Worst songs on country radio

[TheBigA]

johnny cash, was blackballed by radio starting in the 80's.

Proof please.

if taylor swift did not get major market radio rotation, she would not be known, or have many sales either. but, radio jumped at it being they all program new chart music, and the rest is history.

Not true. Taylor Swift had a million MySpace friends before she released her first single. That was part of the strategy by her label to convince radio to play her records. Otherwise they never would have played a 16-year-pld singer from Pennsylvania.

the classic country stations that survive, are mostly on AM, and low budget, no promotion at best.

Not true. Lots of FM classic country stations, including one owned by Cox in Houston. But they don’t get great ratings because the audience for classic country isn’t as great as it is for the current stuff. You can’t force old music on young people. That was true 40 years ago, but it’s even more true now with all the choices available.

 

[firepoint525]

As long as Johnny Cash remains dead, no record company will be promoting him. Since he is deceased, he cannot go out on the road and do shows and promote his product, etc. I would actually say that he held on longer than most others of his generation did. Jerry Lee Lewis (the "last man standing") is still around, but not really doing anything to promote himself.

Cash had a good run. He is one of the few who is in both the Country and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.

 

[scott salvatori]

As long as Johnny Cash remains dead, no record company will be promoting him. Since he is deceased, he cannot go out on the road and do shows and promote his product, etc. I would actually say that he held on longer than most others of his generation did. Jerry Lee Lewis (the "last man standing") is still around, but not really doing anything to promote himself.

Cash had a good run. He is one of the few who is in both the Country and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.

dont forget cash, and his American recording series releases from the 90's during his final years. although, most of this stuff wasnt the traditional j. cash style country, it did get some AAA airplay. the hipster young musically educated city crowd loved it.

jerry lee, released a new collaberation album not too long ago called "mean old man". he even did a good version of the stones "dead flowers" w/mick jagger on it. another cool song on it is the title cut written by kristofferson.

by the way, what radio station is age mid 70's jerry lee, and/or the record company gonna promote this to? there aint none bubba! kinda like tryin' to promote rib eye steak and lobster sales at Mcdonalds, and burger king.

 

[TheBigA]

by the way, what radio station is age mid 70's jerry lee, and/or the record company gonna promote this to?

Jerry Lee Lewis NEVER got much radio airplay except for three songs, and we can all name them. He hasn't had a hit in over 50 years. Talk about someone "blacklisted," Jerry Lee's radio career ended when he married his 13 year old cousin. Boom it was over.

Yet people know who he is. Same thing with Little Richard. Yet they continue to make records and tour. It's a very limited view to look at the music industry through radio airplay. Only a small number of recording artists get airplay. They're the rich ones, but there are many other ways to reach one's fan base besides radio.

 

[scott salvatori]

big A, i aint here to defend jerry lee, and that issue. the other poster brung it up. when his three big hits come on my radio, i cant change channels quick enough. but, his most recent album, as mentioned above. is quite good. it is loaded heavy with some big name rockers. if we still had real album rock radio, they'da been the ones to track through some of it. but, we dont. 99.9% of people dont even know about it.

i will address your questions from reply #320 above when i have more time to sort through my thoughts, and my heavy load of work im dealing with this week...

 

[firepoint525]

dont forget cash, and his American recording series releases from the 90's during his final years. although, most of this stuff wasnt the traditional j. cash style country, it did get some AAA airplay. the hipster young musically educated city crowd loved it.

All those American Recordings were mostly cover versions of songs already made famous by younger artists in a vain attempt to stay relevant to those so-called "hipsters." People like me saw right through it. CMT and GAC played his video for the song "Hurt" so much back in the day that I got sick of seeing it. In short, he became a human karaoke machine. He was even worse than Tony Bennett, who has tried to stay relevant to the younger crowd by doing duets with their heroes.

Another point, if you are trying to market your product to young city "hipsters," you are no longer country. Sorry but that is just reality. I used to know people like that, even here in Nashville, and they aren't "country." Even you admitted that his last stuff wasn't country. So why would you expect country radio to play it?

