Oh man.
I just switched to this new radio station that showed up in iTunes a week or two ago, ActivistMusicNetwork-ObamaRadio.org, and the first song that came on was Des’ree’s “You Gotta Be”. Probably a good theme for Mr. Obama’s campaign—”All I know, all I know, love will save the day.” Throw a “hope” and a “change” in there and you have 90% of his rhetoric.
But never mind that. Do you remember this 1994 hit that reached #5 in the U.S.? I do. It used to play all the time on Boston’s Mix 98.5, one of those corporate-whore radio stations that play adult contemporary, that generally bland but mildly catchy stuff that the record labels pump out to aging boomers as well as the 25-34 set (today Mix plays stuff like Nickelback… ’nuff said).
My dad used to listen to it whenever we were in the car—the radio dial never left 98.5, and it got so frustrating, listening to the same Britney Spears song, followed by the same Alanis Morissette song, followed by the same Christina Aguilera song, followed by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and then maybe some Lenny Kravitz. Oh, and Sugar Ray and Semisonic. Maybe it’s that musical wasteland that turned me on to metal in my teenage years?
Anyway, I just had a flashback and had to share my disgust at the mid-90s radio hit machine.
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I remember riding around with my step-dad the summer after my freshman year of high school (*cough* 1997 *cough*) nailing ads for his weight loss business to utility poles…
…and the songs I remember hearing on popular radio are songs I still like: U2 – Staring at the Sun, Smashing Pumpkins – The End is the Beginning is the End, Counting Crows – Long December, The Wallflowers – One Headlight, Third Eye Blind – Semi-Charmed Life.
Totally mainstream music, but it’s not all bad.
Nickelback sucks.
OK, OK, I exaggerate. Not all the songs were bad, and indeed, you’re right—some of them were even pretty decent. My memory of such stations as Mix 98.5, though, leans heavily toward the negative. Was it the repetition? The association with my parents’ musical tastes? I don’t know, I suppose.
Also, that Nickelback page is ridiculous. They’re like a modern-day Village People.
Isn’t that kind of an insult to the Village People? Take it back!
Never!