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The Worst Rock Song Many Adore

Through my rock n roll past darkly

Terry Barr
The Riff

Photo by Kat Med on Unsplash

Driving around in my wife’s car today, I was forced to listen to commercial radio. First, I discovered that Jim Rome is alive and well and still broadcasting from his locker somewhere in Southern California. You know, the best thing about Rome is that his intro song is Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life.” I listened for a few minutes while Rome promoted himself and all he’s doing, and at ten past the hour, I decided that whatever sports talk he might deliver couldn’t overtake the brain cells that were flying out the door, free as a bird.

So I switched through the scanner and discovered that we also have an “Alternative” radio station, imaginatively enough referred to as “The X.” They played some Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, but twenty minutes into it, I realized why I never made it with commercially alternative music. True, it’s an alternative to hit radio, but when all the off-key voices sound just alike in their offness, I had to switch again.

So I tried the classic rock station here in Greenville — 101.1 — a station that has been thriving, so to speak, since 1988. Whatever was classic in 1988 has turned to stone by now. The song playing when I switched was “Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” by BTO. If this means nothin’ to you, then you’re also as free as a bird to skip on down to the next…

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