[sxesven]

Excuse my rant, not personal or anything, just a general problem related to the topic.

Sorry, and no offence here, but I find the almost obligatory emphasis people apparently need to lay on 'classic' (or 'actual', whichever non-descriptive name you prefer) rock completely ridiculous. Now, I'm in favour of having a broad view of music, not limiting oneself to just this or that. Some folk have the idea that this apparently means that thou shalt obey 'the classics'. Wrong.

Whoever decided that Stairway to Heaven was a great song? If your answer's not mainstream media, you're wrong. In actual fact, Stairway to Heaven was the worst thing to've come out in Led Zeppelin's entire discography up until, I dunno, Physical Graffiti. Why not mention all their good (rock) songs? Black Dog, Communication Breakdown, Dazed and Confused! That said, Led Zeppelin, like every other 'classic' rock band, is vastly overrated. Some or other way, a general consensus came into existence through the years that made no sense at all; more or less like a bootleg canon, except then completely the other way round. Instead of catering to the 'fan' crowd, it catered to every single person that was too lazy to make his or her own way around the musical catacombs of the 60s and 70s, so as to dig up whatever treasure one just might have found there.

How ironic is that Smells Like Teen Spirit is considered such a rock classic? Just think for a second; who considers it, or, has it 'marketed' (at loss of a better word) up to point where it is generally considered, a rock classic? If your answer is mainstream media, you're correct. You see, Smells Like Teen Spirit is hardly an impressive song, and, ironically (like I said before, now here's why!) it was exactly the one song that Kurt Cobain completely hated. He even parodised it himself, cf. Rape Me on In Utero. And yet, now it's in the 'classic' rock canon. It's like having someone read Titus Andronicus when there's Hamlet.

Bohemian Rhapsody? Ugh; if there ever was a horrid piece of post-modern cut-and-paste aesthetics, it's this. It scores with the big crowds, alright. Does that make it one of the greatest rock songs of all time? No sirree. If we were to pick songs for their level of Sing-Along-ability, we could simply list entire karaoke databases to compose our intricate lists of genius rock moments. It doesn't work that way, I reckon.

Moreover, and linked with my problem with 'classic' rock, is the general disdain for whatever is modern. Now, I'll be the last to say bands like My Chemical Romance or Slipknot or Editors contributed even but one tiny iota to rock, but to write off whatever is happening these days as modern ergo vastly inferior to whatever happened way back when is just ridiculous. I trust you've all heard modern rock masterpieces comme Funeral (The Arcade Fire), Blueberry Boat (Fiery Furnaces), Turn On the Bright Lights (Interpol), In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (Neutral Milk Hotel), etcetera etcetera? Importantly, this is what people tend to call the 'tip of the iceberg'. I could compose you a list of 100 essential rock records of the last ten years in a matter of minutes that qualitatively, songwise etc. completely outdo the vast majority of what's in the 'classic' rock canon.

Now, my point here is: what's up with consensus? What's up with blindly following whatever VH1 says about the greatest rock music of all time? And for that matter, if we're really talking classic rock, where's The Velvet Underground? Television? My Bloody Valentine? The Jesus & Mary Chain? Joy Division? Why listen to a dismal selection of whatever people cram in the grunge genre when you have Sonic Youth? Why listen to Tool if there's King Crimson? Classic rock has plenty to offer, it's just that 'classic' rock doesn't.

Again, no offence, just a general pet hate that just needed to be voiced. I'd also like to refer whoever back to my list, which has plenty of classic rock listed as well, sorted neatly alongside the highlights of modern rock. Lastly, I'm not saying everyone should just agree with me - like whatever you like. But that's just it: like whatever you like! Don't let your opinion be determined by the status quo, so as to quote a classic (not 'classic') punkrock band. Travel around, go see glorious sights, see what you can find - it's worth the trouble.