Another post complaining about Radio. Oh Joy.

Modern music is eating itself. There's the continuously recycled 80s influences, which are only partially shrouded by the bands who are claiming to be influenced by mid-90s bands, who were in turn almost always wholly influenced by early-80s bands, and then there's the fact that songs from the early 90s are still in regular radio rotation. This, more than the dull influences issue, is a big problem for me. There are still songs in regular modern rock radio rotation that are nearly twenty years old. This kind of blows my mind. Think back to listening to radio in the mid-90s. How pissed would you have been if you had been listening to rock songs from the late 70s sprinkled throughout your Pumpkins/Soundgarden/Green Day/Matthew Sweet radio set? It would have been preposterous! So why are we still content with listening to Nirvana songs from three presidential administrations ago? The fact that we haven't let these songs pass into the rock-radio library of yester-year is what keeps us in such a terrible cycle. It's why nu-metal never went away, but instead just morphed into "post grunge" (breaking benjamin, sick puppies, etc.) the way a fat ugly guy goes through trans-gender surgery to become a fat ugly woman: even with a face lift and a weird boob-job, it's still the same mopey, fat, ugly fucker.

I've heard through the grapevine that a lot of this is due to Clear Channel's heavy reliance on focus groups. I understand the commercial application of them, but I think it is unfortunate that they have handed over something that should essentially be a creative enterprise to the sub-democratic maelstrom. Individuals are bright, energetic, and creative. The collective is gray and mediocre at best. This is why focus groups are bad for radio business. If you put ten people in a room and ask them to agree on something to listen to, they're all going to default to a list heavy on shit they've already heard and kind of liked, with no regard for the law of diminishing returns. Not only does this make the radio experience boring as hell for the rest of us, but it dilutes the experience for younger listeners. I had the privilege of growing up with radio stations that rarely played songs more than three years old. But they never stopped playing those damn songs. Now, just think, every time you hear a Temple of the Dog or Collective Soul (UGH!) track on the radio, you're listening to four minutes of air that could have gone to a new band. Maybe you wouldn't have liked them, but at least it wouldn't be the same four excruciating minutes of bullshit you've suffered through countless times before.