AKA, a case of mistaken identity but something that got me to thinking…

Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago my wife had set the alarm for 8 AM for us to get up and go to church.  Nowadays there is mostly non-stop chatter on the morning shows and very few stations playing music at all; however, there is one classic rock station in town that does a good job of giving us something that we can both agree to get our “rise ‘n shine” on.  (Frankly I’d like the iPod to wake me on shuffle mode but I don’t think hitting on Pantera first thing at the crack of dawn would go over too well).

At any rate, this particular Sunday morning I caught maybe ten seconds of a song that I’d never heard before before slapping the snooze button.  In my somewhat incoherent state of mind and bleary eye I did happen to wonder…  is my classic rock radio station actually playing NEW songs from classic artists?  Why, I’ve never HEARD of such a thing!?!?  I could just imagine a room full of radio programmers at some radio convention wondering…  “Hey…  we got the new Mellencamp/Motley Crue/Smithereens/Tom Petty/(take your pick) the other day…  hee hee hee…  I can’t believe some of these guys are still alive!  Should we (snicker) play it?”  After hilarity ensues and the loud guffawing subsides, someone yells out…  “I got the perfect time!  8 AM on a Sunday morning!  Who listens to the radio at that hour?”  HA HA HA!!!

My point is, is it worth it for classic artists to keep putting out new material?  Are classic artists making much of an impact on radio?  Do fans of these classic artists even care to hear their recent works or are they just tuning in to hear artist’s songs that remind them of the good old days?  In some cases yes, in some cases no.  I for one still love to hear what these artists have to offer and would hope radio would do the same.  You hear it in some spots and from some artists (AC/DC and Metallica spring to mind), but they seem to be few and far between.

Oh, and that song that woke me the other day?  It actually wasn’t a new song from a classic artist, it was actually an old George Harrison song that I’d never heard before called “Crackerbox Palace”.  The ten seconds of this quite catchy ditty made me think that Jeff Lynne, formerly of ELO fame, had put out something new!  But thanks to the internet I did a quick search for the song title and came up with the Harrison tune.  But it got me thinking…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icHU5zB5fLM