Goodbye to a night of the Templar
A year ago I stated that Indie 103.1 was one of the reasons I wouldn’t leave LA. This double as a completely true statement and one that clearly has ties to deeper creative longing.
I could physically leave LA, and it’s not like the only thing stopping me from doing so would be a radio station.
But a while back, I posted a long 3 part post about Rock and roll and the meanings of Punk, and the importance of Rock and Roll to the part of LA North of the 10 and East of the 405.
Anyway, Indie 103.1 was one of the best things about living in LA, because it was a channel that existed to promote art. It was a throwback to the era of Radio before corporations funded by right winger’s who attacked any form of art like they were DaDa artists (without being artists, and yes, I’m ripping off the onion here). Radio used to be a beacon of the new wave. Then it became a beacon of those who liked to hear fat, opinionated nutjobs speaking the terrible things you think about other people. It wen’t from nourishing teenage angst and melancholy by feeding listeners songs that made it easier to get through the day, connecting one to an escapist moment. About the time stations began playing “Mandatory Metallica at 9 P.M. every night (and featuring the same 7 songs year in and year out), most people just put in CD’s or turned to talk radio. Most studies on radio listening habits show that people aren’t changing stations because they are changing tastes, they are sick of the playlists that show the best profit margins with the least risk of losing more revenue.
It’s not a hard choice. Would you rather hear Republican Rhetoric to fuel your ire with immigrants, gay marriage, and terrorists (mind you on most Right leaning stations, they refer to these people as Muslims). Or perhaps you want to hear heavily argued facts about sports, for instance, “why Matt Leinart was a complete fool for returning to SC for one more year.” Maybe you wanted to hear the news. Or maybe, you wanted to hear a new CD.
Why not do this when the only other option is hearing:
Foo Fighters/ or Red Hot Chili Peppers every hour (Kroq)
PussyCat Dolls or Black Eyed Peas (KIIS, and I’d never thought I’d say this, I miss Rick Dees)
I’ll never lose my faith in You or Hollaback girl (Star 98.7)
Culo / Are you ready (Latino 96.3)
Hypnotize / G _unit all stars sing (Power 106)
And worst of all
Stairway to Heaven or Won’t get fooled again for the 500,000 time in your life.
Well, that’s not as bad as Jack FM, or as I think of it, the station with a playlist filled with your 55 year old Aunt’s favorite songs that were popular once. Remember the Safety Dance! Get ready to hear it 4 times a day! They’re wacky like that.
The only ones still listening to music radio were 14, and they just wanted to hear the new Britney Spears records, or hear the updates on American Idol (coincidentally by Ryan Seacrest, who IS ON THE SHOW!!!!). And since advertisers figured out these people have money to spend, that’s where all the music was aimed at.
Blame GE, blame Viacom, blame NewsCorp, blame Disney, blame Clear Channel. Blame corporations, who thanks to friends in the Bush admin have circumvented FCC legislation by slowly controlling every media outlet in every major city. When I worked in a film office, we tried to help launch a few music groups and directors by pushing their works to other people we knew and occasionally helping with financing.
The most crushing problem for a new band is that they don’t only need to raise a quarter of a million or more to simply make a video, they need at least that and likely more to get that video played. Even big stars like G – Unit make countless videos that never get played, simply because someone in an advertising office doesn’t think it’s going to play in some market, and they won’t put the money behind the video to push it to a hit. It’s almost a miracle when a new band makes it these days, because it takes an assembly line of No –men to all agree on marketability.
and just so you don't think I am making this up, here are Steve Jones and John Lydon talking about this (d/l the podcasts of these two, as well as the the Jeff Daniels, where he does a fantastic song called "get your tounge out of my mouth, i'm kissing you goodbye")
lotsa love
Side story time:
When I was at the Belamar Hotel (6-05 – 11-05) G-Unit shot a video there over a two day period. It was a very well funded video, and the hotel was over-run with all of the hallmarks of a big budget set, multiple equip trucks, 14 PA’s, groupies, etc. By the end two of the rooms were so damaged it took two weeks for them to be feasible again, guns had been bransished in threatening gestures, and Fifty Cent had used the weight room to get even bigger.
