Classic Rock 2

So you’ve devoured all the tasty tracks from our first Classic Rock Essentials, and your inner rock ’n’ roll animal is growling for more. Not to worry — the wide world of classic rock opens up even wider right here. If you’ve got a hard-rockin’ fever that can be cured only by more cowbell, Grand Funk Railroad’s got your prescription with their madmen-on-the-move mission statement “We’re an American Band.” If you’re ready for a little boot-heel hammering, join in with Queen’s stomp-stomp-clap choir on the song that launched a million ballpark chants, “We Will Rock You.” But after all that hot, sweaty work, you might want to kick back hammock-and-lemonade-style with the Eagles’ country-rock anthem “Take It Easy.”

In Next Steps, find out how glam and Southern rock exploded into the ’80s.

When you say “classic rock,” the first thing most people picture is the long-hair-and-Levis ’70s, but plenty of rock’s true believers toughed it out in the ’80s amid all the spandex and legwarmers. Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant’s little brother Donnie brought Southern rock roaring into the Reagan era with .38 Special’s “Hold On Loosely.” Joan Jett put ’70s glam on top of the ’80s Pop charts with her raunchy remake of the Arrows’ “I Love Rock ‘N Roll.” And graduates of Yes, King Crimson, and ELP proved that their prog-rock powers could still stand up in a new-wave world with supergroup Asia’s arena-rocker “Heat of the Moment.”

Discover the secret heroes of classic rock, in Deep Cuts.

Not all the artists in the classic rock canon have their faces carved into a musical Mt. Rushmore — some made it to the top of the heap for only one or two shining moments. Sanford & Townsend may not be household names, but with that soul-pop jump and savory sax riff, the West Coast duo’s lone hit, “Smoke From a Distant Fire,” feels like some great, lost Van Morrison cut. Semi-underground heroes of the ’60s psych scene, Spirit showed off a little Chuck Berry choogle for their brightest moment in the spotlight, “I Got a Line On You.” Meanwhile, down in Dixie, the Atlanta Rhythm Section redefined Southern rock with the hot-under-the-collar funk factor of the sultry “So Into You.”

The simple fact that we’ve been able to fill two supersized Essentials playlists with crucial classic rock cuts should clue you in to the overwhelming number of sounds that can carry that tag. “Classic rock” can mean a fire-breathing demon dance on Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train,” an easygoing amble through the folk-rock fields of America’s “Sister Golden Hair,” or a foggy evening stroll amid the film noir mystery of Al Stewart’s “Year of the Cat.” So what’s the common thread running through it all? Well, as different as all the soul-satisfying tracks we’ve stacked up may be from one another, they’re all the kind of tunes that bring a grin within the first few notes and inspire one basic, irresistible response: “Crank it up!”