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"Radio Friendly"


AmigaJoe

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Is a term I read a lot in regards to various songs/artists, regarding various degrees of this quality. What does the term mean to you? What distinguishes a "radio friendly" song from one that isn't? Give an example or two if you can...

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ooh, examples

good radio friendly songs: Semi Charmed Life, Crazy, Hey There Delilah, Satisfaction

these are all songs that are (in my opinion) artless or semi-artless, but are nonetheless pretty good/great songs.

bad radio friendly songs: Hit Me Baby One More Time, This Is Why I'm Hot, I Got You Babe

no explanation needed, hahaha

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For good examples, see The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour. The John Lennon tunes aren't as main-stream or commercially acceptable as Paul McCartney's, but are in my opinion much better (well I do really like Penny Lane, but as a whole I prefer the Lennon ones). I don't generally like "radio friendly" songs because they tend to be limited creatively in terms of length and in terms of main stream acceptability. Of course, these restrictions only really apply on conventional radio and with internet/satellite/very large city radio you can quite easily find stations willing to play other music. All that being said, "radio friendly" songs are not nessecarily bad, but are often not as good as they could be due to these restrictions.

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I strongly dislike how record producers encourage their artists to record radio friendly songs. It really limits their creativity. I think the idea that all songs should follow the "verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus" (or similar) format is absolutely ridiculous.

I guess it was pretty obvious I was going to say that, being a prog rock fan. Although I do love early radio friendly songs from The Stones, The Who, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Cream and The Kinks. I also love Powderfinger and Cold Chisel, who are both mostly radio friendly. :)

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Actually, even though I always claim to be a prog rock fan, I haven't really heard that much. I am still in the process of expanding my prog rock collection. I've always wanted In The Court Of The Crimson King, but it doesn't seem to be available in Australian stores.

Anyway, I would recommend Peter Gabriel era Genesis to any progressive rock fan. I bought the Platinum Collection recently. It is very good, although there are too many Phil Collins era pop songs. Unfortunately, all of my favourite Peter Gabriel era Genesis tracks (Supper's Ready, Firth Of Fifth, The Musical Box and The Knife) are on different albums.

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Being radio-friendly is why The Guess Who chopped a song into 2 songs. No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature. The stations played the 1st part only. Rarely was the 2nd part ever heard on the radio, and if it was it was played without No Sugar Tonight. The band knew that a nearly 10 minute jam would never be played, but if it were put out as 2 songs then they would get air play.

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In today's world of radio you can play the long songs, but back in the day there was always a shorter version, which I still think was stupid. Play the song the way it was meant to be heard. And I love playing long versions, always better! Today you get radio friendly songs where a line has been altered to not have a "swear" word in the song. And that will probably never change because with the FCC there are just words you can't hear on the radio.

Puddle of Mudds "She Hates Me", the song says "She f***ing hates me" but you won't hear that on radio!

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There are alot of songs with 2 versions: the album version and the "radio edit". I don't mind this so much because the little guy who lives here thinks swearing is a fun thing and the more he hears it the cooler he thinks it is. He likes swearing at everyone because all of his hip-hop idols do it. If he had been hearing them swearing on the radio, he'd have started this long before he started buying his own music. The school playground is no help. :tongue:

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I've been listening to more prog rock lately...I just bought Close To The Edge, The Yes Album, Brain Salad Surgery and Aqualung. Might you be able to refer some other prog rock to me?

great albums:

caravan - in the land of grey and pink

the soft machine - third

genesis - foxtrot (try the song "supper's ready")

godspeed you black emporer! - lift yr skinny fists like antennaes to heaven!

explosions in the sky - the earth is not a cold dead place

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