Pop music

I always thought the American radio stations were bad.. From the 80's, I've always been a fan of 'alternative' bands from England - Duran Duran, Thompson Twins, Madness, Talk Talk, Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode etc, etc. I know more British music than M, he's always surprised when I come up with some obscure band.. surprised that I know them. But it was my life then, music was what kept me from doing destructive things to myself... someone always related to me. I've always been and am still a big fan of meaningful lyrics and songs that speak to me. On my short trips to London when I was younger, I'd always come home with an unreleased Cure album or Spandau Ballet or something that didn't get to America for months later, if ever. Even now, the British bands I like don't get a lot of airplay at home.. I have branched out in my old age though and I like a lot more music than I used to. I like classic and progressive rock, I like punk, I like jazz, I like funky rap like the Black Eyed Peas. At home, if I didn't like a song playing, I could change the station and USUALLY find something I liked. I don't know how many stations there are in the Bay Area (100's I think) but I had about 7 programmed in my car. I only drove 10 minutes each way to work most times and I could push all 7 programmed stations and never find a song I liked.

The other times I've been to Ireland, I always loved the radio stations. I could hear Coldplay or Travis (bands I like now) or Jamiroquai on MTV. I always thought that was cool because you'd almost never get Jamiroquai on the radio at home. Or Style Council. I could go on. But recently I've noticed that the music on the radio here really sucks. There's only about 6 stations total in Ireland (if you go to northern ireland, you pick up BBC stations and those are great, by the way) but recently it seems that pop music reigns surpreme. Boy bands and girl bands are rampant (and suck, in my opinion) and remakes are becoming the bane of my existance (don't any of these bands write their own songs?). There is a remake of a Pretenders song on the radio. I'll Stand By You, a nice ballad that Chrissie Hynde nails perfectly. Why, oh why did Girls Aloud have to do a remake? It tortures me daily. (because it's played all the time right now) There's more, believe me, I just can't remember them at the moment....

I could go on forever but this is already too long.. LOL. There are a few artists here that I really like and I know they don't really make it stateside. Robbie Williams (I always thought he was all attitude but recently have started to like him) used to be a boy band, left the band and went out on his own. He's tattooed and has had a lot of interesting press in the States, but he sings kind of pop music that somehow manages to be okay (he sang 'Misunderstood' in the recent Bridget Jones movie). There's a song by a guy called Lemar ('If There's Any Justice'), kind of soul music, nice voice. I even like Kylie Minogue (but I think that's just because the rest of the music is so crappy that even her songs sound good).

And if you've heard the new version of 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' you'll know what I mean. The first one 20 years ago had voices I recognized, bands that I loved. This one, while still having some singers I like (Chris Martin, Dido, the guy from Keane) has mostly people I've never heard of and with good reason. They are so plain and uninteresting, I'm still wondering how they made radio play here. If you haven't heard it, just donate the money and leave the CD. It'll just create more waste in the landfills in the future.