The horrors of modern rock radio
 

I simply cannot stress how much I hate modern rock radio. At this point in time, it's been flooded with clones of generic nirvana ripoff alternitive bands like seether and smile empty soul. It's also been oversaturated with pop-punk and corporate whore nu metal like three days grace and trapt. So just wondering, does anyone else here despise modern/alternative rock radio?

TV & Radio are on my excrements of society list. I don't even bother with them anymore.

Try internet radio.

There's some great shows on TV. You just have to know how to pick and choose and find the good stuff. I agree that the current rock they play on the radio is awful for the same reasons you named.

I agree 100%.......I wish I would have known even 8 years ago that the music being produced would be so much better than it is now - I would have cherished it more

i dont think that the music in general of 8 years ago was better or worse than it is now--what you think of it depends upon what you manage to find out about, what you listen to. there are many types of music then and now that are really interesting, powerful even.

but you do not hear any of it on commerical radio in the states.
broadcast radio is one of the strongest arguments against privatization i can think of (well that and the fate of the new england fishing industry, but that is a different story)--it absolutely gives the lie to the illusion that markets are "rational", that the best of anything surfaces in a commercial environment. with a commerically dominated broadcast spectrum, you get less diversity of programming, not more: within formats, playlists are more rigid, not less; concentration of ownership is increasing, not decreasing.
there will always be bands willing to shill for accountants' visions of what popular music should be.
now you have videos to construct mythologies around these nonentities as well.

pirate radio should be encouraged.
if net radio did not so often mimic the worst features of broadcast radio, i would be a cheerleader for it as such--as it is i listen to a sequence of netradio outlets i have found that i enjoy when i do listen to radio for music.

the best way around radio seems to be to be part of a community of people who care about music, who search out what they find interesting and who turn you onto stuff.

but yes, commercial radio is bullshit.

commercial radio is no different now than it was 30 years ago, and it is no different than any other commercial media: all appeal to the lowest common denominator. I grew up in the 70's, came of age in the 80's, became a grownup in the 90's, and in the 00's I see the same thing happening now that happened then (take your pick as to which then): shitloads of dreck getting the most airplay, simply because it appeals to the widest demographic.

you can trust me on this, there was plenty of SHIT music to bitch about in the past, as there always will be.

90% of everything is utter crap. accept this as fact and you'll find that life disappoints you much less. ignore the crap and seek out that which you like. hell, the search is half the fun.

I just find myself listening to all music from 8 years ago much more than today's stuff. In fact, I can't stand today's stuff. When I hear shit such as Nickelback and Three Doors Down on the radio, I just want to bust out the windshield of my car. Yet I keep playing stuff like Los Banditos by The Refreshments and Good by Better Than Ezra over and over again.....


Everything just seems so much more original back then, maybe it's just me

THe problem is that you listen to radio. Seek out other methods of finding good, new music.

Or buy into satellite radio. I hear there's much better music there.

Laziness is one of the biggest - if not the largest factors in the shitty music that gets sold in most stores and played on most radio stations. There still are great bands making music but people are too lazy to find them, there are great bands selling out local shows but will never make it out of where they're from because people are too lazy spread the word (or are so uptight with group x polluting their scene).

It's hard to be well known when every disposable band has their disposable cds sold in every disposable store but without an honest effort the radio stations will play more music that we don't want to hear and more artists with a passion for the music they make will trade in their instruments (or become another disposable band) for 9-5 jobs because you can't pay your mortgage with passion alone.

Go to the small local club to see a band play instead of going to a sold out stadium. Buy your cds directly from the artist instead of shopping at chain stores. Find the good bands and tell your friends about them.

Can I get an amen ManicSkafe. I Agree dude. Well spoken arguement.

Hey, at least you have the option for modern rock radio. I'm in southern Connecticut, all I have for options is classic "heard it 1E6 times already" rock, pop, and hard rock. The last is where I spend most of my radio listening time, but I want to hear what the new stuff is.

