Word. Sirius listener here. “Shuffle” rocks my world. From Buffett* to Beastie to Black Sabbath in 10 minutes.
- Jimmy, not Warren.
I dunno. I’d put the peak at Check Your Head. Or at least it’s neck-and-neck with Paul’s Boutique for me. I prefer the former, but I could see a good argument for the latter. I thought Ill Communication was fairly weak, although it did give us the great video for “Sabotage.”
Yeah, man, fight the power!!
[bong hit]
Joe
I wish. I’ve been pulled for “random” drug testing three times this year already. They watch me like a hawk, they do.
All Your Beasties Are Belong To Us.
You just reminded me of when I worked in a medical records department about 5-6 years ago. We had a radio playing on a single station as the sole source of entertainment, and after about a week I realized that they did, in fact, only have about 20 songs. I swear the DJ, if there was one, did nothing more than randomize the playlist each morning.
Yeah, but they blend in the same-sounding “new” ones as they phase out the “old” ones…what’s wrong with that?
You think that’s bad? I used to work at K Mart. We would get a tape, probably about 25 minutes in length, interspersed with K Mart promos (“this is Dusty Lenscap suggesting you develop your photos at K Mart”). One month the new tape never came, so we had to hear Basia and Eric Carmen for two months about 18 times a day.
One time I saw one of the guys who worked in sporting goods (where they sold firearms) mindlessly singing the Basia song. I don’t think he even realized he was doing this. I figured I needed to stay as far away from him as possible… he was that close to snapping.
First job, quiet movie theater, same deal. I worked as the ticket taker in an out of the way wing, so some nights I’d be standing at the box for three or more hours listening to the same 5 songs replayed over and over. I have Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn physically imprinted on my brain. And yes, I’d find myself beginning to sing it, then catch myself, horrified.
By the way, thanks so very much for bringing those memories up. I thought I’d covered them up for good.
I never knew about the Emerson station, but FNX is good stuff. Probably because it’s not Clearchannel. I began getting into music in the early mid nineties, catching the middle/end of grunge and all the things that came with it. For me, radio started off on the high note of a music revolution and became progressively worse with every year. I used to go from AAF to BCN (don’t think I knew FNX in those days) and another mix of stations and always get a great mix. Then it was just the same songs over and over. It was sad, because not only did the music start to suck, but I actually had a loyalty to a radio station and respected them for the new music they were bringing to me. What to do when a wee lad realizes that something once respected was no longer deserving of such?
I haven’t listened to the radio in awhile, but just off the top of my head the world would be a better place if radio stations were banned from playing Guns N Roses, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, and any “rock” band that started in 97-99. It doesn’t have to be a permanent ban, maybe just 10 years will do. Metallica could probably use a rest as well.
In all fairness, “Torn” crushes Basia and Eric Carmen like a grape. I wish I was you instead of me.
Besides, don’t they have flesh-toned earplug technology nowadays? If they had earbud headphones back in '88, I would have totally had the white music going to block that shit out.
Another reason I win is because you just mentioned the music. If your theatre had cheesy, corny-assed ads interspersed between the songs, you might have a case.
“Hun-GREE eyes… I feel the magic between you and Ieyeyiyi…”
They still have radio? Huh. Who knew? I haven’t turned one of those on in what, 20 years?
I’ll disagree, but with the caveat that I really did like Paul’s Boutique and thought it was a great record. Just don’t come back and post that Check Your Head was some sort of breakthrough album that transcended anything before it or some such shit, or I’ll give up hope for humankind.
Fuck I just wish we had a decent rock station around here. I’d take one that played Beastie Boys too much.
Yep, plenty of theater ads. The music’s just what I remember most vividly.