Pat Clark: Merger makes for manic music musing

By Pat Clark
pclark@modbee.com

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I can't quite put my finger on it, but something is not quite right now that the two satellite radio providers -- Sirius and XM -- have merged.

It's not that I dislike the reworked stations. But it's not that I like them, either.

It's sort of ... kind of ... just not ... something.

How clear is that?

I've long had my programmed channels of choice happily filled in on my wee XM car receiver. A little of this, a little of that, a lot of classic rock and alternative.

The merger didn't much alter the descriptions of the music played on the stations. My old "Big Tracks" channel from XM was renamed "Classic Rewind" in the merged world; similarly, "Top Tracks" became "Classic Vinyl." Three alternative stations -- formerly known as "Lucy," "Ethel" and "Fred" (poor Ricky never had a place of his own. I guess "Babaloo" didn't quite fit in) -- are now "Lithium," "Alt Nation" and "1st Wave." Several current rock and pop stations also got new monikers.

None of this renaming of things bothered me. One day, the new names just popped up on the screen where the old names once did. I didn't have to change anything and, as mentioned, the descriptions pretty much stayed the same.

The music being played therein, however? That's changed.

I guess.

Well, sort of.

Sometimes.

Oh, I just can't figure it out.

On the plus side, I've noticed a lot more U2 popping up across the board than I used to hear. Love that.

Also, more Pearl Jam is being played. Toad the Wet Sprocket seems to be a new favorite among the merged music choosers, too. "Lithium" -- billed as "alternative and grunge music from the '90s" -- has emerged as my new go-to channel.

All good, this.

But there are other things that just seem to be off.

Case in point: Wang Chung's "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" darkened the doors of the "1st Wave" channel recently. "1st Wave" is described on the XM Web site as "classic alternative music from artists like Depeche Mode, U2, and The Smiths."

And Wang Chung? Seriously? Because I've never thought of Wang Chung and U2, for instance, as being anywhere near each other's ballpark.

Or each other's universe, for that matter.

Then there's the odd, hard-to-describe but oh-so-annoying feeling that a lot of the music circulating the receiver is made up of utterly disposable pantywaist rock.

You know, namby-pamby songs. Rock-lite. Stick-an-ice-pick-in-my-ear-before-I-scream stuff.

Now, it's not like I sat in my car and listened to XM day and night, but I can't recall the name Shaun Cassidy EVER popping up on my receiver before the merger. Yet it flashed disconcertingly across the screen last week.

There's also an odd proliferation of Styx music being played. On top of that rather disturbing note, I had to reach fast for the buttons this morning before Loverboy piped into my car and sent me back home, sick for the day.

And just when was the last time you heard "Don't Pull Your Love" from Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds? Let me fill in that blank for you: it was either 1972 or the last time you spun your old K-Tel LPs on the turntable.

Talk about pantywaist stuff. Egad.

The "70s on 7" channel -- no name change on that one -- used to offer up the best rock that the musically prolific decade produced. It almost always was my fall-back station when nothing else struck my fancy. But now I'm hearing a fright-worthy excess of disco when tuned there.

Of course, any disco would be fright-worthy, but that's not the point.

The point is, something's amiss. Although some things aren't.

It's good. But it's bad.

I don't like it. But I do.

I need to stop obsessing about this. Although I just can't.

Lithium. Maybe that's the ticket in more ways than one.

Reach Scene editor Pat Clark at pclark@modbee.com.