EZ Evolution (or Not Ready For Prime Time?)

[EZway2go]

Three Dog Night--Journey--Heart--Quarterflash--Eagles--Fleetwood Mac--Chicago--Phil Collins. "Kokomo" - "Take My Breath Away" - "Every Breath You Take"

Recent discussions here show the evidence is mounting that the music of the '40s, '50s, & '60s is shifting to the '70s & '80s and beyond. So I thought about some other songs and artists which would really not be that much of a stretch for this format in the not too distant future. Some of these are probably already getting played somewhere.

Alice Cooper "You & Me"
Andreas Vollenweider "Dancing With The Lion"
Bad Company "Silver, Blue & Gold"
Bangles "Manic Monday"
Belinda Carlisle "Circle In The Sand"
Blondie "The Tide Is High"
Bonnie Tyler "Total Eclipse Of The Heart"
Boston "More Than A Feeling"
Boy Meets Girl "Waiting For A Star To Fall"
Breathe "Hands To Heaven"
Bruce Springsteen "Brilliant Disguise"
Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire"
Bruce Springsteen "My Hometown"
Bruce Springsteen "One Step Up"
Bruce Springsteen "Streets Of Philadelphia"
Bryan Adams "Heaven"
Bryan Adams "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman"
Cheap Trick "The Flame"
Climax Blues Band "I Love You"
Corey Hart "Can't Help Falling In Love"
Cranberries "Linger"
Culture Club "Time (Clock Of The Heart)"
Cyndi Lauper "Time After Time"
Daryl Hall & John Oates "Don't Hold Back Your Love"
Dave Mason "We Just Disagree"
Delaney & Bonnie "Never Ending Song Of Love"
Dennis DeYoung "Desert Moon"
Dire Straits "Walk Of Life"
Duran Duran "Ordinary World"
Duran Duran "Save A Prayer"
Electric Light Orchestra "Strange Magic"
Eric Clapton "Promises"
Extreme "More Than Words"
Firefall "Love That Got Away"
Foreigner "I Want To Know What Love Is"
Foreigner "Waiting For A Girl Like You"
Glass Tiger "Someday"
Godley & Crème "Cry"
Grateful Dead "Touch Of Grey"
Honeydrippers "Sea Of Love"
Hooters "Where Do The Children Go"
Huey Lewis & The News "Do You Believe In Love"
Huey Lewis & The News "Stuck With You"
Indigo Girls "Closer To Fine"
Irene Cara "Flashdance - What A Feeling"
Jan Hammer "Miami Vice Theme"
John Mellencamp "Ain't Even Done With The Night"
John Mellencamp "Jack & Diane"
KBC Band "America"
Kim Carnes "Bette Davis Eyes"
Kiss "Beth"
Laura Branigan "Spanish Eddie"
Marty Balin "Hearts"
Men At Work "Down Under"
Michael Jackson "Rock With You"
Mike + The Mechanics "Par Avian"
Mike + The Mechanics "The Living Years"
Moody Blues "Talking Out Of Turn"
Moody Blues "Your Wildest Dreams"
Motels "Only The Lonely"
Motels "Suddenly Last Summer"
Mr. Big "To Be With You"
Mr. Mister "Broken Wings"
Naked Eyes "Always Something There To Remind Me"
Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark "(Forever) Live & Die"
Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark "If You Leave"
Psychedelic Furs "The Ghost In You"
Queen "'39"
Rembrandts "I'll Be There For You"
Richard Marx "Right Here Waiting"
Rick Springfield "Don't Talk To Strangers"
Sheriff "When I'm With You"
Sinead O'Connor "Nothing Compares 2 U"
Spandau Ballet "True"
Squeeze "Tempted"
Starship "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"
Survivor "Across The Miles"
Suzi Quattro/Chris Norman "Stumblin' In"
Tears For Fears "Everybody Wants To Rule The World"
10,000 Maniacs "Trouble Me"
38 Special "Second Chance"
Tina Turner "What's Love Got To Do With It"
Toto "Africa"
Toto "Rosanna"
Tracy Chapman "Fast Car"
U2 "With Or Without You"
Walter Egan "Magnet & Steel"
Will To Power "Baby I Love Your Way/Free Bird"

So who knows whether this will be a step in the right direction for the EZ format or not. To borrow from that Enya song, "Only Time" will tell.

