New Wave Outpost Forum

[quote][i]Originally posted by Wayne[/i]
<br>As played out as it became, I can't agree that all "grunge" was bad; Nirvana sounded pretty damn good on the radio when they started getting major airplay in '91. It was in the following year or two when super-mainstream sounding songs like "Plush" by Stone Temple Pilots and "Alive" by Pearl Jam entered the mix that alternative radio in general started its long downward spiral. I'm not even saying those are terrible songs; they're not. But they were so far removed from anything to do with new wave or punk , so mainstream, arena-rock sounding, that it truly was the beginning of the end.

Still, no doubt there was good music getting airplay in the 90's. Were Blur, Oasis, The Breeders, PJ Harvey, etc. really that bad? So when was alternative-rock radio in fact ultimately all over? The exact time of the funeral can be traced to one band: once Metallica was suddenlly considered "alternative", that was officially the end for me.
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My sentiments exactly. I can't speak for KROQ but WLIR/WDRE went wrong in about 1994. Looking over their playlists, it's not so much that they played pseudo-Grunge (real Grunge was dead and buried by 94) but they went into that AAA coffee house territory of Dave Matthews and Hootie and The Blowfish which you could hear anywhere (and still can). They missed a golden opportunity to really push 90's BritPop. Sure they played the biggies like Oasis and Blur but that entire scene could have reinvigorated the station. Bands like Sleeper, Rialto, Space etc. had a much firmer link to WLIR's past than those damn Spin Doctors. Had they made BritPop their primary focus they could have seamlessly slipped in the latest releases from Depeche Mode or New Order without the effect being so jarring. The 90's Britpop box from Rhino is a good idea of what they should've focused on IMO.

The answer is 1992 when they started to emphasize more on american bands than brits. KROQ was built on playing alot of overseas bands when it first started. The station would have been much different than it is today had they stuck with their principles and played more stuff from Blur, Catherine Wheel and Elastica than they would with Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam

[quote][i]Originally posted by gpow[/i]
<br>The answer is 1992 when they started to emphasize more on american bands than brits. KROQ was built on playing alot of overseas bands when it first started. The station would have been much different than it is today had they stuck with their principles and played more stuff from Blur, Catherine Wheel and Elastica than they would with Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam



[/quote]
I don't know if the British stuff was more in line with KROQ's heritage-- let's assume it was-- but if nothing else Blur, Catherine Wheel and Elastica, even if their music hasn't aged very well, were miles better than Pearl Jam, STP and Spin Doctors.

[quote][i]Originally posted by q89747[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by gpow[/i]
<br>The answer is 1992 when they started to emphasize more on american bands than brits. KROQ was built on playing alot of overseas bands when it first started. The station would have been much different than it is today had they stuck with their principles and played more stuff from Blur, Catherine Wheel and Elastica than they would with Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam



[/quote]
I don't know if the British stuff was more in line with KROQ's heritage-- let's assume it was-- but if nothing else Blur, Catherine Wheel and Elastica, even if their music hasn't aged very well, were miles better than Pearl Jam, STP and Spin Doctors.
[/quote]

I can only vouch for what's happened on WFDU when I've played some 90's Britpop. Generally I stick with new releases and old cuts from the 70's and 80's but if I play a track like "Common People" by Pulp, inevitably someone will call up and assume it was from the 80's. I've even gotten into arguments about it! Same goes for many other 90's Britpop tracks I've played. There was a certain "otherness" to Britpop that was clearly different than the fist pumping arena rock of STP and Alice In Chains. It was that same "otherness" that New Wave had.


Not knocking Pearl Jam etc but they have more in common with The Guess Who than Gang Of Four.

