And pray tell, raiders757, what bands might you consider some of the biggest bands of all time? Sonic Youth has had one of the longest and most successful careers ever, New Order is discovered every day by a new group of kids ready to dance, and anyone that would deny the influence of The Pixies is laughable. All of those, and many others you listed, seem perfectly suitable on a "biggest bands" list. I only pick out those three because they are (1) some of my favorites (gotta stick up for 'em, ya know) and (2) made me double-take when I read them in your screed.

I like Sonic Youth. They have been around for a long time, but when someone says biggest bands of all time. I'm thinking they mean big, as in popularity and longgevity as well as influence. Sonic Youth has many fans like you, and I, but they are by no means in the top 100 "biggest" bands of all time, under that definition. I would like to be biased, and say they do belong. A few of the bands I mentioned, I like, but I also do realize thier place in the grand scheme of things. Just because the Pixies influence a lot of people, doesn't mean they are one of the biggest bands of all time, at least not yet. Same with New Order. I can name many bands I might consider for that list, and most of them I hate. If need be I can do that when I get home from work. Like I said, when I think "biggest " bands, I'm thinkin' who packs in the arena over a consitant, and long period of time. Most of the bands on that list havn't been around long enough to prove themselves worthy of being on a list like that. Most of those bands are still playing in small clubs when they are not in a package tour, and thier fame was, or is, or will be short lived. Half of that list are bands that will be forgotten by most, and are musicly insognificant.

They did in the early and mid 70's before they started to play Alternative/Punk/New Wave starting around 1978. I started listening to KROQ probably around 1980/1981.

Also it should be noted that among the bands listed in those 2 lists, KROQ, in most cases was the first American radio station to play these bands on the radio, long before they became popular. And they were also, probably the 1st radio station in the world to play most of the American bands. Of course most of the British bands were first played in England, before KROQ started playing them.

Chris

I don't know what this has to do with anything. The same thing can be said about WHFS.

Please excuse my ignorance, but what city is WHFS in?

Chris

Washington D.C./Baltimore MD

Were you honestly asking or were you trying to make a point?

No, no, there was no sarcasm or anything sinister in my remark. I had never heard of WHFS, just like I'm sure a lot of people on the East Coast have never heard of KROQ.

But I stand by my statement that the majority of Punk/New Wave and to some extent Alternative Bands (by the 90's every station was trying to break the next big band), were first played by KROQ. Examples, Depeche Mode, Cure, Smiths & even maybe U2. Just a friendly discussion

Sorry I was late to this thread, but I have a lot of love for KROQ and all that it has meant to me musically. Just as an example of what they played in 1980, here is their year end list. Kind of interesting. You see a lot of the mainstream rock bands of the 70's in there (KROQ was just starting to build their identity thru Punk & New Wave). Sorry for the non formatting!

