RICK BEADO.....something you might encourage OR DO YOURSELF, do your own DJ'ing on youtube. Spend an hour playing new rock music. Stuff thats out there now but is getting ignored. Get people like matt and leslie to send you bands and just play them on youtube. I would listen. im ALWAYS looking for new music, but cant find much these days because the good stuff is essentially invisible.
Rick, you are the interviewer everyone should emulate. You let your guests speak. You make them the focus of the interview instead of you. Simply great.
@@edryba4867 just roaming the internet looking for something to be angry at, huh? I believe what they meant is that it's enjoyable to watch a couple of people skilled in their profession put those skills to use.
I noticed that too and was amazed! I'm used to "news" (more like "opinion") TV shows where panelists try to hog the conversation. Yet here are these two highly accomplished yet refreshingly humble people complimenting each other and asking each other questions.
College radio was where one found new alternative rock in the ‘80’s and early ‘90’s. Mainstream radio was already dropping carts on scripted programming. It seems almost impossible for an unsigned band to get on the radio. New music requires a love of and persistent hunt to find. Commercial radio has turned its back.
@@OdaKa single and multi-song cartridges following a script made by the programming director. Very rarely did a DJ have the latitude to play their personal choices or listener requests (they took them, but what was played was scripted for most).
Attended one semester of community college, had a show on their radio station for three years... Thought about trying to be a DJ as a career, but then realized I already had it as good as it was gonna get. College radio was the only time I'd be able to play what I want and say what I want. Ended up with a career as an arborist & working musician. Never once regretted my decision, as commercial radio has only gotten worse in the 30 years since.
@@chrislumpkin , one of the stations in my town took requests - this was around '92 or so - a "classic rock" station - but they didn't want to play what I asked for and they suggested a few other (I assume approved) songs. I just wanted to see what they would do with my request for Blondie's "Die Young Stay Pretty". I told them "never mind"
no, radio knows that the majority of people aren't interested in music that is different, or that doesn't allow them to dance and so on... besides, all those "alternative" bands were crap or quite derivative, meaning they're doing the same stuff that was developed during the late 70s/beginning of the 80s, experimental stuff tough to listen to, not suitable for most of the listeners... I mean, who's going to explore Throbbing Gristle catalogue in deep? compare that to listening to Stockhausen instead of Richard Strauss. And compare listening to Can or some other Krautrock stuff instead of the more accesible Pink Floyd (at least the post DSOTM)... Nirvana was a lighter, more easy listening version of Mudhoney or The Pixies, and that's why they had commercial success. They were accessible and knew, or cared about, doing proper songs... The Pixies didn't.
College radio was the only alternative radio I knew of. Mainstream radio latched onto Nirvana and whatever else came after. College radio played the bands Nirvana liked.
Yes but even the college radio stopped playing the good stuff after a while. You don't hear any Nomeanasno, or Helmet, Steal Poll Bathtub. I could go on forever but the phone will not let me!!!
the scene was already dead by the late 90s anyway, I grew up with mainstream 90s rock but by 97-98 it was done, esp after. Remember that Days of the New nonsense? oof. that's when I got into college radio, might have been a decade or 2 late for what most considered college rock but it still introduced me to stuff like Pavement & matador label bands, most of us weren't feeling nu metal. I feel like I got in on the last breath death rattle of college radio though, where indie still meant rock because by the early 00s it was all this fruity trash when indie became synonymous with emo
@@bradpirochta9293 wuxtry in Athens had a free sampler CD tray. Found some mighty good bands on the defunct Ng Records label sampler and later matador samplers
Hair Metal was essentially all copies of Van Halen who premiered in 1977. By 1990, it was time for younger folks, so the turnover was inevitable based on age alone, plus people were tired of the mental vacuum of hair metal, so people went back to the 60s and 70s to make their music.
It was remarkable for me going to small clubs in early1991 when Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins were on their final small gig tour and everyone knowing instinctively that something big was about to happen. In less than a year we were hearing these bands on the radio and seeing them on MTV. It was an exciting time.
I'm 36 and always wished I was like 10-15 years older. By the time my generation came of age in the very late 90s/early 2000s the music was stale and cliched. Your extremely fortunate. I wish I could have seen AIC and Nirvana in 91.
My analogy for radio stations is like malls. You go to one mall in America, you’ve been to them all because they have the same stores. Every rock station pretty much plays the same bands.
Leslie is a dear friend of mine and I love everything about her. A kind sweet soul. I've met Matt many times and he is always kind and humble. I can say the same about my friend Rick Beato...met him a half dozen times and always kind and humble...one of the most interesting people you will ever come across. One thing you've probably noticed about Rick while watching his videos...he is not an easy person to impress. The look on Ricks face throughout this interview is priceless. He is like a kid in a candy store. I love everything about this video. Well done Rick...these two deserve the respect they get.
I LOVE Leslie Fram's communication style and always try to do just that. Interject/participate a little bit and pass the baton so-to-speak to someone else in the group who either hasn't participated in a while or hasn't participated period. Love including others. :) This is wonderful and I'm only 5 minutes in!
Great point on consolidation killing radio. Homogeny of formats and corporate process really squashed the life out of radio. There was no way for stations to have a unique personality.
This channel has the best content. Always informative and interesting. One idea that resonates is we need more Unplugged performances. Wouldn’t that be great? Also more exposure for new singer/songwriter artists and bands!
First time hearing my band shouted out on Rick’s channel!! (band’s Dreamers, we’re in LA by way of Brooklyn) Matt is such an asset and advocate for the music community. He genuinely just loves music and respects it. Met up with him many times and he’s the real deal. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of modern music, countless stories to tell and a big heart
How cool that you're here! I found you guys years ago, randomly as an AI recommendation (I think from having Night Riots & Bad Suns in my feed), & never looked back. You have so many songs (e.g. Screws, The Last Love Song, & Sweet Disaster, etc.) that I listen to on the regular. Thank you for your music, it has helped to make quarantining demonstrably better😋. I'm sure you're chomping-at-the-bit to be able to perform live again. It's cool to see that you also enjoy Rick's Channel. It always astonishes me how interconnected he is to so many facets of the industry, from tracking down the stems for WMTSG?, to interviewing musical legends. And of course, through 120 Minutes, Matt Pinfield introduced me to so many artists of whom I became lifelong fans. We were lucky to grow up at a time when we had access to (& were influenced by) someone so knowledgeable...w/such passion for music, & just a great ear & taste level.
@@NatalieValentina6 I watch all of Rick’s videos, a constant source of inspiration. I definitely miss performing at shows. It’s coming back soon though. Night Riots was one of my favorite bands to tour with, and we’ve toured with so many amazing bands and people, but I really vibed with what they do and who they are. Miss them!
First of all, “Painkiller” was one of my absolute faves of 2018; really dig what you guys are doing & it looks like you have a lot of fun making videos. I just discovered Rick’s channel recently and I’m amazed by how many real musicians I’ve seen in the comments section, and they’re just watching these videos for the same reason I am, when I’m just a regular music fan in rural mid-Michigan. A lot of the time it’s videos that aren’t even about current music. That just tells me that their heads are in the right place. I think that’s pretty awesome.
@@AlligatorArms most of our favorite music is from before we were born!! The last sixties through early 70s, 90s grunge. There’s lots of great music happening now too. It can be harder to find because there’s so much of it, which is a good thing ultimately. We’ve played many many shows in Michigan, mostly Detroit but have driven through much of the state. We miss playing live shows but it’s coming back soon 🙏
99X was so great growing up in ATL and had a huge impact on my music influences. Big Day Out, Music Midtown, etc.. with diverse lineups you would only dream about.
Yeah, this really brought back a lot of memories for me also. I used to listen to the Morning X with Barnes, Leslie, and Jimmy on my drive in to work. I really miss that show.
Are ANY left? Grew up listening to em all, plus WUOG 90.5 & Bulldog/Rock 103.7 in Athens. Now those Steve/Dave FM type things mostly all play the same setlist from iHeartRadio. My dad rented a van and took a large group of me and my friends to Big Day Out 97, my only regret being there was so much going on we mostly stuck to the main stage so we missed a lot of good, smaller punk bands on the side stages. but we saw/met Local H, then the Bosstones, Offspring, Foo Fighters... good times!
Leslie Fram is an unsung hero in this business. I mean, she gets lots of credit, but she's so deferential (as you can tell in this interview as she keeps deferring to Matt) it's easy to overlook the fact that she has a GREAT musical mind.
Out of all the personalitys MTV put out there Pinfield by far was the most knowledgeable and relatable for me. He REALLY knew his stuff. Lived and Breathed rock industry. Need more of him, beato, etc doing these things.
He's not as pretentious as Eddie "name dropper" Trunk either. I'll listen or watch Eddie because I love 80s metal and unfortunately he seems to be the only person still talking about it. Its hilarious how much Steel Panther pisses him off too!