 

[scott salvatori]

Proof please.

sorry, aint got no smokin gun, or PD/MD name drops for ya here. just my observation, which i stand by. i learned this fact way back when i was still a teenager, when i seen johnny cash in seattle. i was annoyed by all the KPMS logos above the stage. this channel wouldnt touch johnny cash music with a ten foot pole during the 80's. yet, there they was doin' the artist intro, and spreading the station logo for the johnny cash fans to see. blackballed? what is blackballed? at best, these fat cats might say was, "we dont play johnny cash cause he's not got any hot hits on the charts". yet, if the major market chart stations dont play him, he wont have any hits move up the charts. but, later on in 1985, johnny, waylon, kris, and willie teamed up for the song highwayman. this did hit #1, and did finally get airplay. but, i damn well guarantee you, it was well into the top 10, if not #1. before this channel decided, well maybe we should give these characters some spins.

now to pick on another station. in 1990, cash released "goin' by the book". seattle station, KRPM played this single on a nightly new music contest. two fresh new pre chart songs were played, and the listeners voted for the best(one of the few ways to hear new music back then, in a world of recurrents). the winner song advanced to take on a new one the next night. cash, won for something like 16 days straight. this was a record that beat even new garth and reba music. yet, did this song ever make the regular playlist rotation? nope! in fact the song only charted nationally at #69. programming logic says this song should have gotten regular spins. but, because the artist and song was blackballed by major market stations, it never got a chance to take off. waylon, came to town in the 80's and verbally chastised the station KMPS on air, during an interview about the same thing. he never got his new music played either. yet, if it was kenny rogers pop, they was all over it like white on rice. i call it blackballing. rotation creates hits. lack of rotation and blackballing, creates stiffed singles. sure, there are only so many slots. but, to blackball good singles from a country legend like johnny cash, while mediocre newbee pop got burn out spin status? damn, i got long winded here...anyone wanna fight? meet me in the alley, behind the bar!

 

[TheBigA]

this channel wouldnt touch johnny cash music with a ten foot pole during the 80's. yet, there they was doin' the artist intro, and spreading the station logo for the johnny cash fans to see.

I'd suggest to you that the radio station had a lot to do with those people being there in the first place. A station doesn't have to play an artists music to promote that artists concerts. Today, lots of radio stations do "loyal listener shows," where listeners get to hear new artists for the first time. Quite often, those new artists aren't getting airplay yet, because they're too new. But their music is getting exposure to potential new fans.

Johnny Cash was never a traditional country artist. He never had a fiddle or steel guitar player in his band. The other artists who got their start at Sun Records in Memphis went on to become rock and rockabilly stars, not country stars. Johnny's music was closer to the folk tradition than the more commercial country side. His music became less commercial as he grew older. He expressed opinions in his songs that traditional country fans didn't want to hear. But it didn't help that he had a terrible relationship with the people at his record label. At the time, record labels were the ones who invested in an artists' career, and created the priorities for marketing and airplay. If they didn't like you, you were on your own. Columbia not only didn't promote Cash's music in the 80s, but they encouraged radio to play other artists instead of him. If anyone "blackballed" Johnny Cash, it was his own record label. But he didn't help himself, because of the music he made. Tim McGraw has had a similar situation with his label, but because he made it a point to continue to make great music, and bypass his label, he continues to get airplay. It all comes down to the music, and Cash's music was marginally country to begin with.

Being a legend gets you respect. It doesn't get you airplay. To get airplay, you need to make great music. George Strait will turn 60 this May. He's a legend. He has respect. But his music continues to be great traditional country. It's undeniable. And he continues to be a priority at his record label. They work his songs today as hard as they did 20 years ago. That's why he continues to get airplay and others do not.

 

[scott salvatori]

big A, you split a few more hairs on the subject, and came up with some fair, and valid additional facts, and counterpoints. yet, we could prob go on like a see-saw for weeks on the subject.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

...if you are trying to market your product to young city "hipsters," you are no longer country.

I miss Johnny terribly, but yes, his '90s material certainly was a dreadful attempt at trolling for "hipsters". Painful to witness.

 

[firepoint525]

The last song by Johnny Cash that I can recall from his "original" career (before he started going after those city "hipsters" in the mid '90s) was "Ragged Old Flag" from around 1990. But I seem to recall that even it was on an indie label.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

(Jerry Lee Lewis) hasn't had a hit in over 50 years...

