Favourite artists: Pink Floyd, The Beatles.
Favourite Christian artists: Bryn Haworth, DA (Daniel Amos), Bruce Cockburn.
Favourite songs: The Wall (all of it), Shine On You Crazy Diamond, It Could Have Been Me (Bryn Haworth).
Best Thing About Classic Rock: Enormous skill on instruments, memorable melodies, clever lyrics, driving rhythms.
What Makes Classic Rock Timeless: see answer to previous question.
In What Ways Do I Connect With My Favourite Songs: finding lyrics which reflect my situation, musical phrases which make me cry.
Any Stories: Can't think of any at the moment...

Great topic, wolf!

Who’s your favorite artist(s)? Pink Floyd, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blue Oyster Cult, Steve Miller Band, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Deep Purple, Rush...too many to name!

What’s your favorite song? This changes from time to time....but generally speaking I will always have an endearing love for Skynyrd's "Freebird". What a great song with a great acoustic section on it. My current favorite is Edgar Winters Group's "Frankenstein". It's one of the GREAT acoustic songs of all time!

What’s the best thing about classic rock? Such a broad question for such a large swath of music. I don't know...it has incredible guitar riffs, impossible to forget melodies and rhythms, and an undeniable endurance. Seriously, you think anyone is going to remember Justin Bieber or Led Zeppelin in 40 years? Answer honestly.

What is it about classic rock that you think makes it so timeless? I answered that above

In what ways do you connect with your favorite songs? Living in the Southern US, Southern Rock is almost sacred here, with Skynyrd being almost sacrosanct. It started here and here is where it's best.

Are there any stories related to classic rock that you’d like to share?

I was about to say "no", but then I do remember one instance where something quite funny did happen, although at the time it was quite terrifying . I was helping a coworker friend of mine move about 10 years ago because I have a pickup truck. The other guys there strapped her mattress onto the top of my truck and tied it down the best that they could using bungie cords, however we hit the interstate and once I got over 40 mph the mattress began to thump loudly against the cab of the truck as it went up/down repeatedly. And on the radio was Molly Hatchet's "Flirting With Disaster". What a timely moment for that particular song to come on, yes?

I'm driving down the road and flirting with disaster,
I got the pedal to the floor and my life is running faster,
I'm outta money outta hope it looks like self destruction
Well how much more can we take with all of this corruption

We're flirtin' with disaster, ya'll know what I mean
And the way we run our lives it makes no sense to me
I don't know about yourself or what you wanna to be, yeah
When we gamble with our time we choose our destiny...

Well, it fit the moment like a glove! If you're a NASCAR fan you'll likely know (and probably love) this song.

Favorite artists: Pink Floyd, The Eagles, REO Speedwagon, Journey, BTO, Lynryrd Skynyrd, Boston, Deep Purple, lots of others.

Shadowlander, I actually prefer "Sweet Home Alabama" to "Freebird," but the latter carries a few memories too.

I referred to Floyd's "Learning to Fly" in one of my NaNo stories.

Boston's debut album came out in my early years at university, and was the music of choice for dormitory "stereo wars." (Ah, memories )

The acoustic version of "Hotel California" is one of my favorites from this time period, and I prefer it to the original.

This music genre brings back memories of my kiddie years (my older brother playing "Smoke on the Water" on the stereo while my older sister preferred pop music of the era) extending through high school and university.

Classic Rock is a guilty pleasure of mine, though I'm less a fan of the slightly country sounding classic rock (ie Lynryrd Skynyrd). My favorite band is Boston with More Than A Feeling being my favorite song.
I also love Journey and Kansas as well as several others that I can't bring to mind right now. I don't know if Queen counts as classic rock, but I love them too. Oooh, and Tom Petty. (Free Fallin??? Oh yes. )
The reason I love classic rock? Not sure. I just love the sound and harmonies of it I guess. Like a lot of those songs actually required some skill to write and record.
My husband introduced me to both sides of the 80s music genres that I somehow missed out on actually growing up in the 80s. So I have a special place in my heart for the majority of the music around that time period. But I definitely lean towards towards the Classic Rock.

*inspired by this thread, fk pulls up her Classic Rock station on Pandora and rocks out to Guns N Roses*

Ooh, how could I forget Kansas and Queen? More staples of college days.

(And Bohemian Rhapsody was one way I kept awake while commuting to my night-time summer job.

How about Styx? And I'm not sure Alan Parsons Project counts either, but they had lots of music I still like to listen to.

Ooh, how could I forget Kansas and Queen?

Cause there are just so many good ones.
A couple more I thought of just sitting here... Van Halen (love/hate relationship with this band, but when I love their songs, I REALLY love them), my favorites are Jump and Dance the Night Away. Also The Who, a truly classic rock band. Actually, I have a kind of funny story about The Who... I only very recently learned that the song I had called Teenage Wasteland for years is really called Baba O'Riley. Oops!

How about Styx?

One of my husband's favorite songs of all time is Renegade by Styx.

Woohoo! Classic Rock!!

As anyone who has ever visited with me know, my first musical love is soundtracks, but a very close second is Classic Rock and other music from the mid 60's- the mid 80's.

Who’s your favorite artist(s)?
I'm one of those odd people that makes a distinction between the groups I love (I like more than 5 of their songs/most of their catalog) and the groups I'm only passively interested in (like only a few of their songs).

