Commercial Radio: STOP LISTENING

Commercial radio is pretty much irrelevant in the world today because of how readily new music can be found on that cool new place called the interweb (or is it the webbernet? I can't remember what it's called) and now people can easily bypass annoying songs they don't like by simply plugging in their iPods into their cars and and setting them to shuffle mode, and in the case of my iPod, that's over 6,000 songs resulting in the best radio station in the fucking world with no chance of hearing another Rise Against song - and no commercials! Besides the commercials, another common complaint about modern radio is a lack of sonic variety. On top-40 pop radio, this is unavoidable. I've been in the unfortunate position of being in a car with a mainstream friend with the radio set to the pop station and having to listen to the same songs being played every hour, and some twice in one hour. I'd rather have someone pour a bucket of bat guano all over me than go through that miserable experience again.

On rock stations, this problem is less common, but rock stations still have their fair share of issues. In my city we have a hard rock station, a classic rock station, and two alternative stations, and they all range from tolerable to terrible. The only two I listen to anymore are Rock 105.3 and FM 94.9, the hard rock and alternative stations respectively, and the problem with those two mainly lie with what era of music they overemphasize. That era is the 1990s. These rock stations seemingly cannot be moved beyond that goddamned era of music typified by Nirvana, Pearl Jam, AIC and the like; there's only so many times I can hear "Lithium" before I crack. But setting that aside, the main problem I have with modern rock radio is the NEW material they play, surprisingly enough. I can't really complain about hearing AIC every hour anymore when the focus is shifting to new bands that are so fucking bland that they make wonder bread seem exotic by comparison.

That brings me to the band at the top of this page, Imagine Dragons, just one of many new "alternative" bands that are crowding the airwaves of the aforementioned FM 94.9. Their music is so unremarkable that I can barely form an opinion of it besides "it's boring." Of Monsters and Men and Phillip Phillips are two other examples of scowl-inducing mediocrity in musical form, and hearing these artists every time I get into my car (the only place I listen to the radio, by the way. And no, I don't have a CD player) finally made me rush back to Rock 105.3 to hear overplayed KoRn and Social D songs so I can reduce the chances of me falling asleep at the wheel.

To sum things up, just don't listen to commercial rock radio, or commercial radio in general. Use Spotify or something else that can play only the songs you want without the extra fat of the songs you don't. Also, you can easily find more exciting new music online than on rock stations that play fucking Imagine Dragons on an hourly basis, so I'd shift my focus in that direction if you want to save what's left of your sanity.