Rap music on CBS-FM??

[CTListener]

We still remember the Kingsmen, Question Mark and the Mysterians, Freddie and the Dreamers, the Village People and Blue Swede, don't we? Gaga and Mars, while their musical styles may not be to your (or my) liking, have tons more talent than any of those hitmakers from 30+ years ago. Don't believe the hype: "Our" music didn't change the world, and 90 percent of it (conservatively speaking) was entertaining but utterly disposable.

Sure, exactly why today's "talent" cannot even play an instrument. I assume you're joking here or I'm not catching something obvious. ???

Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Rod Stewart, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby ... What instruments do or did they play? Are or were they significantly less talented than Jimi Hendrix, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Carole King, Elton John, Billy Joel, James Taylor? The great crooners of the Big Band era didn't play instruments. Neither did most of the R&B greats of the '60s and '70s. The conceit that one can't be truly talented musically unless one plays an instrument is just that, a conceit on the part of a generation that thinks its music was great art and deserves to live forever, untouched, on radio even after popular music takes new forms. Sorry, I'm not buying it.

 

[CTListener]

It has neither the technical excellence of the past nor is it very creative. Some of it isn't even music and is actively detested by millions.

Well said!!

Just as many millions as detested Elvis and the Beatles, I'd bet.

 

[landtuna]

It has neither the technical excellence of the past nor is it very creative. Some of it isn't even music and is actively detested by millions.

Well said!!

Just as many millions as detested Elvis and the Beatles, I'd bet.

Not hardly. The religious types were outraged by Elvis' bodily theatrics on stage and his coverage of Black music but the average person on the street either liked him or had no opinion. The teens, especially females went wild for him.

The big objection to the Beatles was their long hair which was very different from the norm at the time. And while their early music was simple and rough I do not remember any outrage at these four very polite boys from the UK.

 

[landtuna]

Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Rod Stewart, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby ... What instruments do or did they play?

Take Rod Stewart out of the list and you have vocalists, pure and simple. Compared to today's shrieking ear blasters like Whitney Houston they didn't use volume to offset their lack of talent.

The great crooners of the Big Band era didn't play instruments. Neither did most of the R&B greats of the '60s and '70s.

You need to do far more research. Virtually all the great R&B performers played some sort of instrument and many played more than one - especially the males.

The conceit that one can't be truly talented musically unless one plays an instrument is just that, a conceit on the part of a generation that thinks its music was great art and deserves to live forever, untouched, on radio even after popular music takes new forms. Sorry, I'm not buying it.

The point I was trying to make was not one of conceit based on instrument ability but rather the creativity and skill with which they are used to create music. A good number of today's popular singers would be singing only in their showers without the aid of a host of electronic aids. But talent aside, the creativity is simply not there. And that is the major and compelling difference.

 

[oldies76]

Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Rod Stewart, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby ... What instruments do or did they play? Are or were they significantly less talented than Jimi Hendrix, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Carole King, Elton John, Billy Joel, James Taylor? The great crooners of the Big Band era didn't play instruments. Neither did most of the R&B greats of the '60s and '70s. The conceit that one can't be truly talented musically unless one plays an instrument is just that, a conceit on the part of a generation that thinks its music was great art and deserves to live forever, untouched, on radio even after popular music takes new forms. Sorry, I'm not buying it.

Pre-rock & the rock era (50's thru 80's) as a whole, groups or artists generally used musical instruments to perform their music, not computers. Even orchestras were used to some degree. So the talent is there MANUALLY....not with an aid of software. Enjoy current music, that's not the issue...but give credit, where credit is due please.

 

[oldies76]

Just as many millions as detested Elvis and the Beatles, I'd bet.

And the backlash against heavy metal, screaming grunge rock, gangster rap and it's "lyrics", and whining teen music.

"Millions" will always detest any form of music.

 

[oldies76]

on the part of a generation that thinks its music was great art and deserves to live forever, untouched, on radio even after popular music takes new forms. Sorry, I'm not buying it.

Exactly why it's still popular TODAY on radio, in homes, in clubs, on muzak, in the stores, in the car, on iPods, in the office, at wedding receptions.....

And your point?

Timeless music vs. short-term teen hypes are black and white.

 

[CTListener]

Just as many millions as detested Elvis and the Beatles, I'd bet.

