Feeling oldie
I've been distraught now for a couple of months ever since I realized that 80's music (an all-encompassing term I hate by its own limited value) is now being marketed as oldies. For example, here's a heinous compilation available from Varese Sarabande: Then-Totally-Oldies-80s-Vol which is a perfect example of the mentality that is smushing good and bad music alike into a one size fits all package for people whose musical diversity doesn't extend that far past the soundtracks for Valley Girl or Pretty In Pink. I mean, I don't know what sort of insane person's playlist would sequence Gary Numan's 'Cars' (which was actually released in 1979 on 'the Pleasure Principal') right after 'Jessie's Girl' by Rick Springfield?! Now if you happen to like both those songs, that's fine, but it reminds me of a Saturday Night Live sketch where Will Ferrell was on Who Want To Be A Millionaire. In the sketch, Will gets the first question right and wins $100. When the host asks him if he'd like to continue on to win more money, he smiles and calmly tells the host that he's satisfied with just winning the $100 and that's as far as he wants to go.
Now, I'm not one of those people who claim that the music they grew up with is the best music ever and all modern music is crap. Far from it. I actually grew up listening to Kiss, Styx, Electric Light Orchestra, the Kinks, and solo John Lennon which is about as far away from what I listen to now as you can get. The problem was that was that US radio was stuck on 33 with the same handful of 'hits' from these bands playing ad nauseum. Didn't any of these bands have other songs? Prior to our local radio station making the transition from rock to cutting edge rock, the only alternative I had were occasional tapes of the John Peel show that my cousins would send over from England. This is where I first heard Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, U2, and Siouxsie. When 91X (one of the local radio stations in San Diego) suddenly made the switch from classic rock to cutting edge rock, there was a virtual flood of new music (new wave if you will) which instantly shoved classic rock into oldies territory and probably disenfranchised an entire generation of music lovers who resented the reclassification. As much as I loved turning on the radio and hearing new music, I could also sense a huge problem: radio broadcasters were continuing with the same format of playing only the hits.
Let's cut to today.
In California, we have a trio of radio stations which used to have very diverse playlists and programming (you could hear ska next to punk next to techno next to rap), but cutting edge rock has been replaced by modern rock. The definition of modern rock (based on what I hear at any given time on any of these stations) can be summed up as a blend of California 90's punk, 90's grunge, and a smattering of newer bands that sound like they could have been from either of those first two categories. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots, and the Offspring constantly rotate around the clock like room temperature California Rolls at the Sushi boat. It's all very safe, very recognizable, very homogeneous and easily dismissable as background noise while driving to work or working out at the gym. If you like 91X in San Diego, rest assured, you can get the same blend in Los Angeles (KROQ) and San Francisco (Live 105). For example, at 12:25 PM, I just checked all three of those radio station's websites to see what songs were playing:
91X - Smashing Pumpkins 'Zero' (a great band, but they've produced a lot of other great music since 1996).
KROQ - Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Snow' (new Red Hot Chili Peppers sounds just like old Red Hot Chili Peppers).
Live 105 - Nirvana 'Polly' (at least it's the acoustic version).
Yep. That's pretty much the definition of modern rock.
Why is it that every generation of music has to fall prey to the same marketing driven neutering? 70's music should not be defined by disco and soft rock. 60's music should not be defined by classic rock and pop. Music should be defined by our own individual tastes and not by generic labels which dictate what we listen to by what's conveniently at hand. Bands are not just their hits or the singles that make it onto movie soundtracks. I can only imagine how much great music I would have missed out on if I'd just let marketing guide my musical likes and dislikes. So, the next time you listen to some 80's music don't dismiss it as novelty music (which it is clearly marketed as by concentrating on silliness like Falco's 'Rock Me Amadeus' and the Greg Kihn Band's 'Jeopardy'), but rather ask yourself why there's no possible way you'd even hear anything like Love and Rockets next to Madness or the Clash these days (unless your local radio station has a faux-nostalgic 80's show with some British accented DJ). How about using Pandora to find some other music you may like that you've never heard of? How about exploring an entire album's worth of material on I-Tunes instead of just settling for the hit? How about tuning into Nic Harcourt's Mornings Become Eclectic on KCRW which easily has the most musical diversity of any radio broadcast on the face of the planet?
End of rant.
Now, I'm not one of those people who claim that the music they grew up with is the best music ever and all modern music is crap. Far from it. I actually grew up listening to Kiss, Styx, Electric Light Orchestra, the Kinks, and solo John Lennon which is about as far away from what I listen to now as you can get. The problem was that was that US radio was stuck on 33 with the same handful of 'hits' from these bands playing ad nauseum. Didn't any of these bands have other songs? Prior to our local radio station making the transition from rock to cutting edge rock, the only alternative I had were occasional tapes of the John Peel show that my cousins would send over from England. This is where I first heard Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, U2, and Siouxsie. When 91X (one of the local radio stations in San Diego) suddenly made the switch from classic rock to cutting edge rock, there was a virtual flood of new music (new wave if you will) which instantly shoved classic rock into oldies territory and probably disenfranchised an entire generation of music lovers who resented the reclassification. As much as I loved turning on the radio and hearing new music, I could also sense a huge problem: radio broadcasters were continuing with the same format of playing only the hits.
Let's cut to today.
In California, we have a trio of radio stations which used to have very diverse playlists and programming (you could hear ska next to punk next to techno next to rap), but cutting edge rock has been replaced by modern rock. The definition of modern rock (based on what I hear at any given time on any of these stations) can be summed up as a blend of California 90's punk, 90's grunge, and a smattering of newer bands that sound like they could have been from either of those first two categories. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots, and the Offspring constantly rotate around the clock like room temperature California Rolls at the Sushi boat. It's all very safe, very recognizable, very homogeneous and easily dismissable as background noise while driving to work or working out at the gym. If you like 91X in San Diego, rest assured, you can get the same blend in Los Angeles (KROQ) and San Francisco (Live 105). For example, at 12:25 PM, I just checked all three of those radio station's websites to see what songs were playing:
Yep. That's pretty much the definition of modern rock.
Why is it that every generation of music has to fall prey to the same marketing driven neutering? 70's music should not be defined by disco and soft rock. 60's music should not be defined by classic rock and pop. Music should be defined by our own individual tastes and not by generic labels which dictate what we listen to by what's conveniently at hand. Bands are not just their hits or the singles that make it onto movie soundtracks. I can only imagine how much great music I would have missed out on if I'd just let marketing guide my musical likes and dislikes. So, the next time you listen to some 80's music don't dismiss it as novelty music (which it is clearly marketed as by concentrating on silliness like Falco's 'Rock Me Amadeus' and the Greg Kihn Band's 'Jeopardy'), but rather ask yourself why there's no possible way you'd even hear anything like Love and Rockets next to Madness or the Clash these days (unless your local radio station has a faux-nostalgic 80's show with some British accented DJ). How about using Pandora to find some other music you may like that you've never heard of? How about exploring an entire album's worth of material on I-Tunes instead of just settling for the hit? How about tuning into Nic Harcourt's Mornings Become Eclectic on KCRW which easily has the most musical diversity of any radio broadcast on the face of the planet?
End of rant.
posted by weezie at
9:06 PM
1 Comments:
Maybe it all comes down to how much of an effort you're willing to put in identifying music that you prefer as quality? That way, there is a direct correlation between your investment of time, energy or money. Free radio lets you hear 'relatively alright' stuff with no effort other than turning the radio on whereas precious esoteric stuff requires some more digging around?
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