Classic Rock Radio Needs to Start Being Classic Rock
By joe viglione
5:33 PM Tuesday April 26, 2011
WZLX, 100.7 in Boston played "More Than A Feeling", for the 9 millionth or so spin.
Keep in mind that Tom Scholz's group was virtually ignored by the major labels first time around...like most of us. Read Ted Drozdowski's piece here:
The lanky six-foot-six MIT grad had nearly gone broke after years of making tapes and having them rejected by record labels.
“I had enough money for one last demo and sent it off to 24 companies, then figured I’d sit back and wait for the rejection letters,” Scholz says today. “Lo and behold, three major labels were interested. I couldn’t believe it. Nobody knew who we were, so I wouldn’t even say we were struggling. It was groveling.”
Now back in the day the revamped "Louie Louie" riff sounded completely modern and breathtaking. Fast forward to 2011 and the song is so overplayed that there's little wonder audiences are leaving radio though there are more people on the planet.
And that brings us to the problem with Classic Rock Radio.
The Consultants aren't the RIGHT consultants. When in 1989 Consultant G G (initials only please!) was at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston he told me he was at a Bob Seger concert and saw the people swaying and thought "more Seger" for a Boston radio station...but the problem was he was in Texas and the transistor radios blasting from the people painting houses and out of car radios was not Bob Seger...they wanted to hear The Cars, Aeorosmith...the Beatles...and not just the familiar tracks.
But here's where it gets dicier! A Classic Rock radio - in order to keep a huge fan base - needs to play a spectrum of classic rock, not just the limited 200 song playlist of "Hollywood Nights", "Sweet Home Alabama", "Freebird", "Stairway to Zeppelin"...you get the idea. Here's what a Classic Rock radio station should play in 2011:
TOP 40 PLAYLIST FOR CLASSIC ROCK RADIO, APRIL 2011
#1 STAND Sly & The Family Stone
Quintessential spiritual protest song for people of every race, colour, creed or orientation! Amazing power and it rocks refreshingly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32V2zun5HlA
2)Sky Pilot Eric Burdon & The Animals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1qBa-Z2sIU
3)Trust Me - Janis Joplin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c215JM3PZY
Me & Bobby McGee is the hit and what you hear all day long...be it Oldies radio or Classic Rock...but Pearl is a #1 album and every track (except the brilliant instrumental) is fair game...play the instrumental, Nick Gravenites composition "Buried Alive in The Blues" under p.s.a.'s
4)I'm Waiting For The Man - The Velvet Underground
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOmZimH00oo
THE CURE FOR CLASSIC ROCK RADIO
5)THERE'S NOTHING LIKE A HIT!
http://tinyurl.com/theresnothinglikeahit
6)Mott The Hoople Honaloochie Boogie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_B2hUNuxlQ
7)Blue Cheer I'm The Light
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq01dIP5KGQ
8)Jimi Hendrix Are You Experienced?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4yZXb4aD2Q
NOTES:
Tom Scholz interview
http://www.rockmancentral.com/RockmanCentral/Articles/Maximum_Guitar.html
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Alice Cooper Box, Iggy Pop Box LOU REED LIVE!
Thanks to Iggy Pop
http://www.iggypop.org/newreleases.html
for posting the review I wrote for ROVI on his Live In San Francisco album. Next review is ROADKILL RISING disc
http://www.shoutfactorystore.com/prod.aspx?pfid=5257387#axzz1KCkTEBmF
This 1981 disc is the exception to that rule, except for the Ocasek produced studio material, which is a shame because Ocasek is a truly gifted producer when he puts the elbow grease into it. Perhaps Ric and Iggy were having too much fun to settle down and let it rip, as the techno drums on both tracks get in the way of the hard-rocking live set. But all of it -- live and studio -- is nice to have for Iggy completists, and there are some key moments on this fine little platter. [A DVD of the show was released in 1986; this CD-only version was released in 2007.] ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
Read more here: http://www.slacker.com/album/iggy-pop/live-in-san-fran-1981
ROCK JOURNALIST JOE VIG'S DAILY DIARY
April 21, 2011
It's 6:35 PM on a Thursday night in Boston...have my new workout routine at the gym scheduled for later tonight...after sitting behind a keyboard for most of the day we need to get our exercise...
