PirateJohnny said:
michael hagerty said:
oldies76 said:
michael hagerty said:
Do you really think that 67% of today's 45 year olds would sit all the way through The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards' "Amazing Grace" (#11, 1972), Donna Fargo's "Funny Face" (#5, 1973) or Sammy Davis, Jr.'s "The Candy Man" (#1, 1972)?
...Here are a few pop hits from 1972 on classic hits radio that you don't hear much of anymore:
Try "Use Me" (#2), "Back Stabbers (#3), "Freddie's Dead" (#4,), "Scorpio" (#6,) & Get on the Good Foot (#18)
...Regardless, once you get past "Try Me", "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag", most Top 40 listeners only heard James' records on AT40 until "Living In America" in the 80s.
"Use Me" (#2), "Back Stabbers (#3), "Freddie's Dead" (#4,), "Scorpio" (#6,) & Get on the Good Foot (#18) will usually find my finger on the volume + button. After 4 seconds of "I Got You (I Feel Good)" I'm punching up another station.
This.
I remember when "I Got You" came out.
I remember when after that you might hear it once in a great while.
And I remember when it came back and got turned into a crispy critter, as much on TV as anywhere else.
In the public mind JB did that and he did "Living in America" and that was it.
And so I've heard "I Got You" enough to last me a while yet.
I want to turn on the radio and go "Wow, I haven't heard that song in ages", or "Man, I'd forgotten all about that one."
(If someone wants to release something new that I think is a great song, that'd be alright as well, but let's be realistic here)
I want the announcer to say "Coming up next, some classic (insert artist name here)" and not know for certain which of their songs it will be.
(Actually I can live without the promo altogether as long they play something good right after some creative and entertaining spots, but you know what I mean)
But maybe the average listener goes "Gee, I really hope I hear those same five or six songs I heard on TV commercials last night and on the radio at least once a day every day last week."
Lester Maddox once said "If you want better prisons, you need better prisoners", and there's a certain logic to that, even if he was missing the point about prison reform.
Do we need better listeners in order to have better stations, or do we need better stations in order to educate and create better listeners?
And is it all academic because the only money to be had lies in playing Brown-Eyed Girl at least once every shift?