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by: Elizabeth Ware
Have you ever been going about your own business when all of the sudden you catch something out of the corner of your eye that makes you stop and take another look? That happened to me the other day. I was updating a client's website, and in the process, noticed a pretty standard smooth jazz radio playlist. Nothing unusual there, but a particular song title popped out at me and I had to laugh… I mean, laugh out loud! It struck me as to how ironic it was. There, summed up in the title of one song, was the problem with smooth jazz radio (well, all radio, really). The title? "Never As Good As the First Time".
Songs, that is. Well, ok, they might be good successive times, when scattered out among a variety of other songs. Some even have really lasting appeal. Some were even written in the 21st century. But this song, like so many others on smooth jazz radio is played probably no less than twice a day, every day, on every smooth jazz broadcast station in the country. This is the mindset of a radio format that is on the verge of collapsing in on top of itself because of its refusal to play anything but oldies and covers of oldies. Seriously, guys! It's never as good as the first time. It downright starts to stink after the 587th time.
To me, irony like this needs to be indulged. What else might I find perusing smooth jazz radio playlists?
One station had "Ol' Skoolin'" and "Old School" about two tracks apart. Nothing against either of those songs, mind you, but what we need is some “New Schoolin’”!
I’m not sure why the next station I checked out even calls itself "smooth jazz" in the first place. But one of the songs on the list summed this list up: "Out of a Dream." Wake up, already! It’s 2009. On their list for this past hour: “Easy” (you remember the Commodores, right?); “No Ordinary Love” (this one is played as much as "Never as Good as the First Time"); “At Last “(Beyounce. No, I'm not kidding.); and “Hey Nineteen”.
I didn't get very far with the next station's playlist because I couldn't get past the fact that there was a track by Wayne Brady on it. Wayne Brady? THAT Wayne Brady??? But a few spins down from that was "A Change is Gonna Come" by Seal. Let's hope so.
Playlist after playlist, it was the same old thing (and I do mean that literally). One station listed an Eagles song; a very old Herb Alpert song (it's a good one, but the first time I heard it I hadn't hit puberty yet… I'm an AARP member now); Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" (If I hear that one more time…); Police's "Every Breath You Take"; B.B. King – "The Thrill Is Gone" (great song, but that title is another great descriptor for smooth jazz radio); and I'll end this list with The Doobie Brothers – "What I Fool Believes." I’d like to dedicate that to all those out there in corporate radio land.
The playlist doesn't end there, but this is supposed to be "On the Lighter Side" and I'm starting to get depressed.
Songs, that is. Well, ok, they might be good successive times, when scattered out among a variety of other songs. Some even have really lasting appeal. Some were even written in the 21st century. But this song, like so many others on smooth jazz radio is played probably no less than twice a day, every day, on every smooth jazz broadcast station in the country. This is the mindset of a radio format that is on the verge of collapsing in on top of itself because of its refusal to play anything but oldies and covers of oldies. Seriously, guys! It's never as good as the first time. It downright starts to stink after the 587th time.
To me, irony like this needs to be indulged. What else might I find perusing smooth jazz radio playlists?
One station had "Ol' Skoolin'" and "Old School" about two tracks apart. Nothing against either of those songs, mind you, but what we need is some “New Schoolin’”!
I’m not sure why the next station I checked out even calls itself "smooth jazz" in the first place. But one of the songs on the list summed this list up: "Out of a Dream." Wake up, already! It’s 2009. On their list for this past hour: “Easy” (you remember the Commodores, right?); “No Ordinary Love” (this one is played as much as "Never as Good as the First Time"); “At Last “(Beyounce. No, I'm not kidding.); and “Hey Nineteen”.
I didn't get very far with the next station's playlist because I couldn't get past the fact that there was a track by Wayne Brady on it. Wayne Brady? THAT Wayne Brady??? But a few spins down from that was "A Change is Gonna Come" by Seal. Let's hope so.
Playlist after playlist, it was the same old thing (and I do mean that literally). One station listed an Eagles song; a very old Herb Alpert song (it's a good one, but the first time I heard it I hadn't hit puberty yet… I'm an AARP member now); Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" (If I hear that one more time…); Police's "Every Breath You Take"; B.B. King – "The Thrill Is Gone" (great song, but that title is another great descriptor for smooth jazz radio); and I'll end this list with The Doobie Brothers – "What I Fool Believes." I’d like to dedicate that to all those out there in corporate radio land.
The playlist doesn't end there, but this is supposed to be "On the Lighter Side" and I'm starting to get depressed.
