N' Sync on CHR radio

[icycool7227]

How come no CHR station ever plays N Sync songs anymore? They were a great pop band. I also don't hear 98 Degrees or the Backstreet Boys either. Aren't there any new boy bands out there or are they just not making it on the radio?

I want to hear N Sync's "I Want You Back" but no one plays it.

 

[whit979]

They were certainly huge for a time but I'm wondering if those songs are a couple of years too old for the gold rotation. Certainly would be good to include on a "throwback" show.

 

[MassMusicMan]

We're about due for new boy bands.

 

[Wildstyle K]

Not sure if the multiple people groups will come back anytime soon. Maybe, maybe not. Spice Girls kicked off that entire trend the first time around.

As far as Nsync, I heard "girlfriend" by Nsync ft Nelly the other day. It's not like they played Debelah Morgan, 98 Degrees, Mikaila, Samantha Mumba, Jessica Simpson ft Bowwow, or Soul Decision or anything, but I was shocked to hear the Nsync song. Our top 40 does tend to play a lot of recurrents. Mostly by Eve, Notorious BIG, sometimes Ghosttown Dj's and Dj Sammy and stuff like that.

If it were up to me, I'd like to hear DREAM "he loves you not".

We need some new girl bands as well. Too bad Pussycat Dolls didn't start any new trend. Maybe they should've waited for the reggaeton phase to end first, and then they could've started something with help from Danity Kane....

 

[XCountry285]

I think we're good on boy bands. We REALLY DON'T NEED any high pitched girly Justin Beeber type singers. She already has a lot of songs out anyway and I'm about sick of her music. She sucks.

 

[Wildstyle K]

Justin Bieber is just one person. We're talking specifically about bringing back band groups with multiple singers, not just bands in general.

 

[Starbucks]

CHR stations in most or many cases, have nothing over 2 years old on their playlist. It's been all current or re-current. A retro or flashback is maybe 2 or 3 years old. Artist after 5 or 6 years on the chart or when they hit 30 years old seem to be exiled to the hot AC chart, then it's the AC chart, then the jury attracts ward. That seems to be the trend.

 

[Wildstyle K]

I kinda miss Mandy Moore. I kinda miss that entire sound, whether or not they were multiple people or single people singing in the group. I remember back even before girlfriend hit KZZP, those were the days of P.Y.T, Craig David, Backstreet Boys..etc. I miss the days of P!NK and Mya's song "take me there". I'm not about to get into the late 90's futursitic style Timbaland beats that I always seem to flashback to, but I'm cutting very close to those days with these artists I'm talking about, like LFO. This was right before the hip hop takeover came to play. Remember back when Christina Aguilera "genie in a bottle" was hot? Remember when Jennifer Lopez dropped "If you had my love" and it was on the same MTV countdown as Jordan Knight? Those were some good ol' days. This was right after the Ricky Martin latin pop phase that kicked off Enrique Iglesias, Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, and all that. It was also when LIMP BIZKIT and Korn were bangin and Vitamin C was hittin right along with Sugar Ray.

GOOD OL' DAYS!

In addition to "girlfriend" by Nsync, I also heard KZZP play "teenage dirtbag" by Wheezer in the mix, and that prerecorded mix was played twice- again the following week. I was a little stunned, but the way it was transitioned into "say aah" by Trey Songz was kind of nice. Then they Played "set u free" by Planet Soul and one song after "808 remix". I don't understand why they refuse to play Jocelyn Enriquez though. "Ms Jackson" by Outkast has also been added to the recurrents on KZZP as well, which I hear a lot more than "girlfriend". Daft Punk and Alice Deejay have been in the recurrents once again for a while now. No Daniel Beddingfield though.

 

[whit979]

If it were up to me, I'd like to hear DREAM "he loves you not".

With a little bit of updating in the production, I think this song would have been a hit if it had just been released this year.

 

[sdh483]

YUCK YUCK YUCK! I think CHR radio today is better off with out any of that junk from the late 90s- early 2000s. You might as well bring back the music from 1991 - crummy house songs and Vanilla Ice. No thanks. CHR of the past three years is doing great with little help from pre 2004 music.

Sorry but just IMO.

