• 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

Unlikely AC Hits of the 90s

Lee Anderson said:
It makes sense to add tracks like RHCP and various acoustic versions of 90's alternative hits. My reason would be that when the average 40 year old soccer mom is listening, she wants to hear songs that relate to her. The (early to mid) 90's was the first wave of alternative. The teenagers of that era, are the family of today. So ut makes sense to play the music that they grew up with.
I've seen people comment that Nirvana will eventually make their way to AC.

I would hope acoustic versions only. Some of those songs as originally played have no business on AC period. A few of them might work.
 
vchimpanzee said:
I would hope acoustic versions only. Some of those songs as originally played have no business on AC period. A few of them might work.

Even if they played the original versions, it may actually work for some stations in attracting the younger end of their target demo. One thing to remember is that a lot of 90's alternative music has found it's way into mainstream media, especially advertising and/or TV shows. My arguement would be that these tracks, that had limited appeal back in the day, can branch out and be accepted to a wider audience because they have been around long enough and exposed to a larger audience.
 
Think about the fact that a 34 year old soccer mom was 16-17 years old in the mid 90's when many of the songs at the top of this thread were popular. Both CHR and modern AC played the crap out of those records when they were currents. It makes complete sense to use them in AC's music mix today. The format's traditional icons of that time, Gloria Estefan, Celine, Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams etc. were considered this listener's mom's music! That mom is just about out of the 25-54 demo now.

With the advent of Rhythmic AC in certain markets, catering to females who grew up with rhythmic or urban radio and some classic hits stations starting to dabble in the 90's already, it really forces AC to re-examine where they fit in the radio landscape. All those previous notions about the AC format...soft, gold-driven, late on currents...throw them out the window.
 
KS-IL-IA said:
"Butterfly Kisses" by Bob Carlisle. A Christian song that crossed over and became the father of the bride dance for years to come.

Just this past Saturday, I heard "Butterfly Kisses" on my local mainstream/soft AC station in Grand Rapids, MI: WTRV/100.5 The River. It was kinda strange to hear it again on the radio. I'm not sure how long that song has been on that station's playlist (or maybe it had officially been dropped at one point and added back in recently). I always liked the song but thought it was MAJORLY overplayed in '97.
 
As 103.7 KVIL in Dallas/Fort Worth made a "fresher" approach to their AC format a few months ago (90s to right now), I too heard songs that were unlikely on such a format. Though 1/2 the songs seem fitting (i.e. "I Will Remember You (Live version)" by Sarah McLachlan and "Linger" by The Cranberries).

Much of the songs mentioned on this thread have been played. Also to add to the list would be "If You Could Only See" by Tonic.
 
What I am technically referring to is that there were a lot of AC titles from the 90s that we know of, but there were some songs that seemed to get airplay on the format that surprised many of us.
 
vchimpanzee said:
I've seen people comment that Nirvana will eventually make their way to AC.
I have a recording of an AC station (630 KHOW Denver, CO) from 1984. They played the stuff you'd expect for the time -- Dionne Warwick, Tony Bennett, Anne Murray... and then they played "Light My Fire" by the Doors!!

The point is, people like to hear songs from their youth, and for AC's target audience, that's music from around 20-30 years ago. So that's why AC stations are now playing a lot of '80s rock hits that they never played before, like Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Cheap Trick, etc.

So, give it another 5-10 years, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on AC stations.
 
satech said:
vchimpanzee said:
I've seen people comment that Nirvana will eventually make their way to AC.
I have a recording of an AC station (630 KHOW Denver, CO) from 1984. They played the stuff you'd expect for the time -- Dionne Warwick, Tony Bennett, Anne Murray... and then they played "Light My Fire" by the Doors!!
I listened to a station that played this music mix. But it was Joe Feliciano, not The Doors.

The station I listen to now hasn't played that one as far as I know.
 
satech said:
vchimpanzee said:
I've seen people comment that Nirvana will eventually make their way to AC.
I have a recording of an AC station (630 KHOW Denver, CO) from 1984. They played the stuff you'd expect for the time -- Dionne Warwick, Tony Bennett, Anne Murray... and then they played "Light My Fire" by the Doors!!
The point is, people like to hear songs from their youth, and for AC's target audience, that's music from around 20-30 years ago. So that's why AC stations are now playing a lot of '80s rock hits that they never played before, like Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Cheap Trick, etc.
So, give it another 5-10 years, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on AC stations.
To this day, I have never heard AC/DC on AC radio, and they were big 30+ years ago when I was in high school. (Not complaining about that, I never liked them anyway.) Tom Kent, carried on our local AC station, sometimes plays them, but he doesn't count.

