This is Classic Rock: Why I write about classic rock and what it means to me

Recently the blog celebrated its 7th birthday! Thank you to all the longtime readers and the new readers for all the support. Seven years, can’t believe it! To put it in perspective, this is a blog I’ve been working on since I was 20. It all started as a humble project for university. I never envisioned myself as a writer. I wanted to be a DJ, but life had other plans for me and writing was something that I came to love. But even with things you love, sometimes your mental health makes it hard to do the things you love. I don’t want to go into stuff in my life that isn’t my blog right now, but I have a bunch of other things on my plate.

Writer’s block is a bitch. Fellow writers can attest to this. It’s hard to get over it and it’s hard to stay motivated. How do I cure this? Well, I still write to keep the writing muscles working, but I write something different, whether it’s about a different topic or I go meta and write about my writing and sometimes I put myself in my interviewee’s shoes and answer a question I love to ask. You may have read my interviews and I like to ask this question a lot: “What motivates you?” and sometimes I’ll ask “What does classic rock mean to you?” Well, it’s my turn to answer those questions. I’m going to step back and motivate myself by talking about why I love what I write about and what it means to me. Reflection is important. I guess in a way, this is a new intro to the blog to welcome the readers and let them know what to expect from my blog posts.

What motivates me?

Motivation comes from the inside and outside. Anyone who says motivation is all intrinsic, that’s a lie. External things motivate you too, and honestly that’s okay! The things that motivate me on the inside are wanting to be more accomplished as a writer, wanting to be more knowledgeable about classic rock, reaching my goals – much of these are numbers goals like word counts and views. These are just for me. This isn’t about other people. But there’s external motivation too. Might get a little sappy but one of the things that motivates me the most is my followers and all the nice things they have to say about my work. I can’t say this enough. Every time I get a nice comment about my writing, it really makes my day. I can’t say it enough. I can’t stress it enough. I can’t quantify how much it means to me. It’s great to love what you do, but it feels even better when others love what you do and it resonates with them. Of course you can’t base your self worth on other people, no you have to feel confident about what you do, but kind words from others help a lot. Sometimes when I feel bad, I’ll look at those nice comments as a reminder that I’m doing something right with this blog. If you really want to make a content creator’s day and you don’t want to spend money, just leave a nice thoughtful comment for them. They’d really appreciate it.

Classic rock itself motivates me. Again I can’t say it in an eloquent way, but I love classic rock so much. Who knew that a group of four young guys from Liverpool would change my life, and the lives of millions of others, forever? It began with me listening to The Beatles, much like many others. I loved The Beatles, but I wanted to explore the era more. If I couldn’t live in the 60s, I wanted to at least know as much as I could about the music as possible. And there’s one benefit to exploring it all now: it’s all there and you can binge listen to it, and we all know I’ve done that for years. Listening to classic rock decades later is like having unlimited refills on fizzy drinks or an all you can eat buffet. The internet is really something! I only wish it existed back in those days, because imagine the possibilities and how much more content we’d have and how much more of it could have been archived and preserved for us. Classic rock’s the soundtrack to my life. It’s my medicine. It feels like home. It’s my happy place. It’s my comfort object (well it’s not tangible, unless in physical format, but you know what I mean). I jump for joy when I hear classic rock in movies, TV shows, and in various places in public. Classic rock is what I live, breathe, drink, sleep, think about. Pretty much all day every day. The work for this blog never stops. There are no set working hours for me. I don’t clock out, but I don’t mind, because it’s for my love, classic rock. Classic rock won’t let me down. I imagine all my favourites in a nonstop rock concert in their prime and inside my brain is that nonstop rock concert. I know the reality is different but when I listen to the music, I feel like my favourites are immortal. In a way they are. They created something that will never die.

What does classic rock mean to me?

