Popped

Is the American radio audience afraid of the new pop song? Think about it. When is the last time you heard a new pop song on a free radio station? Today, for example, I heard Green Day's "When I Come Around" which was recorded about 1992, on some station supposedly aimed at people my age. But I've yet to hear "Street of Broken Dreams", wildly popular Green Day song off a the wildly popular American Idiot album, on any free radio station. That's because the song was recorded a few months ago. It must be because today's pop radio --- usually the "Mix" or "Jack" format ---- is aimed at suckering people in with false nostalgia. People seem to get some sort of jolt out of hearing Wham!'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" because they like to believe the song takes them back to a much simpler time. For me, that is depressing, not because it's a bad song, but because it makes me relive nuclear war fears, voodoo ecomonics and hair mousse. But this rejection of everything new doesn't dominate all free radio. It sure isn't happening on the so-called urban statuibs. No programmers are still pushing Coolio and Eric B. & Rakeem. It's all about the latest. Even country music stations, as much I loathe them, have long bumped off George Strait for Kenny Chesney.

So I'm awaiting the day when somebody finally puts a bullet into the "Mix" format. I'm thinking that by 2115, everybody's going to admit that they've heard all of the Wham! they can take.