On Classic Rewind

[scotchandcigar]

When I'm in the car with Mrs. Scotch, we usually pick an SXM channel to listen to at random (from our presets). But I'm noticing that Classic Rewind is overwhelmingly looking like the wrong choice. It seems that lately, every other song is one of the following: AC/DC, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Guns N' Roses, Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, or other hard-rock hair bands. And I like some music from those bands, but they play the hardest songs from each. It's just not pleasant for driving with the wife (I have different criteria when it's just me).

I always thought of the Classic Vinyl era as more straight-ahead rock than Rewind, but for some reason, I rarely hear annoying songs on Vinyl. And First Wave is not annoying either - EXCEPT FOR ANARCHY IN THE U.K. BY THE SEX PISTOLS (this should really have its own thread). Why in the hell does First Wave play this song?!?! It came out in 1976! The "New Wave" era started in '78, and the First Wave channel bills itself as an 80s music channel. I often play First Wave as background music for gatherings of family and friends, or just to have some happy dance music playing through the house. That song always has me running to my streaming player.

Then there's The Bridge. They never play an annoying song on that channel. It is the ONLY channel I can play when my mother-in-law is around. Even Coffeehouse is annoying when someone like Ani DiFranco is wailing away. The Spectrum will play some uncharacteristically annoying Jack White stuff, among others. It's really hard to find a good channel for background listening.

 

[Aaron]

I’m with you on Rewind. I very seldom listen anymore because it’s mostly all overplayed stuff. Sometimes First Wave plays 70’s Bowie too. I guess they’re playing stuff that influenced New Wave?

The Bridge has always been a favorite. Anyone else tend to listen to more tranquil music in the morning commute than in the afternoon commute?

 

[HecticArt]

It usually doesn’t take too long before Rewind plays one of the songs the FM has ruined for me. Since those songs are what make FM their money, there must a lot of people listening.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

It usually doesn’t take too long before Rewind plays one of the songs the FM has ruined for me. Since those songs are what make FM their money, there must a lot of people listening.

I prefer a familiar song to an unfamiliar one unless I am specifically looking to hear music that is not familiar. If I was doing that, I would not be listening to FM or Classic Rewind. Those situations are rare but I prefer to control when that happens not have it forced on me. Based upon the way FM and CR are formatted, I am probably like the target for the stations.

 

[sadchild]

It's really hard to find a good channel for background listening.

I don't have a single channel I can just leave on and let go. I always use TuneMix, which lets me scroll through my 18 presets and stop on what I feel like listening to. Too many songs I don't like, like but am dead sick of, or don't know (and don't grab me). Yes I'm a music snob.

the First Wave channel bills itself as an 80s music channel

I don't like when they go deep into the 70s, but I do like that they go into the early 90s like "A Letter To Elise" (92), "Regret" (93), "Feed The Tree" (93), "Rush" (91), "Digging In The Dirt" (92), "Walking In My Shoes" (93), "There She Goes" (91), "Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead" (92), "Life Of Riley" (92) etc

Anyone else tend to listen to more tranquil music in the morning commute

After gigs with my hard rock/metal band, I used to like listening to a channel they no longer have (EZ Listening? Movin EZ?) that played the mellowest of mellow pop songs. Carly, Carole, Barry, Neil. That's where I first heard "I've Never Been To Me".

 

[HecticArt]

Anyone else tend to listen to more tranquil music in the morning commute than in the afternoon commute?

More in the evening than morning, or when work is chaotic and I need to focus.

 

[sadchild]

I can't listen to tranquil music at work.

Current playlist:

 

[scotchandcigar]

Anyone else tend to listen to more tranquil music in the morning commute than in the afternoon commute?

When I first got out of college and moved up to the Boston area (in 1984!), on my hectic morning commutes I listened to classical music on WGBH public radio, hosted by this Boston fixture -

Robert J. Lurtsema​

Lurtsema hosted the classical music show Morning Pro Musica on radio station WGBH (FM) in Boston, Massachusetts from 1971 until his death in 2000. He was known among public radio listeners throughout New England for his sonorous voice (which was "described as having the quality of warm fudge") and his phrasing, which frequently included long pauses. The pauses, anathema to mainstream radio, were either tolerated or loved by his loyal listeners. He said: "I'm not afraid of dead air. I don't think there's anything wrong with a quiet spot once in a while. When I pause I'm visualizing my audience, the person I'm speaking to. I always imagine I'm speaking to someone in particular."

 

[sadchild]

Never listened to it (that I can remember). I remember some other Boston DJs though.

