Video killed the radio star..really?

It's in the way that you move me, and the way that you tease me,
The way that I want you tonight,
It's in the way that you hold me, and the way that you know me,
When I can't find the right words to say,
You feel it in the way, you feel it in the way.

- Clay Aiken’s “The Way” -

Can someone please tell me why after more than 10 years, Traxx Fm (previously known as Radio 4) still plays Enigma’s “Return To Innocence”? Seriously, it was a kinda cool tune to listen to back in the early Nineties, but nowadays, it’s just plain annoying. Right now, this is what’s streaming from my colleague’s radio, and it is annoying the hell out of me.

I do not expect radio stations to play mainstream music all day long. On the contrary, I loved it when Astro came up with their multiple radio channels that allows listener to listen to different genre, instead of being subjected to mindless stream of hits and misses. Back in the Nineties, what was cool to listen to then, was Radio 4 if you wanted English music (I’m sorry but I didn’t think any other stations dedicated to playing English songs existed back then). Sometimes, the malay radio stations such as Radio Muzik, RMKL or even Radio 1 might play random English songs but very, very sporadically (jaranng, jaraaannnggg)..On Radio 4, what you get is a jumbled up selection of current hits, oldies, and during the children hour every Saturday around 2 pm, you get Disney hits! I actually learnt my “Spoonful of Sugar” tune by heart listening during this time :p

Then came Time Highway Radio, which I regard as one of the greatest invention of the Nineties, as it actually played current hits and really, really nice cool tunes too! And the best part was, no talking in between the song! Oh, heaven sent! You do know what I mean, don’t you? I find that the djs on RMKL does this best:

“ Ok, ini lagu daripada Bon Jovi” (song starts)….”Living On a Prayer” the dj would sambung (song goes on)…halfway through the first verse.. “Siapa yang tak live on a prayer? Kita semua perlukan bla bla bla….” (while song goes on oblivious)…

Gah!!! That was soooo freaking annoying! And yes, I have evidence to support that. I was once a pirate albeit missing the eye patch and dirty red and white spotted bandanna, who would pilfer good tunes on the radio to have them on tapes for my own listening pleasure whenever (usually before going to bed and getting ready for school). So I would tape a song I like as soon as it come on a radio (the first part is almost always missing), and accidentally tape the dj’s voice along. I actually have Fly Guy on tape, introducing a song when he was still with THR, and when it was still called Time Highway Radio, and I also have him on tape when Hitz was first introduced.

I was a real freak when it came to taping songs. I actually went up to the extent to look up Radio Muzik’s nightly selections submitted by their listeners that used to be published in Utusan or Berita Harian to get some more songs for my collection. Wait, do they still do that nowadays? Don’t think so. But I remembered a lot of the selections would come from some girls in some random boarding school, requesting Peter Cetera. *sigh*

So, why this post about music and radio from the Nineties? Simply because, I cannot stand Enigma’s “Return to Innocence” but I can’t do much about it cuz its coming from my colleague’s radio, and simply because I recently had a discussion about music with a certain someone, whose taste in music I would classify as…different. :)

And, to actually complain that within the walls of this government agency? Apparently, only radio gomen waves can tembus.

*sigh* And my brother wonders why I need to burn multiple cds with songs from home.