We played a lot of music that we probably should not have. I’m not talking about songs with offensive words or questionable content or songs written by serial killers but rather songs that really didn’t fit in with everything else. Even within our rigid borders and dayparts, we had some music that met the lowest possible requirements and made it on the air. I've gone on long enough about the "sound of the station" but have to ask myself a decade later why it was insisted we play that very definition of a one-hit wonder, the Macarena, as sung by Los De Rio (Antonio Romeo Monge and Rafael Ruiz). While popular, this was dance-pop at its best. It may have been cool to some but I know I was one of a handful that didn’t think it fit. There were other mild excursions into this contemporary dance medium but they weren’t as memorable as this nerve-twitching, hand-jiving, back-bouncing song was.
Perhaps with this song I am guilty of the same ideology that Syd "the Kid" had – purposely dismissing certain music and allowing something else to come to the top. Perhaps there were some internal biases we each had? If anything, it shows how vastly station management could change each school year, sometimes each semester and, in rare instances, smack in the middle of a semester. Everybody involved has this idea of what the sound of the station is but it can never be finalized. College radio stations bank on this; they evolve but not always in the linear gestation period you'd expect. Freshmen or sophomores arrive with their ideas of how things should be, oblivious that something similar was attempted two or three years ago to results, disastrous or otherwise, and the learning cycle repeats. Perhaps the new crop can make it work, perhaps these new programmers – the students – end with the same problems discovered in years past. If anything, you have to applaud those dedicated faculty advisors who have to hear the good, the bad and the ugly year after year.
Still, once Syd graduated and we reorganized the control room the Macarena was removed and given a home elsewhere, probably given away during one of the purgings of the music library.
And I think we were all happier.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Macarena
(Monge /Ruiz)
Los Del Rio
From the single Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)
1995
Oh, oh, oh Ha ha ha ha ha...
I am not trying to seduce you
When I dance they call me Macarena
And the boys they say que soy buena
They all want me, they can't have me
So they all come and dance beside me
Move with me, chant with me
And if you're good I'll take you home with me
* Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Macarena
Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegria y cosa buena
Dale a tu cuerpo alegria, Macarena
Hey, Macarena
(repeat 2X)
Now don't you worry about my boyfriend
He's a boy whose name is Vittorino
I don't want him, couldn't stand him
He was no good so I ... ha ha ha
Now come on, what was I supposed to do?
He was out of town and his two friends were sooo fine
(repeat chorus twice)
I am not trying to seduce you Macarena, Macarena...
(repeat chorus 2X)
Come and find me, my name is Macarena
I'm always at the party
Con las chicas que estan buenas
Come join me, dance with me
And all you fellows chant along with me
(repeat chorus 5x -till the end-)
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Sunday, June 18, 2006
A falling star that you cannot live without
Over the past weeks, I've touched upon music that was removed from the studio and left for dead in our Music Library (like Wool and Corrosion of Conformity), arguably featherweights unable to get a decent punch off the big names like R.E.M., NIN, and SM3. Trashy thrash, perhaps, but it wasn't like it was Garbage.
I'll admit I was a fan of the group and a lot of us were hooked by the pulsating sound of the music – and Shirley Manson, to boot – and there wasn't a problem adding their songs into rotation. Their first album was probably their best though each album afterward lost a bit of the debut luster and resulted in more of the same tired noise. Enjoyable - but you got the sense you'd heard it before. However we had only a scant handful of Garbage songs in rotation and I was a bit disappointed the station did not own one of my few favorites, Supervixen. Or so I thought.
Our modern rock shifts were spread across nine hours of the eighteen-hour broadcast day and it easily was the format with the most music in rotation and largest listener base. As the popular music of the day, it was a given that we were bound to, sooner or later, get requests and with so much music it could take an hour to find whatever you were looking for. Hence the master playlist, a ten-to-twenty page document sorted by artist of everything in rotation. A lot of people, myself included, assumed the master list included everything off our 100+ preview discs and whatever else was in the rock catalog. Not quite – during my junior and senior year I began to notice that our "sound of the station" mentality was making us sound predictable from day to day and many songs we had, like Supervixen, were on preview discs but never played. Why? I'm guessing that certain tracks were more associated with artists than others; in the case of Garbage, Stupid Girl might beat out Supervixen as more popular. Hence, Syd "the Kid" and his theories of radio programming – it might have worked at a major market station but at an operation as insignificant as ours, it wasn't needed.
