More Music Power
Call me on a Monday night and you’ll wind up talking to my answering machine. Not because I’m out at bingo or washing what’s left of my hair but because I’m super-glued to my TV, following Gene Hunt’s latest antics in the gloriously un-PC Ashes To Ashes. It’s not just the old cops & robbers routine that attracts me, nor the fact that even the darkest days of the 80’s are now starting to look rosy in these old eyes of mine but more than anything, I just happen to love the music.
From Adam Ant to XTC and from Kid Creole to the Fun Boy Three, Ashes To Ashes pumps out a relentless catholic mix of top tunes from my favourite musical decade. So why, as I stand on the threshold of the official oldie audience demographic, can’t I find the same kind of references to my musical youth playing on my radio?
There seems to be a misconception among the programmers of Radioland that once listeners hit a certain age, we move into radio’s sheltered accommodation where wardens dish out cuddly-soft oldies like tranquillisers to maintain the daily peace. Younger programmers could be forgiven for thinking this way because by virtue of their age, they’ve yet to appreciate the true emotional power of musical nostalgia. As a young radio pup, I also found it hard to fathom why I had to play endless oldies by The Beatles, Connie Francis and Manfred Mann but to our target audience, these tunes were evocative gems that reminded them of a golden time in their lives - when the world was somehow simpler, brighter and more carefree. And that, my young friends, is the reason why oldies get played on the radio, full stop.
Unlike today, us kids of the 70’s & 80’s didn’t fit into a one-size-fits-all musical blur – open your Guinness Book of Hit Singles and you’ll find Punks, Mods, Goths, Post-Punks, New Romantics, New Wave, Disco, Electro, Hi Energy, House, Heavy Metal and plenty more riding high in the charts. So how come the only nod to this era I ever seem to hear on Marconi’s magic box comes from acts like Shalamar, Jennifer Rush and McFadden & F***ing Whitehead?
Interestingly, a good friend of mine in her 50’s (yes, her 50’s) has been singing the praises of Spotify recently, telling me how great it is to hear the old tunes she knows and loves all day long without the need for a radio. Indicating once again that in this new digital era, audiences of all ages are ready and able to go where the music takes them.
So, one more time - wake up Radioland! The rules have changed and I and my generation will continue to listen to The Specials, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Jam, China Crisis, Prefab Sprout, The Stranglers, Heaven 17, Gary Numan, et al - whether you’re willing to play them or not.