Random Thoughts - Part III The Search for Spark (No Politics)

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by 86-75309

I actually prefer to listen to more broad-spectrum "oldies" stations than any of the "Classic Rock" stations. I've heard every Aerosmith/Led Zep/AC/DC song they play at least a million times. I'm not afraid to admit that I could sing along with just about every song on that 1973 top 100 pop music list. In 1973 I listened to top 40 radio about 25 hours a day.

All we had here was a top 40 and country station (both AM) until 75 when the college FM station started up and began playing album rock. That was a blessing!

I still wake up screaming in the night with "Muskrat Susie and muskrat Sam do the jitterbug out in the muskrat land" going through my head!

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by 86-75309

I actually prefer to listen to more broad-spectrum "oldies" stations than any of the "Classic Rock" stations. I've heard every Aerosmith/Led Zep/AC/DC song they play at least a million times. I'm not afraid to admit that I could sing along with just about every song on that 1973 top 100 pop music list. In 1973 I listened to top 40 radio about 25 hours a day.

That's pretty much me for anything that was in the Top 100 in the entire decade. Sometimes I'm singing along to a song and then think, how in the @#)(@#$ do I know the words to this song?

[Ultramaroon]

I was spoiled by the best radio in the world growing up across the lake from Toronto between Rochester and Buffalo in the late-70s-early-80s. What an absolutely beautiful mix of influences that was!

Then I left and learned what was being played in the rest of the U.S. Blecch... So sad.

[Spuds]

I currently live in a radio music wasteland...

[gen3v8]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Classic rock stations are usually the worst. They only pay for about 20 songs and just play them over and over. The funny part is that much of what is now classic rock was hardly ever played on the radio when it first came out. Radio play was usually Muskrat Love or Tie a Yellow Ribbon pop crap not rock songs.
Lets take the top 100 for 1973 as an example.
Notice the complete and total lack of anything in the top ten that can even remotely be tied to what classic ROCK stations play now. Hell, you don't get a real rock song until Smoke on the Water at #50.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billbo...ingles_of_1973

Ah yes #50 Smoke through the water Fire in your eyes.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Classic rock stations are usually the worst. They only pay for about 20 songs and just play them over and over. The funny part is that much of what is now classic rock was hardly ever played on the radio when it first came out. Radio play was usually Muskrat Love or Tie a Yellow Ribbon pop crap not rock songs.
Lets take the top 100 for 1973 as an example.
Notice the complete and total lack of anything in the top ten that can even remotely be tied to what classic ROCK stations play now. Hell, you don't get a real rock song until Smoke on the Water at #50.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billbo...ingles_of_1973

That looks like the torture playlist at Guantanamo Bay.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

That looks like the torture playlist at Guantanamo Bay.

Welcome to my early teenage years. You could listen to AM radio, albums or 8 tracks. Albums were not mobile and 8 tracks sounded like crap so AM it was.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Welcome to my early teenage years. You could listen to AM radio, albums or 8 tracks. Albums were not mobile and 8 tracks sounded like crap so AM it was.

Damn, even tapes must have felt like a huge upgrade.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Damn, even tapes must have felt like a huge upgrade.

They were. It was a big deal. 8-track fidelity was much better than cassette until the tech improved enough. Cassette tape wasn't designed for hi-fi. It took quite a bit of tweaking to squeeze enough info onto the medium. They still sucked.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

They were. It was a big deal. 8-track fidelity was much better than cassette until the tech improved enough. Cassette tape wasn't designed for hi-fi. It took quite a bit of tweaking to squeeze enough info onto the medium. They still sucked.

And here I am whining cause my bluetooth doesn't have enough range.

[Dadhawk]

The "best" part about 8-track was when it had to switch tracks in the middle of a song because the producers couldn't get it lined up right with the tape length. There would be a pause right in the middle as the machinery did its thing. (Or, preferably, a long gap between songs because they had to use up the tape and a song wouldn't fit the gap).

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Damn, even tapes must have felt like a huge upgrade.

Well, technically, 8-tracks were tapes, just oddly arranged.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Well, technically, 8-tracks were tapes, just oddly arranged.

My dad still has a player and a box of 8-tracks from I don't know where. Not sure if part of nostalgic collection or packrat.

[2020BRZtS]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

All we had here was a top 40 and country station (both AM) until 75 when the college FM station started up and began playing album rock. That was a blessing!

I still wake up screaming in the night with "Muskrat Susie and muskrat Sam do the jitterbug out in the muskrat land" going through my head!

Same here mostly AM, and FM college stations. It was especially bad in '75 in Philadelphia when Philadelphia Freedom was selected as the locally endorsed national anthem during the bicentennial.