Fleetwood Mac "Sad Angel"

Barbara said something really funny on the air the day the new Fleetwood Mac single came in.

She was live on the air and said something to the effect of, "I haven't heard this new Fleetwood Mac single yet, but we're going to play it during What's New For Lunch . . . unless it's horrible."

Barbara had done a calculation that she and I and other DJs have done thousands of times before.  The equation is:

New song + Band's fame + audience anticipation + quality of song = We will/won't play this song.

For instance, a brand new song, by a band we and the audience have never heard of, must compensate by being a really superb tune to get played.

Or, a new song from Steve Martin & Edie Brickell (who are well known, but not quite music superstars) + high quality song gets a definite shot on the air, because audience curiosity is high.

And conversely, a new song by a superstar band, that the audience didn't expect to hear from, can get by with just an okay song, because again, the interest is really high.

I'm not crazy about this new Fleetwood Mac tune, but they haven't put out a new song in 10 years, and it's not horrible and the audience interest is really high.

Maybe it will grow on me and on the listeners and get a lot of airplay.

Or maybe we'll play it a lot at the beginning to let the curious people hear it, and then it will fade.

Who knew there'd be so much math in music?


Hear the song on Youtube.