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Grex > Music2 > #178: An Old Boomer Looks At The New Pop Music (LONG) |  |
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| 25 new of 41 responses total. |
jep
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response 4 of 41:
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Feb 18 14:03 UTC 1999 |
What surprises me is looking at the Top 40 list in the paper, and seeing
all different kinds of music represented. There's rap, and
"alternative" rock, and country music, all together on the list. It
didn't used to be that way. Through the 1980's, the Top 40 was pretty
homogenous.
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eieio
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response 5 of 41:
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Feb 18 14:11 UTC 1999 |
Actually, it did used to be that way. Through the 50s and into the 60s, "race"
music was totally separate from the rest of the industry.
Things get fractured, amalgamated and fractured again.
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polygon
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response 6 of 41:
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Feb 18 15:44 UTC 1999 |
Re 3. I like Leonard Cohen.
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janc
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response 7 of 41:
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Feb 18 18:24 UTC 1999 |
I'm curions. When I listen to the radio, I mostly listen to W-DET
(101.9 FM). They play a broader range of music than most public radio
stations. In the Ann Arbor area, where would I tune if I wanted to hear
a decent sampling of the kind of current music that you are talking
about.
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janc
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response 8 of 41:
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Feb 18 18:27 UTC 1999 |
One of the things I like about WDET is that they announce the names of
the songs and artists. Most stations don't do this, and I like knowing
who I'm listening too. It helps me sort them out and figure out who I
like and what avenues to persue to find more cool music.
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gull
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response 9 of 41:
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Feb 18 20:44 UTC 1999 |
Re cassette tapes in the car...I like to dub my CDs off to cassette and keep
the cassettes in the car. I'd never buy a car CD player. This has a few
advantages; first off, I never have to shuttle music between the house and
the car. The tapes stay in the car, the CDs stay in the house. The
expensive CDs are safe from sudden temperature changes and big-gulp spills.
And if I get robbed, I'm only out $50 or so in blank tape, not a couple
hundred bucks in CDs. When a tape wears out, I just re-dub it, though
actually this hasn't happened yet except for one tape that snapped when it
was rewound.
I personally find the mellow techno-pop that seems to be popular today not
to my liking. I can't stand nSync, and I hate Hanson. That and country
music are often my only musical choices on the radio. Since I dislike the
current pop and adult contemporary scene, I tend to listen to a lot of
tapes. There are a few radio stations I like, mostly ones that play a mix
of 70's and 80's rock. I realize most people will think I have no taste for
saying this, but I'm a big fan of 70's riff rock and 80's arena rock. To
each their own I guess. Progressive rock is cool, too, but rarely gets
radio play...it tended not to be radio-friendly stuff.
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krj
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response 10 of 41:
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Feb 18 21:21 UTC 1999 |
((Winter Agora #123 linked (yesterday) as Music #178))
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polygon
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response 11 of 41:
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Feb 18 23:52 UTC 1999 |
Re 7,8. The station I find myself listening to the most these days is
"The River" 93.9, from Windsor, Ontario. It's the most eclectic pop music
station in the area. And they do mention the names of songs, though not
consistently.
Re 9. "Mellow techno-pop"? Is that what it's called? But I don't know
anything at all about nSync or Hanson. Those might be examples of
something else entirely.
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polygon
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response 12 of 41:
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Feb 18 23:59 UTC 1999 |
Also re 7-8. I have always had trouble getting WDET, even when I lived
in Detroit almost within sight of the transmitter. In that apartment
(in a very solidly built building), I could not get WDET even slightly
when the radio was in my room. I could only get it if I dragged the
radio out to the kitchen and perched it on the stove.
On our home stereo, in Ann Arbor, we can get WKAR-FM from East Lansing
easily, but WDET is pretty faint, drowning in static.
It does come in on the car radio (of this car, not the last one), but
during the times when I am driving, WDET is talking, and as mentioned in
#0, I don't care for radio talk when I'm driving. (In-person talk is just
fine.)
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happyboy
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response 13 of 41:
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Feb 19 00:28 UTC 1999 |
all alt. muzac is derivative of link wray.