Indie 103 was doing everything right that KROQ has gone wrong. Too bad they went off the air in january. They were playing alot of classic KROQ tunes combined with alot of the newer bands like Von Bondies, Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party. KROQ in the meantime was too busy playing Red Hot Chilli Peppers for the 100th time in the same day

great topic
I lost interest in KROQ around 1988 or so when the major bands turned a corner from the 80's" New Order, Echo, Simple Minds, The Furs, U2, Boingo, etc
Different generations have different tastes
I agree with Simon Reynolds that the hey day was 1978-1984

[quote] I can't speak for KROQ but WLIR/WDRE went wrong in about 1994. Looking over their playlists, it's not so much that they played pseudo-Grunge (real Grunge was dead and buried by 94) but they went into that AAA coffee house territory of Dave Matthews and Hootie and The Blowfish which you could hear anywhere (and still can). They missed a golden opportunity to really push 90's BritPop. Sure they played the biggies like Oasis and Blur but that entire scene could have reinvigorated the station. Bands like Sleeper, Rialto, Space etc. had a much firmer link to WLIR's past than those damn Spin Doctors. Had they made BritPop their primary focus they could have seamlessly slipped in the latest releases from Depeche Mode or New Order without the effect being so jarring. The 90's Britpop box from Rhino is a good idea of what they should've focused on IMO.
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This pretty much sums up 90s alternative radio. Even during the peak of grunge, alternative stations still played new material from New order and Siouxsie along with a smattering of newer Brit-inspired "college rock" (Lush, Ocean Blue, Cranberries etc.) But when they turned to Hootie and Sheryl Crow(!) and "adult alternative", they missed badly. It's a travesty that America overlooked Britpop--had a station like the late, great WHFS (Washington DC) played Sleeper and Texas instead of Counting Crows, they'd still be around...

[quote][i]Originally posted by thefxc[/i]
<br>[quote] I can't speak for KROQ but WLIR/WDRE went wrong in about 1994. Looking over their playlists, it's not so much that they played pseudo-Grunge (real Grunge was dead and buried by 94) but they went into that AAA coffee house territory of Dave Matthews and Hootie and The Blowfish which you could hear anywhere (and still can). They missed a golden opportunity to really push 90's BritPop. Sure they played the biggies like Oasis and Blur but that entire scene could have reinvigorated the station. Bands like Sleeper, Rialto, Space etc. had a much firmer link to WLIR's past than those damn Spin Doctors. Had they made BritPop their primary focus they could have seamlessly slipped in the latest releases from Depeche Mode or New Order without the effect being so jarring. The 90's Britpop box from Rhino is a good idea of what they should've focused on IMO.
[/quote]

This pretty much sums up 90s alternative radio. Even during the peak of grunge, alternative stations still played new material from New order and Siouxsie along with a smattering of newer Brit-inspired "college rock" (Lush, Ocean Blue, Cranberries etc.) But when they turned to Hootie and Sheryl Crow(!) and "adult alternative", they missed badly. It's a travesty that America overlooked Britpop--had a station like the late, great WHFS (Washington DC) played Sleeper and Texas instead of Counting Crows, they'd still be around...
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There was a little station here in Chicago (Arlington Heights to be exact) called WCBR ('the Bear') that played a fair amount of un-mainstream stuff in the 90s. Through a friend, I was able to play some of my own CDs there during one episode of the 'Needle Drop' show, hosted by a hometown garage band of 50-year-olds called the Cleaning Ladys (sort of Arlington Heights's answer to Pasadena's Snotty Scotty & the Hankies)... I may be the first person in the Chi-area to play Elastica, when the 'Stutter' single came out... I even met Brett and Simon from Suede there once... sadly, the Bear couldn't compete with bigger stations like the 'alternative' Q101, and switched formats before calling it quits altogether a few years ago... it's a shame because they could have become the next KROQ if they'd stuck to it for a bit longer, and built more of a die-hard following... now the only underground music in town is the college stations, like WNUR, WHPK and WLUW.

