I don't really like the Doors. Why, you're probably asking yourself, should I care? Well, it's just to illustrate my disappointment, yet again, with radio.
As I was leaving work this afternoon, I turned on the radio; since I had missed most of "Talk of the Nation" and decided to try to find a decent music station (always dicey around here). I shouldn't get my hopes up, but why is that stations seem to invariably follow their boast, "today's best rock!" with a song that is just plain horrible? So I kept going and found the Doors ("Like a dog without a bone, An actor out alone") but that's the best this little town has to offer.
Now, before you jump to the conclusion that I'm some middle-aged white guy with a pony-tail and an earring who always complains that "music was better when I was a kid," let me just say that Def Leppard's Pyromania was one of the better albums when I was in high school (much better than the Phil Collins onslaught), which pretty much means that nothing was happening then, either (U2, REM and Elvis Costello were around, but not getting much radio play--I grew up in an even smaller town that the one in which I currently reside). Feel free to discuss how music sucked when you were in high school, too, in the comments.
(I realize that this isn't much of a post, considering that I haven't posted in over a week, but I hope that you at least can enjoy the cartoon.)
7 comments:
"...with me, you never know what you're gonna get. I might play something like the new Sigur Rós, then turn around and play something off the new Oxes record. Or maybe even Lovecup's 'Hi Pazoo,' which is one of the best songs from the mid-'90s Champaign scene...people don't want to be spoon-fed their music."
It's that "somehow" in the badger's comment that gets me; of course I don't want to be spoon-fed my music, but how do we ever get to hear something different that we might like?
The other function of radio is to remind you of song's you've forgotten: "What I Like About You" by the Romantics is great, but I'll never own the album. It's fun when it comes on the radio, though.
www.pandora.com might be the best thing out there right now...
I'm assuming that the "somehow" means that you have to be a member of the underground music scene. You know, like Vincent Gallo.
Vince Gallo sucks... no wait, that's Chloë Sevigny!
For those of us who aren't Vincent Gallo, I still vote for Pandora. Yesterday they were playing the Scorpions "The Zoo" on the radio--I haven't heard that song since they played the Tacoma dome in 1985. And haven't really missed it.
For those not inclined to visit Pandora, how does go about becoming a member of this so-called "underground" music scene? (And would that help me meet Chloë Sevigny?)
Just knowing someone whose ten track autobiographical play list includes only one song that has ever been heard on the radio seems like a good first step. Writing and recording your own music probably doesn't hurt, but constantly making reference to bands like Def Leppard, the Scorpions and Paul Simon probably cancels out any positive effect.
Def Leppard and Scorpions might show my age, but they certainly haven't been positive refereces--if anything, a cry for help, clear indication that I really need some new music!
When I was in school, bands like Slipknot and My Chemical Romance were all the rage. And you thought music was bad when you where at school. At least you grew up with classic bands. Now it seems anyone can get signed up if they are able to play a few chords on a guitar and sing like a sissy.
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