Never Let You Go

When I was your age, kids, the radio played stuff that was worth listening to.  It was actually a regular part of my day and I heard a lot of it between 4:00 and 7:00 during my first wave of homework.  There were actual bands and they got actual airtime.  Some of this music could even be described as rock or alternative.  This is shocking, I know, and I'm showing my age.

Around the year 2000, there was one station in the Boston market that did a phenomenal job of playing these bands.  Tune into Mix 98.5 (WBMX) and you could hear (with some regularity) the Barenaked Ladies, Vertical Horizon, Third Eye Blind, Sister Hazel, and Matchbox Twenty.

Though the suits in the biz would clinically describe this music as "Modern Rock" and eventually "Modern Adult Contemporary", these bands were rock bands.  Sure, songs like "If You're Gone" and the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris" would end up becoming shopping mall music staples--loved by moms everywhere--but the vast majority of singles and radio hits from these bands were enjoyable and made life a whole lot better in middle school.

Then something terrible happened.  Suddenly, radio stations were all up and changing their formats and crap (because, really, who listens to the radio anymore?) and Top 40 was everywhere.  The niche for a station that played rock songs with thoughtful lyrics and jangly guitars evaporated. Mix 98.5 went with this wave and a small part of me was lost on the day the music died (I believe the exact moment was the day that they played Madonna's "American Pie").

I decided, ten years on, to make a mix CD compiling my favorite songs from back in the day (8th grade, 9th grade, and 10th grade), and my track list is contained here.  I bypassed the obvious title choice ("The Mix Mix") as well as more accurate ones ("Buzz Ballads 3") for the blandest one imaginable ("The Mix 98.5 Throwback CD").

Behold:

Everything You Want - Vertical Horizon

Slide - The Goo Goo Dolls

She's So High - Tal Bachman

Last Beautiful Girl - Matchbox Twenty

Change Your Mind - Sister Hazel

Absolutely (Story of a Girl) - Nine Days

You're a God - Vertical Horizon

Pinch Me - Barenaked Ladies

The Space Between - Dave Matthews Band

Bent - Matchbox Twenty

Broadway - The Goo Goo Dolls

If I Had $1,000,000 (live) - Barenaked Ladies

Never Let You Go - Third Eye Blind

Desert Rose - Sting

Sweetest Thing - U2

Drive - Incubus

Hanging by a Moment - Lifehouse

Save Me From Myself - Vertical Horizon

Ghost in the Crowd - Sister Hazel

NOTES:
- I had been mulling over this CD for some time, and repeatedly told my friend (a fellow listener and fan from back in the day) that I was about to make one.  We listened to this on the way into Boston last night and it was fantastic to hear these tracks again.  These songs were there and played loudly when I was finding myself, falling for the girl, getting over the girl, and discovering singing and writing.  They mean a lot to me.

- This is not a comprehensive cover of this period in music, but rather a conscious effort to compile my favorite songs from then (minus the extra slow or sad ones--"Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning)" for example).  I didn't listen to Radiohead or the Foo Fighters then so they aren't there.  Also, after this phase, I more or less stopped listening to the radio and got a little too into classic rock.

- Considering that most of the tracks here have a "pop" vibe, I was surprised to recall the quality of the lyrics.  It was especially interesting to hear VH's "I've been unable to put you down/I'm still learning things I oughta know by now" and realize that, a decade later, I still feel that way.

- As a tenth grader, I was certain that if you sang "Slide" to any one girl, she'd have to fall in love with you and be yours forever. "Put your arms around me/What you feel is what you are and what you are is beautiful".  I'm still about 45% sure that this would work.

- "Never Let You Go" has appeared on pretty much every other mix CD I've ever made, and I can play a serviceable version on guitar at college parties when people have been drinking.  It's a dark horse for "Favorite Song from the Last 12 or 13 Years" (a category I just made up now).

- Except it might actually be "Falling For the First Time" from the Barenaked Ladies, which I cannot believe was left off.  Other notable omissions include "Semi-Charmed Life" (overexposure), "Mad Season" (forgot), "Kryptonite" (also forgot), and "All For You" (reminds me of my college a cappella group).  I think I would swap out "Desert Rose" and "Sweetest Thing" for "Kryptonite" and "Mad Season" because they better fit the vibe.

- I still love Matchbox Twenty.  Those songs hold up.

- The last two songs actually came out in 2009, and to my knowledge, have not been played on WBMX (which was coined to be the Black Music EXperience according to Wikipedia--surprise racism!).  I included these songs because both of those bands are still making great music, even if radio isn't listening.

- Also in the Where Are They Now category, Matchbox Twenty put out six new songs on 2007's retrospective Exile on Mainstream and they are pleasantly excellent.  I haven't heard BNL's latest album so I can't vouch for it, but Third Eye Blind still enjoys strong, sustained support from Providence, RI, among other places. It goes without saying that Sting, U2, and DMB are still active.

- I have no idea where Tal Bachman is, but I'm guessing his one hit got him the girl.  It had to.  She couldn't walk away from that.

- I like a lot of The Goo Goo Dolls' mainstream grab Dizzy Up The Girl, but hardly anything else they've done before or since.  I think this is strange and alarmingly conformist of me. Also, for the record, "Slide" blows "Iris" right out of the water. 

- Vertical Horizon's Matthew Scannell is a fantastic and underrated songwriter.

- "Change Your Mind" is definitely a song I need to hear more often.  Noted.

- Don't do a Google Image search for "Barenaked Ladies Pinch Me" if the filter isn't turned on.  Nothing good coming from that. Lesson learned.