In the early 90's Janes Addiction and Fugazi were really leading the alternative scene and then Nirvana and Pearl Jam came along and all the mainstream kids got involved. That's what ended it for me. Nirvana was the end of alternative not the beginning.
120 minutes back in the 80's was like a window to a far off world where this bizarre british dude would play this cool alternative music. It felt like pirate radio/video and he might get busted and taken off air any minute. I don't know if they kept the same vibe in the 90's but it was cool way back in the day.
Early 90's it was still like that. Around the late 90's and early 00's it moved to MTV2 and was more about indie rock and the sort of British bands you'd read about in NME.
I grew up in the late 80s early 90s listening to John Peel on the BBC world Service. The number of people and musicians that man influenced over a period of 5 odd decades is unfathomable. Without a doubt the single most important radio DJ that ever was and ever will be
He was also emblematic of the Music media's obsession with 'new and different' and the constant churning out of fads, particularly in British music. In Peel's world if you had been around more than 2 years you were old hat, an attitude that is completely at odds with the majority of music listeners who want everything to sound exactly like the stuff they were listening to when they were 15.
@@greatleapforwards ha ha yes, he still thought they were cutting edge 30 years later. Its incredible if you think back to the 70's and 80's how many hundreds of obscure bands must have been played once on one of his shows and never heard of again. I still remember him introducing a song with 'This is Extreme Noise Terror...from er, Ipswich' deliberately enhancing the unlikelihood of anything with that name emanating from Suffolk :)
@@sagetmaster4 I agree. NEVER fund these jack-asses. Buy the music FROM the bands (like me!) and they can afford to make more music. Currently Spotify pays a whooping .03 cents per live stream!
Back then, NOBODY, no radio station, no dj, would play unsigned bands, or unknown music. It all had to be according to the formula. Whereas 10 years earlier you could hear local band different format at radio stations. It's one of the things that turned our local music scene from a very vibrant lively dynamic music scene into stagnant stinking pond of monoculture.
Once again Rick delivers exactly what I want to watch. You had to be alive during that era to understand the impact. I compare the late 80s early 90s to the late 60s, for its affect on music and culture. We haven’t lived through another era like that since. Radio is absolutely dead now, so let’s talk about the good old days. If you grew up in music at that time you remember the saying “corporate rock still sucks.” That saying was imprinted on my brain and I still view the world that way. I believe corporate radio and corporate music has taken over the music business since the mid 90s and not let go. You will not have another scene bubble up again like it did in the early 90s because of this. I know exactly what station format they were talking about. They popped up in the early 90s, WMMS had it for a minute. That was my local station. It was a mix of all music, 60s, 70s, rock, metal, etc. just good music led by the DJ. You could have Sarah McLaughlin in the same hour as Tool, followed up by Boz Skaggs, some rare Dylan acoustic set from the 70s, and Maggot Brain. And those weekly shows… Then you would have the hot local band mixed in every hour. In our city that was Nine Inch Nails…. Saw them as a local opening act. Our government and Republicans killed the radio industry. They literally ripped art away from kids growing up after 1995. Anyone still in corporate radio or corporate music, are doing it for a paycheck. There’s no art left in any of that. It’s a machine to make money. And a lot of the new music coming out are just propped up and selected to make money. Fortunately artists have the ability now to become their own publishing companies. And do all of their distribution. And do all of their tours and promotion. That’s what musicians have to do these days to avoid working with corporate tools.
I was DJ and Music Director of WCCM radio in Randolph New Jersey in 1983-1985 and then I worked at I.R.S. Records from 1990-1991. This segment was so spot on and seeing Leslie and Matt reminded me of what was good about the music business. When you love music and musicians you find it, you look under rocks and check out the clubs and sit on youtube for an hour listening to likeminded music lovers - you do this because ultimately it's not a business decision it's a compulsion. Well done Rick!
In the late 80's, I got my fix on REM, The Clash, RHCP and Fugazi from a station coming out of Windsor, Canada. The ionization of the atmosphere had to be just perfect for me to get it in Michigan.
Yep, they changed their format to country at the beginning of this year. Same with 93.9 they were more of a alt pop station from Windsor, and now their more contemporary country.
That was amazing! So I graduated from high school in suburban Maryland in 1984. In 1983, MTV introduced me to U2, and when I asked a friend in high school to make a cassette copy of "War," he put The Clash "Combat Rock" on the B side. Listening to WHFS followed close behind. (I can still hear the voices of the DJs Damien and Weasle.) In the early 1990s, when Alternative Radio became big, I was in heaven. True Alternative Radio is incredibly diverse. (Like 1985, when I was able to listen to songs like How Soon Is Now?, Running Up That Hill, Driver 8, Life's What You Make It, Cities In Dust, She Sells Sanctuary, and Take the Skinheads Bowling.) I feel that diversity is what is missing today. That diversity was the heart and soul of great radio. Everything was new and different. Now, so much sounds the same, and it feels soulless - probably because it's quantized and it doesn't swing. As for artist support, I wonder if record companies can even spell those words anymore. I miss real alternative radio (and good songwriting).
@@Darrylizer1 I heard that a while ago. I live in Western Massachusetts now, but I have the WTMD app. It lets me listen to radio the way it is supposed to be, passionate and musically intelligent.
Not sure Matt Pinfield was the most famous VJ from that particular Mtv era but definitely by far the most knowledgeable VJ Mtv ever had. The man was (maybe still is) a walking music encyclopedia.
I was a Kendall fan. Pinfield was alright, but I was cursed with that 90s kid distrust of enthusiastic people. We hated everything back then. Not always proud of that. He sure has passion for good music. We need more of that.
I was hoping this would be more about the bands of the era. New bands that emerged and older bands that were finally getting some mainstream exposure. The Cure, Depeche Mode, Morrissey, Charlatans, Soup Dragons, 10,000 Maniacs, REM, They Might Be Giants, Material Issue, Jesus and Mary Chain, Chili Peppers, ......etc Lollapalooza for crying out loud!
Aside from the great topic and insights, hats off to Matt and Leslie for constantly deferring to one another and not co-opting an entire conversation. Mutual respect and great conversation.
I was 14 in 91. I remember complaining to my parents because my allowance wasn't nearly enough for all the tapes I wanted to buy and I was too young to work lol.
It’s cool to hear the shout out to 91-X in San Diego, Ca! I remember getting turned on to the station in in ‘82 and there was a cool landscape of bands like The Smiths, The Cure and U2. It felt like every day something new and very different was happening. It was a great time.
Love 91X from when I lived in San Diego 20 years ago. Still put it on Sunday mornings for Resurrection Sunday and Church of Bob. It’s my go-to streamed radio station.
We are seeing that right now in the pop scene; it's starting to enter a transition period because people are sick of every song being mumbled over a trap beat. Whatever gets popular next will suffer the same feat.
Don't forget vinyl too. If you're not telling the world in interviews about your vinyl collection, then you aren't indie enough. Vinyl is the Lazarus man of music listening platforms.
In our country (Portugal) there are dozens of alternative rock bands that cant have a stage or be played on the radio. In our city Coimbra barrelly exists places that allow original rock bands to play. But the funny side of the history is that when our bands tour in other countries, they usually have sold out shows and lots of support. we shoul change the way we support and judge our local bands, and start to give them stages and oportunityes to be heard. By our personal expirience, its quite sad sending about 100 e-mails to radios, agencies and small avenues, and get like 2 or 3 repplys saying no. Its quite desmotivating. Alternative music will never die cause there will be always public with good taste and whit creativity 🙂
Most indie scenes in the US started off with shows at warehouses and/or rehearsal spaces, and starting college radio stations. Getting a warehouse, dividing it into practice spaces, but have a larger main room space for shows. Not sure how local ordinance / laws work over there, but it may be worth a shot. Streaming the live & radio shows too.
@@christopherhorner8272 @Christopher Horner Even the radio and live stations here in our country dont answear our calls and e-mails. Its sad as hell, we have sended about 100 emails last month and only got 2 responses saying "no" 😅 The culture in Portugal is dying...the only ones who can make it are the pop icones with lots of managers and agencies with interests in them
@@terminal8237 do the universities have radio stations? Getting support at a place with a strong music program to start one if they don't would be key. Not sure if relocating (to Spain, or wherever) is an option. Stick with it for as long as you can.
97X ( WOXY mentioned in Rain Man, the movie), was an alt station in the 1980's and 1990's that was in Oxford, Ohio, and was accessible to Cincinnati. Sadly it died In 2010, after moving to Austin, TX from Cincinnati.
I am pretty sure any real conversation about Alternative Rock's explosion in the late 80s early 90s has to involve Jane's Addiction and that band's front man Perry Farrell and his brainchild "Lollapalooza", who's alternative albums Nothing Shocking (1987) and Ritual de lo Habitual (1990) predate the breakout of the Seattle sound
Thanks go to 99X who played my old band, 2 Skinnee J’s, single in heavy rotation in 1998! Also, thanks to Matt Pinfield for hitting on my girlfriend (at the time) at NYC’s Continental Divide and then later, announcing our video on 120 Minutes!