At some point late in my junior year or early senior year, the old computer was scraped and the station bought better playlist generating software. This meant updating our records of music in rotation and adding back those tracks seemingly lost. Day-to-day programming wasn't as predictable and, thus, we were able to add more garbage.
And occasionally decent music, too.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Supervixen
(Garbage)
Garbage
From the album Garbage
1995
Come down to my house
Stick a stone in your mouth
You can always pull out
If you like it too much
Make a whole new religion
A falling star that you cannot live without
And I'll feed your obsession
There'll be nothing but this thing that you'll never doubt
A hit is hard to resist
And I never miss
I can take you out
With just a flick of my wrist
Make a whole new religion
A falling star that you cannot live without
And I'll feed your obsession
There is nothing but this thing that you'll never doubt
This thing you'll never doubt
And I'll feed your obsession
The falling star that you cannot live without
I will be your religion
This thing you'll never doubt
You're not the only one
You're not the only one
[Background:]
Now I want it too much
Now I want it to stop
Now I'm lucky like a falling star that fell over me
Bow down to me, bow down to me
Bow down to me, bow down to me
Bow down to me, bow down to me
Bow down to me.
I'll admit I was a fan of the group and a lot of us were hooked by the pulsating sound of the music – and Shirley Manson, to boot – and there wasn't a problem adding their songs into rotation. Their first album was probably their best though each album afterward lost a bit of the debut luster and resulted in more of the same tired noise. Enjoyable - but you got the sense you'd heard it before. However we had only a scant handful of Garbage songs in rotation and I was a bit disappointed the station did not own one of my few favorites, Supervixen. Or so I thought.
Our modern rock shifts were spread across nine hours of the eighteen-hour broadcast day and it easily was the format with the most music in rotation and largest listener base. As the popular music of the day, it was a given that we were bound to, sooner or later, get requests and with so much music it could take an hour to find whatever you were looking for. Hence the master playlist, a ten-to-twenty page document sorted by artist of everything in rotation. A lot of people, myself included, assumed the master list included everything off our 100+ preview discs and whatever else was in the rock catalog. Not quite – during my junior and senior year I began to notice that our "sound of the station" mentality was making us sound predictable from day to day and many songs we had, like Supervixen, were on preview discs but never played. Why? I'm guessing that certain tracks were more associated with artists than others; in the case of Garbage, Stupid Girl might beat out Supervixen as more popular. Hence, Syd "the Kid" and his theories of radio programming – it might have worked at a major market station but at an operation as insignificant as ours, it wasn't needed.
At some point late in my junior year or early senior year, the old computer was scraped and the station bought better playlist generating software. This meant updating our records of music in rotation and adding back those tracks seemingly lost. Day-to-day programming wasn't as predictable and, thus, we were able to add more garbage.
And occasionally decent music, too.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Supervixen
(Garbage)
Garbage
From the album Garbage
1995
Come down to my house
Stick a stone in your mouth
You can always pull out
If you like it too much
Make a whole new religion
A falling star that you cannot live without
And I'll feed your obsession
There'll be nothing but this thing that you'll never doubt
A hit is hard to resist
And I never miss
I can take you out
With just a flick of my wrist
Make a whole new religion
A falling star that you cannot live without
And I'll feed your obsession
There is nothing but this thing that you'll never doubt
This thing you'll never doubt
And I'll feed your obsession
The falling star that you cannot live without
I will be your religion
This thing you'll never doubt
You're not the only one
You're not the only one
[Background:]
Now I want it too much
Now I want it to stop
Now I'm lucky like a falling star that fell over me
Bow down to me, bow down to me
Bow down to me, bow down to me
Bow down to me, bow down to me
Bow down to me.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Knock it down, That's how the story goes
It seemed to me that during my undergraduate years, the radio station staff followed this unwritten, unspoken rule that certain music could only be played on the station. Yes, we had to follow the broad format borders (we weren't playing Rush during the classical format nor did we have Aaron Copeland appearing in between Metallica and Jane's Addiction) but even after that some songs were frowned upon unless they fit the "sound of the station."
