UPDATE: My cut and paste skills are getting rusty because my fingers are turning into giant smoked sausages from the portion sizes around here- videos make 10% more sense now END UPDATE
On the bumper-sticker front:
Saw my first version of SECEDE. For all of my critcism of our hypocritical and Medium Lobster-denigrated society, I must say I still found it enraging, so it was likely a win for the bumper and a loss for the bumpee. I can’t decide how ironic it was that it was on a Toyota Yaris and not the expected F350 king cab.
On the radio front:
This is a much more extensive section of the report. I hadn’t yet found the local version of the classic country format so that was something that only got tuned in on the way back from the closest sprawling, unzoned metropolis to Cloverhill Big T (the way down is usually Rick Dees’ Top 40 countdown, of which we only can get about 9 songs before losing it). So coming back one day we had an especially good run.
The first song I can’t identify but it sounded like late 50s/early 60s production and a really good voiced male singer. I think there was a Loretta Lynn in there.
Then Willie and Waylon, ubercoolly namechecking themselves. That is so outlaw. Love it.
Then, what I guess I would have expected would be illegal in a country song, irresistible hand claps. Juice Newton! Seriously, Belle and Sebastian should just twee this up an score an easy hipster B-side.
Followed by an all-time great, The King:
Little did I know I was just being tenderized for the body slam. This cowpie came through the windshield at 85 mph:
Lesson learned.
Moving on, because I spend more time in the car, I spend more time with the radio. I realize I could listen to something else, but I still hold out hope for that little charge of happiness when some mindless corporate radio programmer throws an interesting or nostalgic bone my way, instead od the mindless corporate shuffle on my iPod or some such. I only listen to CDs or music of my actual choosing on long drives because I can’t shake the engrained habit of hopefully scanning the dial for something unplanned and wonderful to come on, or sheepishly, something wonderfully terrible.
We have what I guess would be called a Top 40 station, that was 60% Gaga all summer, with 30% Taylor Swift. Very randomly for Big Texas Cinnamon Roll they have a midmorning DJ who is Australian (some listeners think she’s English).
We also have an Urban “Beat” station, but on weekend mornings they kick it Oaktown oldschool style (K knows of what I speak).
The majority of what we have that is tolerable enough to make it onto the presets, though, are various mix/magic/first name stations. Here are a few choice bits:
The Point: Big city station comes in all the way to Big T, I believe these cobags were the perpetrators of the Def Leppard/Erasure double shot. They bill themselves as 80s and more, but what they mean by 80s is 83-95, and it seems like they are mining Hysteria nonstop. “Animal”, “Rocket” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me” have all featured, and I think we have to assume “Armageddon It”, “Love Bites” and “Hysteria” make it in their mix, but no “Foolin” or “Photograph” because that might break their algorithm. It is this station that rode me both into and out of work with this next song, as if I had pressed pause for the intervening 9 hours.
Keep in mind that I view this sort of music as “Blue Girl” music, and I realize that I do this because BG is the next generation up from myself, and I don’t want to even consider the possibility that I could be on the edge of the demographic targeted by this station. I started listening to the radio at the age of 8, so I remember most of these songs from the first time around, but really would prefer that the alleged “horrible” “cheesiness”* of these songs is not aimed at any nascent or growing nostalgic reverie type behavior on my part. Therefore, I create an alternate universe where BG (no joke!) is listening to these songs and then posting about some awesome hijinks she got into with her cool friends and some crazy station wagon in an idealized midwestern town possibly involving harmless drug use or alcohol, things not present in my childhood or at least my memory.
Also all over this station and the next:
Also, lots and lots of Phil.
Jack: DJ-less automaton robot mix presents essentially a shuffle that goes beyond what you would expect from your Alice, Bob, Ted type stations in that it seems to be a true Top 40 mix of songs from 1975-2005, but skewing heavily 80s. This means they mine some unexpected corners. For example, everywhere else I’ve lived has whittled down this crap band’s radio contribution to “Working for the Weekend” but Jack pulls out:
Shortly followed by this one hit wonder. I allude to Sly Fox and “Let’s Go All the Way”, and if you listen to it at the right angle, in another dimension you might be convinced it could be a Love and Rockets song.
