&quot;On The Other Claw....&quot;

As well you should.

... and I probably should, as well, for not knowing any of those songs. I'd never even heard of Lady Gaga before our last Saga session.

From:

For what it's worth, Lady Gaga is a huge Queen fan and it's no secret that's where she got her name from. ;)

From:

There's a pretty good mashup with her and Queen.

From:

I say this with some hesitation 'cause I understand how you dislike folks just saying "you still listen to the radio?!" but I have a POINT or something. ;)

Getting a widget that allows your MP3 player - including a laptop computer - play over a radio channel is pretty cheap nowadays. And you can listen to it in your car, and at work, and other places that have radio reception.

From:

I've got something that can do exactly that, and, the next time I take a long road trip between broadcast areas, I may do just that.

For local commuting, though, I like to be able to hear locla news and, most especially, traffic reports.

I also like to hear new music, music that I don't actually own and am not likely to buy. If you follow the "Spirit of Radio" tag, above, you'll find an entry with my wife's definition of a good radio station: "They play what you want to hear, when you didn't know you wanted to hear it."

Finally, there's a peculiar little quirk in my mentality. If I have all my favorite music loaded into a gizmo, and the gizmo's randomizer plays one of my favorite songs, you know, it's just random. When I'm listening to the radio, and one of my favorite songs starts playing, I know that another human being deliberately chose that song. There's a sense of connection.

From:

I also like to hear new music, music that I don't actually own and am not likely to buy.

What else is piracy for?! ;)

But you can't argue with quirks. If, in the end, it's just something you prefer because you prefer it that way, cool with me.

For me, however, I don't like that sense of connection with people like DJs because it's so . . . false. There is no connection. This person doesn't know me and probably wouldn't like me if they did, hehe. It's media manipulation for the benefit of a corporation, increasingly a giant conglomerate who chooses songs according to demographics analysis and not honest appreciation for the music and a desire to share it. Which might be a quirk of mine. I hate being manipulated for someone else's profit. ;)

From:

Sure, but there's also a sense of connection with all the other people out there listening to the same thing at the same time.

Maybe a better term is Serendipity.

Edited Date: 2010-04-03 05:08 am (UTC)

From:

If you insist . . . but I have trouble feeling a connection to people I don't know and will never know, based on the concept that they happen to be listening to the same emissions that I happen to be listening to. I just have feeling a connection with strangers, I suppose. ;)

From:

And I hope it is needless to say that I approve of your appreciation of BOC. ;)

From:

See? Connection!!

From:

Yes, a connection between two people meeting equally! The kind of connection I love! Not the same connection between a DJ and their faceless audience. ;)

From:

zeeth_kyrah

Not even a DJ. He typically gets a few seconds of fade between pre-set choices coded by a station manager (if they're even called that), if there's even a live voice involved. Conglomerate radio doesn't really have real DJs anymore, you have to go with private stations to find them. And there are so very few private stations nowadays.

The morning clownshoe broadcast I can live without, thanks. No hyuckleberries in my rush-hour commute, if you please. Just play me the stuff I was longing for fifteen years ago, and the stuff that's actually worth something today.

Which means switching between four different stations to get even a taste of what makes me feel good. Though Don't Fear the Reaper is pretty high on the list, as as been Black Hole Sun and a handful of things I've heard only on MTV back when they played music now and then.

From:

Preaching to the choir! ;) I my longer post about this, I hope I made it very clear that I agree with you about 100% radio stations.

And Black Hole Sun is also a great song. You're not going to have to fight to convince me of that, I assure you.

But even by the standards that Athe said makes a good radio station, I think they fail. I would not have discovered Blind Guardian if I listened to the radio, or Buckethead, or Muse or whomever. If you are interested in new music, really the way to go is to talk to other people about what they like, IMO.

From:

You might also want to pick up the remastered Agents of Fortune. It has a demo track of (Don't Fear) The Reaper that is both good and interesting to hear for real fans of the song - it has a very pleasant raw edge that the more produced studio album version doesn't have.

From:

Back in 2008, BÖC played Santa Cruz as part of the Boardwalk's free concert series. The live version of Reaper was, somehow, both more raw and more polished, almost like they'd been playing it for almost thirty years or something.

From:

I admit, now, to being a little hurt. Not because I missed the concert, but because you were a fifteen minute walk from where I live.

From:

This was before I knew you'd moved there, I think.

From:

I'm not going to pursue this because, y'know, it's a message loud and clear sort of thing, but I'd been in Santa Cruz about 2 years in summer 2008.

From:

mocha-mephooki.livejournal.com

The version on their Extraterrestrial-Live album was also excellent. I think I wore that cassette thin back when I still had a copy.

From:

vrghr.livejournal.com

Heh, this wuff always dials up K-Fox before the rental car even leaves the lot, when doing business trips or vacations out to San Jose. You're right - they do get a wee bit repetitious in their rotation, but the songs are well worth listening too.

BOC's stuff is definitely one of those groups worth hearing again and again in the "repeat" cycle on the air.

From:

zeeth_kyrah

I must agree.

No, no no no-no no, (et cetera) Joan Crawford -- has risen -- from the GRAAAVE!

From:

The problem with radio stations is when they have a specific genre, they don't draw from the whole genre.

A case in point: classic rock. You're lucky to hear some of the really great stuff out there in favor of the stuff that was mildly popular when it came out.

With literally tens of thousands of songs to choose from, you'd think KUFX would have more variety.

From:

Exactly! When KMAX was still on the air, I would regularly hears songs that I hadn't heard in 20 or 30 years. They weren't the "classics", but they were good songs that I'd completely forgotten about until they played'em.

From:

You need to come to helvetica's house when we're building rar suits. He's put me in charge of the music for whatever reason, and I guarantee you'll hear stuff you've either not heard in twenty years, or get exposed to some interesting new stuff.

I've been in a Leonard Cohen mood today, oddly enough. He doesn't get any airplay, but definitely should.

From:

Hee. I have the Future sitting in the CD folder right next to me, waiting for a Cohen mood.

In fact, there's one now.

I'll bring some late '60s Uriah Heep and King Crimson with me when I come over.

Edited Date: 2010-04-03 11:12 pm (UTC)

From: