I don't listen to radio unless I'm held hostage working in another department and somebody has to have the radio on. FM radio is all the same, overplayed crap in various formats. Here the choices are, Bro Country (KHACK, KISS OFF 96.5) Autotuned Top Forty Crap (99.7, Z102.9) Death metal "real rock" (KRNA, KFMW) and classic rock (The Fox, 105.7) and KDAT (even more shitter pop rock). At work nobody wants to listen to KCCK, the jazz station nor the Christian Rock Dump 101.9 The Light or whatever it's called. In the land that was created by the radio killer Telecomm 1996 Act, forever changing and killing new music and building up Clear Channel and more so in this neck of the woods Cumulus buying the mom and pop stations and turning them all into Corporate Clones of popluar music. It used to be that going to a big city meant listening to something new and exciting, not anymore.
FM radio in my youth is a thing of the past. But a long time ago, when they had singles out as promo copies (You remember promo 45's do you Bob Lefsetz before spotify took hold of your dick and never let go and you continue to sing the praises of them) that radio stations would actually play more obscure bands. I have fond and vivid memories of 1980 to which The Clash, Tom Petty, Alan Clarke, Off Broadway USA, The Romantics, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones lived in harmony, back when KRNA did play new albums at 11 (so did KFMH). We were treated with hearing The Roadie Soundtrack, laughed when KRNA got a warped copy of Badfinger Say No More and couldn't play it, and bought the likes of Lonnie Mack, and Jason And The Scorchers after hearing them. That was before Clear Channel and Cumulus with their consumer research numbers and bullshit turned radio into Same as It ever was.
I wrote 10 years ago about the sorry state of radio and how it sucked then. But now the sad reality is that radio sucks even more now. Satellite Radio is not much better, they have a different playlist of the same old same old as well. Bruce Springsteen is even more live and well on all of them and Deep Tracks may just get over themselves and rename it The Pink Floyd Channel. But then again, if you can afford paying 19.95 per month (plus the usual tacked on fees) you can have some variety then the lack-lusting and the overplayed classic rock of FM radio. In day and age, FM radio is cookie cutter pipped in big name DJs having their own shows and then playing the usual crap again.
I'm not a Motley Crue fan, never was although I got dragged to their concert and having Vince Neil rupturing my eardrum in a overloud show. However the FOX has Nikki Sixx and the Sixth sense show that comes on at 7. Nikki has lived a charmed life, scoring and banging just about every porn star and actresses out in Hollywood and almost ODed on drugs twice and survived it all. I missed out when Kerri Kasem was his co host (she moved on to other things and had to deal with the antics of Jean Kasem in the final days of Kasey Kasem's life) and is replaced by Jenn Marino. Since I was a captured audience in Packaging and it was either Sixth Sense radio or KRNA basically chose the former. But it's kinda like asking for water and getting a choice of bleach or vinegar instead. You chose the less tasteless.
From the naive it seems there's two versions of Sixth Sense Radio; the more logical format is the hard rock and metal pop of today's music. Through some distribution via Best Buy, Sixth Sense promotes some new artists, bands like Mastodon or Winery Dogs get touted on some rock radio stations, where on THE FOX it's the tired classic rock classics. I just cannot see Nikki Sixx having U2 or Crosby, Stills And Nash or The Police in his collection. After all didn't Motley Crue thought The Police sucked? Wasn't The Crue into KISS or New York Dolls? Maybe they don't know the latter band but surely they took their act from KISS. In terms of syndicated radio, it seems that Sixx phones in his comments and recollections of groupie conquest since he didn't even mention the names of the bands. That seems to be Jenn's job, which seems to be recorded as well. That said, Sixth sense radio does somewhat gets us through the mundane at work and the chemistry between Jenn and Nikki works as well. But I believe his shows works a lot better in the hard rock of today format rather than tired old Classic Rock where we get to hear 40 year old songs like Dream On play three times in a eight hour time span. Half the fun is taking bets to see what Back In Black album song from AC DC gets played to, or Nirvana Nevermind. I doubt if Nikki has any control of what is played, some intern at The FOX or Cumulus Corporation is probably pulling out Metallica Enter Sandman or Man In The Box from Alice In Chains as they count down to 19 minutes after the hour to which we're treated to a minute of Sixx musings before going into commercials about cheap Viagra, or the 16th time of hearing the I Heart Concert Sold Out show but you can enter and win by texting the keyword of the day.
Certainly there's better rock stars making better shows on their own but most of them are on Sirius Radio. Tom Petty and Steve Earle has some great shows that should be on FM radio but since they go into the more obscure and even include (GASP) Rhythm and Blues and country, that don't fit the format at THE FOX, so it's Sixth Sense radio. I am more inclined to at least Sixx hawk his wares for his SIXX AM band than Sweet Child O Mine for the 15th time this week. According to research though, people just want to hear the same 200 songs every day (bullshit) and so here's Dream On once again.
There's more to life and to Aerosmith than just Dream On or Sweet Emotion, or Metallica getting all the metal play and none for Anthrax Why The Clash Rock The Cabash gets played and I Fought The Law doesn't. And Tom Petty can rely on a check for airplay on Refugee but classic rock radio refuses to play his new effort. Like the rant I wrote 10 years ago, Radio seems to have a stop off point after 1991. Grunge is dead but you wouldn't notice it by hearing KRNA and the stale sounds of Man In The Box or Candlebox. Corporate Radio has no interest of seeking out the lesser knowns, The Mudhoneys, Melvins, Jesus Lizard but rather would have you only listen to the predicable. The Stone Temple Pilots, The Pearl Jams, and of course Nevermind. Or for older rock, Back in Black or The Wall. Pink Floyd in, Porcupine Tree out when it comes to Cumulus Corporate Playlistings.
If given a choice at work, I'd rather have the radio off so we are not subjected to the same old overplayed shit of songs that I used to like but now if I never hear them again it wouldn't break my heart. In Nikki Sixx' case, his Sixth Sense show kinda is like winning the lottery for him and having him flaunt the riches in your face. The first to let you know he got more nookie than you ever did, did and survived drugs and has a show that syndicated across Corporate land that lets you know that he still gets more nookie than you.
And then tortures you with Dream On again.
http://www.sixxsense.com/main.html
More Record Porn (not safe for work sweetheart) : http://www.transversealchemy.com/2011/01/hi-fidelity-girls-and-their-vinyl.html?zx=647f1ed26906550c
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