10 Overplayed Songs on Classic Rock Radio

2. Kansas – Carry on My Wayward Son

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB17uWuBrL0

If we only heard this song maybe once a year it would actually be almost good – after all it has nice twin guitar leads, killer ’70s organ fills and Brad Delp-like shrieks of “Carry on my wayward son There’ll be peace when you are done…” This Kansas number is just a tad worse than Dust in the Wind.

3. Rush – Tom Sawyer

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNZru4JG_Uo

Rush is a great band, but this classic rock radio staple, says turn the station quicker than you can say, “what you say about his company is what you say about society.” Come on classic rock radio programmers, give The Trees, YYZ, Bastille Day or even Red Barchetta some more air time and let Geddy yelp less.

Other Rush songs that need to be given a rest: Spirit of Radio, Limelight and Freewill

4. Boston – More Than A Feeling and Peace of Mind

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcsVPis1iNs&feature=related

What is it about Boston and classic rock radio? They get more airplay than Clapton, Zeppelin and Sabbath. You’d think they were a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band with this much radio love. We’ll give Foreplay>Longtime a break because its actually a solid classic but More Than A Feeling and Peace of Mind with all respect to the late Brad Delp, his tenor is just a little overdone.

Other Boston songs that need to go on classic rock radio hiatus: Don’t Look Back, Rock And Roll Band and Smokin’

5. Bad Company – Feel Like Making Love

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSoEP1NVmPM

It seems we have a theme here- another shitty song Kid Rock covered and another band classic rock radio loves to love: Bad Company. “Darling when I think about you, I think about love” = probably the worst opening lyrics to a song ever. Like its sister song Can’t Get Enough – both badly need to be buried. If only Freddie Mercury knew that Paul Rogers was the man selected to replace him in Queen.

6. Foreigner – Feels Like The First Time

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpeahgdzYp4

Is it just me or is it easy or are Bad Company and Foreigner the same band – kind of like Boston and Kansas. And nowadays when Jason Bonham isn’t jamming with Plant, Page and Jones he tours the country with Foreigner playing this song, Cold As Ice, Juke Box Hero and Hot Blooded. I think somebody is wishing for a Led Zeppelin reunion to happen more than Ticketmaster.

7. Georgia Satellites – Keep Your Hands To Yourself

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my4lhkxLRjg

How this song even ended up in classic rock radio rotation is beyond me, but if I ever hear Dan Baird sing “no huggin no kissin” in that annoying drawl… The only thing worse is hearing this song in regular rotation at a karaoke bar, sung by some local schmo – Fed Ex driver by day, Georgia Satellite by night.

8. Eddie Money – Two Tickets To Paradise

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFR6EO5-cjE

Between Baby Hold On, Shakin’ and Two Tickets To Paradise, Eddie Money always seems to find a way to squeeze his lounge bar voice on classic rock radio. Not sure exactly who enjoys the latter, a ’70s yacht rock song that hollers – “oh-oh-uh-oh-uh-oh-uh-oh-uh-oh-uh-oh.”

9. Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3aIQyL9Mh0

For a band with so many brilliant songs, this one gets more airplay than any other song by Floyd. For the sake of hearing Sheep, Mother and Have a Cigar, more often, let’s give this one a rest. It’s the ending though that is the roughest with the recorded rant- “If you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat yer meat?”

10. Styx – Renegade

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVS3zgTHOsw

It wouldn’t be a classic rock list without slamming Styx around a bit and sure enough, and this one just rolls down the road of classic rock boredom.

Do you agree with Sleepy’s list? What songs do you think should be banished from Classic Rock radio stations? Speak your mind by leaving a comment below.

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29 Responses

  1. I can only listen to classic epics (DJ bathroom breaks) like Freebird, Hotel California, Stairway, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Do You Feel Like We Do once or twice a year, tops. Not twice daily.

  2. Nail on the head! Classic rock radio needs an overhaul. Great list…here are a couple of others that make me change the channel every time..
    “Just What I Needed” – The Cars
    “Turn the Page” “Like A Rock” – Bob Seeger
    “Honkey Tonk Woman” -The Rolling Stones
    “Taking Care of Business” – BTO
    “The Boys are Back in Town” – Thin Lizzy
    and my all time least favorite song “I’m No Angel” by Greg Allman. I mean out of the entire ABros catalog to choose from, why do they insist on playing Greg Allman solo talking about his damn tattoo? The song is garbage.

