• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

The Black Crowes on Alternative?

S

SoulCrusher

Yeah, you read that right. I find it very strange that my local Alternative, G Rock Radio (106.3 WHTG / 98.5 WBBO, Monmouth/Ocean, NJ) plays them at all - even more baffling is the frequency which they get played.</P>

When the Alternative format was only on WHTG, they were known for taking liberties with it - you could hear the likes of Avril Lavigne, Nelly Furtado, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Maroon 5, even Norah Jones and Santana at times. Ever since the format was added to WBBO and rebranded as G Rock Radio, this station has gotten closer to Modern Rock as it has ever been (under the current ownership at least), but some old habits die hard, I guess.</P>

What is a whiskey-fueled British trad rock aping band like the Black Crowes doing on an Alternative station? I mean, they sound so much like one band in particular that they should have called themselves the Tumbling Rocks. It's all just typical generic bluesy arena rock without any trace of irony or wit - what, pray tell, makes that Alternative? Primal Scream performed an infinitely better version of this sound with their album Give Out But Don't Give Up and then they evolved ... why not play that instead? Oh yeah - because they didn't go platinum. What makes this even worse is the fact that the aforementioned station hardly (or never) plays acts like Joy Division, Sonic Youth, Depeche Mode (save for Violator and the new material), Morrissey, Primus, Radiohead (aside from "Creep"), Pavement, Sex Pistols, and countless other bands that are better suited for the format - but I digress.</P>

Did the Black Crowes ever receive any rotation on Alternative that perhaps I missed because I must have been sleeping at the time? If so, then that must have been the point where we all started to ask ourselves what the term "Alternative" really meant. I guess we can start using the label to describe Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Boston, Foreigner, etc. The Black Crowes would be in far better company with those bands than on Alternative Radio, if you ask me. But what do I know - little effeminate boys that sing in falsettos about dancing are also considered Alternative these days, for whatever reason. So are cavemen that write the same song over and over again and write lyrics about getting jiggy in an automobile. What gives?</P>
 
I remember in 1994, many stations were spinning the Black Crowes' track "Conspiracy" across the nation including Modesto's late KDJK 95.1 and Columbus OH's CD 101..


> Yeah, you read that right. I find it very strange that my
> local Alternative, G Rock Radio (106.3 WHTG / 98.5 WBBO,
> Monmouth/Ocean, NJ) plays them at all - even more baffling
> is the frequency which they get played. When the
> Alternative format was only on WHTG, they were known for
> taking liberties with it - you could hear the likes of Avril
> Lavigne, Nelly Furtado, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Maroon 5,
> even Norah Jones and Santana at times. Ever since the
> format was added to WBBO and rebranded as G Rock Radio, this
> station has gotten closer to Modern Rock as it has ever been
> (under the current ownership at least), but some old habits
> die hard, I guess. What is a whiskey-fueled British trad
> rock aping band like the Black Crowes doing on an
> Alternative station? I mean, they sound so much like one
> band in particular that they should have called themselves
> the Tumbling Rocks. It's all just typical generic bluesy
> arena rock without any trace of irony or wit - what, pray
> tell, makes that Alternative? Primal Scream performed an
> infinitely better version of this sound with their album
> Give Out But Don't Give Up and then they evolved ... why not
> play that instead? Oh yeah - because they didn't go
> platinum. What makes this even worse is the fact that the
> aforementioned station hardly (or never) plays acts like Joy
> Division, Sonic Youth, Depeche Mode (save for Violator and
> the new material), Morrissey, Primus, Radiohead (aside from
> "Creep"), Pavement, Sex Pistols, and countless other bands
> that are better suited for the format - but I digress. Did
> the Black Crowes ever receive any rotation on Alternative
> that perhaps I missed because I must have been sleeping at
> the time? If so, then that must have been the point where
> we all started to ask ourselves what the term "Alternative"
> really meant. I guess we can start using the label to
> describe Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Boston,
> Foreigner, etc. The Black Crowes would be in far better
> company with those bands than on Alternative Radio, if you
> ask me. But what do I know - little effeminate boys that
> sing in falsettos about dancing are also considered
> Alternative these days, for whatever reason. So are cavemen
> that write the same song over and over again and write
> lyrics about getting jiggy in an automobile. What gives?
>
 
Hard to Handle and She Talks to Angels are still played at Alt.

A quick glance at Mediabase...

Hard to Handle pulled in about 40 spins at Alt this week.
She Talks to Angels got about 30.

I heard both on Y100 in Philly when it was still around.



