5 (Radio) Songs In A Row
May 30th, 2009 by Nick Truden in Features, NewsI’ve come to terms recently that I like to be rushed when I write. I usually wait till the
very last moment to start doing all my writing. Drafts? Pfft. Who needs those? I shoot from the hip. When my iPod plays the five songs that are to be used for an issue I immediately try to tie them all together in some kind of basic theme or idea.
Something to make it interesting and make you, the reader, keep reading. For this issue however, a lightning storm went off over my head. I guess it was only a matter of time considering the incessant rain we’ve been getting here in ol’ sunny Florida. Sunshine State my ass.
A few evenings ago I was stuck driving a car that was not my own. No iPod hookup which meant no way to play my pocket-sized digital jukebox which provides limitless comfort in even the most harrowing of situations. No, nothing but Lorenna McKinnet CDs and a mix CD that my brother made.
I wasn’t in the mood for Celtic croons or emo-punk balladry. My only option was to then swallow my pride and turn the radio on to find a station. It was a big deal for me considering that I had swore off the medium nearly a decade ago. The only, and I do mean ONLY, time I will turn the radio on is if I don’t have my iPod or any CDs to play at my disposal, and even then I only listen to talk radio.
And then it came to me. Why don’t I do a 5SIAR with five random songs being played on the radio? One right after another, each time from a different station. Just then a bolt of lightning came down about 20 feet away from the road I was driving on. Coincidence?
I immediately dreaded the usual garbage that exists on the airwaves. I was begging the gods that be to not give me Nickelback, Disturbed, or everyone’s radio favorite Third Eye Blind. My silent prayers were answered when the first song that was played was none other than the ever classic head-bobbing, rock/soul/blues anthem dedicated to inter-racial sex, sadomasochism, and heroin use: The Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar.”
So as the heavens poured down the rain in buckets I cranked the volume and jammed out to Mick, Keith, and the boys. I had been worried only a few minutes prior that I wasn’t going to find anything good to listen to. I’ve always equated the radio with music television stations like MTV and VH1. Yeah, they used to play videos, but now all their programming consists of reality shows. I view radio in the same light. Nothing but overplayed, top 40, run of the mill standards that are meant to be played over and over till you get sick and just can’t wait for that needless station to change their format. It’s recycled garbage, and not the good kind either.
Yet on the other side of the coin, radio does have it’s brighter moments peaking through the dark cloud of mediocrity. Every once in a while (like this one) you come across something you either A: haven’t heard in a long time and suddenly hear it on the radio and immediately become nostalgic or B: have never heard the song that is playing in your life and you suddenly discover something new. It may be something you like or dislike, but the point is that you’re experiencing something new. I used to think radio wasn’t good for something like that anymore, but shame on me for being my usual judgmental self.
To read more on my special 5 radio songs in a row edition visit www.5songsinarow.com.
May 31st, 2009 at 9:14 am
i like to listen to am 820 when i don’t feel like the music i have so i can get pissed off and riled up.