I’ve been offered the chance to fill some slots on a local community radio station; looks like I’ll have five sessions of two or three hours to fill, all the royalties and licensing are taken care of, I just have to choose the music I want to play.
It is run by a church, so although I get a reasonably free hand (and I’m not planning to play any ‘christian’ music just for the sake of it), things like Iggy Pop and Frank Zappa are probably out of the picture. It has to be something that ‘most’ people can enjoy listening to, so although I’ll introduce a little bit of obscure stuff, most of it has to be fairly mainstream, but can span 80s to present day.
Maybe this is too corny, but I plan to have a theme for each session - for which I will think up snappy titles later, but essentially:
Predominantly female voices
Annie Lennox, The Corrs, Kosheen, etc…
Predominantly male voices
Some Britpop, Some Boy Band stuff, some solo etc
Mellow
Ballads and pensive stuff.
Harmony
Specifically songs where good use of vocal harmony is made (Extreme - More than Words, for example)
Power
Things like (but not necessarily specifically) Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing, Van Halen, anything with some ‘power chords’
So… I have quite a lot of ideas already, but three hours is a long time to fill and I don’t plan on a lot of lengthy links - your suggestions will be warmly welcomed.
You never get to hear enough of The Jayhawks on the radio. You can also do a Blues themed show, with the first half acoustic and the second half electric. Good places for BB King and Stevie Ray.
Sounds like fun. Wish I could do something like that. I’m sure the public is glad I can’t.
Singer-Songwriters. I do fill-in for a two hour show weekly show a friend has been hosting for a couple of years. This Sunday I’m sitting in again with a theme “Chicks with Picks.” Playlist includes cuts from
Joan Baez
Joni Mitchell
Janis Ian
Suzanne Vega
Bonnie Raitt
Jude Johnstone
Laura Love
Indigo Girls
Melissa Etheridge
Eliza Gilkyson
Tish Hinojosa
Iris Dement
Tracy Chapman
It’s bordering on the obscure, but on Predominantly Female Voices Day how about some Jane Siberry (beautiful voice, I like her early stuff best) and/or Shonen Knife (kind of a cross between Hello Kitty and the Ramones, I also heard them once described as “bubblegrunge”, and I’d love to know the church’s opinion of a song like Catnip Dream).
Back in the day — and I’m dating myself severely, here — the long-stay-in-the-can music of choice was the blissful 17 minutes and 5 seconds of Inna-gadda-da-vita, courtesy of Iron Butterfly.
Gee, you are really restricted there. Here are a few suggestions to push a very small envelope…
Male voices
Stone roses
Crowded house
Split enz - Message to my girl
Travis - WDIAROM
The Church - Under the milky way
Lloyd Cole - rattlesnakes
Can you slip in ‘dear god’ by XTC. Nice mellow lyrical song …ok maybe not Female
Kirsty MacColl
Frente - Kelly Steet
The Sundays
Avalanches - since I left you
Carpenters - just to make sure they dont tune out
Dido - thank you
Clanead - when its time to go to sleep
Catrina and the waves - Walking on ss - when its time to wake up
Why play pop?
Try entertaining your listeners with:
Mozart’s Concerto in D Major for Piano and Orchestra
Handel’s Messiah
Ellington’s Black, Brown and Tan. I especially recommend the version where Mahalia Jackson sings “Come Sunday.”
Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Symphony in F Major for Piano and Orchestra
J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos
Maurice Ravel’s Pavanne for a Dead Princess
There are many other classical and jazz pieces.
! The late Eva Cassidy has a beautiful voice: