xm radio is just ok

edited August 2009 in General
we roadtrip quite a bit with the boys. taking a trip to dc in a week. (attn: mutex!) the new van has xm radio with decent "characterized" channels - i.e. 70's, 80's '90's, indie nation, classic vinyl, first wave (kind of 80's goth), etc. in any event, you can spend time on any one station and get a basic feel for the theme. with that said, i'm surprised that it still has a "rotation feel" - duplicate plays are usually the tip and duplicates of the psychedelic furs, men at work and a band that escapes me were heard when we drove all of an hour and 40 minutes sunday.

we have a year free subscription and it will be telling to see what the terms for re-upping will be in 8 months. stay tuned.

also, was "japan" a precursor to duran duran or an after the fact rip-off???

Comments

  • I am a big fan of Deep Tracks, XM 40. Seems to be a wide library, things I like and alot of "off the beaten track" things. Your mileage may vary.
  • agreed - there are definitely some cool things worth probing...i think i spent a stretch on classic vinyl saturday that was decent...heard sonic youth in their own words a few weeks back and about 2 months ago caught andrew bird hosting his own show.

    BUT! christ. an entire radio band given to bruce pukesteen!!! good god! i listened thru three songs just to remind myself how much garbage underlies "THE MAN" (yes, they do refer to him on his very own radio show as "THE MAN") - the kicker was - right after playing "little girl i wanna marry you" - they clip him saying "i just wanted to sing things i could stand saying" as if he has some elevated standard for writing simple rhyme.

    he has milked the system better than any other faux hoodwinker we've seen...one song...one song mind you, i'll give him credit for "personifying himself and not f'ing it up" > badlands.

    what is more unbelievable: that radio station in austintexas playing "spanish techno" (new pronographers) for a week solid (or something like that) or 24 hours x 7 x 52, etc. of bruce clenchedteethsteen???
  • Once again, I sit here laughing. Not good to laugh while sipping on my daily quota of water!

    bruce clenchedteethsteen -- it's the underbite.

    I love these rants!
  • I thought they called him "The Boss". As if anyone could be the Boss - other than this guy.
  • japan was around at the same time as duran duran, neither pre-cursor nor rip-off.
    I have vague memories of two friends of mine having very heated arguments as to which was better (I believe japan won on the grounds that they had a better looking front man).
  • I love Bruce Springsteen.
  • NankerP, so do I, and it hasn't been a secret. We had a discussion about him at the other place recently. I can't help but laugh at some of the comments, though.
  • Springsteen's OK. It's the bs that surrounds him that spooks. The Boss? Whose boss would that be?
  • MY Boss, that's who!!!

    ;-)
  • Really? He tells you what to do?
  • Yes. Sometimes he talks through the neighbour's black labrador, but I just know its really him.
  • Barks out his orders, eh?
  • i can get past the hype. i can get past the terrible voice. i can get past the ultra repetitive lyrics...ok, i can't get past the overstretched fuddles he bunches to make it all work

    "baby tie your hair back in a long white bow
    meet me in the fields behind the dynamo"

    the dynamo? o rly?

    how many ways can he say "there's a price for everything"??? with someone being a poor disadvantaged sod for the song's sake?

    "the river" - the entire thing was one big fleecing. the clash give us three rekkids in sandinista and you feel like the artist went all out for your money...you listen to two rekkids of the river and you figure he had to keep the critics too busy so first day sales couldn't be ruined. it sounds terrible. it's worse than sophomore high school writing. and did i mention he can't sing???

    bruce - "i wanna marry you" - o rly? or did you write a bucket of slop hoping to cash in on wedding day sales?

    some of his stuff just falls flat with time passing > "meeting across the river" - i'm gonna steal my baby's radio. hock it. cut some kind of drug deal with some guy across the river. and you wanna know what he's gonna do with the proceeds??? why, he's gonna throw that money on the girl's bed and - get this - he's gonna leave her. that'll teach her!!!

    what'd he play for the super bowl??? all the softest stuff in the repertoire...no chances.

    again, badlands is a very good song. patti's version of "because the night" is theatrical in a great way.
  • by contrast, a really really well written, well executed rekkid is okkervil river's "the stage names"...

    what bruce does well - theatricides (is that a word???) a song - they nail on this recording...chx out "john allyn smith sails"
  • Did you ever listen to Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio on XM?


    It's brilliant.
  • I got a month free of XM when I got my car. I really liked XM - unlike Sirius, the channel names give a clue about what kind of music it was....as you inted out, 70s, 80s, indie, classic vinyl, etc.

    A friend of mine had Sirius and there were channels like "Fred" and "Ethel".


    Back to XM....there were also some good comedy channels. Another had old-time radio shows. I liked that one for a change of pace.
  • edited August 2009
    Fred and Ethel were on XM, actually. The names changed when XM merged with Sirius, with most of those channels merging with similarly programmed Sirius channels.

    I've had Sirius for about 5 years and have loved it, particularly their Blues channel, Little Steven's Underground Garage, and Sirius Disorder. When the Sirius/XM merger took place, Disorder got kicked to the curb for the most part, with a tiny bit of their programming being absorbed by an existing XM channel (The Loft). The Blues channel got completely disemboweled, with all of the Sirius programming replaced by a really soft modern blues playlist (Sirius used to hit the old stuff, even tho they were only skimming the surface of it). Joe Bonamassa's lunchtime show got turfed, and the Sirius on-air guys all went away too. I'm bummed about it.

    Underground Garage, however, came through unscathed. One of my favorite channels anywhere. And BTW, I love Springsteen, and the Springsteen channel, but it does wear one down after a while.

    Satellite radio has introduced me to more bands in 5 years than terrestrial radio did in over 40, so for that I'm grateful. I'm in Atlanta, where commercial radio has been the pits for as long as I can remember.
  • Fred and Ethel were on XM, actually.

    It figures I had that exactly backwards!
  • A Band That Escapes Me - now that's a great name!

    One of my sisters was gushing about Arcade Fire a couple years back saying that they were the best new band and she loved their songs even if they were basically ripping off Springsteen... I did a double take and was like "Huh?" The next time I put them on the magic was practically destroyed when I realized she was right. (And I do enjoy Springsteen as a casual fan.)
  • i did catch bob dylan's show one time...about 20 minutes - that's the thing, i never get in my van to listen to this (explicit programming) stuff so it's all hit or miss...the one-timiness is awesome in most cases...

    is there some way to take the account you have thru your car + play it streaming over the pc? i dunno.

    btw: everyone can heart bruce + i'll be fine...speaking up - either way - is what it's all about, no?
  • >Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio ... brilliant

    Agreed, worth tracking down the shows as MP3's (in many locations on the internet now). A few fans have separated out the songs and tagged the files individually.
  • @b68z--Sirius has an option to listen online at a low-ish bitrate if you have a radio subscription, higher quality is an extra 3bucks a month. I would assume that an XM subscription has similar options.
  • The Metropolitan Opera Radio channel from Sirius is wonderful wonderful and some more wonderful.
  • I love Theme Time Radio too. Nothing like getting stain fighting tips from Bob.
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