Pop music and the Radio for non-popists

and i've never worked in an office with a communal radio (thank god).

We used to have either Radio 1 or 2 (occasionally some local sation) on at work util a year or two back and it really does make a difference - on one hand it means I'm less aware of what the meat and potatoes of mainstream pop is right now (which I sort of miss), on the other I don't have to spend my working day sitting through stodgy playlists of largely terrible music (and, yes, terrible DJs).

Other than that, though, I still hear a lot of things through the usual channels - I make a habit of sticking one of the TV chart rundowns every so often, just out of curiosity. Or, yeah, I just look things up on YouTube that I've heard about here. It just means I cover less ground because I'm not spending as much time listening (or hearing in the background).

Life's too short to sit through that stuff, especially since most commercial stations in the UK rotate the same 12 songs every hour.

Can't you listen to the radio for 15 mins then?

"Speaking as a former one..."

would have loved to hear your rocktober lunch box two for tuesday rock blocks and your artfully placed bill murray caddyshack samples.

Believe me, I could have gone down that road if I tried. (Much more likely was classical DJing.)

idgi

do radio djs even use 'discs'? hmm?

― frap your hands say yeah yeah yeah (history mayne), Wednesday, July 7, 2010 10:19 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

some do...some do

point is 'presenters' brings to mind someone at an awards show dressed to the nines and opening an envelope for me, and it's funny to picture someone sitting in a radio station behind a microphone doing that

"This is Ned Rockin' Raggett, playin' the best of classic rock album sides. Next up, we got an awesome one from a little band called the Eagles..."

point is 'presenters' brings to mind someone at an awards show dressed to the nines and opening an envelope for me, and it's funny to picture someone sitting in a radio station behind a microphone doing that

― Davey Mo Coulier (some dude), Wednesday, 7 July 2010 15:36

heeeere's [award show], with your HOST...

not listening to the radio anymore has actually made me appreciate pop music a lot more when I occasionally hear it.

I'm also one of those people who had to actively seek out Lady Gaga's music as I had only heard/read a some random comments about her and finally a couple of months ago decided I should at least know what she sounds like and so decided to download one of her albums.

i really am gonna sit down when i have time and go through that tracks thread and watch the youtubes. i'm looking forward to it. so much stuff i haven't heard. like, most of it probably.

last year we all went bowling with ilxor herb albert and his family and they were blasting all the big pop hits and, man, i didn't know any of them. and they all sounded great to me. good sound system at the bowling alley. basically i just like hearing beyonce or anything beyonce-esque really loud in a public place. that day stands out cuz i really don't hear that stuff all that often otherwise. i don't watch mtv anymore. we get the bare minimum of cable now. and sadly i mostly listen to the western mass radio station The River which is mostly boring alterna-yuppie npr stuff. i listen to that cuz it comes in really good. pop/r&b/chart/rap/etc is really addictive to me though. i mean i never REALLY feel out of the loop or whatever. you can get back into it with a minimum of strain or effort. it's easy.

point is 'presenters' brings to mind someone at an awards show dressed to the nines and opening an envelope for me, and it's funny to picture someone sitting in a radio station behind a microphone doing that

― Davey Mo Coulier (some dude), Wednesday, 7 July 2010 15:36

heeeere's [award show], with your HOST...

― r|t|c, Wednesday, July 7, 2010 11:04 AM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

in America awards shows have one host (or maybe two or three sometimes) for the whole thing and then there are a few dozen celebs billed as presenters who announce the individual awards

xpost aw man, don't listen to The River, that shit's like musical poison. turn on The WIZZ, Laser 99.3, fuckin BEAR Country. anything but...