Possibly related, Pitchfork decides to relive their older brother’s childhood and reexamine Hall and Oates, because to remain cool in hipster narrative is always to connect with your older bro’s/sis’s pop records because everything in your life is a music policy position. Seriously, we have GOT our EYES on you sad sacks. UC prepare yourself for the cobaggery. If I can hack it with the arrival of project CODE NAME: SMALLTIME BEEF, you surely must be able to give to our readers. We are a mere month away.
*Awesomeness?
Paranoia big destroyer.
How many wrong videos can I post here? It is like madlibs. Everything fixed, I think. Also, I’m going to punch You Tube.
Have you gotten yourself stuck in a Red State or something? Is this blog now Pinko Punko In A Red State: My Long National Nightmare Is Not Over?
Pinko Punko vs Giant Honeybun: Electric Boogaloo!
Cloverhill Big Texas Honey Bun thinks it is its own country.
I have been stewing about the H&O thing all weekend. Apparently, they are excellent song writers, singers, and great personalities, but their music is tacky. I can’t think of a more shallow position to take and such unhipster lingo as well. I plan on using the tacky tactic full-on when examining 100 tracks they think are better than any H&O song.
Pinko, I am crying for your ears on the inside. Do you need an XM subscription?
That is my all-time favorite Elvis song…
And yes, I’ll repeat my confession here… I saw H&O’s in concert when I was in college… even if you liked them, there was still that little part of you that hated yourself in the morning…
I also believe H&O’s was the last 8-track I bought. YES! I SAID 8-TRACK! It was on sale…
I realized I was now a targeted demographic when I saw Grosse Pointe Blank, a thinly veiled excuse for creating a nostalgic soundtrack album carefully constructed so that I MUST BUY IT!!!one!!1!
It was The Big Chill gambit for the next generation.
I think it’s become personal for Pinko now.
He WILL find a listenable station.
FWIW, when I was a kid I always thought the band was “Haulin’ Oats” when it was on the radio; until I saw an album. I think I was happier before I knew.
fish,
GPB soundtrack was a combo of super coolio KROQ style (Tones on Tail) and leaching into more spread out modern rock (Femmes). The issue I had about that soundtrack is would that have been a tony Detroit burb school soundtrack, I guess maybe. CIMX Windsor-Detroit was playing some OK stuff I guess, but more likely I feel like it would have been Nugent. WRIF!!!!!!!!!! THE RIFF.
I listen to the ol’ Pandora at workapottamus. BG and her stupud, yeah I said stupud! music.
In all fairness, Pinko, and as an erstwhile Ombudszombie, I don’t think you can blame Texas on BG.
The issue I had about that soundtrack is would that have been a tony Detroit burb school soundtrack,
yup, that is why it was pretense for album sales.
Now if you buy a shiny new iPhone (seeing as you are now saving so much money by moving to a no-tax state, feel the stimulation baby), you can plug it into your car radio and play Pandora in the car too.
It won’t work though, that circumvents the truly desired randomness of the radio when it is like the radio we remember. Pandora would just play stuff I want to hear, and let’s just say I’m not expecting awesome 3G coverage in the Bun.
You could make a Pandora channel that plays music you don’t want to hear. That would teach them.
PP, anytime that you want me, anytime that you need me, you just click on over. I will give you all of my sunshine.
It won’t work though, that circumvents the truly desired randomness of the radio when it is like the radio we remember.
There’s no pleasing him… Pinko’s glass will always be half empty.
You could make a Pandora channel that plays music you don’t want to hear. That would teach them.
LOL
I rarely ever listen radio music because I have a low tolerance for music I don’t like, and there isn’t a music channel that plays a combination of Delerium/Balligomingo/Sleepthief/some-other-nondance-eletronica and very dramatic opera and classical and musical show tunes. If you don’t like “rough” in your music, the only left are the boring-type classical stations and (ugh) inane “easy listening”.
With that specific a taste in music, I can’t even train Pandora correctly. Last time I tried, I thumbs-downed at least 50% of their songs, and it never righted itself after weeks. So I load my crackberry just with songs I like and listen to NPR in the car.
Doesn’t anybody remember when the right song would come on at the right time and you’d be infinitely happy and sad at the same time? It just doesn’t work that way when you press play knowing what song is coming on. Sigh.
I guess the common denominator for the music I like is “precise/sharp/mathematical/complex” but not dance-repetitive. I find it hard to convince myself that anything else is actually music. No improv jazz for me!
