Classic Rock 105.9 WCXR Playlist
A long time ago, in another life, I was a music director for "Washington's only classic rock, 105.9 WCXR." I was 23 years old and the only music I cared about was The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, THE WHO and all the other bands from that generation. Sure, I listened to new music too but not with the same intensity and passion as "classic rock."
As music director my responsibilities revolved around defining the music played on the station - day in, day out, 365 days a year. I used a computer program called Selector to create databases of songs, store values and rules for each song to determine the flow of music. Each day, I'd run a program to schedule the following day's music. Once scheduled, I'd review every song to make sure the segue ways made sense.
Classic rock was my life and sadly, because I heard so much of it, I grew tired of it. In fact, I didn't even want to put this playlist together. I only did so because my friends kept asking me to create a classic rock playlist for parties so they wouldn't have to listen to the radio and the same 200 songs.
As mentioned in the book High Fidelity, there is a certain art to making a great mix tape or CD. What songs you choose, and how you choose them, will largely affect how much your efforts will be appreciated. I believe the same can be said for the playlist - the modern-day mix tape. For this playlist I followed these rules.
I included songs that I heard on the Philadelphia stations WMMR, WYSP, and WIOQ.
I included songs that I programmed or played on WCXR.
I threw out anything that sounded like it belonged on an oldies station (ie Beach Boys, early Beatles, early Stones, Chuck Berry, The Association, Beau Brummels, etc).
Songs included that were recorded after 1980 must either have some connection to the 'old masters,' or sound like it could have been recorded between the years 1968 to 1980 (ie Black Crowes)
I included a lot of deep cuts that didn't get a lot of airplay but, in retrospect, should have.
This playlist is presented alphabetically by artist. I welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions.
Download/Print Playlist - Classic Rock 105.9 WCXR Playlist (pdf)