Welcome to the Classic Rock Mega-Knockout! Watch this space. I'll keep this thread pinned for the duration of the game, and I'll keep the top of this first post updated with links to the current polls. I'll also be posting all the results in this thread.
Current polls: (link goes to my post with videos for the songs)
The Final Four (closes July 3)
How the songs were selected: I found 13 different Top 500 lists from radio stations which gave a wide variety of classic songs. My only requirement was that any such list purported to be an "all-time best rock songs" list - meaning rock in general, not any specific subgenre.
Details about the radio stations:
How the seeds were determined: The ranks from all stations for any given song were added together, and the lowest total indicates the highest ranked song. A value of 650 was used in this total for any list that didn't rank the song. This gives a strong bonus to songs that appear on the most lists, while still allowing songs on fewer lists to get a seed if those few lists rate them highly. When the total was the same, the tiebreaker was "which song had the highest rank from any of the stations".
Some facts about the 512 songs in this game:
There are 175 different artists in the game. Nearly half (84) are represented by a single song.
All the artists with 6 or more songs:
106 artists are American and 52 English. The rest are from:
Canada: 8
Ireland: 3
Scotland: 2
One each from Australia, Germany, Jamaica and the Netherlands
There is only one song from the 1950s: "Johnny B. Goode" from 1958. The other 511 songs break down by decade thusly:
1960s - 76 songs ... most from 1969 (24) and 1967 (23)
1970s - 264 songs ... most from 1977 (36) and 1979 (33)
1980s - 123 songs ... most from 1981 (24) and 1980 (18)
1990s - 41 songs ... most from 1991 (15) and 1994 (7)
2000s - 7 songs ... most from 2003 (4)
How to play: Vote for your favorite song in each pair in the poll threads. Just that easy!
Rules: Higher-seeded song wins a tie. There will be four ongoing threads with polls. Each thread will have 4 pairs of songs, and each such poll will be open for 4 days. This means that starting on day 5, we'll be eliminating 4 songs per day. The entire tournament will take about four months.
In the poll threads, I'll be giving the peak position on US and UK singles charts for each song, if the song charted. For the US singles chart positions, the chart is Billboard Hot 100 unless stated otherwise. If the song made the Hot 100 at all, that position is given, even if the song was higher on another chart. Chart peaks occur within a year of the release date given in most cases; if otherwise, I'll say so. (Yes, the release date will also be posted.)
I hope you all enjoy this game. I'm quite curious to see how this classic rock stuff does on a metal forum. All of these songs are famous, and most of you will know most of them by heart already. This will hopefully be a fun overview of rock's history, with rock's future (new Maiden!) hopefully coming around the time this game ends.
Current polls: (link goes to my post with videos for the songs)
The Final Four (closes July 3)
How the songs were selected: I found 13 different Top 500 lists from radio stations which gave a wide variety of classic songs. My only requirement was that any such list purported to be an "all-time best rock songs" list - meaning rock in general, not any specific subgenre.
Details about the radio stations:
From the New York area, we get the "traditional" list of classics. These are the stations that go heaviest on the 60's stuff, soul music and folksy singer-songwriters. For instance, these are the lists with the most Beatles songs.
WCBS 101.1 New York City, Thanksgiving 2014
WAXQ 104.3 New York City, 2013
WXPN 88.5 Philadelphia, 2014
WYEP 91.3 Pittsburgh, date unknown but contains songs through 2003
From the rest of the east coast, several lists typical of modern "classic rock radio". This means dominated by the 70s, strong on the 80s, and even a good bunch of 90s stuff. These are the stations that go heavy on bands like Zep, Tom Petty and ZZ Top.
WBIG 100.3 Washington DC, Memorial Day 2014
WMGK 102.9 Philadelphia, 2014
WXGL 107.3 Tampa, Memorial Day 2014
WSRV 97.1 Atlanta, 2013
WZLX 100.7 Boston, 2013
Two lists from "alternative" radio, for a bit of variety, including a strong dose of 90s songs.
KEXP 90.3 Seattle, date unknown but contains songs through 2003
KROQ 106.7 Los Angeles, Memorial Day 2008 (the most recent KROQ I could find)
Finally, two international lists for a broader perspective. These contain all decades (60s, 70s, 80s, 90s) in fairly even doses.
