The Latest |
The Past |
About Me |
The Vault |
Links |
Home! |
I was in the cafeteria tonight and what should come on the radio but what may be one of my all- time favorite songs, "Veronica" by Elvis Costello. I rocked out, sang along, and generally made a slight fool of myself with my enjoyment of the song. This got me to thinking about what makes the radio so special even today, and such a different experience from hearing a song in most other contexts. I think there are at least a few things at work in the magic of hearing a good song on the radio.
First off, it's not YOU that's chosen the song, but some mysterious disc jockey in a tiny studio somewhere out in netherland. Out of all the possible songs to play at that moment, he's picked one of your favorites. It's somewhat of a vindication, that he enjoys the same music that you do, and that others enjoy it period.
Also, it's a moment that you know you are sharing with a metropolitan area. When you crank a great tune on your CD player, for that moment it belongs only to you in your room, dancing and thinking and weeping and smiling or whatever. But when you hear that same song on the radio, it doesn't just belong to you but to everyone who can hear it. For that moment in the cafeteria, I was sharing "Veronica" with at least a roomfull of my peers in college, and with part of the Chicago metropolitan area. I knew that I was not the only one in the city with a stupid grin about a neat pop tune. I could share the song with the entire city at one moment, which is another form of vindication, and a moment of confirmation as a member of an "audience" and not just a solitary listener.
I think this last bit is why it can piss fans off that their "personal" band becomes popular. It happened big-time with R.E.M., and now it seems to be happening with Ben Folds Five, both cult bands that have gravitated into the mainstream, and in doing so have lost some of the respect and admiration of their earliest and "truest" fans. These "true" fans, who hate the fact that "Brick" by BFF is on the radio every hour and who think R.E.M. sold out around "Green," are disgusted by the idea of sharing their favorite music with people that they may not deem "worthy" of hearing the music.
There is some legitimacy to their skepticism and fear--think back to Bruce Springsteen and "Born in the U.S.A." and the ways that the album/song were manipulated and misconstrued by people who didn't get his true message. Remembering all those stars-and-stripes-clad fans at his concerts screaming "Born in the U.S.A." along with Bruce and not realizing that the song was more about bitterness and anger with America and its false promises than it was about patriotism and loyalty to the flag? Well, I don't REMEMBER them, as I wasn't into Bruce when I was eight, but I've heard the stories and read the articles, and it certainly was a gross misreading of a brilliant song by a public who wasn't ready or able to truly understand.
But at the end of the day, it's all POP, and it's not meant to belong to a horn-rimmed record geek alone in his bedroom beating off to Elvis Costello and Big Star--it's POPULAR music, which deserves to be beamed out into the ether over the radio, into homes and cars, listened to by lovers and workers and people who couldn't care less. And no matter how indie KEWL an artist tries to be, they all want their message to be heard through the music. So when the double-edged sword of popularity versus selling out stabs its victims, its wound isn't always painful, and it doesn't always bleed. Hearing a cool song that you really like on the radio should never be a moment of panic and anguish. Enjoy it, because you're sharing what you love with your corner of the world.