(Credits: Far Out)
Fri 23 January 2026 13:00, UK
The term classic rock wasn’t coined until the early 1980s, as many lovers of rock heard what was on offer and pined for the good ol’ days.
This may seem a bit harsh now, as looking back on what came out in the early ‘80s, it’s clear there was some pretty decent music on show. AC/DC released their iconic album Back in Black, which is still considered a masterclass in combining hard rock and the blues. Heavy metal godfather Ozzy Osbourne saw solo success with the behemoth ‘Crazy Train’, and Phil Collins put out the track he is arguably most renowned for, ‘In the Air Tonight’.
How could people possibly pine for what came previously when the future looked so bright? Well, there are a few reasons. The first is that there are a certain group of people who, regardless of what music is coming out in the present day, will always roll their eyes to the past and feel envious about the fact that they’re not there to enjoy it. The other reason people began using the term classic rock, however, was because there was no escaping the sound of the genre was fundamentally changing.
This is a horrendous oversimplification of the history of rock, but the easiest way to describe people’s reluctance to embrace the changing landscape of the genre is by highlighting how, in every decade leading up to the ‘80s, any changes in the sound had been somewhat warranted.
In the ‘50s, you had the genre’s foundation; granted, you could certainly find instances of rock music prior, but it began really gaining traction in the ‘50s. Then you had the ‘60s, which is where the popularisation of rock took place, and it became one of the biggest genres in the world. Finally, you had the ‘70s, a time for prog, metal and punk, where the roots of the genre were taken but watered with something a little different and growing into a brand new beast.
As the end of the ‘70s rolled on by and the early ‘80s kicked into force, the genre began to fall flat. You still had some bands making good music (mentioned above), but a lot of the artists who were topping the charts were merely headbutting on the shoulders of giants. The genre became less versatile and adventurous, as you had bands who understood the blueprint for rock music and followed it in order to sleep with hot people and make loads of money.
With that change in dynamic so evident, it almost seems cruel that in 2025, classic rock is a term we use for any form of rock music which pre-dated the ‘90s, and yet, that’s what we do. Calling music from 1981 classic rock goes against the original definition, which was conjured up to separate that which had come before from that which was being made.
These logistical grey areas might lead to injustices, but they also allow us to highlight exactly what music branded as rock was dragging the entire sound down. The worst classic rock song released in 1981 isn’t just a bad song; it’s a precursor to a period in music that was so lacking in depth you couldn’t dive into it.
So, what was the worst classic rock song from 1981?
1981 was the year that the majority of the world was exposed to Mötley Crüe for the first time, and they were one of the biggest bands within the hair metal movement. It was a style of rock music that prioritised style over substance, and they kicked off this harrowing period with the track ‘Stick to Your Guns’. In isolation, it’s not horrible, but it’s knowing what it leads to that makes it a particular low in 1981.
Eddie Vedder put it best when talking about the bands that capitalised on rock when it became style-oriented. “You know, I used to work in San Diego loading gear at a club. I’d end up being at shows that I wouldn’t have chosen to go to (from) bands that monopolised late-1980s MTV. The metal bands that, I’m trying to be nice, I despised,” said the Pearl Jam frontman, “‘Girls, Girls, Girls’, and Mötley Crüe, I hated it. I hated how it made the fellas look. I hated how it made the women look. It felt so vacuous.”
Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash also had some choice words about the movement, saying there was a period of time when bands in Los Angeles lacked any kind of originality. “I fucking hated the whole scene, man […] In Los Angeles, it was just bullshit. And we were coming up in the midst of all that,” he said, “Everybody was fucking converting to the industry standard to get a record deal and get girls, this whole thing.”
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