 

[cd637299]

Say it ain't so! (with a scant few exceptions on your list).....Is your name Joe?

It'll be internet streaming all the way in the future for me, if this is where we're going. "More than a Feeling"?

And yes, I'm an old fogie.

cd

 

[Chuck]

Say it ain't so! (with a scant few exceptions on your list).....Is your name Joe?

It'll be internet streaming all the way in the future for me, if this is where we're going. "More than a Feeling"?

And yes, I'm an old fogie.

cd

I think it is a little early to throw in the towel for what loosely is called "Standards.

Since I actually own a commercial station that plays "standards," (www.kzqx.com) it is interesting to get comments from our listeners. I just spent a weekend in our radio station booth at a local arts and music festival. It was an eye-opener to see who some of our listeners actually are.

I expected to see a lot of the "over 50 crowd," and indeed we did. Nothing new there, but they seemed extremely grateful for the station. What surprised me was the sheer number of early teen-age girls who came up and said "We love your station." More than one from this age group asked if we could play more Frank Sinatra. Several seemed to have a good knowledge of the music and frequently asked some very intelligent questions. Maybe we are just a local fad. I'm not sure. In any case, I’m happy to have them listening.

The second surprise group of people were the "20 Something" crowd. Most of the ones I spoke with looked and acted like they were well educated young professionals who were just starting families. None were old enough to remember this music when it was new but most said they'd heard it being played by their parents or grandparents. It seems we are the favorite music for lots of parties, and a great way to unwind after work. One guy who was accompanied by two small children said "We like it for parties and get-togethers where our kids are present. We like the music and we don't have to worry about what the kids might hear." Another said that all his friends and contemporaries listen to it. A common comment was “Oh, we all listen.”

These "20 something" listeners looked like they either had money or will soon have money. It was definitely not the "trailer trash" crowd.

Although I’ll admit to widening our play list in the last six months, I think many of these ‘new” listeners would abandon us in a heartbeat if we started playing all the soft rock stuff from the 70’s and 80’s.

 

[EZway2go]

It'll be internet streaming all the way in the future for me, if this is where we're going. "More than a Feeling"?

OK, I agree, the instrumentation is really harsh. (I almost listed "Take On Me" by a-ha, but decided that one's definitely not ready for prime time here.) So, take "More Than A Feeling" off the list. Maybe we can replace it with...
"In My Dreams" REO Speedwagon
"Steppin' Out" Joe Jackson
"Romeo's Tune" Steve Forbert

The second surprise group of people were the "20 Something" crowd. Most of the ones I spoke with looked and acted like they were well educated young professionals who were just starting families. None were old enough to remember this music when it was new but most said they'd heard it being played by their parents or grandparents. It seems we are the favorite music for lots of parties, and a great way to unwind after work. One guy who was accompanied by two small children said "We like it for parties and get-togethers where our kids are present. We like the music and we don't have to worry about what the kids might hear." Another said that all his friends and contemporaries listen to it. A common comment was “Oh, we all listen.”

That's refreshing to hear. It sounds like some of the younger generation truly appreciates "music" in spite of all they've been exposed to (i.e., the anger and vulgarity in so much of today's hit music). The ones in your area are lucky, indeed, to even have a station like yours. Most markets don't. (Mine doesn't... except for news, all my radio listening is internet). And that's the real shame of it, isn't it? Well, let's keep hoping that for every Lady Gaga, we continue to also get a Susan Boyle.

 

[samb15]

It is fun to see this list, because I owned and programmed a full-service MOR station at one time and later programmed an easy-listening station and these were some of the songs I considered and played or rejected.

The goal of the full-service MOR was to have music that would appeal to both the adults (25-64!) of the rock generation and their non-rocking parents, in order to be mainstream across a broad spectrum of adults in the 1980's. We wanted to have some currents and stay mostly familiar to the younger crowd while being mostly familiar as well to the older listeners without playing the "loud rock" they hated. We played a lot of lighter 50's and early 60's hits, still widely known then even to young audiences and the most well-known of the standards (anything Sinatra, Somewhere over the Rainbow, In the Mood, Johnny Mathis, Steve & Edye, etc.), some folkish hits such as "Walk Right In" or "Maryanne", and "new" music partly as listed in this thread. I think these still work as some of the better recent music for an MOR station.

We played:

Steve Forbert "Romeo's Tune"
Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire"
Bruce Springsteen "My Hometown"
Bruce Springsteen "Streets Of Philadelphia"
Blondie "The Tide Is High"
Climax "I Love You"
Honeydrippers "Sea Of Love"
Cyndi Lauper "Time After Time"
Marty Balin "Hearts"
Suzi Quattro/Chris Norman "Stumblin' In"
Tina Turner "What's Love Got To Do With It"
Toto "Africa"
Delaney & Bonnie "Never Ending Song Of Love"
Mike + The Mechanics "The Living Years"

I always wanted to play "39" by Queen, but opted for "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" instead since it was a recognizable hit to the younger audience.

Blondie was not an obvious choice, but the easy-going swaying rhythm and understandable lyrics made it a favourite with almost every older person with whom I discussed music.

We avoided or played very sparingly:

Bonnie Tyler "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" and Kim Carnes and a few others which were popular in the A/C world but had intense vocals that my parents describe as "yelling" -- those are sure to lose anyone who didn't grow up with at least some Rock & Roll. Today, that would only be the over-70 audience but back then it included many 50-somethings.

Some other light songs are simply boring to older listeners who don't find enough melody or lyrics to make them "catchy", they might shake their hips to a mellow disco song or Motown, but Dennis DeYoung's "Desert Moon" or Spandau Ballet's "True" will leave them high and dry. A sprinkling of these in easy-listing may be okay in some cases.

American Pie or Larry Grahm's "One in a Million", and anything by James Taylor, Carly Simon, The Carpenters, Simon & Garfunkel, The Platters, Bobby Darrin, Anne Murray, Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gayle; and the lighter offerings from Billy Joel, Elvis and The Beatles; were also among the sure-fire choices for appealing to both generations on an MOR station -- they still are!

Also don't forget, dayparting is your friend!

...Sam Brown

 

[vchimpanzee]

It is fun to see this list, because I owned and programmed a full-service MOR station at one time and later programmed an easy-listening station and these were some of the songs I considered and played or rejected.

The goal of the full-service MOR was to have music that would appeal to both the adults (25-64!) of the rock generation and their non-rocking parents, in order to be mainstream across a broad spectrum of adults in the 1980's. We wanted to have some currents and stay mostly familiar to the younger crowd while being mostly familiar as well to the older listeners without playing the "loud rock" they hated. We played a lot of lighter 50's and early 60's hits, still widely known then even to young audiences and the most well-known of the standards (anything Sinatra, Somewhere over the Rainbow, In the Mood, Johnny Mathis, Steve & Edye, etc.), some folkish hits such as "Walk Right In" or "Maryanne", and "new" music partly as listed in this thread. I think these still work as some of the better recent music for an MOR station.

We played:

Steve Forbert "Romeo's Tune"
Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire"
Bruce Springsteen "My Hometown"
Bruce Springsteen "Streets Of Philadelphia"
Blondie "The Tide Is High"
Climax "I Love You"
Honeydrippers "Sea Of Love"
Cyndi Lauper "Time After Time"
Marty Balin "Hearts"
Suzi Quattro/Chris Norman "Stumblin' In"
Tina Turner "What's Love Got To Do With It"
Toto "Africa"
Delaney & Bonnie "Never Ending Song Of Love"
Mike + The Mechanics "The Living Years"

I always wanted to play "39" by Queen, but opted for "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" instead since it was a recognizable hit to the younger audience.

Blondie was not an obvious choice, but the easy-going swaying rhythm and understandable lyrics made it a favourite with almost every older person with whom I discussed music.

We avoided or played very sparingly:

Bonnie Tyler "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" and Kim Carnes and a few others which were popular in the A/C world but had intense vocals that my parents describe as "yelling" -- those are sure to lose anyone who didn't grow up with at least some Rock & Roll. Today, that would only be the over-70 audience but back then it included many 50-somethings.

Some other light songs are simply boring to older listeners who don't find enough melody or lyrics to make them "catchy", they might shake their hips to a mellow disco song or Motown, but Dennis DeYoung's "Desert Moon" or Spandau Ballet's "True" will leave them high and dry. A sprinkling of these in easy-listing may be okay in some cases.

American Pie or Larry Grahm's "One in a Million", and anything by James Taylor, Carly Simon, The Carpenters, Simon & Garfunkel, The Platters, Bobby Darrin, Anne Murray, Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gayle; and the lighter offerings from Billy Joel, Elvis and The Beatles; were also among the sure-fire choices for appealing to both generations on an MOR station -- they still are!

Also don't forget, dayparting is your friend!

...Sam Brown

"Sea of Love", "The Tide Is High" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". Possibly "Hearts". Throw out the rest of it. I don't remember the Climax song and there may be a few others I don't know. But of the ones I know, no way!

 

[vchimpanzee]

I tell you waht. I'll just list the songs that I would throw out.

Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire"
Bruce Springsteen "My Hometown"
Bruce Springsteen "Streets Of Philadelphia"
Blondie "The Tide Is High"
Cyndi Lauper "Time After Time"
Tina Turner "What's Love Got To Do With It"
Toto "Africa"
Mike + The Mechanics "The Living Years"

Spandau Ballet's "True" --this one I like.

These are fine too. I'm adjusting to The Beatles. Some of the others I used to not like but I've accepted them--"American Pie" and some of the Simon and Garfunkel stuff.

American Pie or Larry Grahm's "One in a Million", and anything by James Taylor, Carly Simon, The Carpenters, Simon & Garfunkel, The Platters, Bobby Darrin, Anne Murray, Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gayle; and the lighter offerings from Billy Joel, Elvis and The Beatles; were also among the sure-fire choices for appealing to both generations on an MOR station -- they still are!

...Sam Brown
















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[EZway2go]

The goal of the full-service MOR was to have music that would appeal to both the adults (25-64!) of the rock generation and their non-rocking parents, in order to be mainstream across a broad spectrum of adults in the 1980's.

I always wanted to play "39" by Queen, but opted for "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" instead since it was a recognizable hit to the younger audience.

Blondie was not an obvious choice, but the easy-going swaying rhythm and understandable lyrics made it a favourite with almost every older person with whom I discussed music.

We avoided or played very sparingly:

Bonnie Tyler "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" and Kim Carnes and a few others which were popular in the A/C world but had intense vocals that my parents describe as "yelling" -- those are sure to lose anyone who didn't grow up with at least some Rock & Roll. Today, that would only be the over-70 audience but back then it included many 50-somethings.

I have nonrockin' parents, but they're the ones who love "The Tide Is High," also "Walk Of Life" by Dire Straits and "Come Dancing" by the Kinks.

Yes, Bonnie Tyler and Kim Carnes do have intense vocals -- if that was yelling back then, I can imagine what they think of today's moaning and caterwauling.

I discovered "'39" on that album with "Bohemian Rhapsody" -- Day at the Races, Night at the Opera, or whatever. I've since learned it was the flip side of the single "You're My Best Friend." It's another one of those rock songs with a fantastic melody that's unfortunately marred by jarring instrumentation in spots too intense for this format. Nevertheless, it's still one of my all-time favorites in the rock category. Someone with the technical expertise should take it to the editing room and see if it can be toned down a bit.