My personal highlight was hearing Tony Yayo, with no one of consequence at all around him shouting to the capacity of his lungs “G-G-G-G-G-G-G-GGGG-GGGG-GGGG-G-G-G-G-G-G-G- UUUUUU- NIT!” In all honesty, I probably left out a few syllables.
Anyway, I waited to see the video on MTV. I saw it once. While part of me likes the fact the video where I was shot, (this goes too for the Secret Machines video shot in front of the Century Plaza), I actually liked this video, and thought the song was actually pretty decent. Maybe it’s the hook, maybe it’s the slow ¾ West Coast beat and chorus, maybe it’s the “pussy as tight as an airplane bathroom” line, and even though the verses by Yayo and Buck could have been taken from any other song, the 50 cent part is pretty damn good for a rap single these days. If 50 had just bought this beat for himself, and didn’t feature anyone, he’d have one of his three biggest hits. Well, it’d still be better than anything off the Massacre, it already is with four rappers. In the end Dave gives it a thumbs up, but thinks it suffers from the “Why have one rapper when you can have bunches syndrome.”
The video is much better, and I’m only partially saying that because two of the guys I worked with are in it.
Judge for yourself:
Anyway.
It seems like indie has started to go the way of K-roq. Filtering out interesting shows for people who don’t change the channel in hopes of giving people who roam the channels constantly something to link on before the change in 10 minutes again. (I’d try to make that more clear, but I don’t have an editor and I don’t care enough. It’s almost bedtime)
Indie 103.1 got rid of its great “Mighty Morning Show” hosted by Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. This was a dynamite morning show that both balanced the normal morning show routines (news, weather, and traffic –which we all know we don’t need) with great music, great guests in great spirit (Jeff Daniels, Quentin Tarantino, Devo), and a lack of any call ins by “President Bush” from the guy in the audio booth who does voices. Pretty much the morning show for anyone with good music taste and/or an IQ above 100. Of course it had to be cancelled.
Dicky says his peace
Of course the same Radio station only days before had a reunion of two of the Sex Pistols (Lydon and Jones) on air for two full hours.
This is the musical equivalent of Bush telling America he’s going to pull America out of Iraq and the Middle East, only to days later start “shock and aweing” Iran.
Bob Dylan said it best: we all gotta serve somebody.
I could physically leave LA, and it’s not like the only thing stopping me from doing so would be a radio station.
But a while back, I posted a long 3 part post about Rock and roll and the meanings of Punk, and the importance of Rock and Roll to the part of LA North of the 10 and East of the 405.
Anyway, Indie 103.1 was one of the best things about living in LA, because it was a channel that existed to promote art. It was a throwback to the era of Radio before corporations funded by right winger’s who attacked any form of art like they were DaDa artists (without being artists, and yes, I’m ripping off the onion here). Radio used to be a beacon of the new wave. Then it became a beacon of those who liked to hear fat, opinionated nutjobs speaking the terrible things you think about other people. It wen’t from nourishing teenage angst and melancholy by feeding listeners songs that made it easier to get through the day, connecting one to an escapist moment. About the time stations began playing “Mandatory Metallica at 9 P.M. every night (and featuring the same 7 songs year in and year out), most people just put in CD’s or turned to talk radio. Most studies on radio listening habits show that people aren’t changing stations because they are changing tastes, they are sick of the playlists that show the best profit margins with the least risk of losing more revenue.
It’s not a hard choice. Would you rather hear Republican Rhetoric to fuel your ire with immigrants, gay marriage, and terrorists (mind you on most Right leaning stations, they refer to these people as Muslims). Or perhaps you want to hear heavily argued facts about sports, for instance, “why Matt Leinart was a complete fool for returning to SC for one more year.” Maybe you wanted to hear the news. Or maybe, you wanted to hear a new CD.
Why not do this when the only other option is hearing:
Foo Fighters/ or Red Hot Chili Peppers every hour (Kroq)
PussyCat Dolls or Black Eyed Peas (KIIS, and I’d never thought I’d say this, I miss Rick Dees)
I’ll never lose my faith in You or Hollaback girl (Star 98.7)
Culo / Are you ready (Latino 96.3)
Hypnotize / G _unit all stars sing (Power 106)
And worst of all
Stairway to Heaven or Won’t get fooled again for the 500,000 time in your life.
Well, that’s not as bad as Jack FM, or as I think of it, the station with a playlist filled with your 55 year old Aunt’s favorite songs that were popular once. Remember the Safety Dance! Get ready to hear it 4 times a day! They’re wacky like that.
The only ones still listening to music radio were 14, and they just wanted to hear the new Britney Spears records, or hear the updates on American Idol (coincidentally by Ryan Seacrest, who IS ON THE SHOW!!!!). And since advertisers figured out these people have money to spend, that’s where all the music was aimed at.
Blame GE, blame Viacom, blame NewsCorp, blame Disney, blame Clear Channel. Blame corporations, who thanks to friends in the Bush admin have circumvented FCC legislation by slowly controlling every media outlet in every major city. When I worked in a film office, we tried to help launch a few music groups and directors by pushing their works to other people we knew and occasionally helping with financing.
The most crushing problem for a new band is that they don’t only need to raise a quarter of a million or more to simply make a video, they need at least that and likely more to get that video played. Even big stars like G – Unit make countless videos that never get played, simply because someone in an advertising office doesn’t think it’s going to play in some market, and they won’t put the money behind the video to push it to a hit. It’s almost a miracle when a new band makes it these days, because it takes an assembly line of No –men to all agree on marketability.
and just so you don't think I am making this up, here are Steve Jones and John Lydon talking about this (d/l the podcasts of these two, as well as the the Jeff Daniels, where he does a fantastic song called "get your tounge out of my mouth, i'm kissing you goodbye")
lotsa love
Side story time:
When I was at the Belamar Hotel (6-05 – 11-05) G-Unit shot a video there over a two day period. It was a very well funded video, and the hotel was over-run with all of the hallmarks of a big budget set, multiple equip trucks, 14 PA’s, groupies, etc. By the end two of the rooms were so damaged it took two weeks for them to be feasible again, guns had been bransished in threatening gestures, and Fifty Cent had used the weight room to get even bigger.
My personal highlight was hearing Tony Yayo, with no one of consequence at all around him shouting to the capacity of his lungs “G-G-G-G-G-G-G-GGGG-GGGG-GGGG-G-G-G-G-G-G-G- UUUUUU- NIT!” In all honesty, I probably left out a few syllables.
Anyway, I waited to see the video on MTV. I saw it once. While part of me likes the fact the video where I was shot, (this goes too for the Secret Machines video shot in front of the Century Plaza), I actually liked this video, and thought the song was actually pretty decent. Maybe it’s the hook, maybe it’s the slow ¾ West Coast beat and chorus, maybe it’s the “pussy as tight as an airplane bathroom” line, and even though the verses by Yayo and Buck could have been taken from any other song, the 50 cent part is pretty damn good for a rap single these days. If 50 had just bought this beat for himself, and didn’t feature anyone, he’d have one of his three biggest hits. Well, it’d still be better than anything off the Massacre, it already is with four rappers. In the end Dave gives it a thumbs up, but thinks it suffers from the “Why have one rapper when you can have bunches syndrome.”
The video is much better, and I’m only partially saying that because two of the guys I worked with are in it.
Judge for yourself:
Anyway.
It seems like indie has started to go the way of K-roq. Filtering out interesting shows for people who don’t change the channel in hopes of giving people who roam the channels constantly something to link on before the change in 10 minutes again. (I’d try to make that more clear, but I don’t have an editor and I don’t care enough. It’s almost bedtime)
Indie 103.1 got rid of its great “Mighty Morning Show” hosted by Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. This was a dynamite morning show that both balanced the normal morning show routines (news, weather, and traffic –which we all know we don’t need) with great music, great guests in great spirit (Jeff Daniels, Quentin Tarantino, Devo), and a lack of any call ins by “President Bush” from the guy in the audio booth who does voices. Pretty much the morning show for anyone with good music taste and/or an IQ above 100. Of course it had to be cancelled.
Dicky says his peace
Of course the same Radio station only days before had a reunion of two of the Sex Pistols (Lydon and Jones) on air for two full hours.
This is the musical equivalent of Bush telling America he’s going to pull America out of Iraq and the Middle East, only to days later start “shock and aweing” Iran.
Bob Dylan said it best: we all gotta serve somebody.
posted by Indiana at
12:19 PM
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