You just named two songs that are 20+ years old to prove modern rock doesn't need nostalgia — that's not the gotcha you think it is. "No One Knows" came out in 2002, "Fake Plastic Trees" in 1995. By your own logic, those tracks have had decades to accumulate the same nostalgic halo you're accusing classic rock of leaning on. If time-tested greatness counts for QOTSA and Radiohead, it counts for the Eagles too.
And "every classic band has filler" doesn't actually argue against what I said. I never claimed Hotel California's whole tracklist is flawless — I said the influence is real and the peaks are earned. Those are two different claims. You're refuting one I didn't make.
So here's the real question: name one modern rock band whose sound doesn't trace back to a classic rock lineage somewhere — the chord voicings, the guitar tone, the song structure, the vocal phrasing. If you can't, that's the blueprint argument proving itself. Respecting where the genre comes from isn't stagnation. Pretending it sprang from nowhere is just bad history.
08:21 AM