KROQ, the radio station I grew up listening to, lost its luster long ago and for the past few trips back down to Southern California, I never bothered to flip the radio dial in my rental car to 106.7.
I had heard about a new radio station, Indie 103.1, and never really paid much attention to it until our trip last week, and I instantly became a convert. Sure, it's not as "Indie" as KEXP up here, which is entirely commercial free (Indie is also owned by Clear Channel, so explain to me again why it's "Indie"?) but they played some really awesome stuff when I was down there.
Case in point, we drove from Santa Monica back down to Laguna Niguel, where we were staying...easily an hour drive, after spending the day seeing friends, walking to the beach, eating at my all-time favorite, Islands, and we were all dog tired. With Mr. Na and his Pa both passed out, I couldn't believe my ears when I heard "Waterfall" from The Stone Roses--a song I hadn't heard in 15 years. It sent chills down my spine and I was flooded with memories. Of course, the minute I got back to Seattle, I pulled out my Stone Roses CD (and blew the dust off) and listened to "Waterfall". Matter of fact, that whole CD is just amazing and I'm really glad to have rediscovered it.
I'm a loyal listener to KEXP and love the fact that anyone can listen to it online anywhere in the world; but now I have a second favorite that's also available on the 'net. If you haven't done so already, check them out by clicking on the links above!
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- LeFemmeMonkita
- Seattle, Washington, United States
- Writer, Runner, and Mother of two awesomely cool children we adopted from Ukraine in 2004 and 2008.
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3 comments:
Ian Brown has a new solo album out and just started a tour of the US, hence the rekindled interest in the Stone Roses.
When I was in Thailand, the part of the beach that was closest to my guest house was overrun by these contractors from Manchester; they'd work all summer, save their money, and come live in Thailand for the winter. They had a minidisc player, a set of small speakers, and EVERY STONE ROSES REMIX KNOWN TO MANKIND.
which they would play EVERY NIGHT.
xoxo
Maggie, I swear we have so many things in common and yet we seem so freakin different.I love Indie too. It changed last year and I instantly fell in love with it.When I was going to coachella last year I didn't know the bands'names but,I had heard the music on the radio.My nephew said it was impossible they wouldn't play them and then he came out and realized his Aunt wasn't crazy!Jones'jukebox and passport approved-I walked many a mile listening to those shows.
The Killers' guest appearance on Loveline last night got me thinking...
Several years ago KROQ FM 106.7 in Los Angeles made the shortsighted decision to jettison most of their playlist. They replaced Elvis Costello with Korn and dropped Duran Duran in favor of Limp Bizkit. KROQ stopped playing most of the early 80's bands that originally made the station "World Famous".
The only nod "The Rock" now begrudgingly gives to it's progenitors is 1 hour per day and a few hours during the weekend. Even then, these Flashback Shows play only the tamest of the 80's.
KROQ's tight focus on "flavor of the moment", testosterone fueled, thrash groups and Blink 182 sound alike bands, leaves little room for acknowledging the great artists of station's past. Everyone's got to clean house at some point but do you throw out those treasured pics of Mom and Dad along with your old can of hair mousse?
KROQ did. And by doing so it also disposed with it's sense of humor, musical adventurousness and much of it's soul.
95.5 KLOS FM once tried a similar approach, "updating" their format. It was a disaster. They soon repented and changed their playlist back to feature more of the the legendary artists that put them and much of contemporary Rock Music, on the map.
KROQ's programming decision may now finally be biting them in the ass as well. Witness the prolific rise of new groups that are heavily influenced by 80's New Wave. Modest Mouse, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand and and others' meteoric popularity cannot be ignored. Not even by KROQ.
So now KROQ has no choice but to play virtually the very same music they turned their back on not so long ago.
Hey KROQ, how about a little salt with your crow?
The true spirit of musical adventure now resides at Indie 103.1 FM. They are not afraid to play the best of the late 70's, early 80's (you know, the stuff KROQ used to play) and the latest cutting edge alternative rock.
Yes, I'm a Pimp for Indie. But only because they have made radio fun to listen to again.
- DJ Craig
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