Classic Rock
NOTE: I'm going on a pre-orientation hiking trip for college starting today, and the move-in day is on Friday. Therefore, posts will be spotty at best this week.
Noooooooooooooooooooo!
I came home for spring break this year to discover that the station of my childhood, the oldies station, had become an abomination. My father would listen to the 50s and 60s-oriented oldies station while he drove me to school, and I grew up singing along with Elvis Presley, The Beatles and The Supremes. The first cassette tape I bought was an Aretha Franklin collection. All of that was gone in one fell swoop, replaced by the most detestable musical genre: classic rock. My dad thought it was very sad, but wrote it off as a generational shift.
There's some very good classic rock, I'm not writing it off completely, but there's certainly not enough to support a radio station. Disgusted, I went to my water polo team's pre-season in Hawaii. A group of us ended up staying with the coach at his friend from college's house (the coach of the team we practiced with). The one blight upon an otherwise excellent trip was the daily ride to the pool. The coaches blared the classic rock station as we suffered in the back. Indignity of all indignities, to lose my oldies station and be subjected to the painful reminder for a week!
Has anyone else noticed that classic rock stations always have similar names, no matter where you are? They're mostly named after masculine animals. Just one member of the species, though. The Shark. The Hawk. The Barracuda. What the hell do barracudas have to do with music? The oldies station was Oldies 100 (station 100.3). It made sense to call it that because it was an oldies station. The Top 40 station is Hot 99.5, because the musical is supposedly hot and new. These names, while incredibly obvious, at least make sense. But in a way the nonsensical naming of the stations matches with my impression of classic rock: there's no reason behind it.
And by 'no reason' I mean drugs. Unlike the oldies station, the classic rock station has some things that are hard to explain away. The drug references are more poorly disguised, if at all. How do you listen to Eric Clapton's "Cocaine," a song purely about his love of cocaine, and not enter into some awkward conversation with your child? I think about these very important questions as I justify my rage. There aren't enough good stations in D.C. to fill up my preset stations in my car, so the formerly-oldies station is still there. I press the button occasionally, hoping against hope for some Motown, greeted only with The Eagles, and the world seems a little darker.
Technorati Tags: classic rock, radio, drugs
Noooooooooooooooooooo!
I came home for spring break this year to discover that the station of my childhood, the oldies station, had become an abomination. My father would listen to the 50s and 60s-oriented oldies station while he drove me to school, and I grew up singing along with Elvis Presley, The Beatles and The Supremes. The first cassette tape I bought was an Aretha Franklin collection. All of that was gone in one fell swoop, replaced by the most detestable musical genre: classic rock. My dad thought it was very sad, but wrote it off as a generational shift.
There's some very good classic rock, I'm not writing it off completely, but there's certainly not enough to support a radio station. Disgusted, I went to my water polo team's pre-season in Hawaii. A group of us ended up staying with the coach at his friend from college's house (the coach of the team we practiced with). The one blight upon an otherwise excellent trip was the daily ride to the pool. The coaches blared the classic rock station as we suffered in the back. Indignity of all indignities, to lose my oldies station and be subjected to the painful reminder for a week!
Has anyone else noticed that classic rock stations always have similar names, no matter where you are? They're mostly named after masculine animals. Just one member of the species, though. The Shark. The Hawk. The Barracuda. What the hell do barracudas have to do with music? The oldies station was Oldies 100 (station 100.3). It made sense to call it that because it was an oldies station. The Top 40 station is Hot 99.5, because the musical is supposedly hot and new. These names, while incredibly obvious, at least make sense. But in a way the nonsensical naming of the stations matches with my impression of classic rock: there's no reason behind it.
And by 'no reason' I mean drugs. Unlike the oldies station, the classic rock station has some things that are hard to explain away. The drug references are more poorly disguised, if at all. How do you listen to Eric Clapton's "Cocaine," a song purely about his love of cocaine, and not enter into some awkward conversation with your child? I think about these very important questions as I justify my rage. There aren't enough good stations in D.C. to fill up my preset stations in my car, so the formerly-oldies station is still there. I press the button occasionally, hoping against hope for some Motown, greeted only with The Eagles, and the world seems a little darker.
Technorati Tags: classic rock, radio, drugs
posted by Meredith at 12:56 AM
1 Comments:
John Sinclair feels your pain.
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