I was traveling this weekend and heard "Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger. They just don't write 'em like that anymore...

oh yeah, I agree with the fact that there are still good bands out there. but it really doesn't have anything to do with laziness at all. the subject is "horrors of modern rock radio." we are pissed at the radio for playing raw shit. we want the radio to play the stuff that...well, isn't on the radio. the good bands that don't get a monster label. I'm kind of distraught that you'd think we only listened to the radio and that's it.....


we are just making a statement that the radio nowadays plays complete and utter shit when compared to earlier times. it's not just rock radio. it's all radio. in the 90s, I don't recall hearing a song from a puppet dog that makes cracks on people singing about feces......

around here (New York) there are no good radio stations whatsoever. But the radio has always played whats been popular, so nothing has really changed. In the early 90's it wasnt that the radio was playing underground music, but rather the mainstream had become music that had substance. The radio has stayed the same, its just the music that has turned to shit.

I agree, Clear Channel has really taken the blandness to a new level than in the past and I don't see any big change in sight. I've heard some good things about XM but I'll stick with my CD's unless I start a job with a 2 hour commute or something. Once all cars have hard drives where you can dump 200 albums I think broadcast is going to seriously start changing a bit. Right now the huge majority of quality radio stations are college stations, and NPR (which is even starting to get repetitive sometimes).

radio is for the masses. you need to seek out music people.

what kind of music you looking for? im sure i could point you in a couple of directions.

It is better than where I live.

We have a old rock radiostation, and a country.

2 stations. It is horrible.

I dont know about the old days, but as far as modern radio goes, you're right it is horrible. I've tried it, and I can maybe stand one or two songs out of a three or four hour trip.

If I dont have a cd or laptop with me, I just keep it silent.

Listen, radio stations cater to what the masses think is popular and most profitable. Not everyone is going to be happy with it 100% of the time. Sure, you hate modern rock, that's fine, but they aren't going to change it, not for you. for one person that hates a radio station there are a million people that like it, who do you think they will try to please? If I don't like something on the radio I change the station, if that doesn't work I put in a CD, problem solved. And then I don't feel all angsty and feel like bitching about something when there are plenty of alternatives out there.

radio is a medium that creates demand by exposing (very) particular kinds of music.

if you think the medium reacts to demand, you forget that the demand was shaped by the medium itself--so formats adopted by bullshit commercial radio stations have the effect of streaming demand toward product slotted into their formats.
this dynamic results from and refers back to choices made by radio outlets.
these choices encourage tame mediocre music tailored to fit the requirements of a particular corporate genre, which then becomes a priori compromised.
this process screws over musicians in first in that by reducing music within a given form to repetition with slight variations, it works to eliminate the space for experimentation--and by doing that, radio formatting kills forms, reducing them to bland copies of themselves.

you have versions of the same smothering tendencies in the world of tv videos...its all about the cash, only incidentally about the music--and if you play the stuff and burn out as a function of the strict requirements of basically tedious forms, it does not matter---there is and will be a legion of other chumps who will step into the same box, play the same stuff, go the same route.

you have to find other ways to hear or learn about music before you can be blase about what this means.
unless you are playing the same stuff you heard on the radio 20 years ago or something, in which case you can opt out out of new versions of the old problem--but that does not mean that you are really outside of anything. it does not mean that you do not submit--you just submit to a version that you act like you assembled through your own choice, as if that choice was not already shaped by the medium that exposed you to it in the first place.

there are bands and whole regions of music that work outside this, or that work with contact shaped to their own terms--i admire radiohead on this count for example because they are still going, still changing and they move lots of units. but most of the most interesting music out there today gets no airplay in the states to speak of--and that cheats the musicians and the audiences.

damn, roachboy, that was an enlightening and thoughtful post. and, I believe, a very accurate assessment of the situation.

I can safely assure you that I don't listen to the radio at all. My initial post states the reason why I don't listen to it. I am just stating why I don't like it and I did not say anywhere that nobody couldn't like it. I'm just stating my opinion.

