In a follow-up to Where did my station go?, John Patkin looks at how some of the hits we loved as youths might bring back bad memories.
Let me foreground this by recounting my first exposure to music programming. It was on a Saturday afternoon in the summer of 1988 watching senior DJs and managers sort through hundreds of LPs to build a playlist with songs from the 60’s and 70’s. They spread the albums and singles over the floor of the admin department of the radio station, sorting them into various piles while they wrote up cards that would be used for the hourly music rotation. I’ve always reflected on this as an exception to using a sound research approach and allowing heuristics to complement focus groups and quantitative data.
Reliving that Saturday afternoon in 1988, an old friend asked me over for a barbecue with a bunch of other music-wise forty-somethings to review my MP3s – the ones I turn to on the odd occasion when I can’t find a suitable radio station. The findings of our ‘barbecue focus group’ would prove a challenge for any music director with one participant after another recalling how a hit, brought back bad memories. Here’s is a summary of those comments.
The Whole of the Moon – The Waterboys
I loved this song until I shared it with a girlfriend who broke my heart. From that point on, she took the whole of the moon from me. Every time I hear what used to be a favourite song, I change channels or turn-off the radio.
Bruce, married, plumber, 45yo.
Beds are burning – Midnight Oil
When I first heard this song, I was young and naïve. I didn’t care much for the lyrics and didn’t really understand what the song was about. After hearing the national apology, I felt guilty for just enjoying the song. From that point on, I felt down every time I heard it.
Deidre, single mother, nurse, 42yo.
Cheap Wine – Cold Chisel
I was on holiday in Bali and went to a bar full of Aussies. There was a great party atmosphere. When the house band played Cheap Wine, which was pretty late in the evening, all hell broke loose. A visiting rugby team from Brisbane started shouting out the lyrics in a scrum formation. One thing led to another and a big brawl erupted. I was watching but got hit in the arm by a flying bottle. Several weeks later, I was recovering from an infected wound. You can see the scar below my elbow.
Angus, married, account manager, 48yo.
St Elmo’s Fire – John Parr
I loved the movie and the soundtrack. I even bought a soft-top Suzuki jeep but will never forget the day my dog jumped out the back chasing a cat and got run over by a truck.
Wendy, married, stay-at-home-mum, 41yo.
To her door – Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls
It always reminds me of domestic violence. I know we shouldn’t ignore it but I just feel uncomfortable.
Kelly, divorced single mum, 43yo
One of the challenges for music programmers might be how to deal with outliers who rate what would otherwise be good songs that have left us with a bad impression. The five responses listed above comment on tracks that are mainstays on 80’s playlists and it would be hard not to include them. Perhaps we should ignore outliers and trust research that encompasses mass appeal.
Returning to that Saturday afternoon in 1988… As a 23 year old, I couldn’t understand why they had chosen two-and-a-half minute Bubblegum pop songs such as Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini which seemed more like a novelty. They just said they would remind people of their youth. Thirty or so years later, are today’s announcers privately cringing when they play the songs of the 80’s and 90’s? I guess we can all recall the station manger’s pronouncement that “You know a song is a hit when you get sick of playing it.”
It’s worth noting that Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up and Kylie Minogue’s I Should Be So Lucky were playing that Saturday afternoon …
John Patkin is a Senior Consultant at Ergon House www.ergonhouse.com. Dr Patkin has a research background in media use and linguistics and has worked in commercial and public broadcasting.