  3. the same can be said about modern rock raio. i wish i owned .00001% of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ royalties- id probably be making enough for free rent each month.

  4. So tell me this…Why is it everytime classic rock stations gather a thousand people in a room and ask them what they want to hear, we always get these ten songs on the list?

    Don’t get me wrong, I agree that there are some seriously overplayed tunes on classic rock radio. I just want to know why the majority of the people asked always return with the same Led Zep, Skynyrd, Stones, etc…

    The guy sitting next to you is more to blame than classic rock radio.

  5. Who the hell listens to radio anymore? You stupid fucks need to get a life. Seriously. Radio has sucked donkey balls through a Krazy Straw since the early 80s – at least. It’s called an IPOD; look into it.

  6. Aaah, wandering home through the snowy shitty streets of Brooklyn, my wife (Ol Lady in Classic Rock Parlance) and I began to howl “Feel Like Makin’ Love at one another, even though technically she’s too young to even know such songs. But she is from the south. Once home I typed “Bad Company” into Pandora and now am being rewarded with – pretty much this top/bottom ten list! I know it’s bad for me, like Five Guys french fries, but can you really resist the taste, once you get that first bite after months or years without. Rock on Boston, Eagles, Kansas, Led Zep and the rest of this Bad Company!!

  7. You left out the middle-of-the-road, midwestern mediocrity rock genre. John Cougar Mellencamp & Bob Seger come to mind. I NEVER need to hear another song by these clowns that couldn’t even crank up their guitars with any passion or play anything that sounded like something other than poorly regurgitated Stones songs. “Old Time Rock and Roll” or “Pink Houses” anyone?

    Thank goodness for iTunes and Pandora (among others).

  8. Good list! I would add my picks:

    Barracuda -by Heart
    Bad to the Bone -by George Thorogood
    You Shook Me All Night Long -by AC/DC
    Satisfaction -by Rolling Stones
    Riders on the Storm -by The Doors
    Ramble On -by Led Zeppelin
    Purple Haze -by Jimi Hendrix

    I don’t dislike all of them, but I have heard them enough for one lifetime. How about some variety and deeper cuts? Some of these are quite decent bands with very good music…. with Hendrix leading that list. Although I would happy enough if radio stations stopped playing AC/DC completely.

  9. The authors list plus the others mentioned have always come to mind when I curse the radio..This overplaying of songs and never exploring the other songs by the artists is a total mystery to me..I have talked to disc jockeys about this phenomenom and they don’t want to talk about it..Judging by how the rest of the world works I can only come to the conclusion that it is somehow money orientated..Maybe these corporate radio giants only have the rights to play certain songs and playing a less known song would cost them more…I have no idea..The only thing I know for sure is that after 30 years of hearing “Can’t get enough” and many many others…I’m about burned out…No matter where you go in the country you are going to hear the same songs..It’s obvious that just one or two corporations control the radio waves.

  10. Here’s what it is folks. You can bitch all day about over played classic rock, and piss all over these artists, but it does no good, no good at all. You all need to get real about this. it aint the songs that are the problem, cause flat out, all those cuts listed are great tracks. the problem is the corporate structure of radio. radio isn’t dead but the corporate heads in an effort to make money from the ads will continue to cram these songs at us until radio is dead. I’m a classic rock DJ and i play the deep cuts but i can’t get work cause the structure is set to play the standards. i know the real rock heads want the deep cuts, but the corporations like to play it safe and try to please everyone. the truth has never changed, “you can’t please everyone, cause if you try to do that, you can’t please anyone” Sadly, there’s no way to fix radio unless you open a 2 million dollar stand alone station of your own or support the internet radio jocks that play by thier own rules before the RIAA shuts them down as well. the system sells us the definition of classic rock as chart topping hits within a set of decades. truthfully, the classic rock music is defined by its sound not the dates or ranking on the billboard charts. you want deep cuts, expand your knowledge of music. i believe if you can’t be constructive in your comments, say nothing at all. here’s a deep cut from a band called “Universal Monster Shark” – Let Loose. or perhaps something more domestic, The Cult – Painted On My Heart, or maybe something tasty from The Tea Party… You’ll never hear these tunes on classic rock radio cause they can’t pretend that they top selling hits. If you respond to this comment, i’ll send you a copy of my album and hopefully will restore your faith in high quality music. Good night folks.

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