1 Whip It Devo 1980
2 The Wait Pretenders 1980
3 Refugee Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers 1980
4 She's So Cold Rolling Stones 1980
5 Give Me Back My Man B-52's 1980
6 Another Brick In The Wall Part II Pink Floyd 1980
7 Touch And Go Cars 1980
8 De Do Do Do De Da Da Da Police 1980
9 Once In A Lifetime Talking Heads 1980
10 Train In Vain Clash 1980
11 Only A Lad Oingo Boingo 1980
12 Clean Up Time John Lennon & Yoko Ono 1980
13 What Do You Do For Money Honey AC/DC 1980
14 Turning Japanese Vapours 1980
15 Holiday In Cambodia Dead Kennedy's 1980
16 Los Angeles X 1980
17 Freedom Of Choice Devo 1980
18 What I Like About You Romantics 1980
19 Mystery Achievement Pretenders 1980
20 Don't Do Me Like That Tom Petty 1980
21 And The Cradle Will Rock Van Halen 1980
22 Another One Bites The Dust Queen 1980
23 Her Strut Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band 1980
24 Ashes To Ashes David Bowie 1980
25 Games Without Frontiers Peter Gabriel 1980
26 Let Me Go Rolling Stones 1980
27 Comfortably Numb Pink Floyd 1980
28 Up And Down Cars 1980
29 Cars Gary Newman 1980
30 Clones Alice Cooper 1980
31 Private Idaho B-52's 1980
32 Misunderstanding Genesis 1980
33 Foolish Behavior Rod Stewart 1980
34 Hit Me With Your Best Shot Pat Benatar 1980
35 Tattooed Love Boys Pretenders 1980
36 Don't Stand So Close To Me Police 1980
37 Crosseyed And Painless Talking Heads 1980
38 Clampdown Clash 1980
39 Even It Up Heart 1980
40 Danger Motels 1980
41 Ramrod Bruce Springsteen 1980
42 Rough Boys Pete Townsend 1980
43 Five Gears In Reverse Elvis Costello 1980
44 My Beach Surf Punks 1980
45 Fashion David Bowie 1980
46 Teacher Teacher Rockpile 1980
47 Ain't This The Life Oingo Boingo 1980
48 Girl U Want Devo 1980
49 Here Comes My Girl Tom Petty 1980
50 Emotional Rescue Rolling Stones 1980
51 Misfit Kid Cars 1980
52 You Shook Me All Night Long AC/DC 1980
53 Victims Of The Fury Robin Trower 1980
54 Rock It (Prime Jive) Queen 1980
55 Free Me Roger Daltry 1980
56 Snortin' Whiskey Pat Travers Band 1980
57 Starting Over John Lennon 1980
58 Strobe Light B-52's 1980
59 Talk Of The Town Pretenders 1980
60 Run Like Hell Pink Floyd 1980
61 Canary In A Coalmine Police 1980
62 Generals & Majors XTC 1980
63 Love Stinks J. Geils Band 1980
64 Turn It On Again Genesis 1980
65 Houses In Motion Talking Heads 1980
66 Gates Of Steel Devo 1980
67 London Calling Clash 1980
68 Betty Lou's Gettin' Out Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band 1980
69 Gimmie Some Slack Cars 1980
70 Even The Losers Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers 1980
71 Send It To Me Rolling Stones 1980
72 Everybody Wants Some Van Halen 1980
73 Dragon Attack Queen 1980
74 Gim'me Wings Rod Stewart 1980
75 I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down Elvis Costello 1980
76 Scary Monsters David Bowie 1980
77 Bebe Le Strange Heart 1980
78 Pain Alice Cooper 1980
79 Not One Of Us Peter Gabriel 1980
80 Christine Siouxsie & The Banshees 1980
81 Who Cares Huey Lewis And The News 1980
82 Hells Bells AC/DC 1980
83 Driven To Tears Police 1980
84 Brass In Pocket Pretenders 1980
85 Don't Bring Me Down Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers 1980
86 She Talks In Stereo Gary Myrick & Figures 1980
87 Don't Tell Me No Cars 1980
88 All Night Long Joe Walsh 1980
89 Temporary Secretary Paul McCartney 1980
90 Seriously Affected Romeos 1980
91 Gettin' Mighty Crowed Elvis Costello 1980
92 My Wave Surf Punks 1980
93 High Priest Of Rhythmic Noise Cheap Trick 1980
94 My Mistake Kingbees 1980
95 Anyway You Want It Journey 1980
96 Nothin More To Lose Dave Davies 1980
97 Rockin Heaven Down Heart 1980
98 Crazy Little Thing Called Love Queen 1980
99 Passion Rod Stewart 1980
100 Cuban Slide Pretenders 1980
101 Zero Hour Plimsouls 1980
102 Pulling Muscles from the Shell Squeeze 1980
103 Just Got Back Cheap Trick 1980
104 Too Far Gone Babys 1980
105 What Are You Doing In My Life Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers 1980
106 Everything Works If You Let It Cheap Trick 1980
106.7 KROQ Theme KROQ 1980


Chris

I don't doubt you.
WHFS has been basically the same format since I can remember and I've been listening to them since high school in the 80's. Although I don't listen to them much anymore, I'm just not into much of the music that's being played today. But WHFS is one of the biggest "alternative" stations in the country and I believe they are owned by MTV. They have also been known for playing a lot of bands before other stations even know what's going on.

So we'll agree to disagree

Seriously though, it would be fascinating (to me at least) to see who played what first. I thought of creating lists way back then (early 80's), but luckily (?) I wasn't that anal. But KROQ and I'm sure WHFS, have played the best music since the 80's. What is considered Top 40 now (80's lunch time jam, etc) was Alternative / Cutting Edge music back then.

Just goes to show you, if any type of music becomes popular enough, it will become Top 40. That's why I'm sure it is hard for WHFS, as it is for KROQ, to play fresh, new, unknown music now, since all of the Top 40 stations are playing the same music.

Back in the 80's, no one and I mean no one would play Depeche Mode, Oingo Boingo, The Cure, Smiths, etc., except for KROQ (In Los Angeles that is).

Well have a good day and it was nice to have a little friendly discussion regarding this.

Chris

I wasn't saying you're wrong. I was just referring to the stations in this area. WHFS would be playing bands a long time before the other stations would pick them up.

It really sounds to me like KROQ and WHFS are really the same station on two different coasts.

they heard of Kroq's sister station in New york. recall sluggo went to work there for close to two years while the rise of Carson happened..

I was wondering regarding the DJ's, have the DJ's at WHFS been there for a long time? I ask, cause that's one of the great things about KROQ. We have Rodney on the Roq who's been there since 1972 (He's only on for a couple of hours now, early Sunday morning). We have Jed the Fish who's been on since 1978, Kevin & Bean since 1990, Tami Heidi since about 1991.

Carson Daly got his start on KROQ at nights, but became too big for his britches. Does anyone know what happened to him? . Doug the Slug, Stryker, Adam Corolla & Dr. Drew are also some of the jocks. Loveline originated on KROQ in the mid 80's with The Poorman.

KROQ was at the bottom of the ratings ladder for all of the 80's and early 90's, but starting in the mid 90's they climbed to the top and have remained in the top 3 stations. Of course that is because the music they play is now considered 'mainstream' and a lot of the Top 40 stations play the same songs. KROQ occasionally plays some Hip Hop, but KPWR Power 106 has been the leader in that area.

So even though I'm older now, 42, and I don't listen to KROQ as much as I did, I think the current state of Alternative Music has never been stronger (except for maybe the early 90's (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, STP, etc.). And we've seen the fusion of Hip Hop and Alternative music in groups such as Linkin Park, Sublime & The Beastie Boys. Of course we play the obligatory Eminem every once and a while.

Chris

the curretn state of Alternative sucks. I'm sorry but you really can't say KROQ is as good as it was.. say around 97. and even that was pretty bad in itself. Now a days it is filled with the top 40's crap. with this sort of skater image.. it's just another form of a boy band.. a sort of Mini-blink 182. I went to pretty much every KROQ concert back in the day and I have plenty of stuff signed by all the DJ's and have had a long standing cool level with Doug the slug from meeting him after winning tickets from him a couple of times.

Either way... the songs today are nothing new and chances are they are over played on MTV.

though there is plenty of good stuff to Kroq and even now that I've been in florida for close to two months, I still wear my massive amounts of KROQ shirts all over the place.


Lets look at the most request KROQ songs now:

Metallica St. Anger

I like how Kroq started to play metallica early on in metallica's career....

311 Creatures (For A While)

311's been one of those bands that has lasted some time. even though I dont like them much, they have shown some staying power but have also wondered into the "KissFM" dark side

Hot Hot Heat Bandages

I thinkt hey will be gone soon

Korn Did My Time

Korn has always been a staple of kroq's late 90's sound

NOFX Franco Un-American

Kroq's means to keep that "roots" around.

Thrice All That's Left

no comment as I don't find them at all interesting

Dropkick Murphys Walk Away

I wouldn't be surprised if the life span of this band is shorter then Sponge

Good Charlotte Girls & Boys

think of it as Mini-blink 182

Velvet Revolver Set Me Free

Another band that will make it's life span to only the next big show

The Used Blue and Yellow

I don't see them staying around to long



these bands like many others will be featured in the opening acts to the next big kroq concert (the Roast or acustic christmas) but really don't have much of a shelf life after that.

Now lets get on with the shows:

Spin cycle.. i didn't much care for but it's new
Flash back Lunch.. oh man do I miss that english accent mofo richard blade. tami wasn't all that great for the show. not to mention that the flash back lunch has always been a bit to ahead of it's time. in the late 90's they were playing Nirvana in the mix... why?
After Hours.. As a big fan and working in the past with Jason at KCRW, i enjoyed the show a great deal.
Rodney... he might be there just for noveity.. but man I don't find much comfort in his show. seems to stay there just to be there.

what ever happened to Reggee revolution? seemed that fad was taken down quickly.
Eminem was actually booed the first time it was played. Jed the fish said it wasn't his favorite to play after running eminem's first single on the radio. soon after the fame hit and they have to keep it up with it.

The current state of Alternative is no where near where it used to be. the DJ's on KROQ have been there for a long time and really have fewer positions for new folks to step in. but of course it has spawned a great deal of success.

Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Corolla, Carson Daily(god I hate him) are among some of the success. Ricky replaced Poor man and I enjoyed that for a great deal of time.. nothing better then a shotgun blast to get rid of bad callers.

I agree about Metallica, that was one of KROQ's biggest embarassments not playing them until they placed real high (Top 30) in KROQ's biggest bands of all time around 2000. They should have started playing them in the late 80's, when New Wave was long dead and they were looking for a direction in which to go. The grunge era of 1991 saved them and actually made it possible for them to be a Top 3 radio station today.