> I remember in 1994, many stations were spinning the Black
> Crowes' track "Conspiracy" across the nation including
> Modesto's late KDJK 95.1 and Columbus OH's CD 101..
>
>
> > Yeah, you read that right. I find it very strange that my
>
> > local Alternative, G Rock Radio (106.3 WHTG / 98.5 WBBO,
> > Monmouth/Ocean, NJ) plays them at all - even more baffling
>
> > is the frequency which they get played. When the
> > Alternative format was only on WHTG, they were known for
> > taking liberties with it - you could hear the likes of
> Avril
> > Lavigne, Nelly Furtado, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Maroon 5,
>
> > even Norah Jones and Santana at times. Ever since the
> > format was added to WBBO and rebranded as G Rock Radio,
> this
> > station has gotten closer to Modern Rock as it has ever
> been
> > (under the current ownership at least), but some old
> habits
> > die hard, I guess. What is a whiskey-fueled British trad
> > rock aping band like the Black Crowes doing on an
> > Alternative station? I mean, they sound so much like one
> > band in particular that they should have called themselves
>
> > the Tumbling Rocks. It's all just typical generic bluesy
> > arena rock without any trace of irony or wit - what, pray
> > tell, makes that Alternative? Primal Scream performed an
> > infinitely better version of this sound with their album
> > Give Out But Don't Give Up and then they evolved ... why
> not
> > play that instead? Oh yeah - because they didn't go
> > platinum. What makes this even worse is the fact that the
>
> > aforementioned station hardly (or never) plays acts like
> Joy
> > Division, Sonic Youth, Depeche Mode (save for Violator and
>
> > the new material), Morrissey, Primus, Radiohead (aside
> from
> > "Creep"), Pavement, Sex Pistols, and countless other bands
>
> > that are better suited for the format - but I digress.
> Did
> > the Black Crowes ever receive any rotation on Alternative
> > that perhaps I missed because I must have been sleeping at
>
> > the time? If so, then that must have been the point where
>
> > we all started to ask ourselves what the term
> "Alternative"
> > really meant. I guess we can start using the label to
> > describe Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Boston,
> > Foreigner, etc. The Black Crowes would be in far better
> > company with those bands than on Alternative Radio, if you
>
> > ask me. But what do I know - little effeminate boys that
> > sing in falsettos about dancing are also considered
> > Alternative these days, for whatever reason. So are
> cavemen
> > that write the same song over and over again and write
> > lyrics about getting jiggy in an automobile. What gives?
> >
>
<P ID="signature">______________
"Growing old, and living for the moment."
~Rufio</P>
 
What is a whiskey-fueled British trad
> rock aping band like the Black Crowes doing on an
> Alternative station?

Well, the Black Crowes are actually from Georgia, not Britain. Anyway, I'm not sure if the Black Crowes got any alternative airplay back in the early 90s during their hey day. If you go onto billboard.com and do an chart history search on the Black Crowes, you'll see their songs were always on the mainstream rock chart (used to be album rock). There aren't any Black Crowes songs that charted on modern rock, so if the Black Crowes did get any airplay on alternative stations, it was either very seldom or only on a few local stations. I know that 99X/WNNX Atlanta played the Black Crowes a lot, but it makes sense since the band hailed from that area. Also, here in Boston, 104.1 WBCN, after transitioning from AOR to alternative (supposedly), the Black Crowes still got a decent amount of airplay. Because a song like "Hard to Handle" had very mass appeal (top 40 radio, MTV), it may have gotten lumped in to the "90s rock" umbrella and doesn't seem so out of place when played next to Pearl Jam or Stone Temple Pilots. I know WBRU/Providence occasionally plays "Hard to Handle," but when I heard it on BRU for the first time a few years ago, I looked at the radio myself and said "huh?"

To go along with this, I've been noticing Guns N' Roses slowly appearing on alternative playlists lately, and their new single "IRS" have been getting some alternative rock spins, even on KROQ/Los Angeles.

Jacko<P ID="signature">______________
I live for my dream,
And a pocket full of gold.
</P>
 
Yes, "Conspiracy" was also played on 93.7 The Edge in Minneapolis.

It's understandable that KROQ is playing the new Axl tune as bad as it is. Even though they let KNAC have GNR play back in the day, now there is no place for harder edged rock since KLOS has gone to pure classic rock, so KROQ fills the void. They'll play some stuff from "Appetite" on the flashback show occasionally.
 
> Yeah, you read that right. I find it very strange....

Every era of change is STRANGE...We try and find an indentity....We are less payola oriented than our ancestors of early pop/rock/r&b radio and yet we are guilty of holding on to our preceptions of what Alternative 'is' and 'is not'...We may have be 'right on the money' in our preceptions of an earlier day, but times change and our audience will look to other historic pop/rock cultured successes for listening and value, if everything goes into a blue funk.... Thus the strong testing of some rock groups and other genres' being played by listed Alternative stations... Here is a hint...The new term on the street is: New Rock/Alternative..... Kind of sounds like the "New Wave to the Punk" in the early eighties peak of those pop cultured terminologies.... Hey? My little LPFM that is New Rock/Alternative is so strange in that we have the 50 hottest with 30 recurrents and image tunes of recent lore, and then our listeners that attend our coffee house/station concerts give us some odd requests for things like Bowie, Johnny Cash, Tubes and other older dated stuff.... Alternative sure is in flux.....
>
 
> What is a whiskey-fueled British trad
> > rock aping band like the Black Crowes doing on an
> > Alternative station?
>
> Well, the Black Crowes are actually from Georgia, not
> Britain.


