Killer Music
By: Quill Wordsmith
wordsmith@excapethematrix.com
I’m sitting at my desk at work and I glance down at my clock. It reads something like 9 a.m. or so. The radio behind me brings its long string of commercials to an end and I hear Beyonce’s, “Get Me Bodied” beginning to blare out of the speakers. She’s one of today’s hottest performers and her vocal range can stretch far beyond what the ear can hear. This article is not about her. In fact, it’s far from her. After diving further into my work, it seems as if only 20 minutes go by before I’m either hearing the same song again or “Lost Your Mind” by the same artist (but in actuality it was 2 hours). This is today’s mainstream radio; today’s mainstream industry.
Of course we’re each aware of all the discrepancies today’s music industry has. But what would happen if the term “underground” no longer had to apply to today’s music industry? And then I began to wonder; I started to time how frequently one of Baltimore’s top urban music stations played songs by today’s artists. In a particular order, Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab”, Sean Kingston’s “Suicide” and Beyonce’s “Lost Your Mind” all tend to throw out a subliminal message. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming the behavior of today’s wild and crazy youth on the songs on the radio but I wouldn’t say that my reasoning is too far fetched either.
I began to do some research and reached out to the administrative offices of the radio station to see what information I could find. My main inquiry was who selects or organizes the songs to be played hour on hour on a day to day basis. I know some radio stations keep record of all the songs played day in and day out. It’s an awesome resource to have when you tend not to announce the songs but all your listeners want to know what’s new and who’s who. But maybe not this radio station. I began emailing one of the more popular DJs and found out that she holds the title of Musical Director. I sent out this inquiry to see what was what.
"Many things in my life have changed from style of dress to opinions on the
state of the world. But one thing that has always remained the same is my
unadulterated love for music."
Surprisingly (and I use that word in the most sarcastic sense), I received no
answer. No reply. Just continued repeats day in and day out of bartenders buying
me a drank, and not to mention soldier boys with speech impediments influencing
everyone to laugh at how to do Superman in a southern rap fashion. Wait; is the
Superman even a dance? To continue my research I then went to the website of the
radio station to see if I could find a play list there. And wouldn’t you know,
listed there is a list of the only 20 songs played by the radio station 24 hours
a day. There are 24 hours in a day, yet only 20 songs on the play list. So let’s
do a little mathematics: an average song is 5 minutes long or less. There are 60
minutes within the hour. This means after 2 hours, they’re playing the same
songs over again…and again…and again. And look at me, now knowing the chorus to
a song I once despised.
“This song gets on my nerves”
“I can’t believe how dumb these lyrics are!”
So with the listeners saying things like this, why do they listen to it? From what I gathered, compared to more desirable (urban) radio stations, this particular radio station has a signal and a frequency that comes in clearer than any other station. Therefore, that’s causing the station to be supported by how many people “tune in.” But how many of the listeners are actually supportive? That’s when you come across another “urban” station that is considered to be member supported. Why? It’s called public broadcasting. This is where each DJ that walks in the door places his or her signature on the air by playing music of their choice, pulling what’s underground from the shadows and letting it be acknowledged as MUSIC.
"I’m not blaming the behavior of today’s wild and crazy youth on the songs on
the radio but I wouldn’t say that my reasoning is too far fetched either."
One of the sisters, Raquel Razan, from a member supported station proves this.
In the midst of a mainstream industry that kills an artist as much as they make
an artist, she brings forth a sound that keeps music alive. She states, “I am
first and foremost a lover of music. The art of it...the joy of it.....the pain
of it....the gift of it. Many things in my life have changed from style of
dress to opinions on the state of the world. But one thing that has always
remained the same is my unadulterated love for music. I eat, breathe, and sleep
music. It is my number one addiction.” This is what real music is all about. But
there’s a battle going on….
Not good vs. evil. And it’s not good music vs. bad music. It’s a battle of what’s fair and what’s not. A sister struggling to get her voice out to a community has to let her own struggle keep the pulse in her message, yet a brother who “whines” about being a ten not only climbs the charts but hinders ones ability to “think outside the box”. I paraphrase a poet who once said that society has a lot of chronic masturbators [metaphorically] with all of this “liking the beat” instead of realizing that the message of the music is being injected like an easy brainwash.
So what are YOU listening to? For more information on similar topics, I strongly encourage the following:
http://beforethemusicdies.com/
:qws: