ROCK THE BOAT
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If you want to hear that kind of sound only associated with
offshore radio, can you find it on your dial today?
Only on Caroline.
Virgin Radio plagiarised many Radio Caroline jingles and
slogans, claiming to be "Britain's Only Album Station" but most of the
so-called album tracks that they play were also singles. Like all commercial
stations they are afraid to be adventurous because their income is totally
dependent on the listening figures. The advertisers will only advertise on
stations with good listening figures, and they therefore only play what they
consider to be "safe" music. Virgin seem to think that "safe" music is
Brit-Pop. They also employ disc jockeys whose behaviour is reminiscent of the
gutter press.
In 1996, Virgin were adventurous enough to devote two hours
a week, at late evening low-listener time, to an excellent Rock Show but this
was unceremoniously axed in 1997. Somebody once asked why, if Virgin was a rock
station, why did it need a special rock show for two hours a week. A good
point!
On the next page you can learn
about about some excellent rock music that is just too good to be consigned to
the "never-heard-of" department.
There is so much excellent rock music out there, ranging
from very soft to seriously heavy, but precious little of it gets to be played
on the radio. The definition of "Rock Music" varies according to who you ask,
but it is described in The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Rock as:
Invariably sung and played by the composers themselves
- and serious musical themes often called for the length of a full album,
rather than a three-minute single, to impart their
message.
That publication describes it in the past tense, as if its
talking about history. But rock music isn't dead, it just doesn't get much
radio coverage. I don't believe most DJs know it even exists. The only way to
hear this music is to buy it - but how do you even know it exists, let alone
decide whether you like it or not?
I have listed what I consider to be the best releases (and
what I think we should be hearing on the radio) since we last heard offshore
radio in 1990. I must point out that I am not saying this is all that I want to
hear on the radio. This music has its place amongst all other styles of music.
It would soon be as boring as any other kind of music if played
exclusively.
You will find reference to older bands such as Wishbone Ash
and Marillion mingling with new ones like Pendragon and Spock's Beard. The
music covered here ranges from soft and gentle, like Tangerine Dream or Steven
Caudel, to the very heavy, such as Coverdale Page or Bruce Dickinson. They are
all making good music today but no UK radio station has the guts to play this
kind of thing because it isn't "mainstream". Music like this has hardly been
heard on the radio since 1990.
Why do I choose 1990? Britain's last rock station, free to
play what it wanted, was Radio Caroline, but they lost the battle in 1990. They
came back in 2002, through satellite and the internet.
Other stations could learn a lot from Caroline.
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