nothingfails

VH1 Classic has been a US network that specializes in classic rock and music of the 80's and early 90's, but while they do emphasize 90% on the older music, every now and then (maybe once every 2 or 3 hours in a video block) they also manage to throw the occasional newer video by a "classic" artist (such as U2, Cyndi Lauper, R.E.M., Ozzy Osbourne, Rush, Prince, Paul McCartney, etc...) under the name of "Classic Current" that they know might appeal to the audience watching the network.

For so many aging artists who are too old for top 40 radio because they're afraid of alienating 11 year old Justin Bieber fans, classic rock and oldies stations are their worst nightmare because their older music is still being played ad nauseum but there are no formats out there willing to spin the new songs, therefore leaving only the hardcore loyal to listen to the new stuff.

Heart dropped a decent new album back in August, and while it did sell well enough to go to #10 in the US, there was little to zero airplay for it. While I remember a week or so after its release driving for 4 1/2 hours and I managed to hear Barracuda, Magic Man and Crazy On You several times on several different classic rock stations. They have a new album and yet radio only wants to play them as they were in 1977. Same with Duran Duran who are just about to drop a new album that is getting nothing but raves from critics and fans, but yet radio stations still carry a boner for Rio, Hungry Like The Wolf and The Reflex. John Mellencamp's another who recently had a US top 10 album but you'd never hear a track from it on radio although Jack And Diane and Pink Houses are still spun like they were brand new. Kiss scored the highest charting album of their career with "Sonic Boom" but you'd never know that from radio which wants to ram Rock N' Roll All Night down your throat.

Do you think radio stations that cater to older audiences/artists should take a cue from VH1 Classic's mentality of "well you liked their older music, here's a new song" every now and then? I'm not talking every other song but maybe once every two or three hours similar to how VH1 Classic will play a new John Mellencamp video in the mix of 20+ year old "oldies" since that market generally likes Mellencamp so they might like a new song of his.

gmanca

I think it's a smart idea; a local SF radio station, KFOG, does this as "Something new" where they'll play some Peter Gabriel song and then play a new single or whatever.

I do agree with the premise that these older bands don't get to have their new stuff played as often as new stuff from newer bands. In the case of Duran Duran though, I don't think their singles have been released to radio stations, let alone actually have singles chosen.

JTH182

This reminds me of going to a concert and the band says "and now we're going to play some stuff off our new album..."

Seriously though, it does sound like a good idea.

PopcornTreeCt

Exactly. I would rather hear lesser known songs from bands back in their prime than their new singles.

Rypro 525

Da Boneyard on Sirius XM does this all the time for older hard rock/metal bands.

Vlyger

It sounds like a good idea for a change, but more than likely won't happen - at least not on the Classic Rock station in my area (95.5 KLOS Los Angeles). The program directors are too preoccupied with their 'limited' setlist that eventually their music becomes repetitive after listening to it for an entire month. Another problem would be the ratings for that particular station. Classic Rock radio stations wouldn't want to invest in a new library of current material from classic artists if the station's ratings are not at a certain level. In the case of artists from the Classic Rock genre, the majority of fans only care about the 'old stuff' anyway. Play "Freebird"!!!!!!!!!!!!

chino77

i dont care about foghat enough to hear some crappy new cd they put out. just play slow ride and be done with it. personally i put on classic rock stations to hear familiar songs, not discover new music.

i also dont like how classic rock stations are starting to randomly throw in a 90's song here and there, like nirvana or metallica.

nothingfails

90's is now "classic" I think. At least 1990-1995.

Regardless, just because an artist is "past their sell date" doesn't mean they stopped making decent music and shouldn't be heard. So many vet artists rarely release music anymore because they have accepted that radio has such a hard-on for their older music to even bother giving their new stuff a chance. Mellencamp's last two albums with T-Bone Burnett have gotten him some of the biggest critical acclaim of his career and they did sell well TO THE PEOPLE WHO BUY EVERY ALBUM HE DOES but yet radio stations are so stuck on "Jack And Diane", "Small Town", "Pink Houses", "R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A." and some of his 80's smashes to even bother trying to push his new music. Why because he isn't a youthful MTV superstar today is his new music not worth hearing?

