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Saturday, July 29, 2006
The radio
I don't listen to the radio much anymore, actually I haven't listened to it for years. Back in the mid-80's I listened to it quite a bit. My favorite channel was 98Rock out of Baltimore. They played a lot of popular pop stuff like U2 and Prince, but they played some metal as well. I remember listening a weekly local show called Friday night metal where they played metal songs for an hour. They played popular stuff like Judas Priest and Dio, but lesser known stuff like Raven, Venom and Y and T as well. This was where I first heard Motorhead and Metallica. Then on Saturday they the nationally syndicated show the Metalshop. This show had real feature with interviews and a lot new metal songs. It was here that I first heard Megadeth and Metal Church. I remember going to church camp in 1985 and they didn't allow radios, but our counselor brought his anyhow. We stayed up late one night and we crowded around this little radio because 98Rock was playing the new Crue "Theater of Pain" in it's entirety. Not that great an album, but it was still exciting for someone like me that didn't have the money to buy everything new to have a chance to hear the new album. The radio station also had a Sunday feature called six albums at six which is where they played six whole albums at 6:00 of course.This was where I first heard Deep Purple's Perfect Strangers and Dio's Sacred Heart. I love being able to get CD's now , but back between 83-86 the radio helped bring me music that I couldn't afford to buy. I was introduced to a lot of bands that I wouldn't have heard otherwise so I appreciate the radio for that.
Metal Shop: The Only Show With Teeth. :)
ReplyDeleteI was in the same boat as you were regarding radio, still listen to it even though I've been making my own cds. A New Orleans radio station just started doing Mullet Mondays where they play mostly metal stuff mixed with their usual classic rock - classic now meaning, VH & Ozzy, etc.
cool post, as usual. :)
I've been listening to the radio since I was a little boy; still do. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that my father was a DJ from about 1956-1969, so the radio was always on in our house. Over the years, I developed my own tastes in music, and rarely go a day without the radio, even though the local scene is less than desirable. Thankfully, the Internet has allowed me to discover other stations throughout the country and Canada.
ReplyDeleteThe local station runs "Hard Drive" with Lou Brutus at midnight on Sundays, but that's all the metal we get, for the most part.
I listened to the radio a lot when I was in my classic rock phase during the early 80s. After that, I've never really bothered with it. I used to listen to Metal Shop on Saturday nights too.
ReplyDeleteThe rock radio stations in Philly are almost all talk now.
Onmywatch-Mullet Mondays sounds cool.
ReplyDeleteSteve-I used to listen to a lot of sports talk radio when I was in college.
Bruce-If you raised listening to the radio then it probably sticks with you to some extent.
Fred-The metal shop was great. By 1986 it was probably the only thing on the radio I was listening to. I remember tuning in late in 86 and it was no longer on and there was no explanation or anything.
For me it was Radio 1's John Peel show from 10 til' midnight. He intoduced tons of new acts that are household names now.
ReplyDeleteDavid Bowie, T.Rex, The Cure, Simple Minds, The White Stripes.
He's a legend in the UK and yet he started his career in the States.
Similar thoughts inspired my last post about music growing up. I recall hearing Van Halen's first post-DLR song, "Why Can't This Be Love" from 5150 for the first time and thinking it wasn't like the songs from 1984 ... but it was good enough (pardon the pun) for me to run out and get 5150 the day it came out.
ReplyDeleteI loved that album so much for about a year, and it has lost appeal to me pretty much every year since. Now I listen to it less than any DLR-era album and less than most of DLR's solo albums I have (four).
I also still remember the awful day when a local calssic rock station near me had their "Memorial Day 500" of the best classic rock songs ever, and I heard "Stariway to Heaven" at number two. I had heard the song a couple of times before, and I couldn't imagine any songs topping it.
When they played, at number one, something I'd never heard called "Freebird" by some group called Lynyrd Skynyrd ... well, that's when I really stopped listening to radio as much.
-- david