Would You Believe ‘Contemporary Classic Rock?’

Those of us who are old enough to remember the television series Get Smart will recognize where I stole part of that headline from. I can remember watching that program regularly as a kid.

Regular readers know that I keep the focus on classic rock here, but do stray a bit from time to time when something interesting shows up on my radar that isn’t quite classic rock in its purest form, but may be of interest to fans of the classic rock genre. From now on, I am going to refer to these artists as “contemporary classic rock” artists.

Please note that I’m not staking a claim as the one who coined that term, and for all I know, it has been used a million times by others. It just happens to be what popped into my head when I searched for a way to classify artists like this. Hopefully, it is not something the artists themselves will find disagreeable.

I believe it started when I ran across an article about Grace Potter and The Nocturnals a couple of years ago. I liked the fact that they had a “classic” sound – something that could have come out of the 70’s, but clearly they are a contemporary group.

I decided that they were too good to ignore and thought that other classic rock fans might appreciate their work as much as I do. Therefore I decided to sneak them in here alongside the great bands of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.

These exceptions will be rare, and totally according to whether I like a particular act or not. There are probably a lot of contemporary groups out there that are going for a “classic” sound, but only a few of them really catch my attention in a way that makes me want to help to spread the word about them in some small way.

It makes me wonder if some classic rock radio stations might be interested in mixing things up a little with some of these new groups that have a solid, classic sound. If there’s one criticism I hear about classic rock radio, it’s that they play the same songs over and over again. I realize radio stations are businesses that base their decisions on the bottom line, but it would be interesting to see what the audience reaction would be to showcasing a few select contemporary groups that have the “right” sound.

Speaking of Grace Potter and The Nocturnals, they’ve recently released a new video which showcases the group as they cover the Jefferson Airplane classic “White Rabbit.” As a fan, I may be biased, but I think they pulled it off brilliantly.

I’m told that more Grace Potter and The Nocturnals news will be coming soon.

Tags: Cover, Grace Potter And The Nocturnals, News, Video, White Rabbit

AC/DC Graces Cover of Latest Issue of Rolling Stone

Much the way they recently recognized and acknowledged the achievements of Canadian rock icons Rush, Rolling Stone has decided to feature AC/DC in the most recent issue of their publication. It’s clear from some of the fan comments on the Rolling Stone website, that many fans believe this attention is long overdue.

It appears that Rolling Stone has dedicated a hefty portion of the issue to the Australian rockers who have rocked their way back into the spotlight with their latest album Black Ice and a tour that is currently underway.

In the excerpt of the cover article on their website, Rolling Stone talks with frontman Brian Johnson about the group’s lead guitarist, Angus Young, whose trademark schoolboy uniform certainly distinguishes him from his rock star peers in a very unique way.

Johnson also speaks about Young’s boundless energy on stage, a phenomenon I witnessed not all that long ago when I had a chance to review their No Bull DVD. But like Alice Cooper recently talked about, the man on the stage and the man off the stage are two quite different people.

When not gyrating around the stage during one of their hard-rocking performances, Angus Young is known as a “a passionate, quietly dogged craftsman pursuing the endless possibilities in Fifties-R&B and Sixties- British-rock guitar, in the fundamental slash and drive of Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, the early Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds. Offstage, without the suit, in AC/DC practice and recording sessions, Angus is “dead still,” Johnson says. “He smiles, smokes, concentrates.”

And, as the article points out, Young actually plays while sitting down under those circumstances. Something that many AC/DC fans might find hard to picture.

For more, visit Rolling Stone.

Tags: AC/DC, Angus Young, Cover, Rolling Stone Magazine