7:37 PM on the phone with Dinky Dawson talking about the book and DVD we're working on regarding Lou Reed's 1973 Rock & Roll Animal Tour
Oliver Landemaine has an interesting site up about the Doug Yule Velvet Underground and the tape I made of that show:
http://olivier.landemaine.free.fr/vu/live/1971-73/perf7173.html
Lou put me on the guest list in 2000 to see him at the Boston Harbor Lights Pavilion. I brought Nancy and Dinky Dawson with me...Lou met us backstage after the gig and Dinky gave him one of the soundboard tapes from 1973...the first show. The book has my perspective on all the RR Animal gigs that Dinky has up on Wolfsgang's Vault as well as the Mitch Ryder DETROIT album, my correspondence with the late Ron Davies who wrote "It Ain't Easy" (recorded by Ryder, David Bowie and Three Dog Night)...and all the aspects that made up the time that was the Rock & Roll Animal Tour...Bob Ezrin recording DETROIT with Mitch Ryder (and Steve Hunter) and the evolution from the Reed gig to the Alice Cooper Group. Dick Wagner did two hours of interviews with me last year ...this is what's going on today. Join the Lou-Reed@yahoogroups.com yahoo group...I'm one of the moderators.
7:41 PM...Dinky & I had two conversations on the phone today about all this...I have a 90 minute interview with him when the LIFE ON THE ROAD book came out. Also in the archives is an unreleased George Nardo interview...Nardo is on the "I'm Sticking With You" 45 RPM and might have been in one of the final Velvet Underground bands. Lots of photographs and concert tickets and reviews we're pulling out for all this.
You can hear the Moe Tucker single that I put out in 1980 here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th1G8AqFYRc&feature=channel_video_title
The Jay Leno TONIGHT SHOW played that Alice Cooper video with Dweezil Zappa promoting the new Cooper boxed set. It was a tremendous version of "School's Out". Alice is still one of the great entertainers out there...he puts a ton of time into each show...all these years later. Good stuff.
Some reviews you might like from my pen to your world:
Shirley Bassey live at Carnegie Hall!
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7002206
Tammy Wynette
http://www.allmovie.com/dvd/legendary-performances-tammy-wynette-perf-199681
The Pop by The Pop
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,147892,00.html
The Wonder Stuff (Click on EDITORIAL REVIEW on Best Buy page)
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/site/The+Wonder+Stuff%3A+Construction+for+the+Modern+Vidiot+-+DVD/14620341.p?skuId=14620341&id=1478593
Vincebus Eruptum is the title of the album that spawned Blue Cheer's Top 40 hit, a cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" in the Spring of 1968. Four decades later the sound from that album shook the rafters at Great Scott's in Allston to an audience of appreciative psychedelic blues
rockers. There were many parallels to the Iggy and the Stooges show the night before - bassist/vocalist Dickie Peterson's skull and crossbones on his amp (which Iggy and The Stooges had as their backdrop onstage), a cross generational audience of twenty-somethings and grey hairs, and the same low tone emanating from the stage. As they plowed into their third
selection, a cover of B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby" that sounded less like King and more like...a heavy metal thunder, the Hendrixian guitar sounds of guitarist Andrew "Duck" MacDonald kept the music on an esoteric level the audience could relate to a bit more than the pedestrian hardcore
opening acts. Two of the openers sounded like they were trying to be hardcore rather than taking it in a new direction. Their redundant copying of an overplayed genre was a stark contrast to Blue Cheer's glorious paean to yesteryear.
For a band with such an eclectic catalog, they stuck to the basics, material from the first hit album. Pianist Mose Allison's "Parchment Farm" became psychedelic sludge with Peterson noting that "we picked a lot of our music from a lot of different places" and that Allison might not
appreciate how they put their stamp on the song. Albert King's "The Hunter" from their second album, Outsideinside, had that low thud exploding into Space Age Blues. As Vincent Jeffries on AllMusic.com noted in his review of Outsideinside it "ranks among the most underappreciated hard rock collections ever" and "was released a full year before either the Stooges' debut or MC5's Kick Out the Jams." Though this critic would've appreciated the group dipping into their Bob
Dylan/The Band-styled musings which would happen by 1970's "The Original Human Being", or putting their pristine Pink Floyd-ish chestnut, "I'm The Light", from the album Oh! Pleasant Hope, in the middle of the set to bring some balance, these tried and true veterans were happy to blast away with the trademark original sound that launched a thousand ear plugs.
