MP3s of the Week: Hang the College DJ
The good ole days, when one could spin French twee pop stars Caramel on the radio.
This week, I had the opportunity to DJ on the radio for just the second time since leaving college some seven years ago. A friend of mine asked me to co-host his one-hour show. So, I spun some acid rock, Pere Ubu, and Count Five for the unsuspecting listeners of 107.1. In preparation, I spent some time looking back to my junior and senior year of school, when I DJ'ed on the college radio station at Western Illinois University, in sunny Macomb (pop. 20,000, give or take a few cops and several cows). This was long before I had adopted the moniker "The Noiseboy" for my DJ gig at the local pub.
For shits (and mostly) giggles, I broke out an old cassette of one of my college shows from 1997. It was actually entertaining in that "ah, those were the good old days" sorta way. I knew then and remember now that no one listened to my show, which was on Thursday nights from 10 to midnight. I mean, I had a few friends that would call in and pester me, but mostly I was playing to the crickets (and cows...and cops).
Still, I had a great time. Radio was my career ambition for a brief while in school. (Like, before I realized that I would one day have to work for a Clear Channel station and be forced to play the same 30 songs over and over again.) I spent a lot of time making sure that my set list changed dramatically from week to week. For the week that I listened to recently, I had quite a memorable stretch of songs. For starters, my theme song, "(The Gym Is) Neutral Territory," came from hardcore punks Lifetime. I loved the rumbling bass notes at the beginning of the song, and the attitude and lyrics fit my feelings at the time: "Why find a nice way to tell you 'you suck'? I hate your guts; you are so boring. And, if you don't stop those looks I'm gonna poke you in the eye. Who are you anyway? You think you're second to none..." Let's just say that living in Macomb wasn't my cup of tea, and that song just about summed it up.
But, my show wasn't a hardcore punk show; rather, it was a smattering of indie rock and pop. At that time, I was buying as many records from Parasol as I could afford, and supplementing that with the occasional trip to East Peoria Co-Op Records or Reckless in Chicago. I was buying A LOT of seven inches in those days, and to be able to play them on my show I had to transfer them to cart (for you non-broadcasting types, a cart is in many ways like an eight-track) since the station didn't have a functional turntable. (Some college station, eh?)
In one stretch of my set on this particular night I went from Orange Juice to XTC to Charles Bukowski (wtf?) to The Cows to Fugazi to (commercial break: Dominos!) to Apples in Stereo to Built to Spill to Versus to the Eggs. Crazy stuff.
Anyway, I found a couple of a different set lists as well (no tapes, though). And from that list I've plucked a few songs that I haven't listened to in ages to feature in the MP3s of the Week section contained in the sidebar to the right. I can't believe I actually spun Lambchop's "Moody Fucker," for obvious reasons. Then again, my theme song had a few undistinguishable f-bombs in it, too. So, I guess I chose to play with fire like the dumb college kid I was.
I'm sure that Caramel--a French, twee indie-pop band--went over well with my classmates. As did D.C. punks The Meta-Matics. Anyway, enjoy. I sure did.
N/P--Bedhead, What Fun Life Was
Ah, that Lifetime sounds as good as ever. Hello Bastards still has my vote for best punk rock album of the 90s.
By 
Jonathan Wright, at 1:29 PM
Yay for KGW, although mysteriously both Scott and I are missing our copies of Ponyoak. hmmm.. That Lifetime takes me back to the light blue T-bird and Dustin and Damon rocking out in my old apartment. Oh the late 90's.
By 
, at 8:01 PM
ahhh, wiu. i guess i gotta chime in here too, since i'm mentioned. I think my first impression of Doug was walking across campus to his dorm with Dustin and noticing his turntable & record collection...
Its amazing isn't it, like another life almost. it seems so long ago, but that radio station was pretty killer, a true college station, i can't beleive it took til recently for UI to come close.
And as for lifetime, there was a time when that tape was in my car deck indefinately, on constant rotation...Dustin had taped me both albums, one on each side...that was awesome...i still spin the cds too, i love those albums
By , at 4:58 PM
1:29 PMAh, that Lifetime sounds as good as ever. Hello Bastards still has my vote for best punk rock album of the 90s.
8:01 PM
Yay for KGW, although mysteriously both Scott and I are missing our copies of Ponyoak. hmmm.. That Lifetime takes me back to the light blue T-bird and Dustin and Damon rocking out in my old apartment. Oh the late 90's.
4:58 PM
ahhh, wiu. i guess i gotta chime in here too, since i'm mentioned. I think my first impression of Doug was walking across campus to his dorm with Dustin and noticing his turntable & record collection...
Its amazing isn't it, like another life almost. it seems so long ago, but that radio station was pretty killer, a true college station, i can't beleive it took til recently for UI to come close.
And as for lifetime, there was a time when that tape was in my car deck indefinately, on constant rotation...Dustin had taped me both albums, one on each side...that was awesome...i still spin the cds too, i love those albums