For the former: The Beatles, CCR, Led Zeppelin, Journey, Badfinger, The Eagles, REO Speedwagon, Supertramp, Paul McCartney, George Harrison.

For the latter: Rolling Stones, Boston, Doobie Brothers, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Rush, U2, Billy Squire, Cream, Foreigner, Eric Clapton, etc.

What’s your favorite song?
Umm... er... can't narrow it down that far.

What’s the best thing about classic rock?
The creativity, the memorable melodies that you know after one listen, the wide range within the genre and of course, those great guitar riffs/solos.

Are there any stories related to classic rock that you’d like to share?
Well, I pretty much got my British-esque accent from listening to my Dad's old Beatles albums when I was growing up. I guess that's a pretty good story.

Who’s your favorite artist(s)?

Correct.

Besides them, I like a lot of artists, with Rush also having a large representation in my music collection (I have the 2112, Permanent Waves, and Moving Pictures albums, and I think I added another one in there recently...). I've been collecting lots of Queen music, too. Other artists with large representation in my collection are Boston, Billy Joel, The Beatles, and Blue Oyster Cult. (I seem to like bands that start with "B"... )

What’s your favorite song?

"Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who. "Peace of Mind" by Boston is a close second.

What’s the best thing about classic rock?

I think I just like how classic rock isn't as restricted by some of the trappings of other genres like punk, alt-rock, or metal. You can have nice, light songs like "More Than A Feeling" (that still have a bit of edge to them), heavier songs like "Highway Star" by Deep Purple, songs with a bit of Southern flair like Lynyrd Skynyrd's works, more complex songs like those by Rush, and more.

Also, they're lots of fun to play on Rock Band.

In what ways do you connect with your favorite songs?

Playing them on Rock Band. Or barring that, singing along, doing some air guitar/bass/drums/piano/whatever...

Playing them on Rock Band. Or barring that, singing along, doing some air guitar/bass/drums/piano/whatever...

I don't play Rock Band (I have the hand/eye coordination of an inebriated sloth), but I air drum like a madman to Rush's "Tom Sawyer". I do that to a lesser degree with Edgar Winters' "Frankenstein".

What do all of you consider to be the ultimate Classic Rock anthem song of all time?

How about the most enduring guitar riff ever? For that one I have to put my vote in for Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water". Not a soul alive today who doesn't know the classic guitar riff that starts this awesome song out. By the way, I had read someplace the story behind this song. Purportedly the band was up in a Swiss town called Montreaux (referenced in the song) to use some specialized recording equipment owned by Frank Zappa. Meanwhile across the lake there was a concert of some type going on and one of the attendees had brought in a flare gun with him and launched it in the middle of the concert, "burned it to the ground".

And that's another great thing about Classic Rock, a lot of them tell some pretty good stories, or at least have very interesting stories attached to them.

Actually, I have a kind of funny story about The Who... I only very recently learned that the song I had called Teenage Wasteland for years is really called Baba O'Riley. Oops!

Me too! Only about a year or so ago. I wonder who Baba O'Riley is anyways? And I love Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers! Although I'll be honest when I say that I tend to like a lot more of their music from the 80's and 90's. And Queen is absolutely, most definitely Classic Rock, by the way.

Edit: I know Jo likes some select Classic Rock. If ya'll see her bring her on in here for some discussion.

My ears are burning.

I must admit, I love good ol' rock music within my quite eclectic musical taste.

Who’s your favorite artist(s)? Chicago ♥; I also really like Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Eagles, The Beach Boys, Billy Joel, Bee Gees, plus some of The Who, Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Three Dog Night, The Guess Who, Doobie Brothers ...

What’s your favorite song? I really don't think I can narrow that down. Too many!

What’s the best thing about classic rock? The singable melodies, the great hooks, the unusual talent of the musicians, the fantastic drumming (I have been a percussion fan since I was a wee halfling ).

What is it about classic rock that you think makes it so timeless? Similar to my answer ^.

In what ways do you connect with your favorite songs? Hmm, good question. Uh, not sure. Probably something to do with the cool beat, which I just really like (if you hadn't gathered ). It's not so much the words (although I pay attention to them); it's more the music for me with Classic Rock.

Are there any stories related to classic rock that you’d like to share? Not that I can think of offhand. I must have some though over all these years ...

**One fact that'll shock you:** I am not a Beatles fan. For some reason, and I still can't pinpoint it, their music does nothing for me. *hides from Cor's flying tomatoes (and Vern )*

Are there any stories related to classic rock that you’d like to share?

For yesterday's transit of Venus, I decided to drive to a location about 20 miles away where they offered an open house with telescopes and a chance to watch it with many other interested spectators. I frequently enjoy music while driving, especially in rush hour.

Yesterday's selection? Queen's Greatest Hits. For whatever reason it just suited my mood. And when I left there to go to a friend's house for additional viewing, "We Are the Champions" played.

So, odd as it might sound, I might come to think of that as "transit music" (just as "Bohemian Rhapsody" reminds me of driving to my summer job the year it came out, as I heard it on the car radio a lot during my commutes).

Those songs bring back memories, stargazer, to be sure. "Transit music": love it!

Please note that this Special Feature will be closing on Wednesday, June 13, after which you may discuss any Classic Rock fun in the current Favorite Music topic.

*listens to Chicago's "I've Been Searching So Long" whilst posting this* Love their brass focus!