New host. Show revival and changes.

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New host. Show revival and changes.

Post by spookyapplesauce » Thu June 28th, 2012, 1:49 am

I'm not sure if people still visit this forum, but it's worth a shot.

Tonight marked my 5th official show since taking over We're Not Gonna Take It last month. I figured it was time to formally introduce myself and talk a little bit about what I hope to do with this show.

My name is Lauryn, I'm a senior Film student at Georgia State University, and I am currently one of two Assistant Program Directors at Album 88. In addition to We're Not Gonna Take It, I host Algorhythm (math rock, noise rock, and early post-hardcore) from 1-2am on Tuesdays and I am a contributing host for the Quintessential College Show (indie rock & pop) from 4-8pm on Saturdays. I love many subgenres of metal but I tend to gravitate towards those that are sludgey, atmospheric, and those that experiment with genre fusion.

Since taking over at We're Not Gonna Take It, I've made some changes. I've placed a focus on underground metal and bringing the show back to the college radio mission of helping artists that actually need more exposure and appreciation. Sure, I love Master of Puppets as much as the next person, but Metallica doesn't need my help. I'd like to focus on the underground bands, the local artists, and to keep the show current and up-to-date, so you guys know what's going on in the metal world today. Of course, I'll play some old favorites, but a majority of my sets are going to be newer tracks and unreleased music, so you can hear it first.

Another change I've made, which was difficult for me, is eliminating hardcore and post-hardcore. I currently play early post-hardcore on Algorhythm and hardcore doesn't really belong on a (already broad) metal show. Hardcore is punk and I hope that one day we'll have a better show to play it on, but this isn't the appropriate place for it. That said, I'll still be playing some metalcore.

With this show, I hope to discover and share some truly great metal and to quell the ideas that metal is just a gimmick, or that is has no artistic value and is just a joke. I want people to take this show and metal as a genre more seriously, so I am steering clear of the cheese and the gimmicks. If you're interested in expanding your tastes and keeping current on your underground favorites, this is your show. If you only want to call and request your personal metal anthem every week, this probably isn't the show for you.

Again, this will be some discovery for me as well so I encourage you to suggest bands, albums, etc. Send me your band's album, demo, whatever. Give me your feedback, good and bad, on the show.

Also, I hope to do more album and ticket giveaways in the future, and I'll update the I_LOVE_ZUCKERPENIS page with news of those events and other upcoming concerts.

I hope you guys have been enjoying the show so far. Thanks for listening \m/

xoxo,
Lauryn



email: wrasmetal88@gmail.com

blog: http://www.wrasmetal.blogspot.com

phone: 404-413-9727 (WRAS)



submissions:



WRAS-Atlanta

We're Not Gonna Take It

Georgia State University

P.O. Box 3973

Atlanta, GA 30302-3973
Last edited by spookyapplesauce on Thu June 28th, 2012, 3:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Moloc » Thu June 28th, 2012, 8:33 am

Do you have it in your power to change the name of the show? Or at least not play the theme song?

I welcome all the changes. Your post makes me want to listen to 88 again.

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Post by spookyapplesauce » Thu June 28th, 2012, 12:30 pm

Thanks, I hope you do tune in. Especially now that we are streaming.

I have tried to change the name of the show. The upper management will not let me because "it's always been called that" as if that is a valid argument. I tried to argue that the name does not represent the show as it is now, the name is from a commerical artist/song, and that it makes people view the show as a joke... but I had no luck. Some folks are afraid of change.

I have not been playing the song though. I will not play it ever ever again. *cringe*

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Post by Moloc » Thu June 28th, 2012, 1:49 pm

Would it help if I wrote upper management a letter (a polite letter) stating that "We're Not Gonna Take It" is just the cheesiest name for a metal show you can think of, especially now that it's going to be overhauled and made better?

Jordon once got really mad at me for playing it at the wrong speed (78 rpm) so often and made me promise that I wouldn't do it again. So, I said, "fine" and the very next week I played a song called "We're Not Gonna Take It" by The Who from the "Tommy" soundtrack. He was livid! That was fun!

Another segment I used to do on the show was Heavy Metal Poetry Corner: I would take lyrics from Cannibal Corpse or Carcass or something like that and recite them with a straight face with orchestral music in the background.

Ah, memories... I miss radio.

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Post by spookyapplesauce » Thu June 28th, 2012, 2:06 pm

I doubt it, but it couldn't hurt. I thought about doing a petition and having people sign it, because so many people have been asking about changing the name... but I think it would just really piss them off. I don't know why they care. They don't even like/understand metal.

Heavy Metal Poetry Corner sounds awesome, by the way.

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Post by BlackRoija » Thu June 28th, 2012, 2:08 pm

Twisted Sister is a top tier band, I don't see the problem

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Post by spookyapplesauce » Thu June 28th, 2012, 2:11 pm

BlackRoija wrote:Twisted Sister is a top tier band, I don't see the problem
With changing the name or with keeping it?

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Post by BlackRoija » Thu June 28th, 2012, 2:13 pm

Keeping it. Twisted Sister has the same sound as Judas Priest to a significant degree but if my show was named Breaking the Law I wouldn't have any issues.

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Post by Moloc » Thu June 28th, 2012, 2:21 pm

Change it to a good Twisted Sister song then--something like "Knife in the Back" perhaps.

"Breaking the Law" -- I think you've got your new show name, Spooky!

