Radio
I've been doing it for a long time... over 13 years. There have been some great times up there. The mayhem of the early years... funding drive shenanigans... colourful guests... rowdy live acts... pizza parties with Ube and Tobe.
Of course, the music is what it's all about. Punk rock has been a big part of my life (I'll leave it at that to avoid getting cheesy), and continues to be. How many bands have I played on the airwaves? Hundreds? Thousands? I wouldn't know half of what I know about music were it not for the new things I've tried in the name of keeping the show fresh and current.
The world is never going to run out of good new bands, but the number of old, classic bands that fit on my show is finite. In recent times I've reached more and more for obscurities to keep up that end of things. When I felt like I had heard all of the best bands from the english-speaking world I looked beyond, to continental Europe and elsewhere.
Tonight I was playing a really obscure Italian punk comp and I thought, man... these bands are great, but I'm really digging deep here. I need good, old bands to serve as a framework for the new music I play. There's so much shitty, awful punk rock today. I don't know what I hate more, wanna-be boy bands or reactionary, cookie cutter bands that detest innovation of any kind. I need to show the world:
Me (plays old band): See, wasn't that awesome?
anonymous listener to him/herself: Wow, that was great. They don't make 'em like that anymore.
Me (plays new band): This band is doing it right. See the connection?
listener: Oh.... yeaaaah!
Young musicians: you don't have to play shitty music. The spirit of "77 punk" or "81 hardcore" that so many people look up to is alive, just not in the contemporary music you have heard. Here is some you may not have heard. See? Nothing is fucked, here. Nothing is fucked!
The problem is, if I run out of vintage punk bands that inspire me, I can't put modern music in its proper context. The context that is the whole meaning of my show.
There are other issues. Saturday night feels like less of a party time. I get the sense that Ube feels this too. The punk rock mission keeps me coming back. The mission.
Other factors have detracted from some of the joy, but I've already touched on the major ones. I guess I'm worried I may soon have nothing left to teach.
Shit, I don't even know if there's anyone still in the fucking classroom.
Of course, the music is what it's all about. Punk rock has been a big part of my life (I'll leave it at that to avoid getting cheesy), and continues to be. How many bands have I played on the airwaves? Hundreds? Thousands? I wouldn't know half of what I know about music were it not for the new things I've tried in the name of keeping the show fresh and current.
The world is never going to run out of good new bands, but the number of old, classic bands that fit on my show is finite. In recent times I've reached more and more for obscurities to keep up that end of things. When I felt like I had heard all of the best bands from the english-speaking world I looked beyond, to continental Europe and elsewhere.
Tonight I was playing a really obscure Italian punk comp and I thought, man... these bands are great, but I'm really digging deep here. I need good, old bands to serve as a framework for the new music I play. There's so much shitty, awful punk rock today. I don't know what I hate more, wanna-be boy bands or reactionary, cookie cutter bands that detest innovation of any kind. I need to show the world:
Me (plays old band): See, wasn't that awesome?
anonymous listener to him/herself: Wow, that was great. They don't make 'em like that anymore.
Me (plays new band): This band is doing it right. See the connection?
listener: Oh.... yeaaaah!
Young musicians: you don't have to play shitty music. The spirit of "77 punk" or "81 hardcore" that so many people look up to is alive, just not in the contemporary music you have heard. Here is some you may not have heard. See? Nothing is fucked, here. Nothing is fucked!
The problem is, if I run out of vintage punk bands that inspire me, I can't put modern music in its proper context. The context that is the whole meaning of my show.
There are other issues. Saturday night feels like less of a party time. I get the sense that Ube feels this too. The punk rock mission keeps me coming back. The mission.
Other factors have detracted from some of the joy, but I've already touched on the major ones. I guess I'm worried I may soon have nothing left to teach.
Shit, I don't even know if there's anyone still in the fucking classroom.
posted by the baron ash von foolishness at 2:38 AM
2 comments
