Music Q: who decides what's a "classic"?

I think that if a sing still sounds as good 20 years down the line it a classic.

Black dog- led Zeppelin
Little wing- jimmy Hendrix
Life on mars- David Bowie

I consider these songs classics because they have stood the test of time

As Mark Twain said, a classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.

@allen_o That is my point exactly. You may disagree with me, but I consider myself a bit of a music buff. I haven’t heard those songs.

@nmguy Twain’s quote is great, but this was a musis q and is not applicable here, imho.

People who think critically and talk about what they like make something a classic, in music as in any other field.

Literary classics are classics because they’re old, and because people who care about literature think they’re still well worth reading.

Rock music classics are classics because they’re old (comparatively), and because people who care about rock music think they’re still well worth listening to.

So—everyone who cares to think about the matter decides what’s a classic.

@-zen, check those three songs out, especially life on mars, Bowie is a hero

@allen_o I will, thanks. But you know how it is… everyone likes different styles and sounds.

What do you like?

@allen_o Listened to Bowie, and I remember it now. I have to agree, it is a classic. Most of his stuff is, even the stuff I don’t listen to myself – as the man was a genius. Full stop.

Listening to the Led Zep now. Oh, and I take it back about Hendrix too. Simply because he is a guitar god. And produced so little (dying so young) so all his stuff is classic, too.

Wait. Led Zep I knew too. Didn’t recognize the name. Damn, 73 was an awesome year. I stand totally corrected, and enlightened.

My likes? Very mainstream, plus Zappa. That’s how I define my tastes. (BTW, when asked what type of movies I prefer, I always joke that I like Space movies, or Things getting blown up – preferably Things getting blown up in space). Anything written by Paul Simon, from any time. Lennon, Cat Stevens, Beatles, Dylan, and some eclectic tastes both “foreign” and domestic you mightn’t have heard of. I have put foreign in parentheses because to you I am one.

Classic: In the Mood Glen Miller

Classic: Me and Bobby McGee Janice

Classic: Layla Derrick and the Dominoes

Classic: Heat Wave Martha and them Damn Vandellas

We have similar music tastes, Zappa is cool, only I don’t remember 73, I was born in 86 , what kind of electronic do you like?

@allen_o in 73 I was 8 (and already quite a music fan) but it was the year both of your songs were recorded in – or at least performed in according to the clips on Youtube I watched.

Electronic? Hmmm. Does Supertramp count?

@TheLoneMonk Agreed.