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Post by spookyapplesauce » Thu June 28th, 2012, 2:23 pm

BlackRoija wrote:Keeping it. Twisted Sister has the same sound as Judas Priest to a significant degree but if my show was named Breaking the Law I wouldn't have any issues.
I'd much prefer Breaking the Law to this.

Twister Sister is commercial. Associated with gimmicks and cheese. The song itself is a staple at like Basketball games and shit and it's not really even metal. Maybe if I was all about some hair metal and glam metal, I'd cherish the name and I'd play Poison and Motley Crue and shit all day.

That's not the direction the show is going in and I want to move away from ideas of metal being a joke, metal being nothing but gimmicks. My target audience is not just meatheads or angsty pimply-faced teens. I want to reach people who love music, who love metal, and are interested in exploring and learning in general. The name represents a certain idea that does not accurately represent what I'm doing. It scares people away.

Anyway, the name does not seem to be going anywhere any time soon so I'll just be focusing on the "Metal on Mondays" aspect of it. That's boring, but it's more neutral.

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Post by BlackRoija » Thu June 28th, 2012, 2:30 pm

Moloc wrote:Change it to a good Twisted Sister song then--something like "Knife in the Back" perhaps.
It already IS a good song, idk what you're talking about.
spookyapplesauce wrote:
The song itself is a staple at like Basketball games and shit and it's not really even metal. Maybe if I was all about some hair metal and glam metal, I'd cherish the name and I'd play Poison and Motley Crue and shit all day.
It's most definitely metal, don't let the band's image (hardly glam; "shock rock" is a different thing) distort the sound, which is just straight up catchy heavy metal. Whether it's accessible or not really says nothing about the quality.
spookyapplesauce wrote: That's not the direction the show is going in and I want to move away from ideas of metal being a joke, metal being nothing but gimmicks. My target audience is not just meatheads or angsty pimply-faced teens. I want to reach people who love music, who love metal, and are interested in exploring and learning in general. The name represents a certain idea that does not accurately represent what I'm doing. It scares people away.
I wrote a letter to the editor in my school's paper in response to an article that espoused the same attitude, I'll try to find it because I think it'd be a good idea for you to read it.

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Post by BlackRoija » Thu June 28th, 2012, 2:33 pm

For perspective, I host WREKage which is as far as I can tell a highly respected college metal show and I play Twisted Sister all the time, and nobody ever gives me shit for being too "commercial".

Here's the topic with the article and my response I mentioned:

http://forum.atlantametal.net/viewtopic ... 30&start=0

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Post by spookyapplesauce » Thu June 28th, 2012, 2:40 pm

You're right. The image doesn't necessarily say anything about the quality of the music, but that doesn't stop most people from judging based on image alone. For that reason, I would prefer to develop my show image more carefully. It's hard to do that when it already has a pretty strong reputation that is so far from what I want people to understand about it now

I don't mind if you play Twisted Sister or any other commercial band. Your station has a different format from mine and your show has a different mission statement. I personally do not want to play commercial music. I want to help the bands that actually need my help and exposure. That's the college radio mission. You can do what you want with your show. Obviously it is liked and respected. I want my show to focus on different things. If I want to listen to Twister Sister or any other commercial artist, I can turn on commercial radio OR just quickly look it up on YouTube or Spotify. My show is not for the complacent.

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Post by Moloc » Thu June 28th, 2012, 3:10 pm

BlackRoija wrote:
Moloc wrote:Change it to a good Twisted Sister song then--something like "Knife in the Back" perhaps.
It already IS a good song, idk what you're talking about.
No, it's not. It's soooooo bad. The only thing good about that song is its music video. I'd rather listen to someone who can't play the banjo play the banjo or listen to someone strangle a trumpet, which I can listen to on WREK during the day if I want that. :) :o :shock:

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Post by spookyapplesauce » Thu June 28th, 2012, 3:10 pm

BlackRoija wrote:
Here's the topic with the article and my response I mentioned:

http://forum.atlantametal.net/viewtopic ... 30&start=0
I read both articles and you both have some valid points.

Truth is, people listen to metal for different reasons. That can include technical proficiency, head-banging riffs, defiant and/or shocking behaviors and attitudes, fuck off lyrics, etc.

Me, I don't much care about any of those. I don't even consider myself to be a metalhead. I appreciate the innovative aspects, the dark tones, the genre fusions, the genuine vocals, the emotions, the rhythms. I like good songwriting and I couldn't care less about image, attitude, or guitar wankery.

Some people are seriously into metal for artistic value, for beautiful music that speaks to them. Others prefer something loud and angsty to headbang to and they enjoy the attitude and culture that go along with that. There's no wrong way or reason to enjoy metal. But obviously some people are going to be turned off by the more gimmicky culture and dismiss the genre as a whole. That is what I think Kessler finds most sad. As do I. Sure plenty of folks in the metal scene will say "FUCK that, we don't want to be appealing." In my opinion, going out of your way to be super unappealing is just as, if not more, stupid as trying to be accessible. Make music that you love, try new things, and don't worry if the average person doesn't appreciate it. Plenty of people will.

All of that said. I respect WREKage. My changes to WNGTI are not a commentary on what I think about WREKage. Your show works and people like it and it's fine the way it is. I don't feel that way about WNGTI currently. I think a lot of people have strayed in recent months, at least, and I'm taking this opportunity to make changes, improvements, and try a different approach. Like I said, there's more than one type of metal fan out there and maybe my show will reach some fans that yours doesn't necessarily appeal to. I hope you can respect that.

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