(Credits: Far Out / NASA / Uwe Conrad)
Sun 28 December 2025 18:30, UK
Rock music had a pretty linear pattern in the 1960s and ‘70s. First, it was developing, then it started evolving.
Back in the ‘60s, loads of bands started breaking the mould and carving out names for themselves. You had The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones – all sounding sharp and looking the part – helping to turn rock into the biggest genre going. But what really mattered after that wasn’t keeping it exactly as it was, it was letting it evolve.
There was a real musical appetite in the air at the beginning of the ‘70s. The Beatles had split up, and in their wake, they had left a trail of albums which proved a band didn’t need to follow a set formula. Equally, you had bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath steadily making a name for themselves, proving that rock music didn’t need to fit inside one category. Instead, it could embrace various styles, sounds, and cultures in order to warp into something totally unique.
“I think what they showed to all their peer group as musicians was that there was, first of all, a very powerful and dramatic way to perform simple, direct rock music and also to introduce elements of more eclectic music,” said Anderson when discussing the impact of a band like Led Zeppelin. “Because Zeppelin, near the beginning, there were a lot of elements of folk music, and Asian music, and African music that crept into their stuff.”
Then you had the ‘80s, where the route that rock music took became a little bit stranger. Bands had pushed the boat out, multiple genres had been successfully established, and the sound had no doubt become the biggest in the world. As such, a lot of the most popular rock was less experimental and groundbreaking, and more just a watered-down and pop-infused version of what had come before.
Sounds a bit brutal, but it’s not far off the mark. By the time the decade was winding down, loads of rock bands were digging into the past, chasing the magic of the ‘60s and ‘70s. And to be fair, the early ‘80s weren’t exactly brimming with groundbreaking rock – a lot of it came off a bit bland. Still not convinced? Just check which classic rock track spent the most time at number one in 1981.
So, what song was number one for the longest in 1981?
It was the rock pop heavy ballad that is ‘Jessie’s Girl’ by Rick Springfield.
Released on his album Working Class Dog, which also came out in 1981, everyone was happy to dance and sing along to the upbeat pop-rock track. While the song is still considered a bit of a classic, it isn’t the most exciting or ambitious rock song of all time. I’m not saying it’s a bad track, but the fact that this was the most successful offering of the year shows you that the genre was starting to stagnate slightly.
“I don’t know her name. It was a brief relationship I had when I was making stained glass for a while,” said Springfield when discussing the track, “I was going to a stained glass class in Pasadena, and I met this guy and his girlfriend. I was completely turned on to his girlfriend, but she was just not interested. So I had a lot of sexual angst, and I went home and wrote a song about it.”
He continued, “Then about four months later I stopped going to the class and lost contact with them. The only thing I remember is his name was Gary, so I changed the name, because ‘Gary’ didn’t sing very well. But the whole thing is absolutely what I was feeling. He was getting it and I wasn’t, and it was really tearing me up.”
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