Morning Critical… Yet Faithful
Like some of you, I occasionally drop a message to dj@kexp.org. “Great song” or “Thanks for playing ________” or whatever comes to mind. I have done this from my phone most often, I confess.
This morning, I had this request:
“John:
Something I have been meaning to ask for a long time and I know some FAQ out there probably already has stated this 1000 times: What’s that music you play behind the concert calendar? It’s so terrible and hilarious all at once. Sorry if you don’t mean for it to be funny or your mom wrote it or something, but I just find it awful. … It makes me think of “The Price is Right” and I have no idea why.”
And his totally unexpected reply:
“Stewart Copeland wrote it, of the police under the name Klark Kent. It was also the theme to MTV’s The Cutting Edge. 99% of the hundreds who asked about it, seem to love it. Glad someone hates it.”
I LOVE Stewart Copeland! So it makes it that much more enjoyable to hate it.
Popularity: 18%
Cool post Levitan.
That music is tired. It seems to me that no KEXP djs have changed their calendar music as long as I’ve been listening. (Each show has its own.)
I prefer it when stations like KCRW mix it up. I was even listening to Loveline the other night and heard “Yield” by People Under the Stairs behind the DJs yammer. How hard is it for the producer to find relevant music? Or they could just preview one of the bands that they are announcing?
Think of the Letterman show: each guest is welcomed out to the chair by Paul playing a unique song that’s usually some tongue-in-cheek joke.
Non sequitor: During a story last year on “This American Life’ regarding troops “stuck” in Iraq, the background song was The Roots’ “(It’s a Fucked Up Job) But Somebody Gotta Do It.” Brilliant.