Even the best Atlanta radio stations have those pesky songs...the ones that stick around month after month after month, even though you can't conceive any purpose they can possibly serve for that particular station. This isn't meant to flame any station in specific, just a fun way to vent about the songs that truly make us cringe. This is all my uneducated opinion, I'm sure PDs can simply rebut with callout numbers, but like I said...all in fun.
Here's what we're NOT talking about:
(a) Currents or recent (say, a year old or less) recurrents. While I'd be content not to hear "We Found Love" every time I turn on Q100, it's one of the biggest songs in the country right now and you can bet it won't be in power rotation for more than another month or so.
(b) Songs that have justified spots on a station's playlist, but make you cringe because you simply have a personal dislike for them. I think Hot Chelle Rae's "Tonight Tonight" is one of the worst songs of the decade so far, but a hit's a hit and there's a reason Star and Q100 continue to bang it as a recurrent.
Here's what we ARE talking about:
(a) Songs that have stuck around ENTIRELY too long and have earned a prolonged rest period, or at least to move into a less prominent category.
(b) Songs that stick out like a sore thumb on a respective station (not a hit, doesn't fit the station's overall sound, etc.)
Star 94
- Pink, "Please Don't Leave Me" (I love Pink and this song, but for a nearly three-year-old song, I hear it WAY too frequently. Needs to graduate to a looser recurrent category.)
- Colbie Calliat, "Fallin' For You" (See Pink, although this song's not as good as PDLM. Enough already.)
- Lady Antebellum, "Need You Now" (Again, burned to a crisp. The worst part about these and the last 2 songs is that they always seem to come out of the top-of-hour jingle or a stopset. Talk about a momentum killer.)
- Jordin Sparks, "Battlefield" (This wasn't even that big of a hit. Since Star still plays it heavily, Q100 feels the need to do the same which is even more obnoxious.)
- Katy Perry, "Waking Up In Vegas" (More upbeat than the others, but with all of Katy's hit from her current album, there's no need for this to be rotated so frequently.)
Q100
- John Mayer, "Heartbreak Warfare" (Sounds HORRIBLE on Q100, especially coming out of Rihanna/Katy/etc. Wasn't even a hit to begin, so the only explanation I can surmise is that Jan Jeffries loves this song.)
- Linkin Park, "Somewhere I Belong" (See above, except this literally didn't even make the Top 40 chart. I don't believe for a minute that this calls out.)
- Stereo MC's, "Connected"/Coolio, "Gangsta's Paradise"/Crazy Town, "Butterfly" (All have no relevance in any shape, form or fashion to a CHR format in 2011. Each sound ridiculously dated in their own rights, and even more so next to the aforementioned Rihanna/Katy/Bruno, etc.)
- Shinedown, "Second Chance" (With the glut of rhythmic pop overtaking CHR and the format's resistance to anything remotely HAC/rock-based in nature, I appreciate CHR stations that are trying to balance things out with guitar-driven recurrents. Unfortunately, Q100 tends to substitute the guitar-based songs in place of current material rather than allowing them to complement one another. They need to leave this song to Star.)
- Theory Of A Deadman, "Not Meant To Be" (Again, you are not Star 94, so please move on.)
Dave FM
- Kenny Wayne Shepherd, "Blue On Black" (I just checked Wikipedia to make sure he wasn't married to a Dave FM employee. Their bizarre obsession with this song is obnoxious.)
- The Smiths, "How Soon Is Now"
- Talking Heads, "Once In A Lifetime"
- Indigo Girls, "Closer To Fine" (Yeah, we get it, they're from Atlanta. Does this really need to be your 18th most played song?)
B98.5
- Nena, "99 Red Balloons" (Bizarrely out of place; cheesy and irritating beyond belief.)
- Suzanne Vega, "Tom's Diner" (See above.)
- Miley Cyrus, "Party In The USA" (Ever wonder why no CHRs or Hot ACs play this as a recurrent, much less straight ACs? Hint: it's because no one wants to hear it anymore.)
- Lady GaGa, "Alejandro" ("Oh look, Star's playing this as a recurrent...guess we will too.")
The River
- Supertramp, "Goodbye Stranger"
- Gary Wright, "Dream Weaver"
- Joe Walsh, "Life's Been Good"
- Manfred Mann's Earth Band, "Blinded By The Light"
- Peter Frampton, "Do You Feel Like We Do" (all of these obviously fit the format, but I can't bear to hear them anymore.)
Your turn! What Atlanta radio stations churn out songs that make you go, "What the hell?"
Here's what we're NOT talking about:
(a) Currents or recent (say, a year old or less) recurrents. While I'd be content not to hear "We Found Love" every time I turn on Q100, it's one of the biggest songs in the country right now and you can bet it won't be in power rotation for more than another month or so.
(b) Songs that have justified spots on a station's playlist, but make you cringe because you simply have a personal dislike for them. I think Hot Chelle Rae's "Tonight Tonight" is one of the worst songs of the decade so far, but a hit's a hit and there's a reason Star and Q100 continue to bang it as a recurrent.
Here's what we ARE talking about:
(a) Songs that have stuck around ENTIRELY too long and have earned a prolonged rest period, or at least to move into a less prominent category.
(b) Songs that stick out like a sore thumb on a respective station (not a hit, doesn't fit the station's overall sound, etc.)
Star 94
- Pink, "Please Don't Leave Me" (I love Pink and this song, but for a nearly three-year-old song, I hear it WAY too frequently. Needs to graduate to a looser recurrent category.)
- Colbie Calliat, "Fallin' For You" (See Pink, although this song's not as good as PDLM. Enough already.)
- Lady Antebellum, "Need You Now" (Again, burned to a crisp. The worst part about these and the last 2 songs is that they always seem to come out of the top-of-hour jingle or a stopset. Talk about a momentum killer.)
- Jordin Sparks, "Battlefield" (This wasn't even that big of a hit. Since Star still plays it heavily, Q100 feels the need to do the same which is even more obnoxious.)
- Katy Perry, "Waking Up In Vegas" (More upbeat than the others, but with all of Katy's hit from her current album, there's no need for this to be rotated so frequently.)
Q100
- John Mayer, "Heartbreak Warfare" (Sounds HORRIBLE on Q100, especially coming out of Rihanna/Katy/etc. Wasn't even a hit to begin, so the only explanation I can surmise is that Jan Jeffries loves this song.)
- Linkin Park, "Somewhere I Belong" (See above, except this literally didn't even make the Top 40 chart. I don't believe for a minute that this calls out.)
- Stereo MC's, "Connected"/Coolio, "Gangsta's Paradise"/Crazy Town, "Butterfly" (All have no relevance in any shape, form or fashion to a CHR format in 2011. Each sound ridiculously dated in their own rights, and even more so next to the aforementioned Rihanna/Katy/Bruno, etc.)
- Shinedown, "Second Chance" (With the glut of rhythmic pop overtaking CHR and the format's resistance to anything remotely HAC/rock-based in nature, I appreciate CHR stations that are trying to balance things out with guitar-driven recurrents. Unfortunately, Q100 tends to substitute the guitar-based songs in place of current material rather than allowing them to complement one another. They need to leave this song to Star.)
- Theory Of A Deadman, "Not Meant To Be" (Again, you are not Star 94, so please move on.)
Dave FM
- Kenny Wayne Shepherd, "Blue On Black" (I just checked Wikipedia to make sure he wasn't married to a Dave FM employee. Their bizarre obsession with this song is obnoxious.)
- The Smiths, "How Soon Is Now"
- Talking Heads, "Once In A Lifetime"
- Indigo Girls, "Closer To Fine" (Yeah, we get it, they're from Atlanta. Does this really need to be your 18th most played song?)
B98.5
- Nena, "99 Red Balloons" (Bizarrely out of place; cheesy and irritating beyond belief.)
- Suzanne Vega, "Tom's Diner" (See above.)
- Miley Cyrus, "Party In The USA" (Ever wonder why no CHRs or Hot ACs play this as a recurrent, much less straight ACs? Hint: it's because no one wants to hear it anymore.)
- Lady GaGa, "Alejandro" ("Oh look, Star's playing this as a recurrent...guess we will too.")
The River
- Supertramp, "Goodbye Stranger"
- Gary Wright, "Dream Weaver"
- Joe Walsh, "Life's Been Good"
- Manfred Mann's Earth Band, "Blinded By The Light"
- Peter Frampton, "Do You Feel Like We Do" (all of these obviously fit the format, but I can't bear to hear them anymore.)
Your turn! What Atlanta radio stations churn out songs that make you go, "What the hell?"
