The Classic Rock Club started on 1st September 2005. Meetings take place on the first Thursday of each month commencing at 8pm in the Buffet Bar function room. They are hosted by Buffet Bar regular, Tony.

The best rock music from approximately 1966 to 1990 will be featured and the club will give members the opportunity to bring in their old vinyl or CDs to be played.

It will also give everyone the chance to reminisce over some good beer about who they were going out with when Dark Side Of The Moon was first released and how many pairs of flares they owned! And of course what type of drink they were consuming back then.

A word from your host - Tony...

It all started when I left the Crown Inn at Stockport after playing Classic Rock there for around 5 years. My music experience goes back another 20 years when I used to frequent the Swigging Sporran night club in the centre of Manchester, after which I became resident DJ playing rock for over 6 years. After it closed down I hung up my headphones.

But like many things the opportunity came around again to work at the Crown, so being a lover of the music I couldn't turn it down. Unfortunately the pub is now up for sale.

After moving to Stalybridge 2 years ago and noticing that there is a lack of "real" music available, I approached the Buffet Bar management to see if I could start a Classic Rock Club to which they agreed.

So in the words of Alan Freeman, Let’s Rock!

What is Classic Rock?

We could rely on the encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com for a definition. See what you think:

"Classic rock was originally conceived as a radio station broadcasting format and although loosely defined, it generally includes the music from rock bands formed between the early 1960's and late 1970's.

The most common classic rock band line-up is: a lead singer, lead guitar player, a rhythm guitar player, a bass guitar player and a drummer, although many bands also featured a keyboardist, at least on some tracks.

Concept albums are a major part of classic rock, and there are many available. Amongst the prime examples are probably the four Pink Floyd concept albums, including The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon, The Who's two rock operas - Tommy and Quadrophenia, The Beatles famed Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band is another prime example. One of the other most noted classic rock bands is Led Zeppelin, although Queen and The Door are a close second."

If you have some contributions of your own, feel free to contact us at b u f f e t b a r @ g m a i l . c o m (remove the spaces). Alternatively, ring Tony for a friendly chat on 0161 338 8602.

Our monthly newsletter

What's going to be in the newsletter?

A good question. Initially the newsletter will be limited to one A4 sheet. It will feature contributions from members talking about their favourite LP or CD (or even their worst!) and why they think this is.

Another section will be guess the lyric, featuring words from classic rock songs which you may or may not know. It's just for fun! There will also be a gig list of bands old and new that class themselves as classic rock, so you can keep up with who is still touring.

Guess the Lyric

Here is the first of our "guess the lyric" brain teasers...

Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves in labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant tide comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine and no one showed us to the land

And no one knows the where’s or whys
But something stirs and something tries
And start to climb towards the light
Strangers passing in the street.

Rocking bits of news

• Deep Purple are to release a new CD in October/November.
• Def Leopard’s new CD is to be an album of covers released at the end of September.
• Alice Cooper wants to play a baddie in the new James Bond movie.
• Mike Oldfield is in the process of writing a new album.
• Uriah Heep are due to release a new CD.
• Two members of BJH are planning a new CD and a tour later in the year.