As I was reviewing an album recently, someone pointed out that they've never listened to anything but the singles you'd hear on the radio. When I asked why, the response was simply just there was no interest in purchasing music or any device that plays music. Okay...I understand that. But here is my rant for the day:
MUSIC IS AWESOME! Don't let the radio dictate what clogs your ears! I look at great artists and I'll toss one out there like Weezer. (I'm also a huge Weezer fan as you'll learn soon too). I'll toss aside their most current work, Ratitude and go back to The Red Album. Here are the singles released: Pork and Beans, Troublemaker and The Greatest Man That Ever Lived. That's it! Now - not only did you hear 3 songs out of 14, you also didn't hear anything that would be in my top 3! Yeah, going out and buying a cd might cost you 12 dollars. Yeah, buying it on iTunes might cost you 10 dollars. Yeah, downloading it illegally might get you tossed in the clink. But any of those are WAY better options than just listening to the radio! Not only did you hear Pork and Beans, you heard it 17,000 times in three days and you grew to hate it. You missed out on 11 songs that are all really good and you got sick of the three that got sampled. And this probably leads you to believe that the rest of the record isn't that great. Couldn't be more wrong! Now, I'll admit that I casually listen to the radio on my drive home - and 90% of the time, I couldn't be more annoyed. I get to hear Bad Romance on the hiphop station, the pop station and the station that plays everything. I understand that artists get paid money for radio play - but at what cost to the listener? I hate Lada Gaga for no reason other than hearing her stuff every time I'm behind the wheel, and the anger that washes over me when I think about the fact I could just pop my iPod in and select something far superior.
Well, good news fans...we have the power! Stop listening to the radio. If you don't want to pay, go to Pandora and listen to music similar to your favorite artists for free. Open a Myspace account and listen to free albums there. Many options exist that people don't tap into. If you hear Pork and Beans on a station and you like it, do yourself a favor and listen to the other songs! Usually the ones played on the radio only merit the popular value and usually are not those that are best received by the whole audience. I think you'll find you really fall in love with music and certain artists when you listen they way they created it. Not just a cherry picking of nonsense that may or may not be your style. Pay the 9.99 sometimes, I guarantee you'll thank me later.
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Darntet', you just spoke a buffet-full of truth times ten. (Why on earth haven't I seen your blog until recently?) I can't say that I've completely stopped listening to the radio. Your right though, 8 or 9 times out of 10 the same song is aired on multiple radio-stations and it becomes monotonous quickly.
ReplyDeleteWhile radio still adds some value to the music biz, I just feel some great music is missed, forgotten about and tossed aside too quickly because of it. If more people listened via other medium, I think some of that goes away.
ReplyDeleteSoon enough though - I think more and more people will just listen through Pandora and then maybe iPod connections and whatnot in the car. It's getting more and more popular and easier and easier everyday.