A lot of vet artists have put out some amazing music in recent years but nobody but the devout hear it because radio stations are so hung up on the memory of what they were 30+ years ago, and I don't agree with it. If Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson can still deliver great films that a lot of people see, why can't an older artist who still delivers great music get it heard?

nothingfails

I think what a lot of people forget is that US radio has drastically changed in the past 20 years. Now someone like Janet Jackson or Whitney Houston has no shot of getting radio airplay because they're "old". This isn't 20 years ago (1989-1990) when "old fogey" acts like McCartney, Stones, Cher, Tina Turner, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Alice Cooper, Bette Midler, Elton John, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, Aretha Franklin, Donna Summer, Kiss, Hall And Oates were all well over 40 but still had hit singles left in them. Today even freaking Jennifer Lopez's last album met huge radio resistance because she hit 40 therefore radio wants nothing to do with her.

The only way a lot of vet acts (and it's so bad where even freaking J. Lo is a "vet act") can get airplay would be if radio stations that obsess over their older music would play their new stuff. The only way you can reach an audience is exposure and these older acts are not getting exposed to anyone outside of the core fans, and nobody can live solely off their core base.

The reasons so many people are bored when artists play new music live is because radio won't play it. I remember when Bowie did his most recent tour in 2004 that a lot of people went to restrooms and concession stands when he did music off Heathen and Reality as radio never touched them but huge fans realized that the radio people were missing out and stayed and enjoyed those songs.

brainee

Oh ... you mean the bathroom break time

Seriously, I'm all for this idea. As long as the new songs are any good. There's a college-based rock station in my area that does this. They'll play your typical indie-rock groups. But they mix it up by playing little heard songs from well known groups.

I don't see many commercial over-the-air radio stations doing this though. It's funny ... you'd think programmers of classic and alternative rock would be more open. But their playlists are just as restrictive (if not more so) than top 40. At least top 40 keeps changing. I've long resigned myself to the fact, outside of that one college station, that if I want to hear good new music I have to listen through the internet (I don't have satellite radio, so I don't know how that is).

nothingfails

That was what I meant. Not every old artist out there who has a new cd, but if there's a new single by a vet act that is actually good and fans of the older music might enjoy it, play it just like how VH1 Classic played the hell out of Ozzy's Let Me Hear You Scream video last summer in their Metal Mania blocks because someone who loves Crazy Train or Bark At The Moon might like it if they listened with open ears. Duran Duran's new single is getting rave reviews from fans and critics alike but radio stations have long since resorted to them being a faded 80's act that it likely won't get played outside of danceclubs even though I am sure some radio station somewhere is playing "Rio" as we speak.

skiman

WXRT in Chicago plays new stuff by U2, REM, Pearl Jam and just about every other "classic" artist.

Numanoid

They can call it "Then and Now Thursdays".


And yeah, XRT does do this but I refuse to listen to them anymore because I can only take The Bo-Deans and that one stupid Edie Brickell song about 30 times a day, which is half the number of times that you'll hear them on XRT.

wm lopez

Your wrong on this. In the 90's Phil Collins put out a cd and they played a song from it. The song sucked. Also in the 90's Linoel Ritchie put a greatest hits cd with a new song on it that was played on the radio it sucked.
Prince, Micheal Jackson were putting out music in the 90's and sales were dropping with each new cd.
That HEART cd was not bad.

DonnachaOne

97.9 The Loop in Chicago does this all the time as well.

Alan Smithee

I've always thought 'classic rock' stations were a waste of air space. If you listen to them exclusively, you end up just hearing the same stuff repeated- if you want to hear old music that often you should buy the record! Radio should be about introducing you to NEW stuff that you HAVEN'T heard yet! Funny thing is the 'classic rock' station in Sacramento (The Eagle) has been around for 20 years now, and is now starting to play songs by groups like U2 that were new songs when they had started their format, but of course they didn't play them then because they weren't 'classic' yet!

And yes, I do think that station recently played something new by an 'old' artist. Only time I listen to radio anymore is in the car.