Yes there are a lot of bubblegum pop bands on KROQ now (Hot Hot Heat, Good Charlotte, etc.), but that's the price you pay when you're owned by a conglomerate that is only worried about money & ratings.

I remember the good old days in the 80's when the DJ's were allowed to play a song of their liking each and every hour, it kept things a lot fresher. The closest to that now is Jed the Fish's Catch of the Day.

But occassionally KROQ will come up with gems, like Linkin Parks 1st album. Now I don't know if KROQ was the first radio station to play them, but that album in my opinion has the most good to great songs on it than any other album in at least the last 5 years.

Personally, in my opinion, I like the songs KROQ has been playing from around 1999 till now, better than the post grunge era of 1995 to 1999.

And yes, Flashback Lunch will always be Richard Blade. They should let him do a live feed from the Caribbeans, just like Bean is able to do. But I guess he's scuba diving the whole day and doesn't have the time.

Chris

HFS changes their DJ's quite a bit. Neci is the only one that's been there for a while. A friend of mine was the morning show producer and he got canned about 5 years ago. Ever since then it seems like the DJ's just come and go.

BTW, HFS just started playing Metallica in the last 3 or 4 years also.

Yes I have liked Metallica since around 1985 (I was late to the party), but at that time they would have been too hard for KROQ. They would have fit in quite nicely around 1991 (Nirvana, grunge, etc.), but it's only been about the last 5 years.


Chris

I totally agree about Depeche, they have a catalog and a 23 year history of cutting-edge tunes that Pearl Jam could only dream of. DM has pretty much defined modern music from early synthpop to 80's house music and beyond. Pearl Jam on the other hand, had one (maybe 2) popular albums and then disappeared into irrelevance. PJ has some decent tunes, but to compare them to a band with a history and catalog like Depeche Mode is somewhat ignorant.
Jon

Where has DM been the last 10 years or so? Certainly not in the spotlight. PJ decided to stay low key because they preferred to stay out of the spotlight. Please get your facts (or lack of) straight.

Depeche Mode only has a few more albums than Peral Jam does. You should think twice before calling someone else ignorant.

Pearl Jams good move was allowing and releaseing it's concert shows on cd.

DM takes the higher ranking though in my book as I enjoy personally more of their songs.

both bands are great non the less.

Sorry but Pearl Jam is one of the most overrated bands of the 90's. They started out with an excellent album, 10, and then quickly went downhill after that.

Depeche Mode is the greatest band of it's era. Most of their songs from the 80's are memorable and some even classics. They even put out some good songs in the early 90's.

Maybe Pearl Jam was better in concert, I've never seen either band, but musically as a band on their studio albums, no one comes close to Depeche Mode. And I don't think any artist has been remixed better than Depeche Mode during the years. Maybe Madonna, but that's about it.

Of course if you don't like the type of music that Depeche Mode puts out, then I can see why you would like Pearl Jam better. But Eddie Vedder decided he didn't want to die like Kurt Cobain, so he decided to take it easy starting in 1994, and he's still going strong in 2003.

Chris

Opinions are like a-holes... ah nevermind

This roughly translates into "I'm not capable of backing up my opinion because I don't know enough to."
Huh? DM has been putting out albums just like they have for 23 years. In the last 10 years, DM have put out:
Songs of Faith in '93
a live album in '94,
Ultra in '97
a triple disc singles collection in '98
Exciter in '01
and now Dave & Martin both have solo albums & tours this year.
In other words, they've been as busy as ever, and the beauty of DM is that they've thrived without EVER being in the spotlight. They defined a genre for 20+ years and pretty much dominated the 12" single format. Martin's songwriting and their innovation with sampling are light years ahead of any "innovation" that PJ ever brought to the table.
Dude, come on! Depeche's catalog dwarfs that of Pearl Jam hands down. Have you SEEN a complete discography including singles? And you should learn to think at all before telling me to think twice. So far you haven't made one point as to why PJ is even close to DM, but without any argument, I can't expect you to.

No, it translates into "That is a very stupid statement."

So what. You say Pearl Jam has fell into irrelevance. Which is totally not true. But anyway what has Depeche Mode been the last 10 years besides irrelevant.

Solo albums are not DM albums. So don't go bringing up them.

Yeah DM has never been in the spotlight. Either you're too young to remember, or you just weren't paying attention.

How does DM's catalog dwarve PJ's. I don't care about their singles albums or their live albums. How many albums of original music does DM have compared to PJ?

Yeah you make some great points.