I had pretty much stopped listening to the radio until Atlanta got Dave Radio...compared to the others we have here its fanfuckingtastic.....no dj's at all whatsoever ANYTIME..... and play an unbelievable mix of music...not to say I like everything they play, but what radio station is ever going to play only the music I like :lol:

If anybody has dish network its kind of like the 7890 channel in the music section

Although my words are the heaven-sent irrefutable truth my post wasn't made to offend anyone.

I made no assumptions about anyone's musical taste. I stated my reasons for why I think nothing but crap music gets played on the radio and what we all could do (regardless of what we listen to) to change the situation.

As ForwardToDeath said - NY radio is a toilet and I feel strongly on this subject. If you want underground bands - Skafe@aol.com

I'm happy here in Detroit with 101 wrif. The wrif rocks Detroit, baby! They play the kind of rock I like to here for the most part.

I stopped listening when Elvis died. (None of you can understand
anything they sing right????.....nope not a single word!) :)

I, like many people, don't want the radio and music channels to listen to stuff I know. I want them to discover NEW music. It took me a long time to realize I had the wrong medium. Sattelite radio is good if you want a selection of stuff you know, essentially its radio thats specialized. We have one at the office and its great.

But I cannot stress enough, internet radio. Nothing beats spending a few hours trolling Shoutcast for some new tunes.

i listen to plenty of good radio stations.

i believe that anyone who thinks radio is polluting the airwaves is lazy and ignorant.

Why is everyone ripping off The Rolling Stones and The Who?

And at what point did it become cool to listen to Guns n' Roses again?

Another reason that radio sucks is due to the ever-growing death of regionalism. Used to be that radio stations were staffed by people who lived in the area of the station. Now many stations are automated and all of the "talent" is voice-tracked from a studio in Burbank. This destroys the station's ability to be a community outlet and it also destroys a station's chance at have a unique voice. It leads to this overall Clear Channel-fed blandness that's taking over everything.

Thirty years ago, a radio station could break a local band simply by playing that band's single. Now it's impossible for independant artists to get any airtime at all, save for some stations who have specialized "local music" shows. I'm actually fortunate that a couple stations in Chicago do have these locally-oriented shows. But why is it that these bands have to be tucked away into a special program? Why can't they just be added to regular rotation? Because program directors (amd more importantly DJ's) aren't allowed to take chances. And if they do, their coroporate masters replace them without a second thought.

I wouldn't say that. There is so much good music out there. For the most part though it deosn't get played on Modern Rock music. There are notable exceptions though, for example Billy Talent, Matthew Good, The White Stripes, Jet (Hey they're amusing) or Alexisonfire.

I live in Chicago too, and know the shows you are talking about (Local 101, etc.) A few local Chicago bands actually HAVE been introduced to the national music picture because of Chicago radio. Local H comes to mind right away.

Support college radio.

If I supported my college radio, we'd all be listening to Avril Levigne, P. Diddy, G-Unit, Sheryl Crow, Evanescence, and a hundred other rappers that are creating shit for money. I hope my college radio either undergoes a reformation or burns in Hell.

-Lasereth

For my part, I tend not to listen to anything less than 10 years old. that way, I have a decade to find the good stuff.

Oh, once in a while I'll find something I like early - Dave Matthews in Charlottesville in my House Basement, Phish at the nightclub I worked at, Green Day a year after they were all over the radio, and Evanescence right when they came out because I just dig that lady's voice - but, on the whole, if it hasn't aged at least a decade, probably not my cup of tea.

They don't make radio like that though. That's what Kazaa, Bearshare, and WinMX are for.

the title of this thread should be changed to the whores of modern rock...thats all it is now. money green is the mindstate.

I went into a record shop the other day and picked up a cd called heavy metal classics, as I looked down along the bands I saw Oasis.......Oasis on a heavy metal classics list. Now that is just pulling the piss. The music industry has alot to answer for