & His Comets
This song has not lost any of its rock and roll fire over the many years since its release. It made memorable appearances in the movies Black Board Jungle and American Graffiti and was the original theme to the televison show Happy Days. It cooks to this day and has become an immortarl anthem to rebels of all ages who want to shed their societial inhibitons and rock the night away.
Radar Love - Golden Earring
This song charges full speed ahead with every listen and doesn’t let up on the gas no matter how many times you hear it. “Radar Love” is the ultimate soundtrack for driving. When this song comes on the car radio, you can’t help but turn up the radio and give the car a little more gas as you’re “spinning into a new sunrise.”
House of the Rising Sun - The Animals
Despite its less than wholesome subject matter, this song grabs you every time and dares you to listen. Eric Burdon’s pleading wail and the hypnotic organ drone contribute to the effectiveness of this cautionary tale about getting trapped in an unsavory lifestyle from which there’s no escape.
Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
According to song facts.com, this song is based on one of Dylan’s own short stories about an upper class girl that falls out of favor and becomes a loner. The short story may be obscured by Dylan’s musical accomplishments, but this song, like its title has gathered no moss over the years. It keeps rolling along.
Brain Damage/Eclipse - Pink Floyd
This is what classic radio stations might refer to as a twofer, but since these two songs are regularly played seamlessly together on the radio like it plays on the album, it counts as only one song here. It is an orchestral journey into the world of mental illness and the darker nature with which everyone must struggle against in the pursuit of happiness. Despite the depressing themes, “Brain Damage/Eclipse” are always welcome tracks to hear on the radio thanks to the rich orchestration and thought provoking lyrics.
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
This song was born to run on classic radio playlists as long as the highways are “jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive.” Hearing this song on the radio gives the broken hero in everyone the hope that someday they “will get to that place" they "really want to go” and gives the song its everlasting longevity.
Riders on the Storm -The Doors
Even if you hate rain when it interrupts your plans or slows down your commute to your destination, the mood of “Riders on the Storm” makes driving in a steady pouring rain or waiting out a storm so you can get on with your day a little more tolerable. You may even welcome the rain, at least for the seven minutes or so this song lulls you into a hypnotic state of calm.
Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
Whether you heard this song when it was first released in 1958 or when it resurfaced in the 1985 movie “Back to the Future," there’s no arguing that this song rocks. If this song, loosely based on Berry, about a country boy who overcomes a modest upbringing by capitalizing on his guitar playing expertise doesn’t light a fire in you, then you may need someone to check your vitals.
If you enjoyed this article, you can read some of my other articles here.