Dave2112
Level of Cherry Feather
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2001
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Greetings one and all! A few years back, I ran a very interesting polling game that got a lot of folks involved in something cool. The TMF voted on its favorite classic rock bands until the populace settled on Led Zeppelin as the #1 rock band of all time.
It's been a few years and we could use something to sink our teeth into again. CrystalLight recently posted a thread about the top ten classic rock songs of all time, to which I and a few others commented that the genre is simply too big with too many subgenres to limit to ten. So, thought I, why not have the members here vote for their top classic rock songs of all time in a bracket format just like we did with the bands?
So, I went to work in the spare time I have. This is a true "March Madness" monster of a bracket and should keep us busy for awhile. After a few attempts at a smaller list and several drafts of the current one, I settled on 64 of the greatest classic rock songs of all time and set them up in brackets. Each match-up was loosely chosen between songs of similar background, era or meaning...but the placement was random. This list covers the various subgenres of "classic rock" as there are representatives of the early foundations of classic rock, traditional classic, psychadelica, progressive, hard rock and classic metal.
I'm sure there will be many of your favorite songs left off the list, even with a list of 64. So, how did I come up with these without playing favorites? Using my knowledge of rock lore and history, I chose songs based on importance within each song's genre as well as a number of other factors. If a song was a huge hit in the charts, that helped. But more than that makes a song a part of this list. An important factor was simply...Is the song an anthem? Most on here are. Those songs that are recognizable from the opening lick or notes. The songs that can instantly get fists or lighters in the air. The songs that everyone knows the words to.
Most bands have one song on this list, their best. A handful have two if those songs truly deserved a spot. And the elite have three. Who are the elite? Quite simply, the top four all-time best-selling acts in terms of gold and platinum album sales...respectively, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Rush and Led Zeppelin. Hell, even paring those four acts down to three representative songs was a task in itself.
So, how will this work?
I will post a match-up between two classic tunes. Depending on my schedule it may be anywhere from 1-4 match-ups each time. I will leave each open long enough to get a decent enough response and number of votes. This will be fluid, depending on forum activity and intensity of any certain match-up. Each post will have a poll attached to it. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!! I will ONLY be counting the POLL RESULTS!!! Members are encouraged to post to the threads for purposes of fun and discussion of picks, but I won't be counting all the posts...JUST THE FINAL POLL RESULTS. So, post away, but if you want to be counted you must vote in the poll. You don't have to post anything if you don't want, just vote if you wish. Once I count a poll and record the results, I'll post to the thread the winner and that the round is closed. Any further voting will not be counted.
So, hopefully this will be fun for the folks here, as the previous Vote-Off was, and in the end we'll see what the top classic rock tunes of all time really are! Have fun!
It's been a few years and we could use something to sink our teeth into again. CrystalLight recently posted a thread about the top ten classic rock songs of all time, to which I and a few others commented that the genre is simply too big with too many subgenres to limit to ten. So, thought I, why not have the members here vote for their top classic rock songs of all time in a bracket format just like we did with the bands?
So, I went to work in the spare time I have. This is a true "March Madness" monster of a bracket and should keep us busy for awhile. After a few attempts at a smaller list and several drafts of the current one, I settled on 64 of the greatest classic rock songs of all time and set them up in brackets. Each match-up was loosely chosen between songs of similar background, era or meaning...but the placement was random. This list covers the various subgenres of "classic rock" as there are representatives of the early foundations of classic rock, traditional classic, psychadelica, progressive, hard rock and classic metal.
I'm sure there will be many of your favorite songs left off the list, even with a list of 64. So, how did I come up with these without playing favorites? Using my knowledge of rock lore and history, I chose songs based on importance within each song's genre as well as a number of other factors. If a song was a huge hit in the charts, that helped. But more than that makes a song a part of this list. An important factor was simply...Is the song an anthem? Most on here are. Those songs that are recognizable from the opening lick or notes. The songs that can instantly get fists or lighters in the air. The songs that everyone knows the words to.
Most bands have one song on this list, their best. A handful have two if those songs truly deserved a spot. And the elite have three. Who are the elite? Quite simply, the top four all-time best-selling acts in terms of gold and platinum album sales...respectively, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Rush and Led Zeppelin. Hell, even paring those four acts down to three representative songs was a task in itself.
So, how will this work?
I will post a match-up between two classic tunes. Depending on my schedule it may be anywhere from 1-4 match-ups each time. I will leave each open long enough to get a decent enough response and number of votes. This will be fluid, depending on forum activity and intensity of any certain match-up. Each post will have a poll attached to it. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!! I will ONLY be counting the POLL RESULTS!!! Members are encouraged to post to the threads for purposes of fun and discussion of picks, but I won't be counting all the posts...JUST THE FINAL POLL RESULTS. So, post away, but if you want to be counted you must vote in the poll. You don't have to post anything if you don't want, just vote if you wish. Once I count a poll and record the results, I'll post to the thread the winner and that the round is closed. Any further voting will not be counted.
So, hopefully this will be fun for the folks here, as the previous Vote-Off was, and in the end we'll see what the top classic rock tunes of all time really are! Have fun!
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