And the backlash against heavy metal, screaming grunge rock, gangster rap and it's "lyrics", and whining teen music.

"Millions" will always detest any form of music.

Exactly. Popular music changes. Most people who spend their childhood, teens and 20s listening to whatever form popular music has taken at that time believe the popular music of the previous period was inferior. Yes, some appreciate their parents' music, but that's just as much a minority now as it was when we had classmates who liked Sinatra. Somehow, though, my generation (and yes, I am 56, smack in the middle of the baby boomers) not only often denigrates popular music's past as being "too whitebread"; it also puts down the popular music forms that have evolved over the past 25 yeasrs as "not even music." Ask my dad whether Led Zeppelin were musical geniuses. Ask my teenage neighbor whether Justin Bieber is less talented than Billy Joel. Ask me whether Lil Wayne has more to say than Marvin Gaye did. It's all pop, it's all great to people who are 10 to 30 years old when they hear it for the first time. I work with 40-year-olds who are still into rap. Like it or not, today's "non-music" IS the oldies of tomorrow. Will we still be listening to oldies radio then? Probably not, but it could be worse -- a significant number of us will be dead.

 

[bigtom101]

I think "DAMN KIDS GET OFF MAH LAWN" nicely describes this thread....

Some new music is great (I like Joss Stone, GaGa, and Maroon 5 personally), some is crap in my opinion. Just like I think many oldies were/are garbage (that's why you still hear "Stand By Me" and not "Honey" on CBS-FM). Not all monster hits from yesteryear stand the test of time...that's why you do music testing (yeah...I just lost some of the people with those two words). Just like I'm sure Adele & GaGa will stand the test of time like Aretha Franklin & Etta James have done.

Time marches on - CBS-FM is evolving to keep pace with the demos. But they still have personality, still play many songs that you won't hear anywhere else, and still manage to bring in some decent coin. Don't like it? Don't listen.

 

[oldies76]

but it could be worse -- a significant number of us will be dead.

Ever heard of "Rock and Roll Heaven"?

 

[landtuna]

I think "DAMN KIDS GET OFF MAH LAWN" nicely describes this thread....

If you think this thread is "get off'n my lawn" you have missed the point. The discussion has been primarily about creativity and talent of old vs new. I would also add variety. Today's pop music can't hold a candle to what was the greatest era in rock music - that of Oldies. True, not all music then was great or even good but as a group it was so much better than today's augmented crap there just is no comparison.

The person who coined the term "Video killed the rock star" was absolutely correct. Once videos were paired with songs the quality dropped like a rock. Even today the most popular singers (and that is mostly all they are) are freakazoids. Rod Stewart looks positively tame by comparison and Elvis looks like a church deacon. The teen idols are still there and usually without talent. Their popularity will fade like a cheap paint job once their teenybopper fans tire of them.

You don't hear Madonna or Britney's names mentioned today except in derision and that same fate will be Gaga's in a few year's time. Meantime you will still be hearing the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan and even the Blue Oyster Cult.

Time marches on - CBS-FM is evolving to keep pace with the demos. But they still have personality, still play many songs that you won't hear anywhere else, and still manage to bring in some decent coin. Don't like it? Don't listen.

I've listened but too much of their stuff is outside the box for my taste. A station like KODS is much more suited to me even though it doesn't dip into the very early Oldies often. And, of course, there is always my personal library which is true Oldies and Classic Rock and completely devoid of commercials.

Seems that as Oldies die off it might also kill a good portion of music radio. Buh-bye radio....it was a good ride.

 

[DToTheJ]

It truly is sad when the only time we can hear the likes of Frank Sinatra and Barry Manilow on the radio in New York, or most markets, anymore is the holiday season.

By the way: someone referred to Rod Stewart earlier in this thread discussing '90's music on CBS-FM... I wonder if/when they'll play/start playing "The Motown Song" (1990).

 

[bigtom101]

You don't hear Madonna or Britney's names mentioned today except in derision and that same fate will be Gaga's in a few year's time. Meantime you will still be hearing the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan and even the Blue Oyster Cult.

The people who pay money to see Madonna and Britney would beg to differ - and GaGa can play the piano and sing with the best of 'em (see her appearance on Stern), as can Bruno Mars.