Somewhere along the way there came the idea that we needed to sound more mature, more professional and more like an actual commercial station than the low-watt under-powered college-operated station that we were. For whatever reasons of his own, I think this may have been the mindset of the Program Director, Syd "the Kid," who made sure his own shifts were the slickest of all on the station and could be a bit standoffish when confronted with other station issues. Because of this twisted methodology, music that wasn't the popular currency at the time was jettisoned into places unknown.
Here within was the problem: long after Syd was gone and forgotten, his programming ideas were still in intact, carried onward by devout students who did little to invoke a change. And while a drastic change wasn’t required, I feel we could have been a bit more liberal in what we played.
For example, I know about as much today as I did ten years ago about Corrosion Of Conformity – and it isn't much. Originally showcasing a hardcore punk sound in the early 1980s, the band, whose lineup changed with nearly every release, soon began their decent into metal. Longtime members Woody Weatherman (guitarist) and Mike Dean (bass, vocals) have been along for most, if not all, the band's incarnations, including their 1994 album Deliverance, which featured new vocalist Pepper Keenan. All I recall is that the album cover had what I thought was some sort of a sonic sunflower; I was close in my assumption: it appears to have been a speaker.
I know we had the album sitting in the stacks of the music library during my senior year. How it got there, I'll never know but it was soon spotted by one of the rock DJs who asked if he could play Clean My Wounds on his show. I asked the DJ, a bald chap who called himself Mr. Klean, about lyrics: any profanities that we needed to worry about – because if there weren't, I didn't see any problem with adding a number of songs from the album. If it was too loud or too fast, maybe we could play it only after 9pm or something. But it wasn't to be. Though I outranked him, the music director felt the song was a bit out of our league and – you guessed it – didn't fit the sound of the station.
And so it went.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Clean My Wounds
(Pepper Keenan)
Corrosion Of Conformity
From the album Deliverance
1994
I see the world through bloodshot eyes
Streets filled with blood from distant lies.
The dogs of war never compromise,
No real time for rearranging.
"Help me Jesus, Help me clean my wounds"
He said he cannot heal that kind.
Bleeding soul becomes a bitter mind.
He said it happens every time...
Knock it down,
That's how the story goes
Knock it down,
In the Land of 1000 No's.
Knock it down.
I'm all over you
In time my mind is changing.
Black on black gives me a heart attack
And the silence makes it deadly.
Some choose to kill with simple will.
I've seen them fall fast and steady.
"Help me Jesus, Help me clean my wounds"
He said he cannot heal that kind.
Bleeding soul becomes a bitter mind.
He said it happens every time...
Knock it down,
That's how the story goes
Knock it down,
In the Land of 1000 No's.
Knock it down.
I'm all over you
In time my mind is changing.
Twist of fate won't give me a break
And myself, I'm slow and tired.
I've got to rise with these bloodshot eyes
But I keep falling when I'm higher.
"Help me Jesus, Help me clean my wounds"
He said he cannot heal that kind.
Bleeding soul becomes a bitter mind.
He said it happens every time...
Knock it down,
That's how the story goes
Knock it down,
In the Land of 1000 No's.
Knock it down,
We are bleeding sins but our sins
Are always fading...
Knock it Down,
Knock it Down.
Somewhere along the way there came the idea that we needed to sound more mature, more professional and more like an actual commercial station than the low-watt under-powered college-operated station that we were. For whatever reasons of his own, I think this may have been the mindset of the Program Director, Syd "the Kid," who made sure his own shifts were the slickest of all on the station and could be a bit standoffish when confronted with other station issues. Because of this twisted methodology, music that wasn't the popular currency at the time was jettisoned into places unknown.