Leslie referenced Sean Demery. He and I worked together at an Internet radio startup in San Francisco around 1999-2002. LOVE THAT GUY. Sean tragicly passed away recently. I was CTO, CEO was Eric Rhoads and SVP of Radio Programming was Steve Rivers, who we also lost recently. RIP Sean and Steve. You guys made my life in radio fantastic.
@@Weremoogle Working with him forming a pioneering Internet radio company was amazing. Sean even let my young daughter, around 10 years old, do a couple of voiceovers. I wish we could post pictures in comments. I have a couple fun pictures of Sean from the professionally shot executive photos from our website. I'll post it somewhere and put a link to it in a reply. It's cute. He was so good as a DJ, program directory, but he was also one of the nicest people I've ever known. A very sweet man. Taken from us far too soon.
Nowadays it's all about streaming on Spotify or Apple music. So, let's say you listen to 5 seconds of a song, well it counts as actual sales lol. That's how irrelevant music charts are right now.
Yes... but Spotify, Tidal etc are allowing younger listeners access to a range of music (at a relative bargain) that I would have killed for as an 80s child. It's that exposure that informs musical taste and nurtures the creative spark.
@@goobfilmcast4239 Not really, only the taste of the youngsters since these devices are not used by boomers. Most people just buy their vinyls and listen to it right at home, so it doesn't count for this demographic.
@@yannhollister9091 I’m in my 40s, I listen almost exclusively to metal, and I use Spotify. There is good stuff on there, you just have to know how to search for it.
WLIR on Long Island, NY was the best through the 80s and early 90s. One of the original local "new music" stations, which later became known as "alternative" music. There is nothing like local radio and that sense of community all of the listeners had to the station and DJs and the local clubs and venues. You could feel the sincerity.
Oxford Ohio. Listened through college (Miamu U). It influenced what job I took so that I would be in radio range. The GF got that it was non-negotiable. Awesome. The Modern-Rock 500.... classic.
I think alt rock is making a comeback. honestly people these days are making some great ass music. every genre has gotten like 10 times better since last decade.
I wish there truly was a radio station that was more "random" and would play more diverse music. My tastes are all over the map and can easily glide between hard rock, old country, industrial to classical and then straight to thrash metal to world music, folk and reggae and post-punk. That is exactly why ipods are better than one themed radio stations. The radio use to introduce you to new music but now it is the same 21 songs played over and over and over
@David Wang Would still be the same rotating 20 country songs on one station, the same 20 hard rock songs on the other station, etc. I will stick to my iphone that syncs up to my car radio and skip all the commercials. It's a shame what radio has become. College radio stations are more interesting but radio DJ's used to break new artists and introduce great stuff. Now they have a strict program to follow with less freedom.
Alternative radio was "college radio" and all thé roots of alternative radio were on thé left of thé dial through out thé 1980's. The revolution happened then. Nirvana was just the tip of a huge iceberg
I remember growing up in the late 1980s early 1990s listening to WAAF in Boston. Great local radio. They had an overnight show, like midnight-3AM and they played only local bands. First time I heard groups and artists like Juliana Hatfield, the Lemonheads, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Throwing Muses, Tonya Donnelly, Dropkick Murphy's, etc. There's nothing like local radio back in the day.
Same dude. Heard Pearl Jam’s “Alive” on WAAF driving home from a Bruin’s game when I was 13. That was a huge music moment for me. That was a great station during the 80’s and 90’s.
WFNX and WAAF and WBCN. Boston had such a great local radio scene in the 80s and 90s. Even WZLX played a great variety of classic stuff, didn't shy away from deep cuts. I didn't have enough buttons on my car radio for all the good stations!
The 1996 telecommunications act was a disaster. It's a big part of the reason that our politics is so polarized, contentious, and irrational now. It's because you have a few companies colluding to meme into reality what are essentially false and unconvincing narratives for their own reasons and it's driving everybody insane. It's made it impossible for us to even identify problems, let alone agree on how to fix them, so they just fester and compound. The fact that it's ruined popular music is the least of it.
"Tin-eared graph-paper brained accountants, instead of music fans / Call all the shots at giant record companies now, the lowest common denominator rules" - Dead Kennedys, "MTV Get Off the Air," 1985
That was really a great time. I was fortunate enough to live in an area, DC, MD, Northern VA that had WHFS. A great time for bands and after 91, Smells Like Teen Spirit , the dam broke and all those cool bands hit. A magical time for music. I really look back fondly on those years, that time, those shows, etc. HFStivals in the 90s was a golden time. Matt Pinfield was a must watch on MTV.
@@dewdew34 My lady. Neci’s music knowledge was off the charts and she had one of the best voices in radio. Oh, do I miss the old HFS w/ Mr. Einstein, RIP, in charge. He had a dope roster of deejays in Neci, his son, Damian, Bob Waugh, Rob Timm, Aqu, Weasel, etc. The progressive format in the 80s, early 90s, pre-Nirvana was awesome. They played any and everything and their local music segments were excellent. Even the post, Nirvana boom was different but still cool. They dialed back the progressive feel and went to a more modern rock, Alternative format. I didn’t like that many of the classic deejays left and Mr. Einstein left as well. Actually, he started up another progressive station WRNR in Annapolis.
@@ronsworld250 I moved away in 90 but have family in the area. Going back i caught RNR one day and it was great too. But nothing was like the days of all those you mentioned on the mic and even the World music on Sunday's, heard by many sobering up... I loved how they would mix different genres but a common theme sometimes, brilliant.
I'm so grateful to have grown up in Atlanta during 99x's peak. I started my day with Barnes, Leslie, and Jimmy and had the radio on until I went to sleep. There is no way I could thank Leslie Fram enough for her role. And I don't think there is any way to overstate what was lost when local radio was killed.
i have to say that this you tuber is awesome. breaking down songs i have been listening to since i was in mom's womb (born '70). songs i learned to play by listening to vinyl where i would pick up the needle, pull it back a mm and do this over and over until i figured it out. i been binge watching this channel since last night and again this AM.
Rick, I was listening to Primus on Pandora this morning and I realized that their drum tracks are NOT auto-tuned. Its because of your videos that I recognized that. Thanks for making music more accessible to uneducated folks like me.
Shoegaze has had a massive resurgence. The recording technology advancement goes hand in hand with the experimentation of guitar effects. The wall of sound has reached its full potential. Flyying Colours from Australia and Airiel from Chicago are great examples
Earthquaker and Walrus are too huge pushers of oddball effects. Their demo videos are filled with hipster alternative musicians. I love their stuff, as they recognize the importance of shoegaze as a sub genre. The afterneath is my favorite.
Wow, grew up listening to 99X and 96 Rock. What a strange turn FM radio has taken. Edit - much respect to Matt Pinfield. One of the last relevant people at MTV, he was a fixture of my teenage years.
@43 minutes when Rick mentions the Seattle scene that was the joint cover in Pioneer Square. Friday and Saturday night you paid $10 and got access to 10 different bars that all had live music. Now there are officially 3 of those bars still around. The rest have all disappeared (prior to Covid even).
I listened to 91X and KROQ during their heyday and I gotta say, I would say that Nirvana actually was the beginning of the end of that genre of music which previous to grunge really defied being defined as a “genre”. Nirvana crystallized yet commercialized “mopey rock” which up until then was “real”. Nirvana made it highly profitable and hence, killed it.
People say go to Spotify or TH-cam to find new music, but honestly, that's like sifting through an enormous pile of unknown records. DJs in the 90's (alternative) served as that filter and introduced me to many bands I would never have heard otherwise. So give them the credit to curate and use their ear to find the best stuff and bring it forward.
Definitely. These days, I still subscribe to Sirius to get the exposure to new music in the genres I like. I'm also hooked on Punk Tacos; a Denver-based station, but free online if you don't live in Denver. I've been introduced to many awesome bands.
Yeah, why do your own research and form your own opinions when you can have an “expert” control what you hear. This is the same line of thought that pop listeners follow, which is why Alternative rightly died off. Why listen to poorly produced and dissonant pop when you can have slicker versions of the same?
Pete Pardo's "Sea of Tranquility" TH-cam channel is where I've been getting a lot of really good music recommendations for the past year. Pete's not much of a punk or grunge fan, but his tastes are very eclectic, from metal and progressive rock to jazz and blues, and he has clued me in to new (and old!) music that I probably would never have otherwise heard.
@@hellsunicorn I *enjoyed* the dissonance and raw production of alternative rock. "Slick" production was never really part of the appeal of alternative rock, which was inspired by '70s punk rock, which I also loved. When I was in the mood to hear slickness, I went for Fleetwood Mac, not The Cure or Nirvana (even though I loved all three).
@@christianman73 Fair enough, I'm a fairly insular metal head who was turned off by the clique-like hostility that 90s Nirvana fan boys visited towards me back in the day, so I have a built in ideological bias against some of the cultural aspects of the Alternative scene that don't necessarily apply to people who still listen to it today. Some of the more extreme stuff I listen to parallels the dissonant character of some of the dirtier parts of the early Grunge scene, and I am something of a Melvins fan. I tend to view the idea of non-mainstream music consumers relying exclusively on elite DJs and media types as a "filter" as puzzling given that it's identical to how mainstream consumers select their music. It just comes off as counterintuitive to proclaim one's individuality while falling back on conformist practices.
Rick, I love your videos. As a 90’s kid (born in ‘78), your videos are right up my alley. I love the song breakdowns as well as the interviews. I watched the Lukather video which was amazing and now this! Awesome.
Rick Beato, you have the ability to develop an artist. You have the knowledge and equipment and the following to enhance someone’s career in the right direction and make their music great. You also have the ability to showcase unsigned artists who do not have a huge following on social media, and find that diamond in the rough. You could also curate a Spotify playlist that would attract millions of listeners as well😁😁 food for thought. Thank you for the great content. Hope you stumbled upon my comment.
College radio should get all the credit - 100%. By the time Nirvana was on a major label and these commercial stations changed their call-signs to something with an "X" in it (hilarious how they ALL did this) alternative rock was already mainstream.
Probably all copying off of WOXY (Oxford, OH station that is no longer a college rock station but was one well before Nirvana broke). I know they were going by 97X at least as far back as 1988, because they were mentioned in Rainman. Maybe they weren’t the first alternative/college station to put an X in the name, but certainly they were among the few to have done it before the 90s.
This is why I never know what one music provider calls "alternative" versus another. You can get anything from The Strokes to The Used to Dave Matthews. Thanks for driving into this Rick!
True. The classic rock stations will play The Beatles, but never play anything before 1966. The oldies stations will do that. And then there is what I cal “revisionist radio”, making artists and bands out to be one-hit wonders. Example: Marc Bolan and T. Rex. American radio only plays one song by them: “Bang A Gong (Get It On)”. Yet I used to listen to a UK radio station years ago and they played “20th Century Boy”, “Jeepster”, “Metal Guru”, “Ride A White Swan”, “Children Of The Revolution”, and “Hot Love” among others. American radio makes people think an artist or a band was a one-hit wonder when they are not.
I shed a tear the day I turned on 99.1whfs and they had changed to a Spanish station over night. No warning. So many great memories of HFSTIVAL and all the events they held
I can't remember or find the quote, but this reminds me of an award acceptance speech Billy Corgan, I think, gave. It was for "alternative" and he said something like "we aren't alternative anymore -- we are pop." And then 311 and Dave Matthews... and what came later. The 90s alternative was not about grunge. It was about cross pollination and reimagining old and new ideas. Genres broke down. The attempts to define a genre of the time or to promote a few big artists was on the verge of falling apart. Local music and social media were collectively ready to tear that entire idea down. Radio and top 100 are totally foreign to me now. There is a pop universe, but there is a giant underground/indie scene that lives on.
This was an amazing interview. Matt was a legend back in the 90s. I didn't know Leslie before this but she seems to have had a major impact on music of the time as well. And then there's Rick who we all love and adore.
What a great conversation! Awesome to see other old dudes (like me) so excited about new music. I almost feel sorry for my peers who are missing out on all the great new music. You can see and hear other geezers like this on KEXP in Seattle and on Indie 102.3 in Denver.
RICK BEADO.....something you might encourage OR DO YOURSELF, do your own DJ'ing on youtube. Spend an hour playing new rock music. Stuff thats out there now but is getting ignored. Get people like matt and leslie to send you bands and just play them on youtube. I would listen. im ALWAYS looking for new music, but cant find much these days because the good stuff is essentially invisible.
yes. We need a new John Peel.
Great idea
Rick, you are the interviewer everyone should emulate. You let your guests speak. You make them the focus of the interview instead of you. Simply great.
Just to back that up: you were a perfect guest here!
Quite different than an Eddie Trunk interview. 😂
Fun watching the radio folks naturally bounce the conversation to each other keeping everyone involved and the audience engaged.
100%...This is fantastic!!
@@edryba4867 just roaming the internet looking for something to be angry at, huh? I believe what they meant is that it's enjoyable to watch a couple of people skilled in their profession put those skills to use.
I noticed that too and was amazed! I'm used to "news" (more like "opinion") TV shows where panelists try to hog the conversation. Yet here are these two highly accomplished yet refreshingly humble people complimenting each other and asking each other questions.
Yeah seems like Leslie is interviewing these two.
@@edryba4867 dude wtf? He was obviously pointing out that the radio gave em great talking skills
the 1996 Telecommunications Act really fucked everything up, IMO more than streaming. Thanks for bringing light to this.
Definitely that's what killed Radio.
It's what I believe killed rock
radio always sucked, and then died with the invention of the internet.
College radio was where one found new alternative rock in the ‘80’s and early ‘90’s. Mainstream radio was already dropping carts on scripted programming. It seems almost impossible for an unsigned band to get on the radio. New music requires a love of and persistent hunt to find. Commercial radio has turned its back.
Dropping carts?
Yes. It was KLSU for me during the mid 80s while going to LSU. They are still at it to this day.
@@OdaKa single and multi-song cartridges following a script made by the programming director. Very rarely did a DJ have the latitude to play their personal choices or listener requests (they took them, but what was played was scripted for most).
Attended one semester of community college, had a show on their radio station for three years... Thought about trying to be a DJ as a career, but then realized I already had it as good as it was gonna get. College radio was the only time I'd be able to play what I want and say what I want. Ended up with a career as an arborist & working musician. Never once regretted my decision, as commercial radio has only gotten worse in the 30 years since.
@@chrislumpkin , one of the stations in my town took requests - this was around '92 or so - a "classic rock" station - but they didn't want to play what I asked for and they suggested a few other (I assume approved) songs. I just wanted to see what they would do with my request for Blondie's "Die Young Stay Pretty". I told them "never mind"
"Radio underestimates its audience." So true. The redundant playlist is exhibit #1.
Because it’s the same as network television - it’s about selling advertising to a dumbed down audience, not showcasing dynamic content.
Radio had sucked for 20 yrs. TH-cam is the new music source.
@@surfsup5757 Yeah except now youtube is filled with commercials.
no, radio knows that the majority of people aren't interested in music that is different, or that doesn't allow them to dance and so on...
besides, all those "alternative" bands were crap or quite derivative, meaning they're doing the same stuff that was developed during the late 70s/beginning of the 80s, experimental stuff tough to listen to, not suitable for most of the listeners... I mean, who's going to explore Throbbing Gristle catalogue in deep?
compare that to listening to Stockhausen instead of Richard Strauss. And compare listening to Can or some other Krautrock stuff instead of the more accesible Pink Floyd (at least the post DSOTM)...
Nirvana was a lighter, more easy listening version of Mudhoney or The Pixies, and that's why they had commercial success. They were accessible and knew, or cared about, doing proper songs... The Pixies didn't.
We need more dingy bars willing to play new bands. Live music is key to regrow the fanbase.
Or bars in general, don’t hafta be dingy, but I like where you’re going with this.
College radio was the only alternative radio I knew of. Mainstream radio latched onto Nirvana and whatever else came after. College radio played the bands Nirvana liked.
Yes but even the college radio stopped playing the good stuff after a while. You don't hear any Nomeanasno, or Helmet, Steal Poll Bathtub. I could go on forever but the phone will not let me!!!
Yup, Nirvana was the catchiest, cutest, most sellable object from the underground. See how that turned out...
the scene was already dead by the late 90s anyway, I grew up with mainstream 90s rock but by 97-98 it was done, esp after. Remember that Days of the New nonsense? oof. that's when I got into college radio, might have been a decade or 2 late for what most considered college rock but it still introduced me to stuff like Pavement & matador label bands, most of us weren't feeling nu metal. I feel like I got in on the last breath death rattle of college radio though, where indie still meant rock because by the early 00s it was all this fruity trash when indie became synonymous with emo
@@bradpirochta9293 wuxtry in Athens had a free sampler CD tray. Found some mighty good bands on the defunct Ng Records label sampler and later matador samplers
Hair Metal was essentially all copies of Van Halen who premiered in 1977. By 1990, it was time for younger folks, so the turnover was inevitable based on age alone, plus people were tired of the mental vacuum of hair metal, so people went back to the 60s and 70s to make their music.
Matt Pinfield was the equivalent of My Cool Uncle in the 90s. I love that dude so much!
It was remarkable for me going to small clubs in early1991 when Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins were on their final small gig tour and everyone knowing instinctively that something big was about to happen. In less than a year we were hearing these bands on the radio and seeing them on MTV. It was an exciting time.
I'm 36 and always wished I was like 10-15 years older. By the time my generation came of age in the very late 90s/early 2000s the music was stale and cliched. Your extremely fortunate. I wish I could have seen AIC and Nirvana in 91.
I attended a show by Nirvana (pre-Nevermind) at Einstein A Go-Go in Jacksonville Beach. The audience was a grand total of maybe 15 people.
