(Credits: Far Out)
Sat 17 January 2026 21:30, UK
When we think about changes in music, our minds wander to the artists who make it. Images of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Joni Mitchell are conjured as we attest every development within the art form towards its contributors, but this isn’t always the case.
Granted, musicians are incredibly important when it comes to… well… music, that’s a given. But the idea that the buck starts and stops with them is misguided. There are plenty of different factors which contribute towards the constantly changing tides in music. These include the people who make it, but additionally those who record it, produce, promote it, market it, and, of course, consume it.
The Beatles were huge, one of the most influential bands in history, but they wouldn’t have made such an impact had they not been managed and marketed in the way they were. They laid a blueprint for other bands to follow, which they did, which in turn gave the world The Rolling Stones, Dave Clark Five and The Who.
Even a lot of songs which are considered classics probably wouldn’t have been written were it not for outside interference. Black Sabbath are often credited with being the band who pioneered the sound of heavy metal, and one of their biggest songs that helped them do that was ‘Paranoid’, but that probably wouldn’t have even been written were it not for their label demanding a radio-friendly two-minute single.
“We went off on our lunch break and when we got back, Tony had come up with the riff,” said Bill Ward when discussing the track, “I sat down, Ozzy went to his mic, Geezer strapped on his bass and we started playing. What you hear on the album is literally 25 minutes of work!”
This sort of external interference doesn’t just apply to songs being written, either, but also to songs that have been written and released in the past. A lot of the labels attached to music only exist because advertising agencies were desperate to have titles they could use to make sales. This is why different terms crop up, and it also explains why the names of genres change over time. There are plenty of examples of this happening, but one of the most common that you likely come across a lot in your day-to-day life is how rock was turned into classic rock.
Music is constantly evolving, and while some embrace the change which comes so naturally within the industry, there are others who hate it. The term “classic rock” was used to appease the latter.
So, when did rock ‘n’ roll become classic rock?
The quick answer is towards the end of the ‘70s. Rock had cemented itself as the biggest genre in the world throughout the ‘60s, and as that decade came to a close, bands were coming along, injecting different influences into what was an established sound.
Suddenly, you didn’t just have standard rock music, you had heavy metal, prog, folk, country and all things in between. Many loved the changing face of rock music, but others missed the good ol’ days when the sound was a bit more linear.
Some radio stations and advertisers decided they wanted to try to cater towards the demographic who preferred the older sound. Not to generalise, but the audience tended to be older baby boomers who had a bit more disposable income, so they were a cashing-in dream for multiple advertisers. Working with radio companies, the term classic rock was coined, which applied to music from over a decade ago that these listeners could identify with more.
These days, the term is slightly more generalised and commonplace. It just refers to rock music from the peak days of rock, and doesn’t lean towards any specific section of the genre; however, when the transition originally happened, it had little to do with actual musicians and everything to do with maximising profit.
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