Here within was the problem: long after Syd was gone and forgotten, his programming ideas were still in intact, carried onward by devout students who did little to invoke a change. And while a drastic change wasn’t required, I feel we could have been a bit more liberal in what we played.
For example, I know about as much today as I did ten years ago about Corrosion Of Conformity – and it isn't much. Originally showcasing a hardcore punk sound in the early 1980s, the band, whose lineup changed with nearly every release, soon began their decent into metal. Longtime members Woody Weatherman (guitarist) and Mike Dean (bass, vocals) have been along for most, if not all, the band's incarnations, including their 1994 album Deliverance, which featured new vocalist Pepper Keenan. All I recall is that the album cover had what I thought was some sort of a sonic sunflower; I was close in my assumption: it appears to have been a speaker.
I know we had the album sitting in the stacks of the music library during my senior year. How it got there, I'll never know but it was soon spotted by one of the rock DJs who asked if he could play Clean My Wounds on his show. I asked the DJ, a bald chap who called himself Mr. Klean, about lyrics: any profanities that we needed to worry about – because if there weren't, I didn't see any problem with adding a number of songs from the album. If it was too loud or too fast, maybe we could play it only after 9pm or something. But it wasn't to be. Though I outranked him, the music director felt the song was a bit out of our league and – you guessed it – didn't fit the sound of the station.
And so it went.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Clean My Wounds
(Pepper Keenan)
Corrosion Of Conformity
From the album Deliverance
1994
I see the world through bloodshot eyes
Streets filled with blood from distant lies.
The dogs of war never compromise,
No real time for rearranging.
"Help me Jesus, Help me clean my wounds"
He said he cannot heal that kind.
Bleeding soul becomes a bitter mind.
He said it happens every time...
Knock it down,
That's how the story goes
Knock it down,
In the Land of 1000 No's.
Knock it down.
I'm all over you
In time my mind is changing.
Black on black gives me a heart attack
And the silence makes it deadly.
Some choose to kill with simple will.
I've seen them fall fast and steady.
"Help me Jesus, Help me clean my wounds"
He said he cannot heal that kind.
Bleeding soul becomes a bitter mind.
He said it happens every time...
Knock it down,
That's how the story goes
Knock it down,
In the Land of 1000 No's.
Knock it down.
I'm all over you
In time my mind is changing.
Twist of fate won't give me a break
And myself, I'm slow and tired.
I've got to rise with these bloodshot eyes
But I keep falling when I'm higher.
"Help me Jesus, Help me clean my wounds"
He said he cannot heal that kind.
Bleeding soul becomes a bitter mind.
He said it happens every time...
Knock it down,
That's how the story goes
Knock it down,
In the Land of 1000 No's.
Knock it down,
We are bleeding sins but our sins
Are always fading...
Knock it Down,
Knock it Down.
Sunday, June 4, 2006
Kill the Crow
One of the forgotten dayparts of the first station I worked at aired weekends from 9pm to midnight for two semesters starting (I think) in the fall of 1995. The three-hour block played what one might call underground alternative and/or experimental industrial music, a hodge-podge of sonic silliness that probably was devoid of regular listeners since so many students left the campus on weekends. But we tried, right?
There was already a rock format (the Pulse – see Insane and risin' in my own weird way) and therefore the need for a splinter format doesn’t seem justified – even all these years later. Surely someone would have had the sense to interject some unknowns (like Wool) in with the clichéd cultural norms (like Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains). In keeping with the format designations, this weekend program was dubbed the Pit - partly named for a mosh pit as well as the colloquial nickname of the gaping hole in the ground where one of the historical buildings on campus had burnt down the previous decade.
Hear me now and believe me later: Wool was a Washington D.C. area band featuring brothers Peter and Franz Stahl. Releasing an EP in 1992, the album Box Set appeared in 1994 and featured the mildly popular single Kill the Crow. Wool stands out as one of the bands on the Pit because of its album cover. Recalling the logo of a particular brand of cigarettes – which I guess was as identifiable as Joe Camel (may I rot in hell) – I remember finding the album tossed back in the music library once the Pit format was disbanded a year later. With no ill will toward Wool, I don’t think anybody cared.