Usually, when these "harder-edged" acts get played on AC, it is usually their "power ballads" (which all the women loved, and which were hits for these groups anyway) that open the door for them to get airplay on AC.
 
firepoint525 said:
To this day, I have never heard AC/DC on AC radio, and they were big 30+ years ago when I was in high school. (Not complaining about that, I never liked them anyway.) Tom Kent, carried on our local AC station, sometimes plays them, but he doesn't count.

Despite their long and prolific career as a rock band, AC/DC's music has never had much in the way of pop crossover appeal. Their biggest pop hit, "Moneytalks" in 1990, only reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Nirvana was more successful at pop crossover hits because their fame and downfall came during the early '90s, when alternative rock was at the peak of its popularity.
 
Come to think of it, KISS has also never done much crossing over to AC, not even "Beth." The only Boston song that I have heard on AC is "More Than a Feeling." Aerosmith has done much better on AC, but they have had more "power ballads" over the years. Bon Jovi has also done especially well on AC, but they have always done well with women listeners. "Never Say Goodbye" would be getting LOTS of AC airplay, except that it was never released as a single.
 
firepoint525 said:
Come to think of it, KISS has also never done much crossing over to AC, not even "Beth." The only Boston song that I have heard on AC is "More Than a Feeling." Aerosmith has done much better on AC, but they have had more "power ballads" over the years. Bon Jovi has also done especially well on AC, but they have always done well with women listeners. "Never Say Goodbye" would be getting LOTS of AC airplay, except that it was never released as a single.
Boston's "Amanda" was on AC even when it was new.

"We're Ready" is another AC-sounding hit, at least the way AC sounds today.

I saw a newspaper article about how popular a lot of 90s hits are today. It said these songs were in "heavy rotation". I don't know about that.
 
I have not heard "Amanda" on AC lately, although it seems like it would be a good fit for them. Never heard "We're Ready" on AC radio.

Def Leppard is another one that I have been surprised to hear on AC radio. But to me, everything by them sounds the same.

The AC station in Hopkinsville (Lite 98.7) plays the single version of "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake, but Mix 92.9 here in Nashville only plays their power ballad "Is This Love."
 
firepoint525 said:
I have not heard "Amanda" on AC lately, although it seems like it would be a good fit for them. Never heard "We're Ready" on AC radio.

Def Leppard is another one that I have been surprised to hear on AC radio. But to me, everything by them sounds the same.

The AC station in Hopkinsville (Lite 98.7) plays the single version of "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake, but Mix 92.9 here in Nashville only plays their power ballad "Is This Love."
"Is This Love" was on at least one AC station when it was first popular.

"Love Bites" seems like a good fit. Now I seem to recall "Pour Some Sugar on Me" on a Hot AC in Myrtle Beach, which at the time had no mainstream AC, and the one mainstream AC in the market now is incapable of covering the market.
 
KRNO 106.9 Reno NV plays Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me". And they are a SOFT ROCK station!

-crainbebo
 
I have not heard any Guns 'n' Roses on AC radio, save for the acoustic hit "Patience," which I heard back when it was a hit.

I am like some of the rest of you, in that I don't really expect to hear "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on AC radio, but I wouldn't be too surprised to hear "Come As You Are" or maybe some of Nirvana's "MTV unplugged" stuff. Seems like acoustic "unplugged" material or power ballads are how some of these groups first find their way onto AC radio, and then if that is received well, then maybe the rest will follow.
 
firepoint525 said:
I have not heard any Guns 'n' Roses on AC radio, save for the acoustic hit "Patience," which I heard back when it was a hit.
"Sweet Child O'Mine" plays on stations that people around here have described as mainstream AC. Maybe the first part, but toward the end it's just too loud for any station that isn't Hot AC.

I heard "You Oughta Know" the other night. Alanis Morissette's other hits would fit in just fine on AC radio, but not that one. The station where I heard it plays "anything". And I should mention it doesn't sound like the original. There seems to be a lot more bass in it or something.
 
Its funny because Entercom's WKTK/ Gainesville, Fl has "Shook me all night long" on their playlist. "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "I love Rock n Roll" is also on said playlist.
 
I remember the old WPNT Chicago playing Boy Crazy's That's What Love Can Do, as well as Sarah McLachlan's Possession (something I would have thought would only be played on WTMX, as it was Modern AC in the day. I also remember Melissa Ethridge being played on their station too. WPNT was rather upbeat for an AC station in the day, & remained that way, until the station was sold to Bonneville International (now owned by Hubbard Broadcasting today), & the music went a bit softer to compete with WLIT as WNND. To an extent, the station is going back to the sound of the WPNT days, as it's even more upbeat than WPNT was in the day, except they're not playing the 90's Bryan Adams songs, Rod Stewart (maybe an occasional 70's or 80's Rod Stewart), Michael Bolton, Mariah Carey, 90's Gloria Estefan, or Celine Dion songs.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom