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Instrumental rock ‘n’ roll - the genre that once made many a beach party spectacular in the ‘50s and ‘60s - today is relegated to a few artists that hope to succeed despite having no chance of cracking the top 40 radio scene. Luckily, OTM has a correspondent who specializes in dying music styles: Rex Doane reports on the disappearing instrumental rock single.
The songs are familiar, the lyrics the same, but we guarantee you’ve never heard versions quite like this. A group of fair-use artists have created songs using the spoken pronunciation guides of words in online dictionaries. The result is an entertaining blend of computerized music and monotone singing. Bob talks to David Dixon about the tunes found at his website, dictionaraoke.com.
Record companies have a long and sordid history of paying off radio stations to get DJs to spin their tunes. Public radio stations have traditionally steered clear of such deals. But with noncommercial radio making more and more unknown artists into stars, the record industry has come knocking, cash in fist. Host Brooke Gladstone talks it over with Salon.com senior writer Eric Boehlert.
A pop song’s got to have a hook if it expects to get some serious radio play. So stations are now researching these hooks by having listeners rate 10-second samples of potential hits. Are the listeners being served when statistics, not disc jockeys, choose what's played and when?
Yes, the French-Canadian diva’s latest CD has built-in copyright protection software that won’t allow you to copy-or even listen to-her love ballads on your PC. And if a bill in Congress gets enough votes, consumers won’t be able to copy any new CDs they buy. Brooke talks to NPR Cultural Correspondent Rick Karr.
America’s largest radio broadcast company has been accused of muscling the music and radio businesses for some time. Clear Channel’s hardball business practices have finally gotten the attention of Washington regulators and legislators, but can the beltway get the bully of the radio industry to back down? Bob talks to Salon.com senior writer Eric Boehlert.
During some time away from Harvard University, famed African American Studies Professor Cornel West cut a hip-hop album. His boss, President Lawrence Summers, dubbed West’s behavior “unbecoming of a Harvard professor.” Brooke and Bob discuss the implications of an academic spat.
Over the last two decades, hip-hop music has moved from underground to over-ground, becoming one of the most popular music genres in America. The mainstreaming of hip-hop has created not only a new cultural aesthetic, but a new advertising market as well. Brooke investigates the allure of urban culture.