Still, looking back I have to think that the Pit was a bad move on the part of the student management. By my best guess, the Pit’s only true purpose was to make our bare-boned college station sound like a top 40, top-ten market radio station – a makeover attempted more than once by Syd ("the Kid"), the then-Program Director. By sweeping not-as-popular music under the rug, our weekday primetime rock shifts could focus on the popular currency at hand and, in the Program Director’s mind, perhaps we wouldn’t sound too “immature” or “amateur.” While I don’t think everything you heard on the Pit deserved regular airtime, I was disappointed that there was so much music sitting unused on our shelves after everyone gave up on the format. Surely we could have added it into rotation somewhere?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Kill the Crow
(Peter Stahl/Franz Stahl)
Wool
From the album Box Set
1994
There was already a rock format (the Pulse – see Insane and risin' in my own weird way) and therefore the need for a splinter format doesn’t seem justified – even all these years later. Surely someone would have had the sense to interject some unknowns (like Wool) in with the clichéd cultural norms (like Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains). In keeping with the format designations, this weekend program was dubbed the Pit - partly named for a mosh pit as well as the colloquial nickname of the gaping hole in the ground where one of the historical buildings on campus had burnt down the previous decade.
Hear me now and believe me later: Wool was a Washington D.C. area band featuring brothers Peter and Franz Stahl. Releasing an EP in 1992, the album Box Set appeared in 1994 and featured the mildly popular single Kill the Crow. Wool stands out as one of the bands on the Pit because of its album cover. Recalling the logo of a particular brand of cigarettes – which I guess was as identifiable as Joe Camel (may I rot in hell) – I remember finding the album tossed back in the music library once the Pit format was disbanded a year later. With no ill will toward Wool, I don’t think anybody cared.
Still, looking back I have to think that the Pit was a bad move on the part of the student management. By my best guess, the Pit’s only true purpose was to make our bare-boned college station sound like a top 40, top-ten market radio station – a makeover attempted more than once by Syd ("the Kid"), the then-Program Director. By sweeping not-as-popular music under the rug, our weekday primetime rock shifts could focus on the popular currency at hand and, in the Program Director’s mind, perhaps we wouldn’t sound too “immature” or “amateur.” While I don’t think everything you heard on the Pit deserved regular airtime, I was disappointed that there was so much music sitting unused on our shelves after everyone gave up on the format. Surely we could have added it into rotation somewhere?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Kill the Crow
(Peter Stahl/Franz Stahl)
Wool
From the album Box Set
1994
Sunday, May 28, 2006
It's like you're always stuck in second gear
The student office at my first station was two doors down from the main studio and was generally referred to as the "Music Library," named for the three or four floor-to-ceiling metal bookcases full of music. There were attempts over the years to group music together by format and therefore give a shelf of "office space" to each format coordinator, a student who helped the music director (also a student) keep tabs on all the jazz, rock, hip-hop or whatever else we had in rotation. How the shelves actually fit in the cramped space is one thing but they always managed to be full – mostly CDs but also some old vinyl, audio cassettes for air checks, and then some tape cartridges – those devices that look like 8-tracks, smell like 8-tracks but – brother! – ain't 8-tracks.
My first year in senior student management was probably the fall of 1996 when I was named Production Director – since, I'm sure, no one else felt it a worthy enough position to apply. As Production Director I also got my own shelf in the office and was now able to officially use the office to "hang out," "relax," and "do stuff." One of the things we did to spruce up the place was utilize a bunch of the old CDs we had floating around the office. There were always extras discs: the Ad Council sent public service announcements that were only good for six months; musicians sent music in formats we hadn't even heard of; or discs in the control room got damaged and couldn't be used on the air anymore.