Rick you should do also The rise and fall the 80s hair metal rock movement!!!!!!!
I was planning on it :)
@@RickBeato oh yeah:). Love your videos from finland Rick:). Keep on rocking:)
Also Punk Rock and also New Wave Music too that malted into Alternative
@Rick Beato- Don't forget the rise of thrash and speed metal which was the "alternative" to the pop rock known as hair metal.
😝😆👍
NPR Tiny Desk and KEXP youtube videos are my gateway to new music.
I found so many great new bands from those places. So true.
My analogy for radio stations is like malls. You go to one mall in America, you’ve been to them all because they have the same stores. Every rock station pretty much plays the same bands.
all the consolidation ruined radio. only a few companies left that own them all.
Sad but true.
Thanks Bill Clinton.
The same fifty song playlist, every day.
@@officialWWM
Or they're lazy and greedy.
Leslie is a dear friend of mine and I love everything about her. A kind sweet soul. I've met Matt many times and he is always kind and humble. I can say the same about my friend Rick Beato...met him a half dozen times and always kind and humble...one of the most interesting people you will ever come across. One thing you've probably noticed about Rick while watching his videos...he is not an easy person to impress. The look on Ricks face throughout this interview is priceless. He is like a kid in a candy store. I love everything about this video. Well done Rick...these two deserve the respect they get.
The era I never got over! So important to analyze the downfall, too. Look forward to seeing this.
I LOVE Leslie Fram's communication style and always try to do just that. Interject/participate a little bit and pass the baton so-to-speak to someone else in the group who either hasn't participated in a while or hasn't participated period. Love including others. :) This is wonderful and I'm only 5 minutes in!
Great point on consolidation killing radio. Homogeny of formats and corporate process really squashed the life out of radio. There was no way for stations to have a unique personality.
“.....I have become,
Comfortably Numb.”
(And then I died)
-signed, Alternative Rock
All Rick has to do is sit back and smile.
These two are pro talkers, they could go on forever. LOL! ; )*
True!!!
@Luka Meah He had a label - he has a video about it. Search for "Why I Never Talk About My Record Label That Failed". Great video (as they all are).
This channel has the best content. Always informative and interesting. One idea that resonates is we need more Unplugged performances. Wouldn’t that be great? Also more exposure for new singer/songwriter artists and bands!
First time hearing my band shouted out on Rick’s channel!! (band’s Dreamers, we’re in LA by way of Brooklyn) Matt is such an asset and advocate for the music community. He genuinely just loves music and respects it. Met up with him many times and he’s the real deal. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of modern music, countless stories to tell and a big heart
How cool that you're here! I found you guys years ago, randomly as an AI recommendation (I think from having Night Riots & Bad Suns in my feed), & never looked back. You have so many songs (e.g. Screws, The Last Love Song, & Sweet Disaster, etc.) that I listen to on the regular. Thank you for your music, it has helped to make quarantining demonstrably better😋. I'm sure you're chomping-at-the-bit to be able to perform live again.
It's cool to see that you also enjoy Rick's Channel. It always astonishes me how interconnected he is to so many facets of the industry, from tracking down the stems for WMTSG?, to interviewing musical legends. And of course, through 120 Minutes, Matt Pinfield introduced me to so many artists of whom I became lifelong fans. We were lucky to grow up at a time when we had access to (& were influenced by) someone so knowledgeable...w/such passion for music, & just a great ear & taste level.
@@NatalieValentina6 I watch all of Rick’s videos, a constant source of inspiration. I definitely miss performing at shows. It’s coming back soon though. Night Riots was one of my favorite bands to tour with, and we’ve toured with so many amazing bands and people, but I really vibed with what they do and who they are. Miss them!
Saw your post and went and checked you guys out...randomly picked Sweet Disaster....great tune....very cool lyrics...keep it up!
First of all, “Painkiller” was one of my absolute faves of 2018; really dig what you guys are doing & it looks like you have a lot of fun making videos. I just discovered Rick’s channel recently and I’m amazed by how many real musicians I’ve seen in the comments section, and they’re just watching these videos for the same reason I am, when I’m just a regular music fan in rural mid-Michigan. A lot of the time it’s videos that aren’t even about current music. That just tells me that their heads are in the right place. I think that’s pretty awesome.
@@AlligatorArms most of our favorite music is from before we were born!! The last sixties through early 70s, 90s grunge. There’s lots of great music happening now too. It can be harder to find because there’s so much of it, which is a good thing ultimately. We’ve played many many shows in Michigan, mostly Detroit but have driven through much of the state. We miss playing live shows but it’s coming back soon 🙏
99X was so great growing up in ATL and had a huge impact on my music influences. Big Day Out, Music Midtown, etc.. with diverse lineups you would only dream about.
Yeah, this really brought back a lot of memories for me also. I used to listen to the Morning X with Barnes, Leslie, and Jimmy on my drive in to work. I really miss that show.
As much as I hate some things about Atlanta, I grew up here in the 80s and 90s and am proud of the music scene here. 96 Rock, Z93, 99X....RIP
Are ANY left? Grew up listening to em all, plus WUOG 90.5 & Bulldog/Rock 103.7 in Athens. Now those Steve/Dave FM type things mostly all play the same setlist from iHeartRadio. My dad rented a van and took a large group of me and my friends to Big Day Out 97, my only regret being there was so much going on we mostly stuck to the main stage so we missed a lot of good, smaller punk bands on the side stages. but we saw/met Local H, then the Bosstones, Offspring, Foo Fighters... good times!
@@scamster71 those guys had some of the best April Fools prank shows...fooled the entire city. Great times pre-internet
Leslie Fram is an unsung hero in this business. I mean, she gets lots of credit, but she's so deferential (as you can tell in this interview as she keeps deferring to Matt) it's easy to overlook the fact that she has a GREAT musical mind.
But if you are asked for examples when you say music is going in the wrong direction you should be able to give examples in a split second.
Matt Pinfield is the music encyclopedia!
Right? I posted something similar then I read your comment lol
Out of all the personalitys MTV put out there Pinfield by far was the most knowledgeable and relatable for me. He REALLY knew his stuff. Lived and Breathed rock industry. Need more of him, beato, etc doing these things.
He's not as pretentious as Eddie "name dropper" Trunk either. I'll listen or watch Eddie because I love 80s metal and unfortunately he seems to be the only person still talking about it. Its hilarious how much Steel Panther pisses him off too!
You're actually everywhere!
@@SB-ou5yp He is. I see him commenting on Aba and Preach's videos all the time. MEET is a man of taste.
In the early 90's Janes Addiction and Fugazi were really leading the alternative scene and then Nirvana and Pearl Jam came along and all the mainstream kids got involved. That's what ended it for me. Nirvana was the end of alternative not the beginning.
Ned’s Atomic Dustbin!! God Fodder. Great record.
Yes!! Just had its 30th anniversary if you can believe it.
I was just listening to this album the other day at work. It's so catchy and good.
Both the first two records were great. I kind of prefer Are You Normal?, but they're both excellent. Even the third one had some great moments on it.
Yes, the Madchester scene had amazing music. God Fodder by Neds Atomic Dustbin was a treasure and underrated (criminally) album!
My band won The Morning X jingle contest in 2000! They had us come up to the studio and interview ...It was a cool moment!
120 minutes back in the 80's was like a window to a far off world where this bizarre british dude would play this cool alternative music. It felt like pirate radio/video and he might get busted and taken off air any minute. I don't know if they kept the same vibe in the 90's but it was cool way back in the day.
Early 90's it was still like that. Around the late 90's and early 00's it moved to MTV2 and was more about indie rock and the sort of British bands you'd read about in NME.
I grew up in the late 80s early 90s listening to John Peel on the BBC world Service. The number of people and musicians that man influenced over a period of 5 odd decades is unfathomable. Without a doubt the single most important radio DJ that ever was and ever will be
I listened to him from the mid 70s. He was probably the only national DJ regularly playing the early Punk singles and real roots Reggae.
He was also emblematic of the Music media's obsession with 'new and different' and the constant churning out of fads, particularly in British music. In Peel's world if you had been around more than 2 years you were old hat, an attitude that is completely at odds with the majority of music listeners who want everything to sound exactly like the stuff they were listening to when they were 15.
@@Veaseify except for the Fall 😆
@@greatleapforwards ha ha yes, he still thought they were cutting edge 30 years later. Its incredible if you think back to the 70's and 80's how many hundreds of obscure bands must have been played once on one of his shows and never heard of again.
I still remember him introducing a song with 'This is Extreme Noise Terror...from er, Ipswich' deliberately enhancing the unlikelihood of anything with that name emanating from Suffolk :)
Yes!!!! And "Peel Session" LPs are some of the best you can buy from a range of great artists!!!😎
"It was supposed to make things more diverse, but it had the *opposite* effect."
Another good thing ruined by eternal middlemen.
misspelled 'capitalism'
Damn bean counters
@Joe Turner Correct!
