"Garrett Wollman" wrote in message
...
[...] For that matter, "mass marketing" radio went the way of the
dodo at least as long ago. Have you ever heard a commercial station
with both Tim McGraw and Eminem in its playlist? Yet I remember, as
recently as the early 1980s, hearing Kenny Rogers and The Clash on the
same station. Even "We Play Everything" WRZA has settled down into
its "males 25-54" niche; I venture to say (based on my admittedly
limited listening experience) that their "everything" does not include
either Celine Dion or Buddy Guy.
Yeah, isn't that a shame? No, really! (I had to confirm that I wasn't being
sarcastic, since a comment like that referring to Dion could be considered snarky).
That's exactly what I miss in radio today....way too predictable, no coliones to just
play something that's good, regardless of its genre. Gone are the days when you
could have a crossover pop hit, as in the days when Country was so big it
crossed-over to pop, or (from the sublime to the ridiculous) when the Bee Gees went
disco, thus infiltrating AOR stations with the first beachhead for that abomination.
This effect appears also on satellite radio, where the music channels are so
researched and segregated that it's YOU, the listener, who has to go search out
diversity, because you're not going to find anything outside of the channel's target.
Given the rate of cultural fragmentation currently observed in this
country, the days of any sort of sustained mass audiences are long
over and unlikely ever to return.
Which only goes to show that we, the American public, have lost our edge. If we
can't embrace the slightlest little thing like music as a chance to see a little bit
more of the world, then how in the world can you expect that we'll even listen to
something as important as where our country is going?
Ray Charles was, by most estimations, a great artist. In my opinion, the reason why
he is considered so is because, as he said himself, the only thing he required of his
music was that it was "good music." His search for "good music" changed our culture,
adding jazz, blues, country, rockabilly, rock and so much more, making us the richer
for it, and in large measure, even, makiing it possible for acts like the Beatles and
other milestone rock acts to effect their own changes.
So here we are....stuck at a wall we will not climb.
I think I'm going to go out back and slash my wrists.
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If there's nothing that offends you in your community, then you know you're not
living in a free society.
Kim Campbell - ex-Prime Minister of Canada - 2004
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