Too Much AC/DC?
Sunday, December 13, 2015 at 12:01AM Do you ever wonder how many times AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" has been played? I mean, just really think about it for a second. At every high school dance. At sporting events. Company Christmas parties. Birthday parties. Fourth of July fireworks displays... and on and on and on. Heck, the song is so ingrained into American culture, I don't think such an event listed above would be complete without the iconic AC/DC tune.
I was thinking about this while sitting at a table at my husband's Christmas party last night. Country song, country song, horrible line dance song, country song - boom: AC/DC! Now, I love me some AC/DC, but I am honestly so sick of "You Shook Me All Night Long..." I was just wishing for something a little different, you know? My favorite AC/DC song is "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)." Someone in the comments mentioned loving the holiday tune "Mistress for Christmas." That would have sufficed as well! Oh well, I'm just glad Def Leppard eventually made it into the rotation. The DJ was taking requests, but I'm pretty sure if I asked for Steel Panther or Kix, I would have gotten nothing more than a confused look. #TheStruggleIsReal
Reader Comments (20)
Those songs--"Whole Lotta Love," "Light My Fire," etc.--get played over and over again because someone wants to hear them and someone thinks listeners want to hear them as well. They also get played because they were--and, to a degree, are--some of the most popular songs by a given band. Sure, a more dedicated fan might want a deeper cut or two thrown into the rotation. But radio, on this Earth and swirling about in the sky, is about playing music that is easily categorized, even given a band's catalog.
On the other hand, set up a very obscure preference on Pandora (say, _Kick Axe_) and see what you actually get as compared to when you set one up for _Dokken_ or _Ratt_. Sometimes the result are interesting (or non-existent!). Oftentimes, they still default to the tried and true as a consequence of their algorithms and the catalogs of music they licensed to use, even if you start up or down voting songs trying to cull the "obvious" ones from the list.
But the part where I disagree is this (and it is slight): this sort of format still does introduce younger people to the music we admire, even if it does so less and less. A 20-something who knows who The Doors are? Even if it is only "Riders on the Storm"? That is fine with me, especially if it leads them deeper into that band's music and into music of a similar sort.
If radio can function--albeit on a smaller scale--as the internet does now, leading people down musical rabbit holes where, around the next burrowed corner lurks another Ghost or a Sir Lord Baltimore, fine. Then radio is still worth something, whether you pay for it like XM/Sirius or have to listen to some yokel local station (The Cat, The Eagle, The Wolf, what have you) when you are in the shadow of a tree and that darn XM/Sirius cuts off!
Just like a cliche is a truth that has grown annoying from overuse, a song like "You Shook Me . . ." is a good song that has grown to be a nuisance from being overplayed (and that being done in typical sorts of celebratory places where people often congregate again and again over the years; see: "Thunderstruck," sporting events).. But that doesn't mitigate against it being good. It just means we have grown tired of it.
Basically, one man killed free-form FM radio... His name... Michael Shallet, inventor of Soundscan in 1991... Flashback... I grew up and worked in the Baltimore/D.C. area, thriving on D.C. 101 and 98 Rock. On those stations, in any given "Rock Block", you could here KIX, The Sex Pistols, RATT, George Thorogood, Led Zeppelin, The Ramones, AC/DC, Robin Trower, Motlëy Crue, Rush, Hendrix, Cheap Trick, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Angel, and even the odd Frank Marino & Mahogony Rush...
A lot of the stuff was popular at the time, but it wasn't just what was charting on the Billboard Rock Hot 100, it was what the DJ felt like playing and it wasn't their most well known songs... No, the DJ usually went deeper into each bands catalog, based on the chart success of a song... i.e. when Cheap Trick's "Heaven Tonight" debuted in 1978, instead of playing "Surrender" by Cheap Trick ad nauseum, the D.J. might rotate in a deeper cut, "Stiff Competition" to keep the audience, but also the DJ from burning out.
Literally, overnight, the moment Soundscan, the way Nielsen tracks music sales, was universally adapted by FM radio, eternally gone from rotation were the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, George Thorogood, Angel, Robin Trower and, of course, Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush. And instead of having the occasional pleasant surprise of hearing my favorite AC/DC song, "Problem Child", all I was gonna get was "You Shook Me All Night Long." KIX never would have survived had they not been such local faves.
Thankfully, we have outlets like BBG!, heavyharmonies.com, sleazeroxx.com, YouTube, iTunes, Spotify and Pandora, etc., to find out about Rock & Roll, both old and new... and be able to listen to it, along with our faves, anytime, anywhere!
Mistress For Christmas is one of my favorite Christmas songs though!!! I also love Corey Taylor's XMAS song he did for charity, it's hilarious!!! Another fave is King Diamond No Presents For Christmas. Now that's a live show you've gotta catch, pure metal, great great voice.
I read a lot of blogs to keep up with new, good music coming out, to find hidden gems, to be reminded of stuff I've lost track of.
This is an example of what Metalboy was describing above, although a different genre (sue me, I can't listen to glam all the time, well, maybe I could, but I don't): after Chris Stapleton (twitter reaction: Who the f*** is Chris Stapleton) won all those country music awards I was listening to the radio the next day (taking my daugher to school, it's her station) and the people on the morning show were discussing it. One of the people on the morning show is also the PD. He said he would love to play more Chris Stapleton, Kacey Musgraves, etc., but the data suggests that is unsuccessful. The freaking DATA. To hell with good music, it's all about the data.
While I'm on my soapbox...
The classic rock stations will play a new song from a new album from one their stable of artists for about a week and then it's back to "You Shook Me" and the same old same old.
Oh yeah, and get off my lawn.
Wikipedia wrongly categorizes the AOR format as shifting the focus of rock radio from singles to albums. Rock radio was already album-based and had been since about 1967. Before Abrams and his research came along, DJ's on these FM rock stations picked most of their own music. Abrams pitched his research-based format to station owners as a way for them to make money with their FM stations. Remember, in those days, AM radio was still king, and FM radio was almost an afterthought.
The sad part is this, Abrams turned out to be right. If you base success strictly on financial factors, Abrams proved that by making rock radio more formulaic based on carefully-considered research, more people would listen which lead to higher ratings which lead to more advertising dollars.
I know this is a tough pill for avid music junkies like us to swallow, but the truth is that, while the vast majority of people will say they like music, music is not a passion for them. they are fine with hearing the songs they like over and over again, and have no interest in expanding their horizons beyond the obvious. Believe me, if classic rock radio wasn't making money playing "You Shook Me All Night Long" ten times a week, they wouldn't play it.
This is the son of Animal
This is the Manimal
HOWEVER,
I can listen to anything with Bon Scott on vocals, til the end of time & never get tired of it!!!!
. . . I would be remiss if I didn't also mention that there are still some great local underground stations and shows, or that colleges/universities sometimes still carry the torch for playing a variety of musicians (and their deeper cuts) that often don't get heard.
Just play me something different off those albums. Back in Black ?!?! EVERY SONG and I mean EVERY SONG is worth a spin on that station. Not too mention countless other Bon Scott diddies from year's past. And you are right we love Shook Me, because where else does everyone in unision get to say the words American thighs ? From Granny to the 8 year old that knows all the words, we are belting it out no matter where we are. It brings us all together - Kumbaya anyone ?
And the sad part is that it has already begun and taken hold to our beloved music we all share here. Please oh please do not play f*cking Paradise City again for instance.
And you want to know another thing that chaps my a$$ - a bar jukebox. And it falls in the same pattern as this discussion. Why oh why is Jump by Van Halen one credit to play and Top Hat Jimmy is 2/3 credits ??? WTF ?