Thought I could call you on that claim BigA, by citing Middle Age Crazy, 1980. But, my research could not even find where that song placed on the charts, or if it even did. Maybe only country stations were playing it, and I know it didn't hit #1 there. Oh well, I thought it was a great song, and a welcome respite from the rolling piano blues-rock typical of this aging rock icon.

 

[radioboy]

"Middle Age Crazy" went to #4 in 1977.

 

[TheBigA]

"Middle Age Crazy" went to #4 in 1977.

On the country chart. Turntable hit. No gold airplay, no pop airplay, and when he passes away, it won't be the song people play.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

"Middle Age Crazy" went to #4 in 1977.

Thanks, Alan. And I wasn't comfortable with the 1980-date, but that's the year shown on a website marketing that song. I should have known better-- Middle Age... was popular when I lived in Midland, TX, before moving to Roswell, NM in '79.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

"Middle Age Crazy" went to #4 in 1977.

On the country chart. Turntable hit. No gold airplay, no pop airplay, and when he passes away, it won't be the song people play.

Grim assessment, BigA, but you may be right. Posthumously, legends like JLL tend to be measured by the stereotype they leave behind.

 

[scott salvatori]

The last song by Johnny Cash that I can recall from his "original" career (before he started going after those city "hipsters" in the mid '90s) was "Ragged Old Flag" from around 1990. But I seem to recall that even it was on an indie label.

...unless "ragged old flag" was rereleased later, it was originally a single in springtime 74. the last single i believe j.cash released for the country market, was the prior mentioned "goin' by the book". this was released on 9-22-90, from the mercury CD "the mysteries of life". it only spent four weeks on the charts, and peaked at 69. what an amazing song this is, which was released about the time of the first gulf war. this song is all about biblical prophecy, and couldnt have been done sung better than by the man in black. i was, and still am a strong believer in this song, and what a way to cap off johnnys country recording career. it was the bastards at centralized country radio programming, that let this song stiff due to lack of airplay rotation in the elite major markets. twenty two years later, this song is more relevent, and important than ever. perhaps it can be found on you-tube, and someone could give us the download, so the board can hear it.

lets also ponder this: if it werent for producer rick rubin, and American recordings in the mid 90's, johnny cash would most likely have never recorded again. yes, most of the production was not country, but a mix of sparse produced folk, and some rock. recording these albums were very important to johnny, as he faced his final years. some of it was even half way decent. this brought the "coolness" of the man in black, to an entire new audience, when the elite movers, and shakers of nashville had long abandon him as a non marketable hasbeen, relic from the past.

 

[TheBigA]

this brought the "coolness" of the man in black, to an entire new audience, when the elite movers, and shakers of nashville had long abandon him as a non marketable hasbeen, relic from the past.

Maybe...you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

The only one of the American Recordings that sold anything was number 4 with Hurt. That one video hit helped sell a million records. The rest of them barely made an impact. So just because he made records, and a new generation was alive at the time, doesn't mean they heard them. The fact is that the elite movers & shakers were right. He had to record a cover song written by a Gen Xer to get anyone to listen. He might not have been willing to do that ten years earlier.

 

[flashback]

this brought the "coolness" of the man in black, to an entire new audience, when the elite movers, and shakers of nashville had long abandon him as a non marketable hasbeen, relic from the past.

Maybe...you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

The only one of the American Recordings that sold anything was number 4 with Hurt. That one video hit helped sell a million records. The rest of them barely made an impact. So just because he made records, and a new generation was alive at the time, doesn't mean they heard them. The fact is that the elite movers & shakers were right. He had to record a cover song written by a Gen Xer to get anyone to listen. He might not have been willing to do that ten years earlier.

so the thing that makes a song good or bad is its position on the charts.how about the good songs out there that never get played because they are not top selling hits.but because they are not played they don`t sell because they are not known about?

or the songs people don`t know from older albums because they are not the few on a playlist but if heard people could like but never have the chance to enjoy because they don`t know of?

that is one way radio is droping the ball.

 

[TheBigA]

so the thing that makes a song good or bad is its position on the charts.

No, I'm just saying the records didn't sell.

that is one way radio is droping the ball.

Radio doesn't get a dime from the sale of records. What matters is if the record attracts an audience. That's the goal of the game. And in that way, radio is not dropping the ball.