catapult magazine

I just posted the topic as a question because it felt right. The answer, of course, is a resounding ‘yes’!

My name is Chris Lopez. I am a Dordt College graduate (Class of ‘97 rules!!!) who has been an occasional contributor to these discussion boards. After a year of attempting to start a business that was about 75% stuff I didn’t really enjoy I decided that perhaps that was not the vocation God was calling me to. I decided to start doing something I love and worry about getting paid for it later. And Thus, Classic Rock Liberation was born. A sort-of monthly podcast featuring me and all the music I love.

Classic rock has been in shabby shape for many many years. To be honest i don’t think it ever fully recovered from the 1980’s. I do know this: it is a form of music that has been marginalized and wrongly ignored due in large part to bad and down right evil Classic Rock Radio stations (and also, Aerosmith).

It’s as if this someone spent all their lives trying to make the perfect batch of chocolate chip cookies and actually accomplished it when they were in their early twenties. The problem was that they really enjoyed making cookies, so they didn’t even fully savor the perfect batch and continued to bake well into old age. All the while there’s this perfect batch of chocolate chip cookies sitting in a big tuperware bowl in the back of the pantry.

Come join me as I open the big tuperware bowl of Classic Rock (don’t worry about them being stale though, that part of the metaphor doesn’t work).

www.firecatproductions.com

Interesting concept. I’m glad to see you taking up the fight for classic rock. I think we’ve talked about this before, but at one point does something fall into this category? I hear Nirvana on classic rock stations now. Is this something you approve of?

my personal opinion is that "classic rock" as a classification, can only be correctly attributed to music created between the years of (roughly) 1965-1975*.

many would disagree with me on this point saying something to the effect of: "that’s what classic rock was before, but it’s different now due to the passage of time." i do not buy into this philosophy of certain musical genres being dependent upon where we currently are in history. adult contemporary? yes. top 40? yes. these are formats specifically designed by radio stations for the purpose of staying current. classic rock needs to stay what it is, just as oldies need to stay what they are, just as molecules need to stay what they are. if not, where does it all end? we may as well make "jackFM" the format for ALL radio. this is a hill i am willing to die on**.

in answer to your question "no". i do not approve of nirvana being played on classic rock radio. i think it’s very very naughty.

*i could probably be pushed on this all the way through the 70’s, but there is no doubt that as this form of music began to become more and more aware of its identity and what it was supposed to look and feel like, the quality began to suffer.

**mainly because i know i would never have to actually do any suffering of any kind due to this viewpoint.