CFJB 95.7 Barrie, Ontario, Labor Day 2014
Triple M 105.1 Australia, 2013
WCBS 101.1 New York City, Thanksgiving 2014
WAXQ 104.3 New York City, 2013
WXPN 88.5 Philadelphia, 2014
WYEP 91.3 Pittsburgh, date unknown but contains songs through 2003
From the rest of the east coast, several lists typical of modern "classic rock radio". This means dominated by the 70s, strong on the 80s, and even a good bunch of 90s stuff. These are the stations that go heavy on bands like Zep, Tom Petty and ZZ Top.
WBIG 100.3 Washington DC, Memorial Day 2014
WMGK 102.9 Philadelphia, 2014
WXGL 107.3 Tampa, Memorial Day 2014
WSRV 97.1 Atlanta, 2013
WZLX 100.7 Boston, 2013
Two lists from "alternative" radio, for a bit of variety, including a strong dose of 90s songs.
KEXP 90.3 Seattle, date unknown but contains songs through 2003
KROQ 106.7 Los Angeles, Memorial Day 2008 (the most recent KROQ I could find)
Finally, two international lists for a broader perspective. These contain all decades (60s, 70s, 80s, 90s) in fairly even doses.
CFJB 95.7 Barrie, Ontario, Labor Day 2014
Triple M 105.1 Australia, 2013
How the seeds were determined: The ranks from all stations for any given song were added together, and the lowest total indicates the highest ranked song. A value of 650 was used in this total for any list that didn't rank the song. This gives a strong bonus to songs that appear on the most lists, while still allowing songs on fewer lists to get a seed if those few lists rate them highly. When the total was the same, the tiebreaker was "which song had the highest rank from any of the stations".
Some facts about the 512 songs in this game:
There are 175 different artists in the game. Nearly half (84) are represented by a single song.
All the artists with 6 or more songs:
Rolling Stones - 20
Led Zeppelin - 19
Beatles - 17
Pink Floyd - 13
Van Halen - 13
Petty, Tom - 11
U2 - 11
Aerosmith - 10
AC/DC - 9
Doors - 9
Eagles - 9
Queen - 9
Bowie, David - 8
Who - 8
Fleetwood Mac - 7
Hendrix, Jimi - 7
Springsteen, Bruce - 7
Foreigner - 6
Lynyrd Skynyrd - 6
Miller, Steve - 6
Led Zeppelin - 19
Beatles - 17
Pink Floyd - 13
Van Halen - 13
Petty, Tom - 11
U2 - 11
Aerosmith - 10
AC/DC - 9
Doors - 9
Eagles - 9
Queen - 9
Bowie, David - 8
Who - 8
Fleetwood Mac - 7
Hendrix, Jimi - 7
Springsteen, Bruce - 7
Foreigner - 6
Lynyrd Skynyrd - 6
Miller, Steve - 6
106 artists are American and 52 English. The rest are from:
Canada: 8
Ireland: 3
Scotland: 2
One each from Australia, Germany, Jamaica and the Netherlands
There is only one song from the 1950s: "Johnny B. Goode" from 1958. The other 511 songs break down by decade thusly:
1960s - 76 songs ... most from 1969 (24) and 1967 (23)
1970s - 264 songs ... most from 1977 (36) and 1979 (33)
1980s - 123 songs ... most from 1981 (24) and 1980 (18)
1990s - 41 songs ... most from 1991 (15) and 1994 (7)
2000s - 7 songs ... most from 2003 (4)
How to play: Vote for your favorite song in each pair in the poll threads. Just that easy!
Rules: Higher-seeded song wins a tie. There will be four ongoing threads with polls. Each thread will have 4 pairs of songs, and each such poll will be open for 4 days. This means that starting on day 5, we'll be eliminating 4 songs per day. The entire tournament will take about four months.
In the poll threads, I'll be giving the peak position on US and UK singles charts for each song, if the song charted. For the US singles chart positions, the chart is Billboard Hot 100 unless stated otherwise. If the song made the Hot 100 at all, that position is given, even if the song was higher on another chart. Chart peaks occur within a year of the release date given in most cases; if otherwise, I'll say so. (Yes, the release date will also be posted.)
I hope you all enjoy this game. I'm quite curious to see how this classic rock stuff does on a metal forum. All of these songs are famous, and most of you will know most of them by heart already. This will hopefully be a fun overview of rock's history, with rock's future (new Maiden!) hopefully coming around the time this game ends.
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