Bruuuuuuce!

[greatbear]

More proof that the nature of the music business has changed forever.

Bruce Springsteen (and the E Street Band) will soon have a new album (CD? LP? Record? Fileset? Download? What are these things called these days?) entitled Magic in release on Oct. 1. However, being that radio (what's left of it, anyway) no longer does much of a job of airing new music by 'established artists' (code words for Music Not Generally Appealing To The Coveted 18-34 Age Demographic), the new single debuts not on the ol' FM, but as a free download on iTunes, and, curiously, on the UK newspaper Guardian Unlimited's website. The new single, appropriately titled "Radio Nowhere" can be downloaded here, apparently for some limited time. Go and get your Bruce on.

If you're into his music, that is.

Comments

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

And the sad thing is, they *think* they know what those coveted 18-34 set likes when the truth of the matter is so many of them like all kinds of music, old and new

[bigredpaul.livejournal.com]

I wasn't that impressed with the song, sadly.

[anziulewicz.livejournal.com]

"CD? LP? Record? Fileset? Download? What are these things called these days?"

INDEED. It's kinda disquieting to know that in my lifetime I'm likely to have seen both the birth AND the demise of the venerable Compact Disc. Pretty soon kids are going to start having fiber optic cable ports installed in the back of their skulls.

[anziulewicz.livejournal.com]

Having over 25 years of radio experience under my belt, I know EXACTLY where you're coming from. I despise the whole corporate playlist thing.

[grunter.livejournal.com]

I couldn't have said it better myself.

The local alterna-station here in Chicago was about the only place you could hear classic new wave/80's college rock. Generally it was relegated to late evening hours or occasionally during drive-time, prime-time when the "DJ" got a wild hair up his ass. The rest of the time, it was the same 10 "HOT" songs programmed in the same order repeatedly endlessly from hour to hour, with inexplicably those one-off mid-90's Sublime singles thrown in for flavor.

A couple years back, as part of their effort to attract a wider audience and to finally appeal to the Generation X demographic that has been completely shut out of commercial radio (notice it's always hot hip-hop hits or "classic" rock, meaning the usual suspects from the late-60's/early 70's, but never anything else), they went into what they termed "shuffle" mode, simulating an iPod by playing whatever, whenever. Not quite like JackFM - which for all the slag it gets for being robotic, it at least plays a good portion of the one-hit wonders from the 80's that are my sentimental favorites. No, rather, for a few glorious weeks, they truly went deep catalog on all artists in their roster of "alternative" - which as we know, is a fairly mutable term. You could hear "Surfer Rosa"-era Pixies, alongside "A Town Called Malice" by the Jam or "We Got the Beat" by the Go-Go's, and then segue into more current indie fare like Belle & Sebastian or Bright Eyes. It hit my musical sweet spot dead-on, perfectly spanning my high school years right up through the present day. But slowly, as the format wore on, that damned playlist concept again reared its ugly head. Apparently the teeny-boppers with their fucking pointless downloads, piracy and MySpace addictions were slipping away and losing interest. The weird, "occasional" deep cuts were unceremoniously replaced by yet another spin of the new My Chemical Romance single, with curiously Bob *friggin'* Marley as the new token off-beat "flavor" to ensure their credibility as far as the playlist goes. (To come totally clean, I absolutely L-O-A-T-H-E reggae, especially those same 3 cuts from Marley that have been played to death and beyond. So I wrote several angry e-mails to the station, demanding to know where, how and under what bug-fuck insane circumstances Marley was considered even remotely "alternative." It didn't change a thing, of course, but it made me feel a smidge better.)

Nowadays, the station is back to being absolutely unlistenable. It's the same re-fried alterna-90's crap that they were playing before the big shuffle make-over. Sublime, Marcy's Playground, RATM, the damned Chili Peppers, Green *gack* Day. I can barely stand it. Most times, I do keep the dial tuned to the only "classic" rock station in town. But even they push my buttons as far as their limited playlist. Yes, the advertise that they have 40,000+ tracks in their play library - but then, why do I hear "Another Brick in the Wall" for the billionth time every Saturday morning when I fire up the car? Does Janis really only have the 2 songs (you know which two)? Was "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" really more popular than almost any Beatles track? And what the hell is it with the constant Guess Who?

Yeah, I have issues with radio too. In my next vehicle, I swear I'm getting satellite radio - if only to get to a station that actually plays classic songs from MY ERA - thank you very much.

[budmassey.livejournal.com]

One of our local stations is notorious for playing second rate covers instead of the originals. Problem is, I bet many listeners, and maybe even the dj's, think it's the original. You know, all good music wasn't recored yesterday. LOL!

[nytemarewulf.livejournal.com]

You know what would really make the new album stand out? "More Cowbell"... ;)

[budmassey.livejournal.com]

OH NO! I was just recovering from the cheese overdose of that animated gif with the cowbell.

Itunes

[signinginohio.livejournal.com]

For those who have Itunes, the song is on their site for free before it goes on sale in October. :) And I also got "Nod your Head" for free by Paul McCartney. Man I'm 40 and listening to OLDIES lol