Comments on: Radio, I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You

By: Side A Track 1

Side A Track 1 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:13:12 +0000

I used to be a big proponent of the today’s-music-sucks snobbery until I realized what little I actually knew about “today’s” music. While I agree that typical commercial radio stations do play mostly crap and do not provide the same aural experience I grew up with, it’s also true that in 2009 it’s actually much easier to customize the experience to be virtually anything you want it to be. Now that’s real freedom.

By: SAG1015

SAG1015 — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:33:04 +0000

Let ME go all Andy Roony on you kids…when I was growing up we would hear The Beatles, The Stones, Elton John, The Commodores, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, The Who, The Guess Who, The Raspberries, ELO, Kool and the Gang, Barry White, Fleetwood Mac, Styx, The Hollies, Harry Chapin, Aerosmith, Jefferson Airplane/Starship, Marvin Gaye, David Bowie, Joe Tex, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Edgar Winter, Todd Rundgren, etc…and we didn’t have to change radio stations…today, I’d have to twist the knob between about 40 different satellite stations to have an experience that eclectic. And I didn’t even mention all the one hit wonders (Carl Douglas, anyone?)!

By: j. neas

j. neas — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:21:51 +0000

@Hermann – I’ve often thought about the idea of radio becoming more ‘formulaic,’ as you say, and that’s a common complaint. But I also have to wonder how much of this is truth and how much is just a really biased perspective of art? How can you quantify something like art? Obviously, here at this blog, and in the field of criticism in general, we have to flat out ignore that idea for us to even begin what we do.

That being said, someone is buying these records, someone is downloading these songs on commercial radio. If you’re even reading this blog to begin with, you have an above average interest in pop music as an artistic entity and are probably outside the realm of targeted commercial art. So, yes, the music that the corporate music industry puts out there on radio, mainstream viral media, television commercials, MySpace and other social networks, etc. are designed to a lowest-common denominator appeal factor. They succeed based on reaching for an audience that doesn’t have time for or interest in researching music further. It’s just not on their radar.

Would these types of listeners like the more creative art that flies below the radar if they heard it? Probably. I had a student a few years ago who was always wearing Lynyrd Skynard t-shirts. So I told him one day to check out the Drive-by Truckers, a band he might not have heard otherwise. He became a really big fan. But would he have sought them out on his own? Not likely.

I don’t know that I really focused on any one point there, but this is an endless conversation – an interesting one – but endless.

By: Hermann the Worm

Hermann the Worm — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:42:15 +0000

What I think is sad is how formulaic radio music has become. Its not even remotely intact with the roots of music as a means of expression. I can’t even listen to the sorry excuses for songs that come over radio waves anymore. I don’t think of myself as some sort of elitist, but the shit being played is just so terrible and it is so obvious that money is the driving force behind its being played. Sometimes I wonder just how many people are listening to and buying this garbage only because it is what they have perceived as being their only option; forcefeeding to the point of complacency. I just think it is unfortunate and sad. Please feel free to rebuke.

By: Megary

Megary — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:46:32 +0000

I do think it’s the Andy Rooney in us all, but this argument / lament has been going on since the first radio generation gave way to the second.

I wouldn’t worry too much about what will get played on classic rock radio 20 years from now. It isn’t likely to exist, at least not in the same 300 song format that we have all come to know and love…

But even if it does, by then the alternative “luxuries” will be considered standard proletariat fare.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:46:27 +0000

Thank jeebus I live in Minneapolis and have the eclectic options of the Current to listen to.

By: j. neas

j. neas — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:28:46 +0000

You’re a little older than I am, so when I think of the music I grew up listening to on radio, it was a hodge-podge of the then fashionable “alternative”music. Nirvana, et al. But I also remember that commercial radio was the first place I heard bands like Semisonic, Teenage Fanclub, Matthew Sweet, Toad the Wet Sprocket and many “one-hit wonders” that I’m fond of for various reasons (Super Deluxe, Del Amitri, Tripping Daisy, etc.).

It could just be a case of growing up and our tastes getting narrower or more curmudgeonly, as you say, but it really does seem like music has changed over the past decade(s). So it is interesting to wonder what sort of “racket” we might tell our kids to turn down – or what will be played on “classic rock” radio.