There was plenty of shlock on Top 40 back in the 60's & 70's....you just don't hear it on oldies/classic hits radio. The crap has been weeded out, just as the forgettable music played on CHR will be forgotten in due time. Quality is subjective, and the passage of time has a way of messing with memories...ask Gen Xers about the quality of kids cartoons and you'll hear them going "THEY MADE THEM BETTER BACK IN THE 90's WHEN WE WERE KIDS!!"

I quote Gladys Knight & The Pips - The Way We Were:

"Hey you know everybody's talkin' about the good old days
Everybody the good old days
The good old days
Well, let's talk about the good old days
Come to think about it
As bad as we think they are
These will become the good old days of our children"

Skies were bluer, grass was greener, and music was better "back when". Its' 2011, soon to be 2012 - you can play a song from 20 years ago on CBS-FM. I personally can't wait to blast "Funky Cold Medina" after I hear a JAM CBS-FM jingle

 

[landtuna]

You don't hear Madonna or Britney's names mentioned today except in derision and that same fate will be Gaga's in a few year's time. Meantime you will still be hearing the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan and even the Blue Oyster Cult.

The people who pay money to see Madonna and Britney would beg to differ - and GaGa can play the piano and sing with the best of 'em (see her appearance on Stern), as can Bruno Mars.

It is possible to draw a crowd to virtually any sort of event. An audience does not necessarily correspond to talent on display. Just ask the Kardashians. And GaGa's appearance on a show like Sterns makes my point.

Take away the video element of both Madonna, Britney and GaGa and you have.....squat. mediocre talent but with an attitude. The same thing that made Elvis famous but minus his talent.

I don't doubt that 30-somethings of today will one day wistfully long for "their" music but it doesn't change the fact that "their" music was shallow and repetitive compared to the variety of Rock which proceeded it.

 

[RadioGuy2004]

Skies were bluer, grass was greener, and music was better "back when". Its' 2011, soon to be 2012 - you can play a song from 20 years ago on CBS-FM. I personally can't wait to blast "Funky Cold Medina" after I hear a JAM CBS-FM jingle
[/quote]

Hopefully before that JAM CBS-FM jingle, you hear the song from where Tone Loc sampled the riff: Foreigner's 'Hot Blooded'.

Then the CBS-FM DJ talking up and then hitting the post on Funky Cold Medina.  ;D

 

[sdh483]

To those who say that CBS FM needs to evolve their "oldies" because the 80s are creeping into their 30s and the 90s are creeping into their 20s: Would you apply the same theory to classic rock stations? How would you feel if you heard Limp Bizkit, KoRn or Red Hot Chilli Peppers after Freebird or Hotel California? Sure, there are those general rock stations that are all over the place that you typically find in smaller towns, but most major classic rock stations are still stuck in the 60s and 70s where the only 80s rock being played is Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Guns n Roses.

Is it necessary for both formats to evolve and include more 80s and 90s or will the song selection sound awkward?

 

[radioguy39nj]

By the way: someone referred to Rod Stewart earlier in this thread discussing '90's music on CBS-FM... I wonder if/when they'll play/start playing "The Motown Song" (1990).

CBS-FM was playing Rod Stewart's "The Motown Song" 10 years ago, before the flip to JACK.

 

[uncamark]

By the way: someone referred to Rod Stewart earlier in this thread discussing '90's music on CBS-FM... I wonder if/when they'll play/start playing "The Motown Song" (1990).

CBS-FM was playing Rod Stewart's "The Motown Song" 10 years ago, before the flip to JACK.

And back in the early days, one forgets that CBS-FM played a "Future Gold" current every hour, as did some other oldies stations (in the very beginning, WJMK did that).

 

[landtuna]

BTW, getting back to the original subject of this thread.....

"Rap music" is an oxymoron.....and mutually exclusive.

 

[CTListener]

To those who say that CBS FM needs to evolve their "oldies" because the 80s are creeping into their 30s and the 90s are creeping into their 20s: Would you apply the same theory to classic rock stations? How would you feel if you heard Limp Bizkit, KoRn or Red Hot Chilli Peppers after Freebird or Hotel California? Sure, there are those general rock stations that are all over the place that you typically find in smaller towns, but most major classic rock stations are still stuck in the 60s and 70s where the only 80s rock being played is Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Guns n Roses.

WPLR New Haven manages to find room for both Skynyrd and RHCP in its tiny playlist.