Greg Hill (WAAF) "Hill-man in the morning"
Charles Laquidara (WBCN) Stern replaced his "Big Mattress" morning show in the late 90s.
Matt Siegal (WXKS) "Matty in the morning" with Lisa Lipps
Mistress Carrie (WAAF) Was never a fan, then when she ignored my band for a decade I liked her even less
Adam 12 (WFNX) Was also a member of Powerman 5000 (Rob Zombie's brother's band)

My stepfather always listened to an AM station in the car. CBS? But I don't remember any of the local DJs. Just Paul Harvey and "the rest of the story"

I remember there being an "O-Zone" but don't remember much about it. And I remember the name Nik Carter. And Mark Parenteau. And Oedipus (WBCN).

I never heard his show, but I'm of course familiar with Peter "Woofa Goofa" Wolf too.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Charles Laquidara (WBCN) Stern replaced his "Big Mattress" morning show in the late 90s.
And I remember the name Nik Carter. And Mark Parenteau. And Oedipus (WBCN).

Chuckkkk has a pretty big following on Twitter now. Mark Parenteau was up on some charges regarding teenagers, and now he's dead. But yeah, it was WBCN and WFNX for me.

 

[scotchandcigar]

I feel like I hear the same particular story every time they talk about that artist. Many of these stories are very tired, like how the Gallagher brothers of Oasis don't get along.

Haha, I was listening to The Spectrum yesterday, and they played an Oasis song. And wouldn't you know it - Jenny Eliscu told a story about how the Gallagher brothers are STILL not getting along!

 

[sadchild]

 

[scotchandcigar]

I can't listen to tranquil music at work.

Current playlist:

View attachment 8311

Where and how we work must be very different. There have been certain times - over the years - when I would use the SXM streaming player on my work computer to listen to (mostly) XMU via headphones. That, or Alt Nation, The Spectrum, or (when my work blocked the app) WERS (Emerson College). I sometimes had to stream the SXM app on the phone, which was more difficult.

But in any case, I liked listening to a station that played some new music; however, I could only listen when my work tasks consisted of something mundane and repetitive, like software coding, generating boiler-plate documents or presentations, or tracking schedules and budgets. I couldn't work if I was listening to hard rock, or a conversation (like Howard Stern), and work that involved looking at 5 things at once and figuring stuff out was too intense for the distraction.

The work I've mostly been doing lately is CAD modeling, and I can't listen to anything distracting or involving while I'm doing that. Plus, since I've been WFH, I don't want to use part of my internet bandwidth with streaming music. So if I need to block out the world - like when my mother-in-law was here blasting MSNBC - I'd play mp3s, but nothing intense. The headphones themselves are a pain; I have to wear them for meetings and conversations, so I'm not jazzed about wearing them the rest of the time.

 

[sadchild]

I worked from home one day during the heat of the pandemic. My officemate is supercool. On an typical week, I might play metal on Monday, rap on Tuesday, rock on Wednesday, EDM/club on Thursday, then play stand-up comedians on Friday. There are rare times I have to pause the music to really focus (or he asks me to pause for a bit to focus) but I can create databases, troubleshoot domain or email issues, kickoff failed backups, run speed tests, configure the firewall, update antivirus, start an emailing phishing test campaign and make a custom report for accounting with rap metal in the background no sweat. But Coffee House or The Bridge would knock me out like a choke hold.

Today's playlist... rap_modern_4each.m3u

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

If I was your officemate and you were playing rap we would have words.

I generally HATE other hearing other people's music while working, I can tolerate my own although I usually don't. Only listen when at the office and 5 other people around me are on their headsets doing 5 different Teams meetings. and of course I am not on a different Teams meeting at the time.

 

[scotchandcigar]

I generally HATE hearing other people's music while working,

I've told this somewhere before; but right after 9/11, all the FM radio stations were broadcasting some national newsfeed. The guy in the next office over from me had a table radio, and even though he had it tuned to WAAF (classic and hard rock), they were broadcasting the newsfeed. Well, eventually, they went back to music, and it turns out the guy has hearing loss from attending too many loud concerts. So he thinks he's playing the radio quietly, but it's actually quite loud and disturbing. One day, I brought up the topic in a gentle way, and he said to me "You can hear that?" And he turned it down. Then he moved to another part of the building.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I've told this somewhere before; but right after 9/11, all the FM radio stations were broadcasting some national newsfeed. The guy in the next office over from me had a table radio, and even though he had it tuned to WAAF (classic and hard rock), they were broadcasting the newsfeed. Well, eventually, they went back to music, and it turns out the guy has hearing loss from attending too many loud concerts. So he thinks he's playing the radio quietly, but it's actually quite loud and disturbing. One day, I brought up the topic in a gentle way, and he said to me "You can hear that?" And he turned it down. Then he moved to another part of the building.

 

[scotchandcigar]

"I was told I can listen to the radio at a reasonable volume."

 

[Aaron]

At work it’s AirPods for me, and I’ll usually stream from my music collection. I made hundreds of playlists.

 

[HecticArt]

I have a hard time listening to other peoples music while I work too.
Fortunately, I’ve got a private office now so I can listen to whatever I want, and turn off the Smiths as fast as I want.