[quote][i]Originally posted by thefxc[/i]
<br>[quote] I can't speak for KROQ but WLIR/WDRE went wrong in about 1994. Looking over their playlists, it's not so much that they played pseudo-Grunge (real Grunge was dead and buried by 94) but they went into that AAA coffee house territory of Dave Matthews and Hootie and The Blowfish which you could hear anywhere (and still can). They missed a golden opportunity to really push 90's BritPop. Sure they played the biggies like Oasis and Blur but that entire scene could have reinvigorated the station. Bands like Sleeper, Rialto, Space etc. had a much firmer link to WLIR's past than those damn Spin Doctors. Had they made BritPop their primary focus they could have seamlessly slipped in the latest releases from Depeche Mode or New Order without the effect being so jarring. The 90's Britpop box from Rhino is a good idea of what they should've focused on IMO.
[/quote]

This pretty much sums up 90s alternative radio. Even during the peak of grunge, alternative stations still played new material from New order and Siouxsie along with a smattering of newer Brit-inspired "college rock" (Lush, Ocean Blue, Cranberries etc.) But when they turned to Hootie and Sheryl Crow(!) and "adult alternative", they missed badly. It's a travesty that America overlooked Britpop--had a station like the late, great WHFS (Washington DC) played Sleeper and Texas instead of Counting Crows, they'd still be around...
[/quote]


Yeah and sadly "Adult Alternative" still seems to be a major rock format on commercial FM. I guess it's pleasing to old baby boomers who think they're "hip and with it" for listening to an Alanis Morrissette song that came out 15 years ago. Strange how bands like Counting Crows, Blind Melon and Hootie And The Blowfish have also seamlessly slipped into Classic Rock radio playlists too, right alongside Steely Dan and the Eagles.....oh wait...that's right....there was nothing "alternative" about that music anyway. [;)]

I was living in Chicago in the early 90's when WCBR was broadcasting. They insisted on mixing in 2 or 3 blues tracks every hour because of course Chicago is home of the blues. You would hear the new Morrissey single followed by B.B. King. Following that logic you would mix in Garth Brooks if you were doing the alternative format in Nashville.
It was frustrating as hell listening to this station. I sent the program director two tapes of KROQ in the hopes it would give him a clue as how to successfully program the station. At the time no one was doing the alternative/modern rock format in Chicago and they could have carved out a successful niche for themselves as a suburban station at 92.7 on the dial just like WDRE.

[quote]Originally posted by q89747
[br]This of course is purely subjective... but when did KROQ begin to suck? When did relying on KROQ for new music get replaced by nostalgia for the old days? What was that moment when you realized KROQ was just not as good as it used to be?
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When did KROQ [i]not[/i] suck?

Even in the late 70's (when I lived in Pasadena, and KROQ was in the little white building across the street from the Pasadena Hilton), it sucked. Rodney was its only saving grace.

Yeah, I'm an elitist fuck. [:p]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Riot Nrrrd™[/i]
<br>[quote]Originally posted by q89747
[br]This of course is purely subjective... but when did KROQ begin to suck? When did relying on KROQ for new music get replaced by nostalgia for the old days? What was that moment when you realized KROQ was just not as good as it used to be?
[/quote]
When did KROQ [i]not[/i] suck?

Even in the late 70's (when I lived in Pasadena, and KROQ was in the little white building across the street from the Pasadena Hilton), it sucked. Rodney was its only saving grace.

Yeah, I'm an elitist fuck. [:p]
[/quote]
That being the case-- elitist fuck or not-- what was the alternative? What was better than KROQ in those days?

After listening to some archival recordings, I would like to amend my previous answer. KROQ began to suck when they started playing "I Go Crazy" by Flesh For Lulu.

THAT was the harbinger for the suckiness to come.





<a href="http://www.djcraig.net/los_angeles_dj">DJ Craig</a>

I though they were still playing good music?

[quote][i]Originally posted by eightiesbaby80[/i]
<br>I though they were still playing good music?
[/quote]
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