Why would you want to listen to 80's music? I mean if you were in a prison camp and it was being used as a form of torture I could understand it. But willingly tuning in to 80's music?

them's fightin' words, mess.

be a flaming liberal.
be a flaming conservative.
get hysterical about politics.
i'm ok with that.

but do -not- f with new wave.

Mmmm. 80's music. Must go DJ...

mess - Ahem. Those of us who like 80's music have taste and you don't, that is why we would willingly listen to it.

Jhimm,

So are the things that we can't talk about now relilgion, ploitics, and music?

BTW - Given the choice, I would listen to WFAN out of NYC all day if I could. (All sports talk radio)

mess

jhimm - Yeah!!!!!!!!

fritz - you threw some awesome parties in the 80's, man.....

Well, The Rock of the 80s has been old for quite some time -- it was some time in the mid-90s when I heard "Rock Lobster" on the muzak and remarked that it had been a while since I heard it to a young clerk who had never heard it before.

I don't find myself listening to 80's music much when I want to sit down and *listen* to music, except perhaps in the car -- it seems like most of the punk/new wave bands that I like were better for singles, and particularly dance singles, than for whole albums. I'm trying to think of albums cut in the 80s that I still listen to qua albums, and the ones I can think of were not in the typical 80s-music vein. That said, when The End was playing retro music last weekend, I was pleased to catch a bit of Joe Jackson and Blondie.

Now sports talk radio, that is what torturers use to brainwash the innocent. If I ever go postal and start assassinating elderly Republican golfers, you can pretty much bet that rambling, vapid jock talk was involved. Talking about baseball is probably the single most pointless activity invented by humankind.

I'm still planning on putting together some of my dance tapes as MP3 collections...

mess - Ugh. Sports talk radio. _That_ is punishment.

Ulrika - "...heard "Rock Lobster" on the muzak..." Oh man, that's just...well, depressing.

mess,
i didn't say anything about not talking about them.
i'd just like to avoid extremes like dismissing -an entire decade's worth of music- as "bad" and turning personal preference into a value judgement on the people who hold those preferences (be it in music, politics, etc).

Oh man, that's just...well, depressing.

I don't know if it's any comfort at all, but I should have said Muzak, with a capital-M -- I meant the commercial service, not the phenomenon of doing cheesy instrumental covers of popular music. It was an original recording of "Rock Lobster," as performed by the B-52's I heard, but I'm pretty sure it was a piped-in service rather than radio or whatever, and that means, in all likelihood, it was Muzak.

i didn't know Muzak
had started using original recordings.
that's "new"(ish).
i believe
the confusion of Muzak
with cheeseball instrumental covers
stems from the Muzak service
having used such covers for decades.
(see The Blues Brothers
elevator scene
featuring horrid version of "The Girl from Ipanema")

Muzak has been using original artists and original recordings for at least a decade or two, it's just that if you don't work in a retail chain that buys the service, you may never notice. The clues are generally that the store PA plays a mixture of popular music that sets a particular tone or mood, using all sorts of different artists, but without any radio back-announce or commercials. If you step into a store in a mall and all the music in the store is familiar and pleasant to you, congratulations, you are the demographic, and you have just been Muzak-ed. This is not your father's Muzak, it's a carefully tailored marketing device, designed to make you feel a certain way so you will Buy More Stuff.

Check out the current lineups on Sirius and XM. You can get receiver kits that hook right up to the factory car radios now for about $100. 'lifetime' and transferrable, subscriptions are about $500 (or $13- a month, whatever).

Plus, both S and XM do web streaming so you can get by in the house and at work without buying new hardware.

Oh, look. Jenn gets comment spam.

Comment_Spam?? Nay Ms. O'Brien, J is smart and tough enough to resist even subtle spam, which this certainly was not. Simply pointing out that no one need be held thrall to their local radio stations. Boston radio (well, most radio, it's almost as bad as the 'Big Three' TV networks) is pretty bleak in terms of variety and originality.

Even NPR and BBC can be found on sat radio.

Annika wants to know if I can write a comment.
She also wants to know what "80's music" is.
...
Just check me into the nursing home...

interested - "j is smart and tough enough to resist even subtle spam"

*snort*

Kevin - re: Annika. Gaaaahhhh....I'll bring my cane and meet you there....

*snort* indeed. I mean, the implication that spam in any way influences *anyone* who reads/posts here is just plain silly......

I love my > sat radio. I'm in the car way to much seeing customers to tolerate the madness that is ClearChannel and the NPR & BBC terresrial stations are usually among the lowest powered out there.

Jihmm said

i'd just like to avoid extremes like dismissing -an entire decade's worth of music- as "bad" and turning personal preference into a value judgement on the people who hold those preferences (be it in music, politics, etc).

Is not liking 80's music music any more extream than not liking an entire type of radio programing?

Is asking why someone would willingly listen to 80's music any more of a value judgment than saying that if you don't like it it must be because you have no taste?

If I am going to extreams or making value judgment, I'm not the only one. Personally, I don't think that I or the other people on this board are doing either. Do you?