Rap's Infiltration Of Alt-Rock Radio
By Ben (2000/06/02)I was listening to Elliot in the Morning on DC101 (the only station that really rocks) today. I sometimes skip around during Howard's marathon commercial breaks, and then I heard something that pretty much sums up why alternative radio sucks. They were talking about how Britney Spears had been unseated from the top of the Billboard charts by Eminem. Then one of the guys said something to the effect of "Yeah, that Eminem album is great." And the rest of the group agreed.
This is a prime example of radio's current detestable inter-breeding trend. For some reason, alternative stations now have to be rap stations, too. You can tune in to the once-great-but-now-despised WHFS (Washington/Baltimore's new rock alternative), and hear some sort of incestuous amalgamation of rock and rap. It's very easy to hear a Stone Temple Pilots song followed by House of Pain or Cypress Hill.
Rappers and rap music should only be mentioned on an alt-rock station with an air of great distaste or utter disgust. It is for this reason that bands like Kid Rock and Limp Biskit are allowed to exist and sell records. I know, a lot of people will read this and say that those bands are successful because the public likes them. That is crap. People listen to whatever's on the radio--in some ways radio is the ultimate sales medium. And that crap is only on the radio because some ass in a suit figured out that if he could entice people who listen to alternative to also listen to rap, then that would result in potentially twice the record sales.
So, to sum up, we've got the record companies paying the radio stations to play crap music to sell records. Then, we've got alternative radio stations that don't care what they play, as long as the record company's filthy lira keeps pouring in. We've got disc jockeys--the one group that you'd think would really like the music--who would rather be playing Puff Daddy. And to top it off, we have the public buying the records, thereby fulfilling the record companies' evil wishes. I am going to vomit.
I love nature shows. My favourite one that I've ever seen is this one where a herd of antelope are standing at a river bank. In the river there are a ton of hungry crocodiles. One of the antelope slips into the water, and the herd instinct takes over. All of the antelope start jumping in the water, and the carnage that ensues would make any Hollywood director drool. On the other bank, after about 3 minutes of slow-motion antelope-mutilating-bone-crunching-blood-spraying-from-open-wounds fun, those that survived gather on the opposite bank. There are 11 of the original 22 left alive. It was an awesome sight.
We are the antelope.