I wish these bands got the airplay now that they did then, because there is something unifying about liking music that other people like, too.  Until then, I will refuse to listen to the "new" Mix 104.1 and work on "The Mix Mix Strikes Back" (or "Buzz Ballads 4").  Or maybe I'll just buy "NOW 2".

PS - If Nick Hornby and Stephen Chbosky co-wrote an article about music, it would sound exactly like this one.  If you understood that, color me impressed.

Brit Brit

Setting: an LA studio, early 2008

Producer:  Okay Britney, we need one more song and we've got ourselves an album. You got anything?
Britney:  You know, I was listening to the radio in the car and I had this genius idea.  It's totally our first single.  I wrote it down and this is going to change the game.
Producer:  W-Wait, really?  Seriously?  Well all right!  Let's see what you've got.
Britney:  Ok. I'm thinking a pulsing, mid-tempo, edgy dance number...
Producer: So far, so good...
Britney: ...and it's kind of a kiss-off to a player...
Producer: ...I'm liking it...
Britney: ...and I think I'm gonna call it "Womanizer", which goes along with the whole robotic dance sound. It's this word that I heard the other day and it really stuck with me, and I think it could mean a lot for girls today who are tired of being played.
Producer:  Great!!  Wow, this could be really something!  Alright, step up to the mic and let's record some of this while it's still fresh!
Britney: Okay, here goes.  [Singing] "Womanizer, womanizer, you're a womanizer oh, womanizer, womanizer you're a womanizer baby you you you are, you you you are, womanizer, womanizer, he's a womanizer she's a womanizer we're all womanizers Bob's a womanizer womanizer baby oh womanizer womanizer toxic womanizer wo-..."
Producer:  Whoa Brit, whoa. Hang on a second.
Britney:  What's the problem?
Bob the Custodian:  Yeah, what's the problem?
Producer: It's just... aren't you just singing the word "womanizer" over and over again?  Like, are there other lyrics?
Britney: There are other lyrics too!  I just really like that word.
Producer: All right I just... I just think that if you're going to have a hit chorus, you need more than the same word over and over and over again, no?
Britney:  Well I wasn't done yet, though!  And I really think that today's girls will be able to identify with it.
Producer:  Okay well, I don't know.  We're on a tight schedule.  We need a hit song done in like ten minutes.
Britney:  Okay.
Producer:  You don't have any other songs?
Britney: Well, I'm working on one that I think I'm going to call "1 2 3" or something and I'll namecheck beloved folk group Peter, Paul, and Mary as a euphamism for a threesome.
Producer: Uhhhhh yeah okay we'll go with "Womanizer".  Just throw the word "swagger" in there somewhere and we should be good.

Setting: Some time later, Scotland
Alex Kapranos:  Guys, let's cover this song. It'll be hilarious.
Franz Ferdinand:

A Case for Radio from A Face for Radio

Remember radio? You might be surprised to hear that it still exists. Yes, that relic from your childhood, riding in overheated cars with defective cassette decks and melted crayon on the dashboard, is still alive and... well, I shouldn't say well, but it's not sick or anything.

No one listens to the radio anymore. In an era of iPods, iPod car adapters, mix CDs, and in-car bands that sing about free credit reports, the idea of actually turning on the dial and taking a chance on what music you're going to be hearing seems borderline insane. People who text while driving consider the radio dial to be downright dangerous. What happens if it's a song you don't like, or worse, haven't heard before? What if you scroll through all 45 or so stations, realize that half of them are playing the same song, and find that none of them are playing your favorite obscure indie band whose early stuff was really good? Don't even get me started on commercials either, you say.

I'm here to step up to the plate and say that the radio has made many a long drive (and a few workdays) not only tolerable but actually enjoyable. While I am about 107.1% sure that my taste in music is vastly superior to anyone else's (and it's not even close), if left to my own devices I too will tend to listen to the same songs and bands over and over. I don't mean to, but it happens. I just got out of a weeklong stretch of listening to nothing besides Simon and Garfunkel, and while I felt more literate and spiritually refreshed, I also had an unresolved need to get my face rocked off.

That's where radio is great. You don't choose what you're going to hear. The chances for appreciating a song for the first time, gaining a new favorite artist, or even hearing something new and different go up exponentially. Without the radio, I would have never been introduced to songs like "Think I'm In Love" by Beck, "Denial Twist" by the White Stripes, "Love Removal Machine" by The Cult, "Mother Mary" by Foxboro Hot Tubs, "Hush" by Deep Purple, "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand" by Primitive Radio Gods, and countless other songs that I listen to frequently now. That's just over the past year or so.

This is where I make a case for all southeastern Massachusetts listeners to check out Cool 102, Cape Cod's fantastically consistent mix radio station. It's pretty much like my iPod on shuffle.

I was aware of this the other night when I was faced with a long drive home after visiting some friends of mine north of Boston. Unable to find an upbeat CD that I hadn't heard recently, I decided to give WBCN (104.1 FM) a chance, and I got this righteous block of music:

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana
"Know Your Enemy" - Green Day
"Viva la Vida" - Coldplay
"Shipping Up to Boston" - Dropkick Murphys
"Hurt" - Nine Inch Nails
"Wish You Were Here" - Incubus
"No You Girls" - Franz Ferdinand
"Smoke Two Joints" - Sublime

Sure, there might be a few predictable titles up there. But at 11:51 at night, with 40 miles to go and the windows rolled down, that was just the kind of playlist I was looking for. Even the Nine Inch Nails was invigorating enough to keep up the energy. This succeeded where another round with Classic Rock Mix That Doesn't Suck, Vol. 2 or Happy Mother's Day Mix 2005 would have fallen short. Radio is super like that.

But if I hear "Crocodile Rock" one more time, I'm totally giving up on it.