With The Linwood closing on this weekend and The Kirkland in Somerville about to close on May 31 Great Scott might be the little room to fill the void.
Heaven & Earth expanded disc
http://www.answers.com/topic/heaven-and-earth-expanded
http://www.iggypop.org/newreleases.html
for posting the review I wrote for ROVI on his Live In San Francisco album. Next review is ROADKILL RISING disc
http://www.shoutfactorystore.com/prod.aspx?pfid=5257387#axzz1KCkTEBmF
This 1981 disc is the exception to that rule, except for the Ocasek produced studio material, which is a shame because Ocasek is a truly gifted producer when he puts the elbow grease into it. Perhaps Ric and Iggy were having too much fun to settle down and let it rip, as the techno drums on both tracks get in the way of the hard-rocking live set. But all of it -- live and studio -- is nice to have for Iggy completists, and there are some key moments on this fine little platter. [A DVD of the show was released in 1986; this CD-only version was released in 2007.] ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
Read more here: http://www.slacker.com/album/iggy-pop/live-in-san-fran-1981
ROCK JOURNALIST JOE VIG'S DAILY DIARY
April 21, 2011
It's 6:35 PM on a Thursday night in Boston...have my new workout routine at the gym scheduled for later tonight...after sitting behind a keyboard for most of the day we need to get our exercise...
7:37 PM on the phone with Dinky Dawson talking about the book and DVD we're working on regarding Lou Reed's 1973 Rock & Roll Animal Tour
Oliver Landemaine has an interesting site up about the Doug Yule Velvet Underground and the tape I made of that show:
http://olivier.landemaine.free.fr/vu/live/1971-73/perf7173.html
Lou put me on the guest list in 2000 to see him at the Boston Harbor Lights Pavilion. I brought Nancy and Dinky Dawson with me...Lou met us backstage after the gig and Dinky gave him one of the soundboard tapes from 1973...the first show. The book has my perspective on all the RR Animal gigs that Dinky has up on Wolfsgang's Vault as well as the Mitch Ryder DETROIT album, my correspondence with the late Ron Davies who wrote "It Ain't Easy" (recorded by Ryder, David Bowie and Three Dog Night)...and all the aspects that made up the time that was the Rock & Roll Animal Tour...Bob Ezrin recording DETROIT with Mitch Ryder (and Steve Hunter) and the evolution from the Reed gig to the Alice Cooper Group. Dick Wagner did two hours of interviews with me last year ...this is what's going on today. Join the Lou-Reed@yahoogroups.com yahoo group...I'm one of the moderators.
7:41 PM...Dinky & I had two conversations on the phone today about all this...I have a 90 minute interview with him when the LIFE ON THE ROAD book came out. Also in the archives is an unreleased George Nardo interview...Nardo is on the "I'm Sticking With You" 45 RPM and might have been in one of the final Velvet Underground bands. Lots of photographs and concert tickets and reviews we're pulling out for all this.
You can hear the Moe Tucker single that I put out in 1980 here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th1G8AqFYRc&feature=channel_video_title
The Jay Leno TONIGHT SHOW played that Alice Cooper video with Dweezil Zappa promoting the new Cooper boxed set. It was a tremendous version of "School's Out". Alice is still one of the great entertainers out there...he puts a ton of time into each show...all these years later. Good stuff.
Some reviews you might like from my pen to your world:
Shirley Bassey live at Carnegie Hall!
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7002206
Tammy Wynette
http://www.allmovie.com/dvd/legendary-performances-tammy-wynette-perf-199681
The Pop by The Pop
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,147892,00.html
The Wonder Stuff (Click on EDITORIAL REVIEW on Best Buy page)
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/site/The+Wonder+Stuff%3A+Construction+for+the+Modern+Vidiot+-+DVD/14620341.p?skuId=14620341&id=1478593
BLUE CHEER LIVE IN BROOKLINE MASSACHUSETTS APRIL 8, 2007!