Doesn’t anybody remember when the right song would come on at the right time and you’d be infinitely happy and sad at the same time? It just doesn’t work that way when you press play knowing what song is coming on. Sigh.
Nope. Last time I listened to radio with anything like appreciation, stoners still ran the FM stations; one Madison station would play an entire album all the way through on Sunday nights, with no breaks or commercials even at the flip; you could set a tape and get a pretty clean copy. The same station gave me the second Cars album one week, and Highway to Hell another. Take that, record companies!!
But I find that 160 gigs on my iPod drastically reduces the chance of ‘Knowing what is going to come on when I hit play” And if I keep loading all the daily free songs I get from emUsic and PowerPop, I can’t even identify the songs much of the time…
Doesn’t anybody remember when the right song would come on at the right time and you’d be infinitely happy and sad at the same time? It just doesn’t work that way when you press play knowing what song is coming on. Sigh.
Ok, I’ll give you that one…
I have my crackberry set to randomize mode. What I know is that I won’t get anything I will actively dislike.
But I find that 160 gigs on my iPod drastically reduces the chance of ‘Knowing what is going to come on when I hit play” And if I keep loading all the daily free songs I get from emUsic and PowerPop, I can’t even identify the songs much of the time…
Still, at some point you still knew about the song and cared enough that you chose it. I do like having total spontaneity. I like finding a song that is perfect that I never knew about.
PP, I’m with you 108% on the random awesome song you come upon surfing the radio. It’s why I still listen to the radio. It’s the best when the perfect one comes on.
Even when I hit random on iTunes, I close my eyes and click out of the screen really fast so I don’t even get a hint of what the songs are that are gonna play.
I like finding a song that is perfect that I never knew about.
O, me too.
I just find that “radio” does not serve my purposes in this regard.
I like that feeling of surprise too I can only really get from the radio. I’m also relatively lucky. We have a public radio station that plays a fairly eclectic mix. This is what I heard driving to work this morning.
Tom Waits – Bend Down The Branches
Ramones – Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue
The Magnetic Fields – Absolutely Cuckoo
Guided by Voices – Teenage FBI
Neutral Milk Hotel – A Baby for Pree
The Replacements – Run It
They Might Be Giants – Minimum Wage
Pixies – Allison
The Bees – Voices Green And Purple
The Beatles – Maggie Mae
Minutemen – Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing
Elvis Presley – A Little Less Conversation
The White Stripes – Fell in Love with a Girl
Eddie Vedder – Hard Sun
Echo and the Bunnymen – The Killing Moon
I’m just shocked that no one has greeted anyone this week with HAPPY HADRONMAS!!!
Ahh, see, Snag has been eating everyone else’s good radio.
I will also say that with the exception of the Beatles and the Elvis (the fat dead one), Snag’s playlist could have come from my ipod.
Probably would have had more Rush though.
Bad Snag…
10 off the Magnificent Seven this morning:
Garbage-androgyny
Pet Engine – Reach For A Star
Sparklehorse – Some Sweet Day
The Figgs – Bristol Sisters
R.E.M. – Monty Got A Raw Deal
Black Flag – Damaged
American Music Club – Johnny Mathis’ Feet
Jesus & Mary Chain – Feeling Lucky
Weezer – El Scorcho
Bad Religion – 52 Seconds (that one was for Pinko)
A good jock can artfully assemble a playlist that creates interesting and inspiring juxtapositions of songs. However, I don’t think there are many of those DJs left anymore and if there are, they are constrained by forced playlists. And while it may not be quite as unpredictable as a radio station, it also featured several artists you will NEVER EVER EVER hear on a radio station (as well as the potential for throwing in some George Carlin, some frog sounds, Appalachian Hollerin’, or some mst3K sound bites).
And between emusic, and Snag, and SOTD, I can always find something new and sublime to listen to.
So I am content.
Allow me to predict the lyrics for the Bad Religion song.
52 seconds 52 seconds 52 seconds linking verb noun clause
Repeat
ZRM you have not commented on the two most recent Songs of the Day.
Bad Religion harks from the AC/DC school of ROCK!
I’m still dwelling in the Neon Indian thread….
Bad Religion can’t even complete their Masters of Suck, while of course AC/DC has numerous Doctorates in Awesome.
mmmmm sausage fingers.
PupH! Sausage fingers for mocking not for eating!
Bad R is the punk AC/DC.