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happyboy
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response 14 of 41:
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Feb 19 00:30 UTC 1999 |
oops...charlie parker, dock boggs, and robert johnson.
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janc
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response 15 of 41:
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Feb 19 01:06 UTC 1999 |
Yeah, WDET mostly talks during normal commute times. Early afternoon on
weekdays and most of the day on Saturdays are my favorites, but I don't
mind some talk. I've heard lots of people can't get it, but I've never
had problems in any of the 6 places I've lived in Ann Arbor, and my car
can get it anywhere nearer Detroit than Chelsea. I count myself
blessed. I'll look for 93.9.
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senna
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response 16 of 41:
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Feb 19 06:14 UTC 1999 |
Heh. I was a fan of Alanis before she got big. I'm not as much of a
fan now. It's interesting to see.
I'm in an interesting position to analyze radio, since in my situation
(a bloody jammed tape deck, combined with over 7000 miles of driving,
mostly 3 hour trips to Columbus, since November) I listen to it an awful
lot. It's interesting. In the earlier 90's, alternative was big.
Everybody tried to be alternative, to the point that the mainstream
*was* the alternative.
When alternative ran out of steam, radio attempted to kickstart a new
craze. It didn't work. Techno is now just another one of the myriad of
special music tastes that's running around. In limbo, rock radio began
to move toward the center, focusing on more "pop-ish" songs. This got
tired, so stations split into two groups. There is now the "easy
listening" rock, such as the Planet 96.3, which plays things like Alanis
and Matchbox 20. And there is "Extreme" rock, with stations like 101.1.
These stations tend to play Howard Stern in the mornings and then metal
type songs during the day, stuff like Creed and Monster Magnet. Both
types of stations used to have nearly identical playlists. Now their
music is almost mutually exclusive.
I should point out that I find the Planet extremely distasteful, and I
find Howard Stern and all other morning talk shows extremely
distasteful. I'm a forlorn guy when I drive to Columbus in the
mornings.
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mcnally
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response 17 of 41:
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Feb 19 07:11 UTC 1999 |
I like WDET's late night programming. During the day I find their
mostly-jazz programming uninteresting..
I'm finally breaking down and buying a CD player for the car.
My solution to the problem of lost, stolen, or damaged CDs is to
make backups of the irreplacable ones on my CD-R.
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scg
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response 18 of 41:
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Feb 19 07:29 UTC 1999 |
I bought a car CD player somewhat more than a year ago (and then the insurance
company bought me a new one, along with several new door and dashboard parts,
a few months later). I tend to listen to music almost exclusively in the car,
so most of my CDs just live there.
Incidentally, if you buy a car cd player, get one of the removable faceplate
ones, and then remember to remove it every time you park the car. With my
first car CD player, I thought removing the faceplate every time I parked was
too much trouble, but with the second one I've decided that's much less
trouble than it was to not have the car usable for a couple of weeks while
the door and dashboard were getting put back together. I've had the second
one for a year with no problems, while the first one I had for only six weeks.
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krj
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response 19 of 41:
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Feb 19 10:04 UTC 1999 |
I have a great many things to say in this item, as you can probably
imagine. Unfortunately I have wasted my entire week arguing on
M-net. I hope to remedy this shortly.
Larry, how come we never have any cd spinning parties?
I'm gonna make you some driving tapes, I've been feeling evangelical.
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jazz
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response 20 of 41:
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Feb 19 12:48 UTC 1999 |
Anyone remember when 89X was a late-night show?
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cyklone
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response 21 of 41:
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Feb 19 13:48 UTC 1999 |
You mean the old Radios in Motion show?!?! That was great!
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bruin
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response 22 of 41:
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Feb 19 16:10 UTC 1999 |
RE #20 That was in the late 1980's or early 1990's, I do believe.
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tpryan
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response 23 of 41:
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Feb 20 00:32 UTC 1999 |
I did a CD spinning party at AlCon. Called it a listening
party. Encouraged other to bring their own to show off, or pick from
mine, what they haven't heard. It did manage to stay focused on the
listening.
I would be interested in attending a CD listening party, I
have a few to bring.
