Contemporary rock playlists - likes/dislikes?

[ANF]

I felt like posting this because I noticed that the local rock station "The Fox" has actually begun widening its playlist and is beginning to play acts like Mumford And Sons. However its not sitting well with a lot of metalhead fans on their Facebook page. In the 90's The Fox was an awesome radio station to listen to, and then when nu-metal, rap-rock and the white trash red state faves like Nickelback, Kid Rock and Daughtry came along, they stopped playing anything remotely interesting and started playing just bland nu-metal and rap-rock along with the same grunge they played to death in the early 90's, and the format has stayed that way for a decade. Now they're beginning to add more alternative (Mumford, Black Keys, Foster The People, Joy Formidable) to the playlist, and I personally am liking it, and its making me want to listen to it again.

Should "Rock" stations just play the Disturbed/Godsmack type of bands or incorporate anything that has rock in it (like they did in the 90's). Even if Mumford And Sons are technically a folk band, some of their songs rock harder than any of the soccer mom music Nickelback's put out in the past half-decade, but because they don't fit the look, they shouldn't be played? WTF. I think Limp Bizkit and company ruined rock as a viable radio format and if anything, opening its doors to more alternative acts again is one of the only ways it can regain some ground and points (by this logic, some of the same people complaining about Black Keys and Mumford would've bitched if U2 and R.E.M. were played alongside Bon Jovi in the 80's too, and I would say U2/REM's music has aged better). Until now, the only way to hear any current rock that is the least bit interesting has been the public AAA station near the bottom of the dial, and how many people honestly listen to those?

 

[AboutAGirl]

Dif stations can take dif routes with it iyam. Our rock station here incorporates a peculiar smattering of new rock... mostly Nickelback type stuff. We also have more of an alternative station which I hear plays stuff like Mumford and Sons, but most of the stuff they play is nu metal and post-grunge and I don't listen to them much. We used to have a classic rock station that didn't play anything new, but it was taken away 5 or 6 years ago.

I'm not sure what I'd prefer. More deep cuts, mostly, from classic bands....

 

[Syd]

I think it really depends on the radio. I listen to 3 radios here: Futuro FM, Sonar FM and Horizonte FM. Futuro is very classic rock/metal/hard rock so if you put it, you would never get something from the 2000's unless it's something from older bands like Metallica or AC/DC and is newly released. People actually complain when they play music like Arctic Monkey and they say "Play some real music, dammit!". Sonar is a station very fond of the 90's. They play ANYTHING that was released in that decade and when you listen to it, you know that in the car ride to any place you will hear Faith No More, Rage Against the Machine or Soundgarden at least once. Then, Horizonte is more like the "hipster" radio. They play a lot of bands that aren't really mainstream, electropop stuff. So whenever I put that radio, I know I will listen to new music.

The thing is that every radio has its own "personality". And so do the people that listen to it. That's why when a radio does these crazy things, people are actually angry. Some people (like in Futuro FM) have no intention of listening to new music, they say its all crap. So you can't really put new stuff there. In your case, I think Mumford & Sons wasn't a good move, maybe they should try to slowly integrate new music that resembles the Rap/Rock or New Metal/Grungey music everyone is used to, and then put that folky stuff or alternative. Because for a radio station, losing credibility is not good. But they should still try to "educate" their listeners with new material, but it's a hard thing to do.

 

[Powerage]

We've got Planet Rock in the UK, so long as it is definitely rock, they'll play it. But it is primarily classic rock. They tend to ease into playing newer stuff, unless it's Joe Bonamassa or Airbourne in which case it's easy to fit in.

It really is a genius radio station, plus it hosts shows from the likes of Joe Elliot, Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa, Alice Cooper, and in the past Tony Iommi, Francis Rossi etc have had shows.

We nearly lost it, but a bunch of rock stars formed a consortium and saved it. It has adverts, but I'll put up with those inbetween Van Halen, AC/DC and The Who.

 

[LG]

The main problem with all radio these days is the takeover by a few Massive corporations that dictate what we listen to. The golden days of radio seem to have died when MTV and Digital/Internet came along.

I don't think it's possible to ever regain what I grew up with, sure there was the "Must be Played list" of songs that the labels wanted promoted, but we also had independent legendary disc jockeys that had their own shows and could play whatever they found interesting, or you could request anything, even a 20 minute cut like Close to the Edge was possible.

I saw a program on PBS about the destruction of ground roots FM/AM radio in small towns across the US, they are gone forever and with them they take an intangible and irreplaceable part of our culture with them.

Okay that's my rant for the night.

 

[Syd]

The main problem with all radio these days is the takeover by a few Massive corporations that dictate what we listen to. The golden days of radio seem to have died when MTV and Digital/Internet came along.

I don't think it's possible to ever regain what I grew up with, sure there was the "Must be Played list" of songs that the labels wanted promoted, but we also had independent legendary disc jockeys that had their own shows and could play whatever they found interesting, or you could request anything, even a 20 minute cut like Close to the Edge was possible.

I saw a program on PBS about the destruction of ground roots FM/AM radio in small towns across the US, they are gone forever and with them they take an intangible and irreplaceable part of our culture with them.

Okay that's my rant for the night.

There are some radios here where you can request songs you like via twitter, facebook or the station's website. I do agree on the DJs that had their own show. That has changed ... and it sucks. I never got to live that ... there are legendary DJs like John Peel, who was very big in England, and did sessions with all the new bands he found interesting. A lot of UKs greatest bands of the 80's were promoted by him. I wish there was someone like that here.

 

[AboutAGirl]

We've got Planet Rock in the UK, so long as it is definitely rock, they'll play it. But it is primarily classic rock. They tend to ease into playing newer stuff, unless it's Joe Bonamassa or Airbourne in which case it's easy to fit in.

It really is a genius radio station, plus it hosts shows from the likes of Joe Elliot, Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa, Alice Cooper, and in the past Tony Iommi, Francis Rossi etc have had shows.

We nearly lost it, but a bunch of rock stars formed a consortium and saved it. It has adverts, but I'll put up with those inbetween Van Halen, AC/DC and The Who.

I know some people here in the states who spin them. Definitely a cut above the rest, it would seem. Hear they play tons of Joe Bonamassa and some decent Neil Young cuts.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

Should "Rock" stations just play the Disturbed/Godsmack type of bands or incorporate anything that has rock in it (like they did in the 90's).

The answer to this is "no". I could do without all of that fawful, radio metal. In my area the classic rock stations play the same 40 songs all day, every day and that's not much better though.

 

[Powerage]

The answer to this is "no". I could do without all of that fawful, radio metal. In my area the classic rock stations play the same 40 songs all day, every day and that's not much better though.

Planet Rock has a playlist, and they do go through phases. For weeks during the day they would play Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell which seemed like it went on forever, but they do mix it up.

They also do great things on some of the hours during the day, live at 11 and live at 5, the trilogy at 3 [3 songs from the same band, but they won't win any awards for variety, though it is voted for by the public] Quadrophenia at 4 [4 songs for pretty much any reason, get some great cuts in there] etc.

Another good one is I think between 12 - 1pm they do a whole hour of songs / artists connected, so you can have the connection being Jimmy Page and they'll play a bunch of songs he's played on or wrote, or it could be artists that appeared at woodstock etc. But they don't give it away and can again make for some great listening.

Seems we've got some great shit going on in the UK! Though it is available on the net.

 

[Riff Raff]

This is why if I want good music to be played I tune in online to Hard Rock Radio Live.
I don't listen to radio shows now.