For grins, it was decided to hang the discs on the wall of the office, spelling out the station call letters. The idea sounded good on paper; carrying it out was another problem. The K looked okay but the other letters...well, let's just say we had to explain to visitors what they were looking at on more than one occasion. One of the discs used in this loving project was LP by the Rembrandts, an album I didn't know we even had. I'm sure we only had one track from the disc in rotation – the hastily added theme from Friends – that probably was taken out of our control room after the song hit its saturation point. So Danny Wilde and Phil Solem, the two members of the Rembrandts, hung around on our wall for a year or so.
Most of the discs were never fastened properly so in two or three months there were gaping holes in our artwork. When what was left became too much of an eyesore a few of us grabbed a handful of the discs and went outside the Communication Building to launch them into the air, like Frisbees. I know we tried to throw LP hard enough so that it could break but since corrugated cement with pebbles wasn't strong enough, we just made a mess.
I think we ended up giving it away to someone.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
I'll Be There for You
(David Crane/Marta Kauffman/Michael Skloff/Phil Solem/Danny Wilde/Allee Willis)
The Rembrandts
From the album LP
1995
So no one told you life was gonna be this way
Your job's a joke
You're broke
Your lovelife's DOA
It's like you're always stuck in second gear
And it hasn't been your day, your week, your month
Or even your year, but
Chorus:
I'll be there for you
when the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cause you're there for me too...
You're still in bed at 10 and work begins at 8
You burned your breakfast so far things are going great
Your mother warned you there be days like these
But she didn't tell you when the world was brough down to your knees
Repeat Chorus
No one could ever know me
No one could ever see me
Seems you're the only one who knows
What it's like to be me
Some one to face the day with
Make it through all the mess with
Someone I'll always laugh with
Even at my worst, my best with you, yeah.
It's like you're always stuck in second gear
And it hasn't been your day, your week, your month
Or even your year, but
Repeat Chorus
My first year in senior student management was probably the fall of 1996 when I was named Production Director – since, I'm sure, no one else felt it a worthy enough position to apply. As Production Director I also got my own shelf in the office and was now able to officially use the office to "hang out," "relax," and "do stuff." One of the things we did to spruce up the place was utilize a bunch of the old CDs we had floating around the office. There were always extras discs: the Ad Council sent public service announcements that were only good for six months; musicians sent music in formats we hadn't even heard of; or discs in the control room got damaged and couldn't be used on the air anymore.
For grins, it was decided to hang the discs on the wall of the office, spelling out the station call letters. The idea sounded good on paper; carrying it out was another problem. The K looked okay but the other letters...well, let's just say we had to explain to visitors what they were looking at on more than one occasion. One of the discs used in this loving project was LP by the Rembrandts, an album I didn't know we even had. I'm sure we only had one track from the disc in rotation – the hastily added theme from Friends – that probably was taken out of our control room after the song hit its saturation point. So Danny Wilde and Phil Solem, the two members of the Rembrandts, hung around on our wall for a year or so.
Most of the discs were never fastened properly so in two or three months there were gaping holes in our artwork. When what was left became too much of an eyesore a few of us grabbed a handful of the discs and went outside the Communication Building to launch them into the air, like Frisbees. I know we tried to throw LP hard enough so that it could break but since corrugated cement with pebbles wasn't strong enough, we just made a mess.
I think we ended up giving it away to someone.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
I'll Be There for You
(David Crane/Marta Kauffman/Michael Skloff/Phil Solem/Danny Wilde/Allee Willis)
The Rembrandts
From the album LP
1995
So no one told you life was gonna be this way
Your job's a joke
You're broke
Your lovelife's DOA
It's like you're always stuck in second gear
And it hasn't been your day, your week, your month
Or even your year, but
Chorus:
I'll be there for you
when the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cause you're there for me too...
You're still in bed at 10 and work begins at 8
You burned your breakfast so far things are going great
Your mother warned you there be days like these
But she didn't tell you when the world was brough down to your knees
Repeat Chorus
No one could ever know me
No one could ever see me
Seems you're the only one who knows
What it's like to be me
Some one to face the day with
Make it through all the mess with
Someone I'll always laugh with
Even at my worst, my best with you, yeah.
It's like you're always stuck in second gear
And it hasn't been your day, your week, your month
Or even your year, but
Repeat Chorus
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