BLUE CHEER ON EASTER SUNDAY, GREAT SCOTT
Vincebus Eruptum is the title of the album that spawned Blue Cheer's Top 40 hit, a cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" in the Spring of 1968. Four decades later the sound from that album shook the rafters at Great Scott's in Allston to an audience of appreciative psychedelic blues
rockers. There were many parallels to the Iggy and the Stooges show the night before - bassist/vocalist Dickie Peterson's skull and crossbones on his amp (which Iggy and The Stooges had as their backdrop onstage), a cross generational audience of twenty-somethings and grey hairs, and the same low tone emanating from the stage. As they plowed into their third
selection, a cover of B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby" that sounded less like King and more like...a heavy metal thunder, the Hendrixian guitar sounds of guitarist Andrew "Duck" MacDonald kept the music on an esoteric level the audience could relate to a bit more than the pedestrian hardcore
opening acts. Two of the openers sounded like they were trying to be hardcore rather than taking it in a new direction. Their redundant copying of an overplayed genre was a stark contrast to Blue Cheer's glorious paean to yesteryear.
For a band with such an eclectic catalog, they stuck to the basics, material from the first hit album. Pianist Mose Allison's "Parchment Farm" became psychedelic sludge with Peterson noting that "we picked a lot of our music from a lot of different places" and that Allison might not
appreciate how they put their stamp on the song. Albert King's "The Hunter" from their second album, Outsideinside, had that low thud exploding into Space Age Blues. As Vincent Jeffries on AllMusic.com noted in his review of Outsideinside it "ranks among the most underappreciated hard rock collections ever" and "was released a full year before either the Stooges' debut or MC5's Kick Out the Jams." Though this critic would've appreciated the group dipping into their Bob
Dylan/The Band-styled musings which would happen by 1970's "The Original Human Being", or putting their pristine Pink Floyd-ish chestnut, "I'm The Light", from the album Oh! Pleasant Hope, in the middle of the set to bring some balance, these tried and true veterans were happy to blast away with the trademark original sound that launched a thousand ear plugs.
With The Linwood closing on this weekend and The Kirkland in Somerville about to close on May 31 Great Scott might be the little room to fill the void.
Heaven & Earth expanded disc
http://www.answers.com/topic/heaven-and-earth-expanded
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Spirit in the Sky, 4-20-11 Norman Greenbaum
The Rock Journalist Speaks!
Spirit in the Sky on Northshore 104.9 at 12:33 PM today, April 20, 2011.
Norman Greenbaum gets played frequently at APPLEBEES in his hometown of Malden...it's great hearing his voice as you enter or leave the restaurant on one of their satellite channels. Great place to chat with people right outside of Malden center in the Stop & Shop Plaza...
Lots going on...
did you see in U.S.A. Today that the Grateful Dead have a 72 CD boxed set coming out on their 1972 tour! http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2011-04-20-deadeurope20_st_N.htm
You can make your own boxed set with all the free Grateful Dead downloads on Archive.org http://www.archive.org/details/GratefulDead
Go figure...though I respect and can appreciate their vast catalog of work, there are only specific tracks by the group that I like to listen to repeatedly...the Janis Joplin guest appearances or their covers of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones... The tour listing is on jambands http://www.jambands.com/news/2011/04/07/grateful-dead-europe-72-revisited/
Rather than put the links into the name of the group I post the full links here so you can cut and paste to your hearts content.
Following the Limitless movie on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/Limitless_Movie
For a quick link to the Jodie Foster roundtable interview conducted on April 12, 2011 at the Four Seasons go to http://tinyurl.com/visualjodie
The JoeVigTop40's PICK TO CLICK this month is the CD from the New York band THE GODZ entitled E L E V E M
Listen to the tracks on the MySpace posted above.
This is the original E.S.P. recording artist from New York City, not the latter day Chicago hard rock ensemble utilizing the same name (with the same spelling!)
With a cosmic energy that seems to have been taking from the tracks of The Velvet Underground's "Train Comin' Round The Bend" (review in progress...stay tuned)
The Joe Vig Top 40 PICK TO CLICK
For the Month of April, 2011 is
THE GODZ ELEVEM
Looking forward to reading Dave Thompson's
Especially after seeing this insightful rock critic in the DVD of Bowie/Reed/Iggy entitled The Sacred Triangle. My review on TMRZoo.com is here: http://www.tmrzoo.com/2011/23974
I'll be integrating all these writings on the main page on Varulven.com
Joe Vig Top 40
Visual Radio
Varulven Records
Music Business Monthly http://musicbusinessmonthly.com/
Rock Journalist Joe Vig
Marty Balin.org http://martybalin.org
Bobby Hebb.com http://bobbyhebb.com
http://visualradiolive.blogspot.com
So much writing! So little time...more essays to follow
Spirit in the Sky on Northshore 104.9 at 12:33 PM today, April 20, 2011.
