Loud noisy rock, electronic, and indie hip-hop: Not AAA, right?

[Ike]

I've frequently seen Seattle's KEXP and New York's failing commercial station WRXP misidentified (in my opinion) as AAA. I realize that AAA is a malleable and nebulous, but doesn't use of loud and/or noisy rock disqualify a station from the AAA format? Or is this changing?

WRXP includes AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith etc. If it isn't too loud to be AAA, then it's too mainstream to be AAA (the third "A" is for alternative), in my opinion. Am I wrong? I believe they also play Nine Inch Nails. Again, not AAA. (The station is more of an unholy mixture of AOR, classic rock, indie rock, '90s pseudo-alternative, etc.)

Even on this board, people have put the AAA label on Seattle's KEXP (also heard in New York on weekday mornings on WNYE) and Minnesota's The Current. But if you play noisy bands like A Place to Bury Strangers, My Bloody Valentine, Dead Confederate, Dinosaur Jr., Yeah Yeah Yeahs, etc. and electro/electronic material like Ladytron, the Bug, Cut Copy, Boards of Canada, CSS, etc. and indie hip-hop like Atmosphere or Q-Tip, then how does that fit into AAA? I call that indie rock, or some variation on alternative. Not adult alternative, but just alternative. Sure, there's a lot of overlap, but these bands don't fit.

Or is AAA mutating?

Is it getting louder as a way to reach younger demos? I've heard louder and louder rock on Philly's WXPN in the past few years (on the rare occasions when I've listened), with bands like TV on the Radio and the Raconteurs. It gets further and further away from its folk-rock origins, but it's still largely not loud and noisy. And it still avoids electronic and independent hip-hop like the plague, unless I'm missing something.

(To be clear, I'm not a fan of tight formats that exclude whole swaths of music as a rule, and thus I don't listen to a lot of AAA. And this is why I notice these differences.)

 

[John Walker]

My personal opinion is, some AAA's are not loud ENOUGH! If I hear David Gray's Babylon one more time, i swear....

I grew up on what is now classic rock, but i have little desire to hear old songs played over and over. I was listening to the radio as a kid when free-form radio hit it's peak, and I loved it. One minute it was Japanese orchestra music, some Emmy Lou Harris, some Cream. It taught me to appreciate and enjoy a wide variety of music. However I am not fond of folk music or too much acoustical stuff on an AAA station.

So on the radio dial, I am forced to switch between new/active rock, alt rock, or the oldies, which i can only take a little bit of at a time. I like hearing new, unfamiliar music if it's good, and like SOME of what active and alt rock play. I am not a big fan of Metallica or System of a Down and that type of metal, nor can I take too much angst on the alt station.

I'm probably in the upper demographics far as AAA, but I do want to rock, and some loud is good, it doesn't frighten me! And I love variety in various genres of music, be it electric blues, straight ahead rock and roll, offbeat stuff (if it's good) and yes, I like Nine Inch Nails a lot.

IMO the perfect Triple A would be similar to old free-form radio, although tightened up considerably with much more focus. Just because it's aimed at 'adults" doesn't mean it should be a mellow snoozefest.

 

[leethalweapon]

My idea of a AAA station would feature a gold library deeply rooted in original 90's alternative radio, some Alt Country, and some 60's 70's 80's collage radio gold with a strong emphisis on new/recurrent music.

I grew up in the 80's. If you look at my ipod, there is around 100-150 songs from the 80's. I am 36, and I am a big believer in musical adventures. I update it at least once a week with some new music. Shame I can't program it to follow a format template, then I would be in some sort of heaven

 

[TripleAGeek]

I've frequently seen Seattle's KEXP and New York's failing commercial station WRXP misidentified (in my opinion) as AAA. I realize that AAA is a malleable and nebulous, but doesn't use of loud and/or noisy rock disqualify a station from the AAA format? Or is this changing?

WRXP includes AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith etc. If it isn't too loud to be AAA, then it's too mainstream to be AAA (the third "A" is for alternative), in my opinion. Am I wrong? I believe they also play Nine Inch Nails. Again, not AAA. (The station is more of an unholy mixture of AOR, classic rock, indie rock, '90s pseudo-alternative, etc.)

Even on this board, people have put the AAA label on Seattle's KEXP (also heard in New York on weekday mornings on WNYE) and Minnesota's The Current. But if you play noisy bands like A Place to Bury Strangers, My Bloody Valentine, Dead Confederate, Dinosaur Jr., Yeah Yeah Yeahs, etc. and electro/electronic material like Ladytron, the Bug, Cut Copy, Boards of Canada, CSS, etc. and indie hip-hop like Atmosphere or Q-Tip, then how does that fit into AAA? I call that indie rock, or some variation on alternative. Not adult alternative, but just alternative. Sure, there's a lot of overlap, but these bands don't fit.

Or is AAA mutating?

Is it getting louder as a way to reach younger demos? I've heard louder and louder rock on Philly's WXPN in the past few years (on the rare occasions when I've listened), with bands like TV on the Radio and the Raconteurs. It gets further and further away from its folk-rock origins, but it's still largely not loud and noisy. And it still avoids electronic and independent hip-hop like the plague, unless I'm missing something.



(To be clear, I'm not a fan of tight formats that exclude whole swaths of music as a rule, and thus I don't listen to a lot of AAA. And this is why I notice these differences.)

In the loosest sense of the term, Led Zeppelin is Triple-A just the same as a band like R.E.M. might be considered classic rock; it doesn't quite qualify, but when a radio genre's definition is broadened, it fits. As for AC/DC, Aerosmith, and Nine Inch Nails, no, they are not Triple-A in my opinion

The Raconteurs are definitely Triple-A to me. Don't believe me, listen to "Old Enough", it kinda sounds along the same lines as bands like My Morning Jacket to me. "Steady As She Goes" seems to have also become a staple of Triple-A stations. Though it is a bit louder than the previous song, it still fits in my opinion. A lot of bands that echo the way the Stones and the Who were in the mid-'60s (The White Stripes, Jet, Kings of Leon, etc.) seem to be getting more airplay on Triple-A stations and to me that's just fine. It's probably played on there for the same reason bands like Dishwalla, Collective Soul, and Spin Doctors were played in the '90s on Triple-A stations; so that those stations could have an excuse to play music that was as close to "hard rock" as their target audience could handle. None of the bands I've mentioned so far in this second paragraph are "real" hard rock in my opinion. If a Triple-A station starts to play AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Deep Purple, Guns 'N' Roses, etc. I'd start to worry about whether what I was listening to was really Triple-A (I'd have the same kinds of worries if they started to play "light" hard rock like Boston, Journey, Styx, Foreigner, Bon Jovi, etc. as well). But if The Raconteurs on TV On the Radio are the "hardest" acts your station is playing, consider yourself lucky! I sure would!

 

[staticradio]

I'd classify The Current as eclectic/free-form then the traditional AAA. WRXP is adult rock variety. I really haven't seen a station that I could strongly dub as AAA...as most lean AC in some regards. Cities 97 (KTCZ) for example leaned to classic rock in the mid 90's in a misguided attempt to attract listeners from TC classic rock titan KQRS. I really couldn't listen to that much Fleetwood Mac in a day (I counted 11 songs on one particular day...).

Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC...could fall into classic / active rock...but then some Zep songs could be played on AAA stations. Still doesn't make them an AAA artist. I really don't think there is such an artist that could be clearly defined as AAA. Most are either alt-country, folk, jazz, blues, rock, ambient, world, et al.