JimiG

An interesting question, what constitutes classic rock? Music is actually a continuum, not a series of unconnected events. 'Rock' as I understand it was conceived in the late forties, when bluesmen came up from the Mississippi delta to industrial towns like Chicago and started playing electric guitars and adding drums to what was basically a genre of acoustic 'folk' music before. Rock was actually born in the 50s, with artists like Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and, yes, even Elvis Presley, who added a bit of white country music to what was called 'rhythm'n'blues' or 'race music' at the time. It matured during the 60s, when the so called British Invasion, led by the Beatles, added a touch of European finesse to the hitherto exclusively American mix. And it died at the end of the 70s, when punk rock became a commercial enterprise for record company executives, as far as I'm concerned. After that it's all been rehashing old themes and attitudes. At the moment about the only modern music I'm listening to is African music, which has so far managed to remain very vibrant and alive, in spite of the Western influences that are starting to creep in.