Norman Greenbaum gets played frequently at APPLEBEES in his hometown of Malden...it's great hearing his voice as you enter or leave the restaurant on one of their satellite channels. Great place to chat with people right outside of Malden center in the Stop & Shop Plaza...
Lots going on...
did you see in U.S.A. Today that the Grateful Dead have a 72 CD boxed set coming out on their 1972 tour! http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2011-04-20-deadeurope20_st_N.htm
You can make your own boxed set with all the free Grateful Dead downloads on Archive.org http://www.archive.org/details/GratefulDead
Go figure...though I respect and can appreciate their vast catalog of work, there are only specific tracks by the group that I like to listen to repeatedly...the Janis Joplin guest appearances or their covers of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones... The tour listing is on jambands http://www.jambands.com/news/2011/04/07/grateful-dead-europe-72-revisited/
Rather than put the links into the name of the group I post the full links here so you can cut and paste to your hearts content.
Following the Limitless movie on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/Limitless_Movie
For a quick link to the Jodie Foster roundtable interview conducted on April 12, 2011 at the Four Seasons go to http://tinyurl.com/visualjodie
The JoeVigTop40's PICK TO CLICK this month is the CD from the New York band THE GODZ entitled E L E V E M
Listen to the tracks on the MySpace posted above.
This is the original E.S.P. recording artist from New York City, not the latter day Chicago hard rock ensemble utilizing the same name (with the same spelling!)
With a cosmic energy that seems to have been taking from the tracks of The Velvet Underground's "Train Comin' Round The Bend" (review in progress...stay tuned)
The Joe Vig Top 40 PICK TO CLICK
For the Month of April, 2011 is
THE GODZ ELEVEM
Looking forward to reading Dave Thompson's
Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell The Dangerous Glitter of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed
http://www.amazon.com/Pretty-Going-Dangerous-Glitter-David/dp/0879309857Especially after seeing this insightful rock critic in the DVD of Bowie/Reed/Iggy entitled The Sacred Triangle. My review on TMRZoo.com is here: http://www.tmrzoo.com/2011/23974
I'll be integrating all these writings on the main page on Varulven.com
Joe Vig Top 40
Visual Radio
Varulven Records
Music Business Monthly http://musicbusinessmonthly.com/
Rock Journalist Joe Vig
Marty Balin.org http://martybalin.org
Bobby Hebb.com http://bobbyhebb.com
http://visualradiolive.blogspot.com
So much writing! So little time...more essays to follow
Saturday, April 09, 2011
Uploads to YouTube, JoeVigTop40 charting big time
Hello Everyone,
Expect more essays from the rock journalist soon. Migrating the JoeVigTop40.com to JoeViglione.com as well...taking a lot of work.
We're uploading LOTS of stuff to YOUTUBE...tons of interviews going to upload soon with Suzanne Vega, Ray Manzarek, Donny Brewer of GFR and more! Paul Rodgers, John Mayall, Sarah Karloff (daughter of Boris)...stay tuned...
MOULTY TALKS TO VISUAL RADIO JOE VIGLIONE ABOUT THE
T.A.M.I. show
http://tinyurl.com/visualmoulty
We discuss MOVIES on Visual Radio Live on Friday nights...this one discussed on April 8, 2011! 8 PM on http://WinCAM.org
Expect more essays from the rock journalist soon. Migrating the JoeVigTop40.com to JoeViglione.com as well...taking a lot of work.
We're uploading LOTS of stuff to YOUTUBE...tons of interviews going to upload soon with Suzanne Vega, Ray Manzarek, Donny Brewer of GFR and more! Paul Rodgers, John Mayall, Sarah Karloff (daughter of Boris)...stay tuned...
MOULTY TALKS TO VISUAL RADIO JOE VIGLIONE ABOUT THE
T.A.M.I. show
http://tinyurl.com/visualmoulty
We discuss MOVIES on Visual Radio Live on Friday nights...this one discussed on April 8, 2011! 8 PM on http://WinCAM.org
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