 

[Wildstyle K]

YUCK YUCK YUCK!  I think CHR radio today is better off with out any of that junk from the late 90s- early 2000s.  You might as well bring back the music from 1991 - crummy house songs and Vanilla Ice.  No thanks.  CHR of the past three years is doing great with little help from pre 2004 music. 

Sorry but just IMO. 

I'm trying to form a rebuttal to this, but now that I think of it, it's much harder than I thought!
I guess it's not really the music I want back, but just the times the music represented.

However, I take the futuristic sounding complicated style Timbaland and Missy beat styles of the late 90's r&b and pop hits over all the boring beats being used today that a 3 year old could duplicate pattern-wise just by beating his fists against the wall. Even the Neptunes were hard and creative with their beats.

Then it all went downhill after Aaliyah passed away, Timbaland disappeared for a while, and with no one to look up to anymore for creative beat styles, the boring simple easy to make beat productions started coming back as hip hop began to take over. It all started with the rise of the Usher "yeah" sound that lead to Petey Pablo "freak a leak" and Ciara "goodies"..etc then eventually on to "Oh I think they like me" and "I'm bossy" and eventually the snap phase with "snap yo fingas", "laffy taffy", "lean with it rock with it" and as soon as we hit 2007 and ay bay bay and all that stuff came out, I was about to make the switch to pop rock and alternative! But at least things are beginning to improve, especially for people like me who like dance music.

But when you really think about it, every year sucked for mainstream hit music. Maybe the hard, gangsta phase might pass by in history without too much criticism, but then again, that even ended badly with the dumb hip hop hits that started surfacing around 2004-2007.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Which do I like more? "I'm too sexy" (which I was never too fond of) or KE$HA's "tick tock"?
I guess if I have to pick, I pick "we like the cars, the cars that go boom"

Ok I'm kidding. JJ Fad "Supersonic" is as low as I'm willing to go out of all choices I presented above ;D

Anyway, 10 years from now, get ready to look back and see how today's dance pop hits will be like the "euro dance" of this generation, and just like all those breakbeat songs from the 80's had those electronic voices like "egyptian lover" and Planet rock don't stop" or "freestyle's rockin in the house tonight move your body from left to right", the songs from the late 00's will have autotuned voices!  ;D And your old school hip hop from 2008-2010 will consist mostly of Drake and Lil Wayne!!!  ;D

 

[whit979]

I think that the generic, oversimplified beats of the Black Eyed Peas and auto-tuning of artists following T-Pain's lead have done nothing but water down the music of a format which is searching for a new sound. Save for the Beatles, hardly any boy/girl bands in music history have had much staying power, but the broad appeal of multi-part harmony and sometimes even the fun dance routines seen in acts like 'NSync and Dream remains there from decade to decade. Some songs from the '00s will have staying power through the years (like Usher's "Yeah," simply because it was the first song/beat of its kind), but I think Carson Daly (in his TRL days) said it best when he noted that "we live in an age of disposable music."

 

[Starbucks]

Pretty much of the late 90's and most of the 2000's are disposable. Like I mentioned in an earlier post....the last quarter of the year when songs like Kesha, Miley's Party in the USA, Kings of Leon , Jason Derulo, and Yaz debuted with their songs, It was the frist time in 15 or so years I actually stayed Glued to the format. Not just hearing a good song or two and then flipping it to another station.
The change I notice is that pure Rap or Gangsta rap of the 90's and early 2000's is dead. Rap is becoming the chorus of songs in general. And many chorus rappers that are featured can sing a note or two. But the bad thing is that these artists are overexposing themselves alittle by being featured on each other's records. Rappers and singers both.
Plus more CHR's are sticking their neck out not to just play it safe, but trying to be the first to break a hit record like the old days. Not just playing songs on the charts that have been around for 20-40 weeks.
Keri Hilson " I Like" is one of the hottest fresh songs out at the moment where you can still call it hitbound or breakout, and it hasn't charted or appeared on anything mainstream at the moment. But it should soon or I'll be surprised.

 

[Wildstyle K]

I think that the generic, oversimplified beats of the Black Eyed Peas and auto-tuning of artists following T-Pain's lead have done nothing but water down the music of a format which is searching for a new sound.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the uptempo beats being used, as there are only so many styles of uptempo beat patterns you can get away with here in the U.S. on mainstream radio. I'm talking about the slower beats. The days of Timbaland, Total, Missy Elliot, The Neptunes...etc were the best days for slower beats, and Aaliyah was the queen of riding those beats. As far as uptempo, there are not much we can do in that area... at least not yet. It's not like we can do UK 2 Step and Garage style beats (where I think Timbalan got some of his influence for his late 90's sounds) for mainstream hits here. It will be way too much for people to handle in the U.S. Daniel Beddingfield and Craig David were pretty much the only two who could get away successfully with that style. 702 kind of did it with "you don't know" as well. Other than that, it will be the simple house pattern beats, or various tweaks of the Planet Rock breakbeat sounds. Then of course you have the Lady Gaga "just dance" type sound some people like Cascada and Enrique Iglesias are recently jumping on.

I would say the uptempo beats have been watered down, especially in songs like "disturbia" and "damaged" and especially "don't stop the music" which was part of that short phase of people choosing not to use high hats within their music. However, the good thing is now beat productions are getting better, although nothing compared to the old Timbaland style. At least the variety in sounds on CHR are back as well.

I just wonder what it would've been like if reggaeton continued to take of and became the next big thing throughout the later 00's? What style would that have lead to today in music?

 

[butlerguy03]

Save for the Beatles, hardly any boy/girl bands in music history have had much staying power

Not comparing them to the Beatles, but one "boy band" has done quite well and defined the recent pop-rock sound, believe it or not - The All-American Rejects. I strongly believe some of thier stuff will be around for a long time. It fits with most pop sounds and is different than the 3 Doors/Nickelback/Creed/Hinder sound. And they have grown as a band over the years, something most pop-rock boy bands don't do.

 

[Wildstyle K]

What about Boys II Men? ;D

 

[CHRles]

Keri Hilson " I Like" is one of the hottest fresh songs out at the moment where you can still call it hitbound or breakout, and it hasn't charted or appeared on anything mainstream at the moment. But it should soon or I'll be surprised.

Great record, but it's not new. It already went to number 1 in Germany earlier this year

 

[Starbucks]

That's Germany....but Goom Radio is been trying to break it, andf they been the trend breakers for CHR lately. Not everything they try to break is successful....they just fade them from the playlist...but Kesha, LaRoux, etc...I've been hearing them first before terrestrial adds them or charts nationally.
Scouting For Girls, and Neon Trees are other examples.

 

[new_friends_gr]

I've really enjoyed reading this thread. I've been a fan of CHR-type music for years. I graduated from high school in 1997 and did my undergraduate years of college in the late '90s and early '00s when all this music was really popular. I was a huge fan of the boy bands: Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, 98 Degrees, LFO, Soul Decision, etc. I still have all those CDs!

I agree with others here who've said that the music by those bands doesn't really fit with today's CHR format. However, I haven't seemed to hear much of that music in the Hot AC format these days either. There's a radio station in Kalamazoo, Michigan (WKFR 103.3 FM) that has kind of an "Adult Hits" format which is a combination of CHR and Hot AC. They tend to play a lot of songs that were in the CHR format many years ago, so it wouldn't surprise me if they played an *NSYNC song here or there.

I would absolutely love it if the Hot AC station where I live (WLHT - 95.7 FM in Grand Rapids) played music by those groups. I don't see that happening though.

In the years of 2002 through 2004 or so, I kinda got away from listening to CHR music and was listening to more mainstream AC or soft AC music. But then around 2004, CHR music started to intrigue me again when Usher, Outkast, Ciara, and other artists mentioned emerged.

Interesting thread!

 

[TheBigA]

CHR is current music. The bands you mention are ten years old. You'll find them on the various AC formats, where they aim for listeners in their 30s.

There are fans for this music. Just as there were fans for the New Kids on the Block, when they did their reunion tour a couple years ago. Backstreet Boys and N'Sync made some well crafted music. The songs were well written, they were well produced, and they were hugely successful. Great pop music for its time, and it continues to live on AC radio today.

I hear what you're saying...I know a lot of people...mostly girls in their early 20s...who'd love to hear Backstreet Boys mixed in with Justin Bieber. I get it. But I think the CHR folks see N'Sync as almost an oldie. Sorry.