Media Chatter

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Today’s neighborhoods are nothing more than groups of houses. Not a community, not a circle of friends, but simply buildings. The reason for that is because if families are not socializing with each other, or “out” somewhere else, they are watching television- mainly cable. The only times that interaction happens is in the passing-by as one enters or leaves their house. Occasionally people will go to a neighbor’s house in order to watch cable together.

Cable has done a good job to bring people together, but unfortunately it is bringing people who already know each other together, not “sparking” new relationships. Awkward conversations are now avoidable thanks to cable, for you can talk about what was on television last night. Office water-coolers are now conversation corners for meeting new people who watch the same show.

One example of cable’s good is the show LOST. LOST fans, upon hearing someone else talk about the show, immediately befriend each other and start talking about episodes and theories. It is bringing people together for a common cause.

However, the fact remains that the typical neighborhood is suffering and lacking. No matter how many conversations are sparked at the water cooler and or at a nearby house, the interactions in neighborhoods are still found lacking.

If given a commercial radio station to fill with sounds of my choosing, I would supply a combination of two formats- Contemporary hits, and Independent.  The reasoning behind, says Radio and Internet Newsletter this is that on non-internet radio, independent artists only make up an average of 13% or airplay.  Internet radio, however, thrives on independent, which makes up 56%.

Independent music is very popular among college students, and fellow musicians.  But many times the music falls on deaf ears, so to speak, when it is heard by those who take advantage of music and radio, and not knowing the brilliance they hear, turn it off because it isn’t on VH1’s Top 20 Countdown. This keeps many of the independent artists, well, independent, and hinders them from spreading their music effectively.  If independent musicians are given more air-time, then, obviously, their music will spread.  However many people do not enjoy listening to independent music strictly.  With a mixture of “Top 40″ music, it would combine music of similar genres into a feeling much like the freedom and exposure of internet radio.

Pandora Radio is an internet radio station with such freedom, and an example of such a mixture.  You simply type a band or artist’s name into the search bar, and it will provide a “station” with a mixture of that artist’s music, as well as major and independent music that is similar.

Internet radio is still considered a new item, and if FM radio can latch into an idea like Pandora’s, then FM radio will be able to fight becoming obsolete for new music.  You will never again miss a groundbreaking song simply because it is labeled independent.

In the rock and roll culture of the 1960s drugs were viewed not as detrimental substances, but as muses to many musicians. Surely Jimi Hendrix wasn’t talking about the aurora borealis when he wrote his classic hit “Purple Haze.” For rock musicians of the 1960s, drugs were a way to buck tradition and exercise freedom of expression. They also got the creative juices flowing. For the record executives, they got the money flowing. The use and possession of drugs were not concealed facts of life. This unfortunate fact carries over into today’s rock and hip hop musical cultures. 

A 2006 interview with the successful rock band, Hinder, illustrates the presence of drugs in modern rock music.  When asked why they chose Lips of an Angel as their first single, the band explained that was the fans’ choice. They continued on to say their choice was the song Get Stoned. The recent woes of singer Amy Winehouse portray a particularly disturbing aspect to the drug discussion. Winehouse entered rehab after suffering a drug overdose last week. Currently she has a hit song on the radio titled, Rehab, in which she basically markets rehab as lame and claims she will never go. The common factor between the past and present is blatant drug use.

Drugs have infilitrated modern hip hop music as well. Rap group the Shop Boyz, released their hit, Party Like A Rock Star, over the summer. Rap artists, for the most part, view drugs from a money making standpoint. They rap about selling drugs, most of the time out of economic necessity. This is reminiscent of the social ills dealt with by rockers in the ’60s. However rappers are not innocent of recreational drug use. Snoop Dog is better known for his marijuana use than his music. The drug infused world of rap may carry more negative social implications than the rock world of the 1960s. Rap promotes selling illegal drugs. Even one conviction for selling narcotics will follow an individual throughout his life thus preventing him from succeeding in certain arenas.

Its time to face the music. Drugs and rock have stayed true to each other into the 21st century.