The way I worded this may have been confusing. I meant to refer to the Black Crowes as aping British trad rock - not that they were British trad rock. I knew they were from the U.S.
 
> I remember in 1994, many stations were spinning the Black
> Crowes' track "Conspiracy" across the nation including
> Modesto's late KDJK 95.1 and Columbus OH's CD 101..
>
>
> > Yeah, you read that right. I find it very strange that my
>
> > local Alternative, G Rock Radio (106.3 WHTG / 98.5 WBBO,
> > Monmouth/Ocean, NJ) plays them at all - even more baffling
>
> > is the frequency which they get played. When the
> > Alternative format was only on WHTG, they were known for
> > taking liberties with it - you could hear the likes of
> Avril
> > Lavigne, Nelly Furtado, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Maroon 5,
>
> > even Norah Jones and Santana at times. Ever since the
> > format was added to WBBO and rebranded as G Rock Radio,
> this
> > station has gotten closer to Modern Rock as it has ever
> been
> > (under the current ownership at least), but some old
> habits
> > die hard, I guess. What is a whiskey-fueled British trad
> > rock aping band like the Black Crowes doing on an
> > Alternative station? I mean, they sound so much like one
> > band in particular that they should have called themselves
>
> > the Tumbling Rocks. It's all just typical generic bluesy
> > arena rock without any trace of irony or wit - what, pray
> > tell, makes that Alternative? Primal Scream performed an
> > infinitely better version of this sound with their album
> > Give Out But Don't Give Up and then they evolved ... why
> not
> > play that instead? Oh yeah - because they didn't go
> > platinum. What makes this even worse is the fact that the
>
> > aforementioned station hardly (or never) plays acts like
> Joy
> > Division, Sonic Youth, Depeche Mode (save for Violator and
>
> > the new material), Morrissey, Primus, Radiohead (aside
> from
> > "Creep"), Pavement, Sex Pistols, and countless other bands
>
> > that are better suited for the format - but I digress.
> Did
> > the Black Crowes ever receive any rotation on Alternative
> > that perhaps I missed because I must have been sleeping at
>
> > the time? If so, then that must have been the point where
>
> > we all started to ask ourselves what the term
> "Alternative"
> > really meant. I guess we can start using the label to
> > describe Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Boston,
> > Foreigner, etc. The Black Crowes would be in far better
> > company with those bands than on Alternative Radio, if you
>
> > ask me. But what do I know - little effeminate boys that
> > sing in falsettos about dancing are also considered
> > Alternative these days, for whatever reason. So are
> cavemen
> > that write the same song over and over again and write
> > lyrics about getting jiggy in an automobile. What gives?
> >
>


I never actually heard that particular song. I wonder if it's in any way a departure from the no-frills blues rock that had become their stock in trade.</P>
 
> > What is a whiskey-fueled British trad
> > > rock aping band like the Black Crowes doing on an
> > > Alternative station?
> >
> > Well, the Black Crowes are actually from Georgia, not
> > Britain.
> The way I worded this may have been confusing. I meant to
> refer to the Black Crowes as aping British trad rock - not
> that they were British trad rock. I knew they were from the
> U.S.
>

They have more in common with Lynard Skynard (Southern Rock) than British rock....
 
> > > What is a whiskey-fueled British trad
> > > > rock aping band like the Black Crowes doing on an
> > > > Alternative station?
> > >
> > > Well, the Black Crowes are actually from Georgia, not
> > > Britain.
> > The way I worded this may have been confusing. I meant to
>
> > refer to the Black Crowes as aping British trad rock - not
>
> > that they were British trad rock. I knew they were from
> the
> > U.S.
> >
>
> They have more in common with Lynard Skynard (Southern
> Rock) than British rock....
>


Well, perhaps. I always thought of them as being real bluesy, and Chris Robinson strutting around on stage as if he were Mick Jagger. But either way, you don't hear "Freebird" or "Start Me Up" on Alternative radio, so why are we hearing "Remedy" or "She Talks To Angels"? I mean, the Black Crowes are fine for what they are, but I thought "Alternative" meant outside the realm of traditional arena rock.</P>
 
> I mean, the
> Black Crowes are fine for what they are, but I thought
> "Alternative" meant outside the realm of traditional arena
> rock.

It ususally does, except in cases where you have programmers who perhaps don't get it. For instance, a few weeks back 103.9 The Edge/Phoenix did a "hair metal weekend" minus irony. It was a disaster.

An alternative station can get away with breaking from the norm by playing bands as diverse as James Brown, GNR, Metallica, Aretha Franklin, as the legendary Rev 105/Minneapolis used to but throwing Black Crowes between Green Day and 311 just doesn't work. It's all about context.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom