Day 17 – A Song You Hear Often On The Radio
Help – The Beatles
This is one of the most difficult days for me. The reason is that I hardly ever listen to music radio. If I want to listen to music, I listen to something from my own collection, so I have control and can match the music to my mood, change my mind if I want and generally hear what I want, not what someone else chooses. I am an avid radio listener, but that is Five Live, which is a talk station. I usually have it on for at least part of the day when I am working in the office, it is nice to hear voices other than my own during those hours! The upshot of this, however, is that there are no songs I can say I hear often on the radio. There is, however, a song I hear regularly on the radio and so this is the one I have chosen. Every Thursday afternoon, the Richard Bacon show on Five Live has a feature called “Help”, in which listeners can have their practical problems solved by a panel of “experts” in the studio and by fellow listeners. It is normally hilarious, as nobody involved seems to take it 100% seriously. Anyway, an extract of the song “Help” is always played at the beginning of the feature. Which, as I normally hear it once a week, I guess makes it the song I hear most often on the radio. At least it is something I like, by one of the great bands of all time!
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But you always seem to listen to new music so how do you know what’s out there if you don’t have the radio on? I’m intrigued.
I know I’m at the opposite end of the spectrum and only unglue the radio from my ears if someone wants to talk to me – and not even then sometimes. I love the element of surprise that I don’t know what track is coming on next and I love hearing new stuff everyday. But that’s just me.
You’ve got me wondering myself now!
Find out about new music in various ways – recommendations from friends who keep more of a finger on the pulse, reading magazines such as Uncut (when I can get past their snooty “you MUST like this, you CAN’T like that” tendencies). Also occasional features on new artists on Five Live (afternoon show formerly Mayo now Bacon) with interviews and live acoustic performances. Most new bands I’ve picked up in recent years came through recommendations from Badlands (independent record store and Springsteen emporium) – Jesse Malin, Gaslight Anthem, Hold Steady, Mark Wright and others. Keep telling myself to listen to more R2 and 6 Music but never quite get around to it!
Ah, I see that Badlands has got a lot to answer for!
Ah you can’t beat a bit of the Beatles. There’s a bit in Sliding Doors where John Hannah says that every English person is born instinctively knowing the lyrics to The Beatles back catalogue and therefore they should be called The Fetals (It’s funny in the film it doesn’t make so much sense when paraphrased lol) You can find the quote here.