Praising College Radio and Defending '80s Music

On Spongey Monkey, Chris has a nice post defending the music of the 1980s and chatting about the role that college radio (and comic shops and indie music purveyors) played in his musical awakening. In his post "Dodging a Bullet," he writes:


"...At the age of 37 now I think the 1980's were quite formulaic for me in my musical tastes and exploration.


I do admit that I did listen to quite a bit of Top 40 (hey, I was living in Alaska at the time, so there were slim pickings) in the early 80's, but as I got into junior high and high school I found the college radio station KSUA, plus I met other people who introduced me to new music which I guess can be called 'post-punk' now, but was also referred to as 'new wave'. Probably the biggest influence though was a place called The Comic Shop...it also had a small section of independent, punk, new-wave, avant-garde, and just plain strange records..."


He goes on to describe his own stint in college radio at Oregon State's KBVR-FM:


"After I graduated high school in 1989 and went on to college, one of the main factors that influenced me to choose Oregon State in Corvallis over Washington State in Pullman was the proximity to a big city where bands played and the college radio station (both schools had radio stations). My first term at OSU my friend James and I immediately got involved with the radio station by apprenticing then getting our own shows. I quickly found out there was so much more out there to listen to than the latest Cure, Oingo Boingo, and Depeche Mode albums (which I still enjoyed).


...I have to say that the 1980's overall did NOT suck for music, if you searched beyond the commercial crap forced down your throat. The best year for music is all relative, mainly to one's age and their own personal tastes."


I think he's right, that there's always great music out there, especially if you're hooked in with the indie scene, either through friends or college radio.