Frazz by Jef Mallett for March 10, 2023

Everybody’s always skipping over things. What if that was a song that would change your view, or your perception. Like, “For What it’s Worth”.

Caulfield clicked the “Skip Intro” icon.

Not engaged?

I’d like to skip DJ commentary

Thus spake the songwriter.

I’ve learned to appreciate a song I didn’t think I liked, after hearing it again, “…tale of a fateful trip. With seven stranded castaways…”

Since you asked, Frazz, yes you are.

That’s what made AOR so great. (album oriented rock)

Perhaps it’s a brain stimulation thing. If given the technological option, humans get more of what they like faster and faster and shorten their attention span in the process. Now we’re down to TikTok… where to next?

Or got sick of a song you liked.

The first time I heard Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World” I said, “Hey! What a great song!” A month later I was ready to shoot the radio if they played it again. What, was it every 20 minutes?

Tiny playlists, same songs over and over and over again, and a profit-driven corporation deciding what you would listen to.

I used to change stations just to hear a song AGAIN. How better to learn the words!

Stream non-commercial radio. There are some great non-commercial stations out there.

I seem to recall something about not having new experiences being linked to cognitive decline, might have made it up tho… I’ve started listening to the first verse of the Saturday Night Live guest before skipping ahead to Weekend Update. Occasionally glad i did.

Wonder how many songs started out on the flip side (remember those?) and ended up being hits by accident.

I ripped all of my CDs to MP3s and have Music Bee. I have it on random and it plays what I like because it is music that I bought. The only ones I skip is the Christmas music out of season, LOL!

Guilty!

Ah radio, where you can hear the same 40 songs over and over and over until you hate them. I’ll take streaming, which has introduced me to many new bands I never knew about and don’t get radio play.

Radio would be better if there weren’t so many damm commercials and corporate control. Want a great indie; tune into www.wyce.org in Grand Rapids!!

Remember that a few of us were at the other end, the guy who had to go to the library and pick the music, especially at a station that had formats nights. Our station had a so so library of folk, rock, MOR, classical, and country. I had the gig as a part timer and I lived beside the station. More rewarding than being at the pub. (except my day job paid way more than any of the station staff earned, so the $$ wasn’t a big deal and nobody else wanted the job.)

Except the night I was going to give away an album if you could guess the group now who sang Dunrobin’s Gone then and no one called in. I ended up calling the weather station to see if we were on the air. Sitting in a million dollar radio station and no one is listening.

We could play stuff like Donovan’s Intergalactic Laxative and Je t’aime… moi non plus after midnight

On radio, it is called changing the channel.

I’ll give any song a chance, but I’ve only got so many hours in my life.

On a side note, I recently heard someone claim that the reason “McArthur’s Park”, one of the most hated songs in all pop music, rose to such heights in the billboard charts is because it ran for 7 minutes, giving DJs a chance to skip out for a quick smoke break while it was playing. It had nothing to do with how often it was requested, or whether anybody really liked it or not, but DJs played it over and over!

I think about this often. When I was young I’d buy a record and put it on to play. When side 1 was done I’d flip it over and play the other side. I listened to the whole record, good songs and bad. Eventually I’d make a mix tape of my favourites, but I would listen to every song on a record.

Nowadays I hear a song I like and download it. I don’t even bother with the album. It’s sad, because I have long been the type of person to like the deep cuts, the ones that don’t get any radio play.

I grew up in the Chicago market in the 60s listening to WCFL and WLS when both were powerhouse Top 40 stations. We knew that if we heard a particular song on one of the stations, we could switch to the other and most likely hear the same song in just a minute or so. Their playlists were almost identical at that time. So we’d go back and forth, either looking for a repeat of a favorite or “skipping past” one we didn’t like.

Remember having a tape deck next to the radio? I have Pandora now…I have a saved playlist of over 4000 songs!!! No commercials! Shuffle and play, repeat, all at the touch of my fingertips. Looking for a certain song? Pull up search, hit play! The only time I listen to a radio is when I ride with someone else, otherwise, I have my phone out and listening to my songs.

I’d like to thank the various duopoly party supporters for their insults, stupid pet names for people and organizations they don’t like, evasions, unwillingness to answer easy and reasonable questions, inaccurate conclusions about irrelevant things, and deflections.

And for your valid criticisms of the other duopoly party, if you happened to also do that at some point.

You’ve show those who support neither duopoly party, a large and growing part of the electorate, what supporters of your favorite duopoly party are like, and given them even more reason to remain unaffiliated.

Good job.

Maybe we’ll have a song subber for radio like they have skip commercials for Tivo