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Auburn Annie · 08-22-2004, 11:45 AM

quote:Originally posted by TheWatchman:

<snip>
There are so many talented musicians writing such good music and the public never gets a chance to hear them. Instead they play singers who don't even write their own lyrics, much less the music. If radio stations would bite the bullet and play some new Lightfoot and others, people would love it. You can't hit the ball if you don't swing the bat. People only think they want to hear the crap they play on the radio now because that is what they're fed. It's a vicious cycle I guess.

[This message has been edited by TheWatchman (edited August 22, 2004).]

Absolutely - those of us who came of age in the 50s-70s were blessed with real radio airplay, based on call-in requests and DJs who had at their fingertips a wildly eclectic selection of music to play, ranging from Perry Como to Procol Harum and everything in between. There's may have been a Top 40 (not a puny Top 10) but even that featured titles as different as novelty songs like "They've Coming to Take Me Away" (Napoleon XIII) and rock like the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" - which were on the charts are the same time, if I remember corectly - something for almost everybody. Now there's almost never a live DJ, just a canned program. The suits have gone about it ass-backwards: instead of putting everything out there to see what folks actually like and buy, they market-research to the eyeballs, select the artist and cut-most-likely-to-succeed and sell, sell, sell - hoping the public buys it. That's why you can have millions spent pushing, say, a Mariah Carey album that tanks, but have an unknown like Norah Jones bubble up from below.

If I sound cranky it's because I am - I used to be a big radio listener but, boys and girls, it's boring. It's not simply that I'm not into rap or hip hop (which I'm not - they're too repetitive, but that's another rant <g> ); it's limited, lacking. That's why digital companies like Sirius and XM are gowing by leaps and bound - you can find the kind of music or talk that you like at the push of a button. It's the way radio used to be.

Okay, rant off.

08-22-2004, 11:45 AM	#13
Auburn Annie Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Upstate New York Posts: 3,101	quote:Originally posted by TheWatchman: <snip> There are so many talented musicians writing such good music and the public never gets a chance to hear them. Instead they play singers who don't even write their own lyrics, much less the music. If radio stations would bite the bullet and play some new Lightfoot and others, people would love it. You can't hit the ball if you don't swing the bat. People only think they want to hear the crap they play on the radio now because that is what they're fed. It's a vicious cycle I guess. [This message has been edited by TheWatchman (edited August 22, 2004).] Absolutely - those of us who came of age in the 50s-70s were blessed with real radio airplay, based on call-in requests and DJs who had at their fingertips a wildly eclectic selection of music to play, ranging from Perry Como to Procol Harum and everything in between. There's may have been a Top 40 (not a puny Top 10) but even that featured titles as different as novelty songs like "They've Coming to Take Me Away" (Napoleon XIII) and rock like the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" - which were on the charts are the same time, if I remember corectly - something for almost everybody. Now there's almost never a live DJ, just a canned program. The suits have gone about it ass-backwards: instead of putting everything out there to see what folks actually like and buy, they market-research to the eyeballs, select the artist and cut-most-likely-to-succeed and sell, sell, sell - hoping the public buys it. That's why you can have millions spent pushing, say, a Mariah Carey album that tanks, but have an unknown like Norah Jones bubble up from below. If I sound cranky it's because I am - I used to be a big radio listener but, boys and girls, it's boring. It's not simply that I'm not into rap or hip hop (which I'm not - they're too repetitive, but that's another rant <g> ); it's limited, lacking. That's why digital companies like Sirius and XM are gowing by leaps and bound - you can find the kind of music or talk that you like at the push of a button. It's the way radio used to be. Okay, rant off.