Classic rock is very much loved and the music stands the test of time, but like with anything, there are going to be people who don’t like it. Some don’t like it because the music isn’t their taste, big disagreement there, but everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. Others don’t like it because they have preconceived ideas that are negative. Face it, classic rock when it was new, it was a challenge to the system and while it had its fans, there were many detractors. The old fogeys didn’t get it. It angered conservative types.

Classic rock isn’t perfect. There are some things that aren’t exactly happy or wholesome. Many tragedies. Classic rockers often have messy personal lives. They’re not the best role models. Some lyrics can be objectifying or in some way problematic. People will often use these points to judge classic rock fans and the community. Many people think the community is pretentious and elitist. That’s not what I do here. I want to dispel that myth and all the other myths of classic rock. But there are many positives to classic rock and I’ll share what qualities and characteristics I love about it here.

I love how multifaceted classic rock is. That’s why I write my blog. Classic rock is many things and I want to talk about it from different angles and explore topics that aren’t as explored. I want to talk about the many sides of classic rock. As the tagline says: it’s more than meets the eye and ear. Don’t judge it by its cover and don’t judge it based on what’s on the radio. I want to show the whole picture of classic rock. It’s like reading a book versus watching a movie. My blog is like the book. Classic rock radio is like the movie. In the book, you get so many more details. In the movie, you get the gist, but you miss a lot of the details and there are creative liberties taken and in the case of based on a true story movies, things that were changed to make a Hollywood narrative.

Classic Rock is…

In this section I want to share all the things I think classic rock is and that I think you’ll find true about classic rock, especially when you read my blog:

• Artistic – Music is art for sure, but also there are classic rockers with incredible talents. I’d love to explore this topic someday. In this blog post I talk a little about the visual appeal of classic rock.
• Badass – Living life on your own terms and sticking it to the man, what’s more rock and roll than that?
• Beautiful – Check out my beautiful classic rock playlist.
• Bookish – Classic rockers have an appreciation for classic literature too.
• Cinematic – Many connections between classic rock and cinema and it’s a blog post I want to write one day. For now, you can read my blog post that goes over the pre-MTV history of music videos.
• Creative – Self explanatory.
• Diverse – In both the sound and the people who make it. You can see that throughout the blog. See my blog posts on Black, Asian, Native American, and Hispanic musicians.
• Fashionable – Need a little fashion inspiration? Look no further than classic rock!
• Female – Women have been there from the beginning.
• Gay – LGBT people have been in classic rock from the beginning and many songs have LGBT themes.
• Gender Bending: From drag to androgyny, classic rock threw 1950s conformity and traditional gender roles out the window.
• Humorous – Classic rock has been used in memes.
• Intellectual – It’s not just about girls, cars, and drugs.
• Intelligent – So many educated rock stars!
• International – Rock and roll is really in every country and it unites us all!
• Multicultural – Just in surf rock, you can see so much fusion of cultures. There’s a lot of cultural exchange in classic rock generally.
• Nerdy – Led Zeppelin and Rush, ’nuff said!
• Poetic – Did you know some classic rockers are published poets?
• Political – The 60s and 70s were a golden age of protest music.
• Radical – Just some classic rock songs with socialist themes.
• Relatable – No matter who you are, you can relate to something in classic rock.
• Revolutionary – In so many ways!
• Talented – So many of these musicians were self-taught.
• Theatric – Just listen to a rock opera like SF Sorrow, Tommy, or The Wall. One day I’d love to explore the history of concept albums and rock operas.
• Timeless – Most of all this! We’ll be listening to this music for generations to come.

There’s really something for everyone in classic rock. I’m happy to be your guide to classic rock. Feel free to ask me any questions and share your thoughts. I love reading them!

Now a question for you: What other adjectives would you use to describe classic rock?

To all the new readers, welcome back my friends to the show that never ends! We finally have a pinned post on the blog. This is what I want people to read as an intro to the blog. I wrote my first blog post, an intro to the blog and what it’s about, in 2015, when I started this blog and it’s still something I stand behind, but I think I express myself better now and as time went on, the blog has evolved, changed, and grown.