@@sagetmaster4 I agree. NEVER fund these jack-asses. Buy the music FROM the bands (like me!) and they can afford to make more music. Currently Spotify pays a whooping .03 cents per live stream!
@Joe Turner You think correct.
WHFS (DC/MD area) in the 1980s good stuff. All gone by mid '90 something. RIP.
Back then, NOBODY, no radio station, no dj, would play unsigned bands, or unknown music. It all had to be according to the formula. Whereas 10 years earlier you could hear local band different format at radio stations. It's one of the things that turned our local music scene from a very vibrant lively dynamic music scene into stagnant stinking pond of monoculture.
Excellent description
So very well said.
*20 years ago
Once again Rick delivers exactly what I want to watch. You had to be alive during that era to understand the impact. I compare the late 80s early 90s to the late 60s, for its affect on music and culture. We haven’t lived through another era like that since. Radio is absolutely dead now, so let’s talk about the good old days.
If you grew up in music at that time you remember the saying “corporate rock still sucks.” That saying was imprinted on my brain and I still view the world that way. I believe corporate radio and corporate music has taken over the music business since the mid 90s and not let go. You will not have another scene bubble up again like it did in the early 90s because of this.
I know exactly what station format they were talking about. They popped up in the early 90s, WMMS had it for a minute. That was my local station. It was a mix of all music, 60s, 70s, rock, metal, etc. just good music led by the DJ. You could have Sarah McLaughlin in the same hour as Tool, followed up by Boz Skaggs, some rare Dylan acoustic set from the 70s, and Maggot Brain. And those weekly shows… Then you would have the hot local band mixed in every hour. In our city that was Nine Inch Nails…. Saw them as a local opening act.
Our government and Republicans killed the radio industry. They literally ripped art away from kids growing up after 1995.
Anyone still in corporate radio or corporate music, are doing it for a paycheck. There’s no art left in any of that. It’s a machine to make money. And a lot of the new music coming out are just propped up and selected to make money.
Fortunately artists have the ability now to become their own publishing companies. And do all of their distribution. And do all of their tours and promotion. That’s what musicians have to do these days to avoid working with corporate tools.
". . . we didn't have a budget.". "We had a blast.". How much wisdom in that exchange?
I was DJ and Music Director of WCCM radio in Randolph New Jersey in 1983-1985 and then I worked at I.R.S. Records from 1990-1991. This segment was so spot on and seeing Leslie and Matt reminded me of what was good about the music business. When you love music and musicians you find it, you look under rocks and check out the clubs and sit on youtube for an hour listening to likeminded music lovers - you do this because ultimately it's not a business decision it's a compulsion. Well done Rick!
In the late 80's, I got my fix on REM, The Clash, RHCP and Fugazi from a station coming out of Windsor, Canada. The ionization of the atmosphere had to be just perfect for me to get it in Michigan.
89x, which sadly, is now a country station....
@@Schmidtty1974 really? I was listening to 88.7 until I moved in 2010.
Yep, they changed their format to country at the beginning of this year. Same with 93.9 they were more of a alt pop station from Windsor, and now their more contemporary country.
Didn’t 98.7 start playing alternative rock right after 89x quit?
I'm young for the origional scene (32), but saw Matt in the thumbnail and said "Oh, that guy" because it was 1998 and we had cable.
That was amazing!
So I graduated from high school in suburban Maryland in 1984. In 1983, MTV introduced me to U2, and when I asked a friend in high school to make a cassette copy of "War," he put The Clash "Combat Rock" on the B side. Listening to WHFS followed close behind. (I can still hear the voices of the DJs Damien and Weasle.) In the early 1990s, when Alternative Radio became big, I was in heaven. True Alternative Radio is incredibly diverse. (Like 1985, when I was able to listen to songs like How Soon Is Now?, Running Up That Hill, Driver 8, Life's What You Make It, Cities In Dust, She Sells Sanctuary, and Take the Skinheads Bowling.) I feel that diversity is what is missing today. That diversity was the heart and soul of great radio. Everything was new and different. Now, so much sounds the same, and it feels soulless - probably because it's quantized and it doesn't swing. As for artist support, I wonder if record companies can even spell those words anymore. I miss real alternative radio (and good songwriting).
Weasel is still on WTMD in Towson.
@@Darrylizer1 I heard that a while ago. I live in Western Massachusetts now, but I have the WTMD app. It lets me listen to radio the way it is supposed to be, passionate and musically intelligent.
Not sure Matt Pinfield was the most famous VJ from that particular Mtv era but definitely by far the most knowledgeable VJ Mtv ever had. The man was (maybe still is) a walking music encyclopedia.
I was a Kendall fan. Pinfield was alright, but I was cursed with that 90s kid distrust of enthusiastic people. We hated everything back then. Not always proud of that. He sure has passion for good music. We need more of that.
I was hoping this would be more about the bands of the era. New bands that emerged and older bands that were finally getting some mainstream exposure. The Cure, Depeche Mode, Morrissey, Charlatans, Soup Dragons, 10,000 Maniacs, REM, They Might Be Giants, Material Issue, Jesus and Mary Chain, Chili Peppers, ......etc Lollapalooza for crying out loud!
Aside from the great topic and insights, hats off to Matt and Leslie for constantly deferring to one another and not co-opting an entire conversation. Mutual respect and great conversation.
I think that's because they are actually listening to each other rather than just waiting to speak.
Alternative rock became more like loud pop see Green Day, Bush, sublime ,No Doubt etc. All these bands were on Major labels. Not exactly indie
I was 14 in 91. I remember complaining to my parents because my allowance wasn't nearly enough for all the tapes I wanted to buy and I was too young to work lol.
It’s cool to hear the shout out to 91-X in San Diego, Ca! I remember getting turned on to the station in in ‘82 and there was a cool landscape of bands like The Smiths, The Cure and U2. It felt like every day something new and very different was happening. It was a great time.
Love 91X from when I lived in San Diego 20 years ago. Still put it on Sunday mornings for Resurrection Sunday and Church of Bob. It’s my go-to streamed radio station.
X, Rank and File, Violent Femmes, Dream Syndicate
It definitely was.
SD in the HOUSE! KGB 101 was my primary station but wouldn't play anything after the 90s. 91-X took that audience and exploded.
Still rocks
"you gotta love music more than anything else in the world"
Everything eventually becomes a parody of itself. Then death and reincarnation.
We are seeing that right now in the pop scene; it's starting to enter a transition period because people are sick of every song being mumbled over a trap beat. Whatever gets popular next will suffer the same feat.
Its the natural order of most things...
Don't forget vinyl too. If you're not telling the world in interviews about your vinyl collection, then you aren't indie enough. Vinyl is the Lazarus man of music listening platforms.
@@bskitchenriffs6522 Absolutely and I love it. People get in such a hurry to run forward and forget what's good.
In our country (Portugal) there are dozens of alternative rock bands that cant have a stage or be played on the radio. In our city Coimbra barrelly exists places that allow original rock bands to play. But the funny side of the history is that when our bands tour in other countries, they usually have sold out shows and lots of support. we shoul change the way we support and judge our local bands, and start to give them stages and oportunityes to be heard. By our personal expirience, its quite sad sending about 100 e-mails to radios, agencies and small avenues, and get like 2 or 3 repplys saying no. Its quite desmotivating.
Alternative music will never die cause there will be always public with good taste and whit creativity 🙂
Start your own alt station!!!! Do it
Most indie scenes in the US started off with shows at warehouses and/or rehearsal spaces, and starting college radio stations. Getting a warehouse, dividing it into practice spaces, but have a larger main room space for shows. Not sure how local ordinance / laws work over there, but it may be worth a shot. Streaming the live & radio shows too.
@@christopherhorner8272 @Christopher Horner Even the radio and live stations here in our country dont answear our calls and e-mails. Its sad as hell, we have sended about 100 emails last month and only got 2 responses saying "no" 😅 The culture in Portugal is dying...the only ones who can make it are the pop icones with lots of managers and agencies with interests in them
@@terminal8237 do the universities have radio stations? Getting support at a place with a strong music program to start one if they don't would be key. Not sure if relocating (to Spain, or wherever) is an option.
Stick with it for as long as you can.
What a great topic, Rick! I'm loving the discussion so far, it's awesome to hear all of you weigh in on how that era developed and progressed.
I love that WHFS (DC) was recognized. That's all I listened to in the 80s and early 90s.
Same, and went to the HSF Festivals as well.
Weasel has a Friday and Saturday show on WTMD (Baltimore-area college radio station). It's as good as his program was on WHFS.
@@thedevilinthecircuit1414 That is a great radio station. The one saving grace as far as music radio in the DMV.
97X ( WOXY mentioned in Rain Man, the movie), was an alt station in the 1980's and 1990's that was in Oxford, Ohio, and was accessible to Cincinnati. Sadly it died In 2010, after moving to Austin, TX from Cincinnati.
Yes!!!!!!! The best of all my travels trying to fing alt stations.
Great to see Pinfield. He had it rough for a couple of years, but he's sober and brilliant. Such a fan of his.
What happened?
@@jamesreeves4600 yeah I'm curious too
Just love hearing Matt’s voice again. Been a while.
I am pretty sure any real conversation about Alternative Rock's explosion in the late 80s early 90s has to involve Jane's Addiction and that band's front man Perry Farrell and his brainchild "Lollapalooza", who's alternative albums Nothing Shocking (1987) and Ritual de lo Habitual (1990) predate the breakout of the Seattle sound
Sorry, but Dave Matthews band is a horrible band. Would like to hear Rick's opinion on their music.
Thanks go to 99X who played my old band, 2 Skinnee J’s, single in heavy rotation in 1998!
Also, thanks to Matt Pinfield for hitting on my girlfriend (at the time) at NYC’s Continental Divide and then later, announcing our video on 120 Minutes!
Did we live next door to each other on 14th between 1st and 2nd in the mid 90s?
I'm from NC but absolutely remember you guys.
Nothin' like walking into a dive bar and being pleasantly surprised hearing great music you never heard before!
Or getting recommendations from record store clerks
Leslie referenced Sean Demery. He and I worked together at an Internet radio startup in San Francisco around 1999-2002. LOVE THAT GUY. Sean tragicly passed away recently. I was CTO, CEO was Eric Rhoads and SVP of Radio Programming was Steve Rivers, who we also lost recently. RIP Sean and Steve. You guys made my life in radio fantastic.
Sean Demery was great. He was my favorite to listen to in Atlanta.
@@Weremoogle Working with him forming a pioneering Internet radio company was amazing. Sean even let my young daughter, around 10 years old, do a couple of voiceovers. I wish we could post pictures in comments. I have a couple fun pictures of Sean from the professionally shot executive photos from our website. I'll post it somewhere and put a link to it in a reply. It's cute. He was so good as a DJ, program directory, but he was also one of the nicest people I've ever known. A very sweet man. Taken from us far too soon.
Nowadays it's all about streaming on Spotify or Apple music. So, let's say you listen to 5 seconds of a song, well it counts as actual sales lol. That's how irrelevant music charts are right now.
Yes... but Spotify, Tidal etc are allowing younger listeners access to a range of music (at a relative bargain) that I would have killed for as an 80s child. It's that exposure that informs musical taste and nurtures the creative spark.
@@goobfilmcast4239 Not really, only the taste of the youngsters since these devices are not used by boomers. Most people just buy their vinyls and listen to it right at home, so it doesn't count for this demographic.
@@yannhollister9091 I’m in my 40s, I listen almost exclusively to metal, and I use Spotify. There is good stuff on there, you just have to know how to search for it.
I'm into metal and prefer CDs, vinyl and any physical format, never cared much for streaming. If I do sample something I use TH-cam.
CFNY 102.1 in Toronto was the pioneer for alternative music in the late '70s and '80s. So many memories. So many great bands.
WLIR on Long Island, NY was the best through the 80s and early 90s. One of the original local "new music" stations, which later became known as "alternative" music. There is nothing like local radio and that sense of community all of the listeners had to the station and DJs and the local clubs and venues. You could feel the sincerity.
Yes, I used to listen to WLIR in the 80s and early 90s. They played new wave and a lot of imports on Sunday nights.
The shriek of the week
@@johnsmith7140 and before that, it was the Screamer of the Week :-)
Great documentary on showtime about WLIR
🎼 Honda of Mineola 🎶
97X or WOXY out of SW Ohio is another one that should be remembered. Although they became more indie as time went on.
I so loved that station. I was fortunate to have experienced it on my brief stay in Cinti. Then found it again on the web.
Old enough to remember when they switched. Played a lot of great music in those days.
WOXY was the soundtrack propelled me through high school and college ‘84-mid 90’s.
Oxford Ohio. Listened through college (Miamu U). It influenced what job I took so that I would be in radio range. The GF got that it was non-negotiable. Awesome. The Modern-Rock 500.... classic.
I think alt rock is making a comeback. honestly people these days are making some great ass music. every genre has gotten like 10 times better since last decade.
@Hilltop JD614 I agree with you, nobody beats the physical copy and expending hours in a record store checking every albums and magazines
I wish there truly was a radio station that was more "random" and would play more diverse music. My tastes are all over the map and can easily glide between hard rock, old country, industrial to classical and then straight to thrash metal to world music, folk and reggae and post-punk. That is exactly why ipods are better than one themed radio stations. The radio use to introduce you to new music but now it is the same 21 songs played over and over and over
Find a small local college radio station. If there are none in your area, there are plenty that simulcast via the Web.
@David Wang Would still be the same rotating 20 country songs on one station, the same 20 hard rock songs on the other station, etc. I will stick to my iphone that syncs up to my car radio and skip all the commercials. It's a shame what radio has become. College radio stations are more interesting but radio DJ's used to break new artists and introduce great stuff. Now they have a strict program to follow with less freedom.
Alternative radio was "college radio" and all thé roots of alternative radio were on thé left of thé dial through out thé 1980's. The revolution happened then. Nirvana was just the tip of a huge iceberg
I wonder if the weird college kid is still the dj on the college station.
I was there in the 80's. This is accurate.
I was a DJ on collège radio from 1986-1990 WHCL 88.7FM at Hamilton College
Were you weird?
@@theforrester2780 thé Jocks and thé Preppies definately would have. I did not rush a frat.
I remember growing up in the late 1980s early 1990s listening to WAAF in Boston. Great local radio. They had an overnight show, like midnight-3AM and they played only local bands. First time I heard groups and artists like Juliana Hatfield, the Lemonheads, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Throwing Muses, Tonya Donnelly, Dropkick Murphy's, etc. There's nothing like local radio back in the day.
Same dude. Heard Pearl Jam’s “Alive” on WAAF driving home from a Bruin’s game when I was 13. That was a huge music moment for me. That was a great station during the 80’s and 90’s.
Let's not forget wfnx in Boston. That was huge from mid 80s thru early 2000s
FNX was a great station especially in their early days
WFNX and WAAF and WBCN. Boston had such a great local radio scene in the 80s and 90s. Even WZLX played a great variety of classic stuff, didn't shy away from deep cuts. I didn't have enough buttons on my car radio for all the good stations!
@@jasonremy1627 i remember those days well The Rat Pour House The Channel Spit remember seeing the pixies down thayer street parties
anyone remember when kiss 108 was a rock station?
FNX Best ever!
The 1996 telecommunications act was a disaster. It's a big part of the reason that our politics is so polarized, contentious, and irrational now. It's because you have a few companies colluding to meme into reality what are essentially false and unconvincing narratives for their own reasons and it's driving everybody insane. It's made it impossible for us to even identify problems, let alone agree on how to fix them, so they just fester and compound. The fact that it's ruined popular music is the least of it.
99.1 WHFS in DC was legendary.
Yes, yes. And the legendary HFStival.
We need more people in the business like Leslie and Matt who are still FANS of the music and not just accountants.
"Tin-eared graph-paper brained accountants, instead of music fans / Call all the shots at giant record companies now, the lowest common denominator rules" - Dead Kennedys, "MTV Get Off the Air," 1985
you mean fans of old music only?
This TH-cam video should be mandatory viewing at every radio station.
That was really a great time. I was fortunate enough to live in an area, DC, MD, Northern VA that had WHFS. A great time for bands and after 91, Smells Like Teen Spirit , the dam broke and all those cool bands hit. A magical time for music. I really look back fondly on those years, that time, those shows, etc. HFStivals in the 90s was a golden time. Matt Pinfield was a must watch on MTV.
So many great bands at those shows. Still have the beer cooler with the WHFS stickers.
I was friends with Neci back in the late 80's. What a trip...
@@dewdew34 My lady. Neci’s music knowledge was off the charts and she had one of the best voices in radio. Oh, do I miss the old HFS w/ Mr. Einstein, RIP, in charge. He had a dope roster of deejays in Neci, his son, Damian, Bob Waugh, Rob Timm, Aqu, Weasel, etc. The progressive format in the 80s, early 90s, pre-Nirvana was awesome. They played any and everything and their local music segments were excellent. Even the post, Nirvana boom was different but still cool. They dialed back the progressive feel and went to a more modern rock, Alternative format. I didn’t like that many of the classic deejays left and Mr. Einstein left as well. Actually, he started up another progressive station WRNR in Annapolis.
@@ronsworld250 I moved away in 90 but have family in the area. Going back i caught RNR one day and it was great too. But nothing was like the days of all those you mentioned on the mic and even the World music on Sunday's, heard by many sobering up... I loved how they would mix different genres but a common theme sometimes, brilliant.
I'm so grateful to have grown up in Atlanta during 99x's peak. I started my day with Barnes, Leslie, and Jimmy and had the radio on until I went to sleep. There is no way I could thank Leslie Fram enough for her role.
