Depends on how you define 'good'. I frequently get in late with bands - sometimes they're broken up or dead (Kurt Cobain) before I figure out how talented they were. Scott Weiland, for example, is a better and more talented version of Jim Morrison...better singer and better writer...and he likes drugs just like Jim did. LOL I got in late with STP, but Scott is still alive thankfully.

There are tons of truly gifted guitar players today. Slash is probably my favorite rocker, and Monte Montgomery is brilliant with an acoustic, but there are others. You won't hear most of them on the radio, sadly, but they are out there.

I'm with you on the grunge thing man, and to be honest, I gave up soon after grunge died and only recently started poking around again. I got an iPod (my first one) for Christmas last year and started looking for stuff to listen to in the iTunes store. It's mind boggling to try and sift through it all, but that's what you have to do today. When I was a kid you had the radio, and playlists were varied and usually the jocks had some discretion. They would actually flip the 45 over and see what was on the "B" side, and sometimes the "B" side was good. That doesn't happen anymore. Playlists are tight and jocks are drones with deep voices. Music 'consultants' that couldn't tell you the difference between a minor chord and an umbilical cord are in charge.

Think about it. Disco ruled the world in the late 70's, but there was this under current called Punk. Punk is noise mostly (in my humble opinion), but we got some great stuff from punk.

All those 80's hair bands were living on the shirt tails of Zeppelin and Maiden and Ozzy and, you know, stuff that really rocked. Then Guns 'N Roses came along, ugly and mean and unpretty and saved Rock 'N Roll from the likes of Poison and Striper. LOL

Van Halen is going again. Eddie Vedder is out there. Weiland. Tom Petty. There's plenty going on that I am familiar with.

If David and Eddie can get along, then surely Slash can talk Scott into another round with Velvet Revolver. Soundgarden might be releasing something not too far off.

Wait for the revolution Danno...wait for it...wait...for...it...

Luda, Peace and quit tell me whats that like.

Are you in radio, SF? You know EXACTLY what is going on, just probably not to what extent.

Playlist? There's no playlist. There's a computer. The songs are programmed in, and your option is to push the button and play the next song on the screen. Then you read what the card says. Usually something about how many minutes of music you play, and how you
play more music and fewer talk and commercials, and say a bunch of crap
nobody cares about. Then you read the sponsor. That is all you do! God forbid you say something interesting or even funny.

Then you go back to surfing the net, because you're bored out of your mind. almost as bored as your listeners. They're either too poor for satellite or IPOD, or they're stuck at work with nothing but a radio. Dont say anything interesting. Dont play anything outside the "list." (and its a short one.)

You also nailed it on consultants. The thing that is killing FM radio is consultants. You're hiring accountants to creat ART. I cant balance
a checkbook. You shouldnt try to program radio. And that is the death
of radio. Most kids now dont even know what its supposed to sound like. Radio is the new vaudeville.

There are "aircheck" sites on the net, where you can listen, just to get a feel of what it used to be. Think of Good Morning Vietnam, when it pans around to bytes of Cronauer intro-ing songs, etc. You can even find airchecks of me online, which is kinda eerie, because I didnt record them. I dont know who did, or why.

HEY STRATO, dammit, I want to go to your gig, but I have a gig of my own friday night.

Please god, take Justin Bieber, Rebbecca Black, The Yin Yang twins and Britney Spears and instead give us back Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Freddie Mercury.

You remember Mike - I work for the enemy. I was on the air for 12 years before I took a job with Scott Studios in 1999. I was there through Dave's time (and when he bought the Maestro system), then dMarc, then Google, up to now.

You know, computers and automation systems empowered PD's and station managers to restrict the jock's freedom, but all those abilities came via requests. They weren't there by default. It's sad. PD's have always wanted to control that 'crazy overnight guy' that plays all the "B" sides. Computer's made that possible...

As for consultants, I can't tell you how frustrated I became at 'music' consultants while I was on the air. I knew the music. I made it a point to know all their was to know about the music I was playing and the people that were making it, and I knew what turned people on because I hung out at the clubs and talked to them. The dirty consultants have no clue. They'll play 8 seconds of a chorus for a random test audience and base value on that. Bull****.

Ultimately I became a 'time and temp' jock, and not by my own volition mind you. I could voice track 12 hours of programming between one country and one rock station inside 20 minutes. It was mind numbing and honestly took any enjoyment I got from being on the air completely away. I stopped listening to the music with a critical ear because the automation system and the computer network allowed the station to can half the employees and left me with twice the work load.

I still hold out hope for radio, and I'm starting to get back into digging music again. I'm finding there are a lot of talented artists around, but things are SO segmented now they just aren't getting played on radio. I'm finding them on iTunes and YouTube of all places.

You know, in the old days (aka the 70's), great music just fell in your lap. It was on the radio AND on the TV. These days, truly good music, recorded by real artists, and I mean honest to God musical artists, does exist. Mainstream media isn't interested in art tho. It's all about selling - well hell, I guess it has always been about selling really, but the selling itself has become an art form now, and that gets in the way of the music.

But it's out there my friend. It appears on the radio from time to time, it's just that it's mixed in with all that mind numbing crap that has no heart, no soul, and no emotion.

Still, think about it. Take Alan Jackson as a random example. Some of his stuff is as cookie cutter as anything could possibly be, but if you dig deep on his CD's you WILL find quality. Look for it brother, and help your kids dig for it too. That way they won't get caught up in all the GagaCyrusSpears mierda.

It's good but have to admit I miss my kids I kind miss the wife just a little bit. I had to go to child support today that was a waste of time if she would have just talked to me I would have giving her more. I'm not doing to good right now I have to find a liqour store after work.

I would mind doing something like that this Friday I may check it out thanks.