I'm down outside of Houston now and found the like the perfect hip-hop/pop station that we don't have out in the sticks. heard Gucci Mane 'Wasted' -> Ke$ha 'Your Love Is My Drug' -> B.o.B. 'Airplanes' -> Lady Gaga 'Alejandro' -> Young Money 'Bedrock' on my drive back from the store

I think you can hear lots of pop in shops or doctors surgeries or adverts on TV without knowing who the songs are by and you think you have never heard anything by *insert pop star mentioned in newspapers or ILM threads*. Until one day a youtube is posted in a poll thread then you go "Oh I have heard that! Just didn't know who it was by".

Because that is what happens to me. Same goes for the big "indie" or "mainstream rock" bands.

"xpost aw man, don't listen to The River, that shit's like musical poison."

but it's my official source for all things michael franti!

Different is Good.

There's quite a lot of push on the internet as well though - things like Last.fm, the Related Videos section on Youtube etc etc. Even Myspace to an extent.

OK well I don't do last.fm so I don't know about that. But related videos on Youtube, myspace etc - you have to click a link, type a URL - usually while you're sitting at a desk. It doesn't just wash over you. And yes Lex, with the radio (and pubs, and the gym, etc) there IS an effortless osmosis - the songs just come, one after the other. Sometimes the DJs even say what they are. And knowing that lots of other people are listening RIGHT NOW to the same thing you are gives it an added thrill, makes me feel connected up. It's (sort of) like the difference between watching the Roland Garros final as it happens or watching it on DVR or Youtube or whatever. It's the exact same match but one of them has an electricity to it that the other doesn't.

Cosign.

And knowing that lots of other people are listening RIGHT NOW to the same thing you are gives it an added thrill, makes me feel connected up.

I remember Tom Ewing mentioning something like this once. It's weird in that as I consciously recognize it being accurate (consider ILX/Twitter commentary on lots of things happening in the moment, not just musical), I don't recall getting this feeling from radio play. It always felt quite private, really.

totally agree w/ned - have never got any sort of electricity or communal thrill off the radio. i actually do get it when i read people's comments on last.fm or even youtube, though - seeing how much a song i love also means to other people.

you have to click a link, type a URL

OH THE EFFORT *wipes sweat from brow*

ok, everyone talking about the magic of this effortless radio osmosis which saves you from ever having to think or pursue a song - i don't believe that you've only ever consumed music via the radio. i know you have music you love that didn't come to you via osmosis. is listening to that music somehow lesser for you, then?

I think you can hear lots of pop in shops or doctors surgeries

Is this another British term? Because generally I am asleep during surgery.

Actually, I have a question: Does the UK have anything like adult-contemporary radio? Because I can sort of imagine someone being familiar with pop songs by Colbie Caillat or Jason Mraz or Taylor Swift from the Lite FM that gets played in offices, grocery stores, laundromats, etc., and not knowing anything by Drake or Ke$ha.

Colbie Caillat

Who?

Ignorance is bliss.

That stuff just doesn't seem to cross the Atlantic

I think you can hear lots of pop in shops or doctors surgeries

Is this another British term? Because generally I am asleep during surgery.

the waiting room while waiting to see the doctor as they're behind schedule usually. Not during surgery (my guess is they play classical in there)

Ah yes: see, that's another place where in the U.S. you'd hear pop music but it would usually be of the adult-contemporary variety.

Or maybe a "mix" station like this.

Actually, I have a question: Does the UK have anything like adult-contemporary radio? Because I can sort of imagine someone being familiar with pop songs by Colbie Caillat or Jason Mraz or Taylor Swift from the Lite FM that gets played in offices, grocery stores, laundromats, etc., and not knowing anything by Drake or Ke$ha.

BBC Radio 2 is sort of like that - they play a lot of polite singer-songwriter stuff and a tiny bit of modern r'n'b (more of the retro-styled Amy Winehouse variety as opposed to, say, Ciara). Surprisingly 'California Gurls' is on their playlist at the moment but I'd put money on it being some version with Snoop edited out.

Smooth Radio
or any local oldies station like Clyde 2 and its equivalents over the country that have the exact same playlists