Pinko you forgot to add pretentious and horrible poetry. Something along the lines of:
Oh wait, those are the actual lyrics.
And doritos for a sad nutrition
iPods for a musical sedition
apologies lacking true contrition
an oasis level rhyming diction
to Mars, bitches, on a space mission
Take 5s we be thinking delishun
bad songs are our bad religion
Seriously, Bad Religion has no chance against my rhymes!
blah blah, Pinko singing hatred
fish backs him up and swims in hurt
I don’t care, the iPod gives the sound
Ain’t gonna listen to their sad report
Song of the Day
noise on my laptop
Song of the day
don’t let it stop
But the comment thread’s
bringing me down….
I just sent that to Greg Graffin!!
admittedly, not everybody can write lyrics like Steve Perry.
Pinko does, however, show an alarming level of knowledge of Def Leppard releases.
I believe I am only a couple comments from assuming full control of this blog, and ask for a ruling from teh CCA.
I am afraid that next, PP, fish, and UC will be telling me I shouldn’t be enjoying the Metallica S&M disc as much as I currently am…
When I was in junior high, I spent many a rainy summer day with the radio on and a blank tape ready to record something I liked. Now when I rent a car (as I did this week), I love playing radio roulette. Satellite makes it easier and has a higher payload, but I feel like I’ve hit a $1000 scratch-off ticket if something on the radio surprises me.
While I do love me some early Bad Religion, Pinko’s song did swipe my stiletto out of my hand. Well played. And I would take AC/DC over them, because guitar-playing lawn gnomes in school boy outfits beat out singers with PhDs.
I cannot wait to pull out AMG during P-Fork week.
I believe I am only a couple comments from assuming full control of this blog, and ask for a ruling from teh CCA.
Denied.
Brando! I thought you’d come over and show me some Journey love!
Denied
more zombie hate. sigh.
guitar-playing lawn gnomes in school boy outfits beat out singers with PhDs.
I concede the point. well-argued, sir.
something something LATE 20th CENTURY MUSIC something something STORY FROM MY CHILDHOOD blah blah WITTY RHYMING COUPLET
*sniff* Won’t somebody please think of the hadrons?
Higgs Boson posts at S,N.
I thought of you, Mandos, when I saw that CNN thought it was a good idea to report that “some physicists think the God particle will travel back in time to prevent its creation” blah blah. Thanks, CNN, great story!!!!!!
Happy thanksgiving peoples.
I’m so flattered that you think of me when you watch CNN
As for Higgs Boson, pfff. Those bosons with their loose morals, always bouncing from atom to atom carrying state, and not following Fermi-Dirac statistics. Give me an upright lepton any day.
That is so stereotypical boson bashing. Yes, they get around and have many “friends” or potential friends. IS THAT WRONG!!??!!1
DOUBLE STANDARD.
If a double standard is half assed would it make a sound if nobody was there?
I presume Kathleen is complaining about the wave/particle duality. That has been a particle tradition from time immemorial.
Bosons have the capacity to destroy the VERY FABRIC of society reality if left unchecked. Why, the weak interaction violates symmetry maximally, those brazen W/Z hussies!
Kathleen’s comment has a little something for everyone! How does she do it?
That has been a particle tradition from time immemorial.
We are aware of all particle traditions. We just don’t know exactly where they’re going.
Men D, would you say you had a Particular Uncertainty regarding the relevant traditions?
*I’m sorry but I need to self-award points for this one.
Does this make it a bad moment to mention that I went to see Hall and Oates back in the 80s? I hate it when Pitchfork’s dogma chases my karma.
Also my favorite by Elvis. (Though for some unknown reason, while watching the video, I was thinking: somebody needs to do a mashup of this song with something by Kraftwerk.)
Has anyone ever seen Jennifer and me together? I mean, I haven’t. Hmmm….
I think I have a 45 of that Juice Newton song. If not, it’s not because I wasn’t into it when it came out.
I remember when Crystal Gale was on Sesame Street. I think that was the best episode ever.
Next your video can be distributed to over 50 video sites for around $150 and can be with several optimized descriptions targeting your 3 keyword phrases, the video sites are also high page rank and offer great exposure to your potential customers.Get yourself put on google local by a professional who knows how and what to do and when people search for local business they will find you on the front page, that costs around $100 and your video can be put on there too.
Shannan Bottomly is an EXCELLENT porn name.