The Bus

Classic rock as a radio format (or what they advertise here as "the rock you grew up with!") might be the saddest idea on the public airwaves.

cungar

Besides talk radio, morning comedy duos, hip hop radio, "modern rock" radio, modern country radio, easy listening radio, urban radio etc?

Radio sucks in 2010. Classic is certainly not the worst aspect of that catastrophy. At least there's some decent classic rock songs.

CRM114

What is this "radio" you speak of?

DRG

This is a good point, but for a bit of perspective... if we go not by actual age but instead by the time from their first official album to 1989:

Aerosmith - 16 years
Billy Joel - 18 years
Elton John - 20 years
Donna Summer - 15 years
Kiss - 15 years

Now look at some artists that still get good airplay/coverage/chart success and the # of years from their first release to now:

Usher - 16 years
Jay-Z - 14 years
Green Day - 20 years
Kid Rock - 20 years
Dr. Dre (as part of World Class Wreckin Kru) - 25 years

Rypro 525

should Kid Rock really count, since he didn't really start getting any kind of radio play til 97

nothingfails

True but there is a difference. All those artists 20 years ago were over 40. Green Day and Kid Rock are still in their mid/late 30's. Usher is in his very early 30's and started out as a kid, much like how I didn't consider Michael Jackson to be an "older artist" 20 years ago (although Usher may as well be Keith Richards considering radio's obsession for Justin Bieber)

US radio in the past decade has become notorious for refusing to support older artists because they're afraid what an 11 year old will think if someone their moms' age gets played. In the late 80's there was room on playlists for both Rod Stewart and Aerosmith AND New Kids On The Block and Debbie Gibson. Even in the mid/late 90's you had Cher, Aerosmith, Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin still scoring hit records over the age of 50, but somehow 40 is "too old" now because top 40 stations are so afraid that if a Justin Bieber fan hears someone their moms age, they're going to wilt away? B to the S. I thought it was very cool that Tina Turner was my moms age and being a MTV superstar alongside people half her age when I was younger.

nothingfails

That was the 90's, there was still some openmindedness and respect for older artists then. Lionel and Phil haven't impressed me in years.

Prince hasn't scored serious radio airplay since I Hate U and Betcha By Golly Wow circa 95-96. "Black Sweat" off 3121 was a very hot single and the album went to #1. That song would've been a huge hit for him if radio didn't have this "but he was around 20 years ago, we can't scare the Hilary Duff fans" attitude. That's the kind of radio age discrimination I'm talking about. Black Sweat could've and should've been the biggest hit he's had since The Most Beautiful Girl In The World.

A lot of older artists are creatively spent and I agree with you. But there have been a large number of "vet" acts in the past 5 years to have really good singles released from their albums that sadly never met radio airplay because they fall out of desired demographics but yet still hear their oldies played to death on classic rock, oldies and other formats meant to cater to over-30's.

Besides Prince's aforementioned Black Sweat:
Depeche Mode - Wrong
Paul McCartney - Ever Present Past
R.E.M. - Supernatural Superserious
Cyndi Lauper - Into The Nightlife
Blondie - Good Boys
Whitney Houston - Million Dollar Bill
Springsteen - Working On A Dream
Duran Duran - All You Need Is Now (just released, but none of the radio stations who are still obsessed with Rio are going to notice)

All of these were very catchy radio-friendly "comeback" type songs but radio stations are too afraid of alienating their coveted Miley Cyrus/Twilight fan audience to even allow any of these artists to have comebacks as hitmakers... never mind the fact that in the 1980's we warmly welcomed Tina back with open arms and accepted her. Sadly radio doesn't understand what "comebacks" mean when Eminem and Mariah Carey are the artists in recent years who have seen comebacks... tho they've never quite gone away, unlike when Aerosmith and Tina completely faded from the limelight for years.

Damfino

I seem to remember that Jimmy Page once expressed the frustration that he can't compete with his own back catalog.

Also, can it be 20 years since the first Green Day album? Now I really do feel old. Maybe I can take the position that nothing before Dookie counts!

cungar

Maybe if he did something decent since 1977 he might be able to compete with it.