Social Distortion "Bad Luck"

I was hungry.  I was nervous.  I was alone.

I was waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

I've told you the story of my first radio station, and the long court battle that we waged to hang onto it.

What you don't get from one blog post, was the drawn out uncertainty of it all.

I was at WABN for 6 years.  And every three months (if not more often) for six long years, we'd have another court date.

"This could be it," we'd be told by our lawyers.  There was every possibility that the judge would take immediate and harsh action, either shutting down the station or removing us completely.

The family that owned the station would go to these hearings.  Dress up.  Look respectable and responsible.  Do their best to convey the sincerity of their desire to just run the radio station and live in peace.

It was my job to hold down the fort.

The four family members would go to court, and I would go to the station and wait.

I might do my shift.  Or I might let the automation system we had, spin its wheels.

Minutes ticked by slowly.  Hours progressed at a glacial pace.

Every time the phone would ring, I'd lunge for it, hoping it was the gang calling from their way home from court with some kind of good news.

Lunch would pass.  The many cups of coffee would sink in.  Tension would mount.

Eventually, I would get a call.  A brief overview of what had happened.  And a promise of lunch to be brought to me soon.

Relief, tempered by the notion that the court session ended with the promise of a reconvening within a just a few weeks.  And that we'd do this day all over again.

The night before each court date, I'd play "Bad Luck."  It was my idea that if I played "Bad Luck" today, it would mean good luck tomorrow.

Mostly, it worked.

I was thinking of this song earlier in the week, because I'm playing the waiting game right now.

We still don't know when our last day on 92.7 will be.  The signal is all but sold, just some paperwork has to be signed.  And then we'll be off.

Unlike the WABN situation, there is a future for WMVY.  We'll continue on the web.  I'll continue to work.  Stress about what is going to happen doesn't play a role here (just the "when").

Just waiting . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Reel Big Fish “Everything Sucks”

Hitting Random on the iTunes list . . .

This is the sound of 1996 calling. Ska. Silly. Ironic. Ironic. And Ironic.

I enjoyed the mid-90s ska revival like I enjoy barbecue chicken. A little sauce on the meat on a hot summer day tastes delicious.

But hearing this track today, was a little like swallowing a big ladle of barbecue sauce, without the context of the chicken.

In the 90s, when bands exciting young bands paved the path to pushing away the over-serious excesses of hair metal, U2 and classic rock, part of the groups charging forward used irony and sarcasm as their weapons against self-importance. And things became drenched in irony.

“Everything Sucks” wasn’t just a song, it felt like a mantra meant to take the piss out of what the musical movement was against, as well as the movement itself.

The only problem was that there WERE bands like Nirvana---who might have used a dash of irony---who didn’t feel like the punk-based-rock they were performing wasn’t weighted with a serious message.

I saw Reel Big Fish at a Warped Tour stop in Atlanta. They had to follow Social Distortion, lead by the glowering, bad-to-the-f’ing bone Mike Ness, who’s neck bulged with tattoos and lyrics brimmed with righteous anger. And then Reel Big Fish came out with Day-Go shorts and beach balls and songs about “Doin’ The Fish,” and somehow, somehow, they seemed pretty inconsequential.

Fun, but no more than a little bit of sauce on the meat of the era.



See the very 90's music video for this song, here

Buy the Reel Big Fish album, "Turn The Radio Off"