NEWS: You're Taking Me Back Such a Long Long Long Time Ago

MUSIC: You're Taking Me Back Such a Long Long Long Time Ago

Steven Rubio discusses the inevitable failure to recreate the sound of the past, even when you have all the tunes:

I know exactly what he's talking about here. The biggest influence on my early development as a rock and roll appreciator and wannabee participant was the experience, in the late '70s, of huddling around my little portable radio, riding the tuning knob in an attempt to pick the occasional punk rock song on this or that unidentifiable, distant, barely tuneable college station.

Listening to these very songs on my iPod or on my stereo isn't nearly the same. Like Rubio's 60s FM songs, they sound too "good." No static, no white noise, no drop-outs. (Well, OK, if I try to listen to them on my stereo from iTunes using Airport Express, there are drop-outs. They're not the same kind of drop-outs, though.)

Also, I already know what they are. The sense of discovery, of falling into something you've never heard before, is missing. I remember hearing a song called "Mental Masturbation" on KALX, Berkeley, around 1978. If there was a back-announce, I missed it. The identity of the band that did this song was a deeply fulfilling unsolved mystery till, ten years later as a DJ myself, I interviewed a member of the band whose demo it had been from. (It was the Nuns. And I might have known. But I didn't.)

If you go back in time make sure any companions understand that safety is no guaranteed.

Sattelite radio is your friend. On Sirius, Little Stephens' Underground Garage alternates stuff like punk, modern garage rock, and classic girl groups and garage rock.

One thing though, I constantly have to flip through the stations I like as there's no station that CONSISTENTLY plays what I like.

Faction aggravates me by alternating punk with rap and just plain lousy kid stuff. Sometimes the 60s stuff on Underground Garage wears thin. The Vault sometimes plays Lou Reed, the VU and Beefheart but then it can get into Grateful Dead type shit for hours on end. Mostly I listen to First Wave (mostly cool stuff from my growing-up years) or the NPR talk stations.

The stations all have DJs. Some better than others. I like Handsome Dick Manitoba's show on Underground Garage. The guy's a fucking legend and has great musical taste. I think I may have met him once a few years back.

The human effort of a dj actually choosing what happens, the in the moment flow of one song to another, is largely missing in most radio.

It has nothing to do with when the songs were recorded, but rather, as Rubio alludes to, the possibilities that existed in radio then.

Some stations still have shows that have that feeling of anything can happen, but it is the antithesis of commercial radio.

Thats why I sometimes listen to some old big band or blues stuff on my tiny little tape player (Panasonic RQ A200). You don't have to listen to everything on an iPod or big ol' stereo. Mix it up a little.

Well, that's a, uh, damned shame.

That dude, uh... he has my condolences, I guess.

No DJs or cracks or hisses. That's, uh... a damned shame.

eh, i just think he misses not being OLD

Maybe this guy could try prank calling himself, or maybe honking a horn and blowing a kazoo whilst listening to his plalist. Maybe that would get him closer to that "DYNAMITE" DJ sound.

Ya mon, I can dig it.
For me, there was a certain sense of romance in the early 70's of switching the radio to FM. And late night, finding what were called underground radio stations. The excitement of hearing songs that would never be played on AM and all the DJ's sounded like Tommy Chong.
I remember two songs even today. One was 'don't try to lay no boogie woogie - I'm the king of rock and roll' by long john baldry. And the second was a story song about the Titanic and how the first mate was carrying around a smoldering length of rope made out of hemp. He turns the captain on, they get high ...and sure enough the Titanic hits an iceberg. Very funny song, never heard THAT one again.

You might like these WABC airchecks.

Really, that's why god invented college radio//internet radio/podcasts/etc.
Get over it.

OK, Clov, I'll try to get over it.

He's saying the same songs sound different than they did on the Panasonic Toot-A-Loop for example.

Re: Toot-A-Loop

Hey! We used to have one of those!


"...1260, KYA!!!..."



[Edited on Feb 27, 2006 by allyn]

My sister had one. I love the way they look. I wish I had lots of disposable income to by old crap like that from ebay...

Of course it is not the same. That was then, this is now. Even FM radio at its best is full of compression and expansion and limited bandwidth.
And before the cd, music was recorded and crafted with the intent of listening to it through a turntable, for the most part. To transfer those old master tapes to cd gives them much more separation than the original engineers ever intended. Amongst other things. And the 70's dj experience will not be recreated. Some might say that is a good thing. I remember dj's back in the day sneaking out back for a joint, and hearing several minutes of a skipping copy of Peanut-Butter Yoni. Perhaps the worst part was that without a rooftop antennae, FM radio always had a huge distortion component. You could deal with that, until the inevitable (and often) obnoxious commercials. If the music was at a comfortable and enjoyable listening level, the ads blared uncomfortably loud. But at least back then, the advertisements were about different things. Today, all radio and tv seem to be for goddamn car dealerships. And the occasional hypothetical penis enlarger/enhancement pills.

Though the music has changed, and won't ever be the same, you could recreate that feeling, as close as possible, by turning on your FM radio and searching through the college stations, the same as you once did. I know that here in boston, Emerson College, and Rockland High both offer shows once or twice a week that offer a well varied array of punk-rock and it's mutated family of related genres. FM radio still sucks, so the drop-outs, crackling, and all that still exist to an extent. I know there's more to it than that. Better speakers now, new technology that kicks the shit out of FM radio.. but if you're ever feeling nostalgic for it, it's still there.

The greatest radio station ever - KSAN