And I don't think there is any way to overstate what was lost when local radio was killed.
i have to say that this you tuber is awesome. breaking down songs i have been listening to since i was in mom's womb (born '70). songs i learned to play by listening to vinyl where i would pick up the needle, pull it back a mm and do this over and over until i figured it out. i been binge watching this channel since last night and again this AM.
Rick, I was listening to Primus on Pandora this morning and I realized that their drum tracks are NOT auto-tuned. Its because of your videos that I recognized that. Thanks for making music more accessible to uneducated folks like me.
Shoegaze has had a massive resurgence. The recording technology advancement goes hand in hand with the experimentation of guitar effects. The wall of sound has reached its full potential. Flyying Colours from Australia and Airiel from Chicago are great examples
Loathe is also shoegaze mixed with metal
Agreed...check out Soft Science if you’re unfamiliar
Thanks! Are we talking about recent bands ("recent" as in within the past five years)?
@@tdsims1963 yes Soft Science is a newish band from Sacramento
Earthquaker and Walrus are too huge pushers of oddball effects. Their demo videos are filled with hipster alternative musicians. I love their stuff, as they recognize the importance of shoegaze as a sub genre. The afterneath is my favorite.
Wow, grew up listening to 99X and 96 Rock. What a strange turn FM radio has taken.
Edit - much respect to Matt Pinfield. One of the last relevant people at MTV, he was a fixture of my teenage years.
You should do the rise of alternative rock from 1980 through 1989.
@43 minutes when Rick mentions the Seattle scene that was the joint cover in Pioneer Square. Friday and Saturday night you paid $10 and got access to 10 different bars that all had live music. Now there are officially 3 of those bars still around. The rest have all disappeared (prior to Covid even).
wait. the real alternative music was over before 95 and matt pinhead. and corporate radio was behind the curve, never on the front end of it
I listened to 91X and KROQ during their heyday and I gotta say, I would say that Nirvana actually was the beginning of the end of that genre of music which previous to grunge really defied being defined as a “genre”. Nirvana crystallized yet commercialized “mopey rock” which up until then was “real”. Nirvana made it highly profitable and hence, killed it.
Yep, the starfuckers and money whores showed up to crash the party about ten minutes after "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit the airwaves.
I'm sitting by, just waiting, patiently, to hear the meat puppets on the radio again.
People say go to Spotify or TH-cam to find new music, but honestly, that's like sifting through an enormous pile of unknown records. DJs in the 90's (alternative) served as that filter and introduced me to many bands I would never have heard otherwise. So give them the credit to curate and use their ear to find the best stuff and bring it forward.
Definitely. These days, I still subscribe to Sirius to get the exposure to new music in the genres I like. I'm also hooked on Punk Tacos; a Denver-based station, but free online if you don't live in Denver. I've been introduced to many awesome bands.
Yeah, why do your own research and form your own opinions when you can have an “expert” control what you hear. This is the same line of thought that pop listeners follow, which is why Alternative rightly died off. Why listen to poorly produced and dissonant pop when you can have slicker versions of the same?
Pete Pardo's "Sea of Tranquility" TH-cam channel is where I've been getting a lot of really good music recommendations for the past year. Pete's not much of a punk or grunge fan, but his tastes are very eclectic, from metal and progressive rock to jazz and blues, and he has clued me in to new (and old!) music that I probably would never have otherwise heard.
@@hellsunicorn I *enjoyed* the dissonance and raw production of alternative rock. "Slick" production was never really part of the appeal of alternative rock, which was inspired by '70s punk rock, which I also loved. When I was in the mood to hear slickness, I went for Fleetwood Mac, not The Cure or Nirvana (even though I loved all three).
@@christianman73 Fair enough, I'm a fairly insular metal head who was turned off by the clique-like hostility that 90s Nirvana fan boys visited towards me back in the day, so I have a built in ideological bias against some of the cultural aspects of the Alternative scene that don't necessarily apply to people who still listen to it today. Some of the more extreme stuff I listen to parallels the dissonant character of some of the dirtier parts of the early Grunge scene, and I am something of a Melvins fan. I tend to view the idea of non-mainstream music consumers relying exclusively on elite DJs and media types as a "filter" as puzzling given that it's identical to how mainstream consumers select their music. It just comes off as counterintuitive to proclaim one's individuality while falling back on conformist practices.
Fascinating- can’t wait until one day we can see a video - the rise and fall of trap beats 🎧 😜
Rick, I love your videos. As a 90’s kid (born in ‘78), your videos are right up my alley. I love the song breakdowns as well as the interviews. I watched the Lukather video which was amazing and now this! Awesome.
Basically, capitalism and deregulation ruin everything.
oh give it a rest - where's the good music from the worker's paradise, or from your non-Western theocracies?
I was so lucky to grow up with 95.5 WBRU in Providence. They played anything and everything alt in the 80s and 90s
I remember that station. I remember when BCN was it for FM back in the 60s and early 70s.
Smoked my first joint listening to BRU back in 1972. 👍💨🚀
Things haven't been the same since it left the airwaves and went to the internet. I still have it as a preset on my car radio!
Great playlists at BRU, but DJs not so much. But it’s the music that matters right.
Rick Beato, you have the ability to develop an artist. You have the knowledge and equipment and the following to enhance someone’s career in the right direction and make their music great. You also have the ability to showcase unsigned artists who do not have a huge following on social media, and find that diamond in the rough. You could also curate a Spotify playlist that would attract millions of listeners as well😁😁 food for thought. Thank you for the great content. Hope you stumbled upon my comment.
WHFS 99.1 station drop. I was listening to this station in the 90s and was definitikey a big part of my life.
College radio should get all the credit - 100%. By the time Nirvana was on a major label and these commercial stations changed their call-signs to something with an "X" in it (hilarious how they ALL did this) alternative rock was already mainstream.
Probably all copying off of WOXY (Oxford, OH station that is no longer a college rock station but was one well before Nirvana broke). I know they were going by 97X at least as far back as 1988, because they were mentioned in Rainman. Maybe they weren’t the first alternative/college station to put an X in the name, but certainly they were among the few to have done it before the 90s.
Great to see all the 99X fans. Anybody remember The Swingin Velveeta Lounge on Friday's? RIP Sean Demery
Heeeell yes! I lived for it....I distinctly remember him playing a horn heavy remix of ‘Hey Man, Nice Shot’ that I’ve never been able to find since.
How did Sean die?
@@jamesreeves4600 stroke.
WHFS FESTIVAL at RFK STADIUM in the early 90's-late 80's was AMAZING!!
Matt Pinfield really sounds like Bob Odenkirk. It's eery.
Love the respect you guys give Chris Cornell. He lives on in his music & remembrance. PS I interned at KROQ in Pasadena in 1982, wow was I lucky.
This is why I never know what one music provider calls "alternative" versus another. You can get anything from The Strokes to The Used to Dave Matthews. Thanks for driving into this Rick!
True. The classic rock stations will play The Beatles, but never play anything before 1966. The oldies stations will do that. And then there is what I cal “revisionist radio”, making artists and bands out to be one-hit wonders. Example: Marc Bolan and T. Rex. American radio only plays one song by them: “Bang A Gong (Get It On)”. Yet I used to listen to a UK radio station years ago and they played “20th Century Boy”, “Jeepster”, “Metal Guru”, “Ride A White Swan”, “Children Of The Revolution”, and “Hot Love” among others. American radio makes people think an artist or a band was a one-hit wonder when they are not.
@Jay Emm yep, that's America for ya.
Like the shoutout to WHFS 99.1 in DC - that station was a huge impact to my musical education, and the HFStival was a must-do in the summer.
I shed a tear the day I turned on 99.1whfs and they had changed to a Spanish station over night. No warning. So many great memories of HFSTIVAL and all the events they held
Just wrote a very similar comment. Miss that station and those shows!
@@frankhoeppel2314 it was my coming of age man. 99.1 DC 101 and 98 rock. Late 90s into 2000s were my teen years
I can't remember or find the quote, but this reminds me of an award acceptance speech Billy Corgan, I think, gave. It was for "alternative" and he said something like "we aren't alternative anymore -- we are pop."
And then 311 and Dave Matthews... and what came later. The 90s alternative was not about grunge. It was about cross pollination and reimagining old and new ideas. Genres broke down. The attempts to define a genre of the time or to promote a few big artists was on the verge of falling apart. Local music and social media were collectively ready to tear that entire idea down.
Radio and top 100 are totally foreign to me now. There is a pop universe, but there is a giant underground/indie scene that lives on.
This was an amazing interview. Matt was a legend back in the 90s. I didn't know Leslie before this but she seems to have had a major impact on music of the time as well. And then there's Rick who we all love and adore.
We had 107.7 "The End" here in Seattle! Man, the amount of time I spent listening to "The End."
What a great conversation! Awesome to see other old dudes (like me) so excited about new music. I almost feel sorry for my peers who are missing out on all the great new music. You can see and hear other geezers like this on KEXP in Seattle and on Indie 102.3 in Denver.
5:35 WHFS! Legendary.