So, I was hanging out with my buddy the other night, listening to Dissection's last LP, Reinkaos, and talking about music in general. We got onto the topic of the radio, somehow. I blame lack of sleep. The purpose of this blog is twofold: Firstly, I would like to speak about the Death of Radio. Secondly, what I like to call Plastic Music in today's society.
Initially, I brought up an odd fact. When I was in middle school and high school, I listened to the radio all the time, even when I owned CDs and tapes. I'd listen to 104.1, WBCN (Rock In Peace). Now, from listening to this all the time, while they played some music I did not like, they still catered (largely) to what my tastes at the time were. That being, obviously, alternative rock.
On the Death of Radio, all I have to say is, personally, it died with WBCN. Which is odd, because I stopped listening to the radio and watching TV when I first went to college in 2004. Why is the untimely demise of WBCN the Death of Radio? I'll tell you. It was like losing a friend. A large part of my formative years were spent listening to 'BCN, so it was like part of my childhood went away with it. It had, so thoroughly, shaped what I listen to, even today (though tastes HAVE changed), that I almost view it as the death of a 'cool, older brother.' This all ties into my next rant: PLASTIC MUSIC.
While many people today, still, utilize the radio, I do not. Mainly because I can't fucking stand Top 40s trash. It is brand named, commercialized bull. Funny thing is, so was what I used to listen to, Top 40s or not. I bring up a query for you, my readers: Do people listen to what they listen to because they like it or do they listen to it because they're raised to like it? I would venture that both are true, to some extent, but will only explain this view until others voice their own opinions. So bloody DO IT.
WBCN was a very special radio station, I learned about music and musicians through them. I heard music that wouldn't normaly be play on the radio. I honestly felt very grateful to have grownup within their airwaves. My high school years, 92-96 were spent with that station. It was on all the time. I fell asleep with the radio next to my ear listening to Howard Stern. The station had history and the people that worked there seemed to truly love what they did and the music they played.
ReplyDeleteIt was a part of my life and I miss it, there's truly nothing on the radio anymore. I now listen to 94.5 if I'm in the car and want to listen to the radio. But there's no soul to a station like that. Not to mention it's not the music I'm most drawn to. But without BCN there's zero chance I'll ever turn the radio on in my house. No more days of the radio keeping me up because I just have to hear the next song or am interested in what the DJ has to say.
As for your question, I'd say I also think that both are true- you listen to what you like and what you're brought up to like. When you're young your friends tend to most influence your musical choices. I listened mostly to pop, hip-hop and rap when I was in Elementary/Jr. High. This was done without too much thought. It's what was on MTV, it's what my friends were listening to. It's what I had the most access to. When I was a little kid I also listen to losts of Jazz, Swing, Big Band music thanks to my grandma. She had her radio on WPLM 24/7 (don't know if you can remember that station when that's what they played). I spent a lot of time at my grandma's. That music makes me happy and is beautiful to me. I love it. Would I have found that genre if it hadn't been for my grandma? Would I like it so much if I hadn't heard so much of it from an early age? I don't know, maybe not to the extent I do like it now. But for me I just love music, I hear something I seek it out and want to hear more like it. I've found music through movies, through tv, through commercials, through hearing it played on the street or in bars. I try and keep my ears open :) If it makes me feel something, stirs me up in some way, I'm going to like it. And that's what it comes down to I guess, what you have exposure to. Give more exposure to a certain genre and it'll gain more listeners and more air play. You can't like what you don't know exists.
couldn't agree more, ry guy. radio also died for me the night 'bcn ended. i remember me and two of my friends friends(one who interned at bcn)brought a radio outside and just sat and listened to the final hours in his driveway. i brought my girlfriend and she really didn't get it. i couldn't have explained it better saying it was like losing a friend. i remember listening during the nic carter days, in high school going to the river raves, skipping my classses to sit in my car in the massasoit parking lot to listen to howards last show, of course opie and anthony and best of all the bcn dj's who actually gave a shit about music. that night it ended we all sat, in silence, listening to the static, not sure what to do next. my girlfriend drove me home and i listened to the static all the way home. thats how much it meant to me. now? i could care less about listening to the radio. bcn had everything. great dj's, great music, and edginess(in the right ways) and its nice to find someone else who appreciates it as much as i did.
ReplyDeletep.s. the other day i put on stars by hum. felt like a nice afternoon with adam12.
*shine on, you crazy diamond*
Great post bro.
ReplyDeleteI remember listening to a great deal of 'BCN with my brother driving around and hanging out when I was much younger. He is the one who really introduced me to metal, at least some of the more mainstream stuff, as presented by 'BCN and 'AAF. I had intended to listen to the passing of that fine station on its last night, and I don't remember why I didn't, but every time I think about it, I regret missing it.
As for your other point, about music being a mix of what you are raised to like and that which they are naturally drawn to, I also have to agree that it is a mix there. I was raised in a family with a lot of Irish folk songs, Scottish bagpipes, classical music, and 50's and 60's rock and roll, all of which I still love and listen to on occasion. Once my brother introduced me to metal though, it was like it filled an empty portion of my soul. A touch of the divine broadcast through the air to anyone willing to listen to it.
- Drew
Banderson, your story about listening to the static on the air breaks my heart. I didn't have the strength to listen to 'BCN die that day... Chia, you pretty much hit my viewpoint on why we listen to the music we do on the head. Part of it is definitely influenced by those around us, either to fit in or to separate ourselves. Also, part is definitely forced upon us through what we have access to. However, I developed tastes that I was never exposed to on my own, so I definitely believe humans still can like music for it's own merits without much outside influence.
ReplyDeleteI used to listen to the radio non-stop when I ws in grade school in the 90's. 90's music of all genres were on Kiss 108.FM and I loved it. Third Eye Blind, Dave Matthews, Gin Blossome, Oasis, Mariah Carey, BoysIIMen, TLC, Tupac, Biggie, Snoop, Dre, Nas, Ace of Base, The Cranberries, and mane more rocked the radio then. Now it's horrible sounds that I can hardly call music. Like what is 'My chick bad, my chick good, my chiock do the things that your chick wish she should"--> that song is horrbible, and I hate the radio for overplaying music like this with no soul or harmony. R.I.P. radio, ill miss you.
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