Way back when, probably before 1948, it seemed all music
came from one place, New York or better put, Tin Pan Alley. But
basicly the music in 1948 was written bby someone, then pedaled to
anyother (maybe by another person), where a performer got a pre-
packaged tune.
In the musical 60's (after the Kennedy assasination), spurred
by the writer-performers, as found in The Beatles, a number of Motown
artists, Bob Dylan, surviving bands of the British Invasion, seemed
to have changed the music. I find the larger amount of singer-songwritters
to be one of the reasons why the music of 1968 was more welcom in 1988 than
the music of 1948 was welcome in 1968. Another reason was the many sources
of tunes. In the rock era we seen distinct stlyes of rock coming out of
New York, Philidelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, Texas, California and other
places. Large possibilites from large diversification. Third, I would
have to say is the technological differnce. Less incremental difference
in the fidelity improvement from 1968 to 1998 than from 1948 to 1968.
While with the new technology of the LP records, some music from pre-LP
days was re-issued, with CD technology it see a much larger amount of
music re-issued on CD from pre-CD era.
My car radio dial has 5 buttons. STrike a button again to
get to the second pre-set "behind" the first one. My line up:
1) 93.9 / can't recal
2) 94.7 95.5
3) 101.1 101.9
4) 102.9 can't recall
5) 104.3 107.1
Not much listening to 102.9fm these days. They used to have me for
a minimum 3 hours on Sunday night for 'Blues DeLux" and "Dr. Demento".
Now, I don't know why they are on my buttons.
I wish the home stereo had the Push Once, Push Twice type of
logic instead of select memory bank, select button logic.
If I drove more in the afternoon, I would probably have a button
for Dr. Don on Young County at 99.5.
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drewmike
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response 24 of 41:
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Feb 20 01:11 UTC 1999 |
I used to use Alcon to clean my lenses.
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polygon
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response 25 of 41:
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Feb 20 04:37 UTC 1999 |
I should add that my recommendation of 93.9 doesn't mean I like everything
they do. Far from it. I am the most fickle of radio listeners, and just
go elsewhere when a commercial or a song I don't like comes along.
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senna
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response 26 of 41:
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Feb 20 08:02 UTC 1999 |
I only have six presets, which is really a pain considering all the
stations I listen to. I might as well mention the stations. My presets
are, in a sequential but irrelevant order, 88.7, 97.1, 101.1, 102.9,
99.7, 105.1
89X: all the time anywhere between battle creek and marion, ohio. By
far the most prevalent and consistent (that is, there's always music,
and some of it doesn't suck) station I can listen to.
97.1 has moved almost exclusively to talk during the week, which pisses
me off. I plays good stuff on weekends.
101.1 talks in the morning and occasionally plays tired stuff, but they
have a lot of good stuff.
102.9 also now has talk in the morning. The music they play is quite
good.
99.7 is a Columbus station that I can start picking up southeast of
Findlay. It plays Howard Stern in the mornings, but is otherwise a
terrific station. They even tell you some of the songs you'll be
hearing in the next hour.
105.1 plays more music than most and plays it good too.
96.3 occasionally plays a tolerable song. 106.1 does too, but it plays
a completely different type of music. I've taken to 104.7, which is
only two clicks from a preset and plays a good mix of old and modern
stuff (sometimes I'm in a mood for Jimi and Led Zepplin). 106.6/97.3 is
similar to 101.1 but for Toledo. 105.7 in Columbus is a strange station
which plays a wider variety. Uhhh I occasionally listen to 101.1 in
Columbus, too, but only when I have no other choice. Low coverage.
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devnull
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response 27 of 41:
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Feb 21 07:19 UTC 1999 |
Re #18: I know of someone who had all of the radio except for the faceplate
stolen. The faceplate was hidden somewhere in the vehicle, and the faceplate
was not stolen.
A bunch of CDs apparently were stolen at the same time.
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flem
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response 28 of 41:
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Feb 22 00:16 UTC 1999 |
I'm still upset that 105.1 is no longer the excellent classical station
that it used to be. Grr. I don't suppose anyone knows a full-time
classical station in the Ann Arbor area, does anyone?
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