Just a few things I've been noticing lately.
The radio can be a great place and a horrible place to hear new music. Listening to my favorite rock radio station here in Seattle, we get more then our fair share of big name local bands played all the time. Some days, it seams like, every hour we get the same hand full of songs from the same bands. Now, most of these are really good songs, but they tend to lose their impact when you hear them so much. Then they throw in a few newer songs, mostly from newer bands, which is good. But unless I already know that a band I like is coming out with a new album, it would take a while to hear something from the radio.
Not to mention the classic rock songs that are in the mix as well. I'm all for keeping those bands on the air, especially in a place like Seattle that has such a vast and rich music history. But same as before, you hear the same songs all the time. I live about a mile from the grave of Jimi Hendrix and I wouldn't mind having a break sometimes from his songs on the radio. Nirvana is great, but should we have to hear a song from them every hour? And Pearl Jam? And Soundgarden? The people that pick what songs go on the radio are probably doing a good job, but when you listen to the radio a lot you hear a lot of the same things over and over. Is it like that in other cities in the country?
What does it take to get a new band or album played on the radio? Is it demand from fans? Is it money for promotion? Is is just the history that the band brings with them? I noticed a few things about some of the bigger bands, like Metallica. They can put out a new album and when they release a single, it will get radio air play for the first few weeks. Then it kind of slowly just goes away. Our rock station plays a lot of Metallica anyways, but they play songs from The Black Album like it just came out last month. I was driving around Seattle on Friday and I heard, Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven, Fade to Black, Where Ever I May Roam and Sad But True. Now, I heard these songs through out the day, but starting around 7AM until around 4PM, to hear all these songs, 4, from an album that came out 20 years ago, when they have a great album that came out just a couple of years ago just seams weird to me. I'm sure opinions will greatly vary from fan to fan, but I really enjoyed Death Magnetic. There are a few songs that I'm really surprised that they don't get played on the radio that much.
And what keeps those old songs coming back? Are the fans in Seattle ringing the radio station's phones off the hook with requests for Smells Like Teen Spirit every morning and afternoon? I still like that song, but I'll only listen to it about every tenth time it comes on. And I love Hendrix, but I'll listen to about half the song before I change it. So, what do we change the station to? When it comes to the radio, we don't pay anything for it. So if there is a song that comes on that I kinda maybe sorta like, I'll listen. It only costs me my time.
I'm just now starting to be OK with admitting this. I'm a sucker for a good song. Whether it be rock, pop, country or rap or whatever. I remember growing up there was almost a gang mentality with music genres. If you liked rock you only listened to rock, if you liked rap you only listened to rap and so on. But now days everything is so mixed, you can blink and miss out on so much by being closed off like that. So I'm OK with turning the radio station over to the pop side for a few songs. Now, granted, most of them I don't like. But there are a lot of really talented singers there. Most times the songs do match up with what they are capable of, but not every song can be like that. Country is the same way. There are a lot of really awesome country performers out there right now. And a lot of not so good ones too, but that goes with anything too. 10 years ago, I wouldn't have turned on the country station, now its part of the rotation.
How do you go from one type of song to the next? What kind of play lists do you make for yourself? Still talking about the radio here, it can very so much from song to song and factor in flipping through the stations from rock, pop and country and you get a wide range of emotions going on. But do you do that when you make your own? Every genre have their share of "party songs" and "good time" type songs, but do you group them all together? So you space them out and mix in a few other songs with some different meanings? When I listen to a song, I like to try and hear what they mean. Where the emotion is coming from. I think about, what might have happened in their life that made the song writer put those words together like that. So I find it refreshing to go from a heavy emotional song over to a song that the only motivation is to party, then over to something that is really driven by the music (guitar work or something like that). Maybe its just me, but I like keeping things fresh and changing. When I hear a pop song, I'll listen to it, then I think, well that's a good song but can they keep it up for an entire album? That's another point that will get brought up in another blog, (singles VS whole albums).
But in this day and age, are other people listening to music like this? Or is the attention span not holding on long enough? Is a good pop song with a catchy beat and a good chorus, is it just out there to sell the performer or the song? It feels like it was easier to tell back when a pretty girl didn't really have a voice to back it up with and you could tell someone was just trying to make a buck. Nowadays, you have really good songs, being written and performed by talented artists that can do more then just look good in front of the camera. That is one glaring difference I have seen over the last several years. The true talents are going strong. The catchy songs with no substance, those are still around and always will be, but they come and go a lot faster then they used to. When I was younger I used to get sucked into listening to a bad song just because the singer was hot. Well, sometimes I still do, but there is that part of me now that will actually give the song a chance and see if it has any merit. Is there anything that I can relate to? Is there something coming across from this artist that is not obvious? I like looking for those things. Its hard to explain and put into words.
So after my long ramble, how do you listen to music? Do you listen to the same songs over and over? Do you catch yourself hearing something new in those old songs? Do they remind you of the good old days? Do they inspire you in anyway? Does anyone "hate" a certain genre of music anymore? Maybe I'm more patient. Maybe I'm just getting older. I'm sure that's it.
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