by Kevin Burton It turns out there really was a band called Sultans Of Swing that inspired the great 1978 Dire Straits hit. “Sultans Of Swing” is one of those tunes that stops you in your tracks. It just exudes cool. We tell its story, evoking a musical proverb from “Take It …
Category Archives: radio
The DJs Made Old-Time Radio Come Alive
by Kevin Burton Music fans who go back as far as the 80s and especially before, badly miss the old days of radio. You had music historians, actual musicians and others who loved music, choosing what records hit the airwaves. It was a wacky, fun time for listeners across musical genres. It was …
“If You Could Read My Mind” Is A Masterpiece
by Kevin Burton The greatest songwriters will leave room in their songs so you can climb in, look around and make yourself at home. Just be careful, there is going to be a mirror in there in the place you least expect. You’re going to see yourself. You’re going to be confronted. If …
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“Backward And Forward” And My Memories
by Kevin Burton I guess there’s a reason why melody and memory aren’t far apart in the dictionary. They go together like peas and porridge. And, for those who think there is something pejorative in the term “one-hit wonder,” well what about all those no-hit nobodies? We’re all doing our best then, …
We Watched Our Culture On Our Radios
by Kevin Burton The love we all had for radio and the vibrant world it brought to us, made it well worth risking the wrath of parents. All of us have stories of hiding that transistor radio under our pillows, trying to be quiet so our parents wouldn’t know we were still awake. …
Raised On Radio: Rush Makes A Statement
by Kevin Burton The Band Rush made a musical comment on the state of radio in 1980’s “The Spirit of Radio.” It took me more than 40 years to get wind of it. Though they made reference to the lyrics of two of my heroes, Simon and Garfunkel, in the song, they didn’t …
Video Killed Your Imagination, Not Radio
I think I’m done writing about MTV and Clear Channel for the moment, but I have one more thought on that Buggles tune, “Video Killed The Radio Star.” I raised the question without answering it in my Friday story: “If you could get your favorite top 40 hits, with pictures, moving pictures, wouldn’t that …
Clear Channel (iHeart) Killed The Radio Star
by Kevin Burton In the old days we turned on our radios for music, for news, for sports and weather forecasts, and we got all those things. But what we really loved, and what kept us coming back for more, was the way those things were delivered, something that was woven throughout the …
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Raised On Radio: MTV And Killer Video
by Kevin Burton In J.G. Ballard’s short story “The Sound-Sweep,” the main character is a non-verbal boy who has the job of vacuuming up all the stray sounds in a world without music. He befriends an opera singer living in an abandoned recording studio. The opera singer is destitute, having been displaced from …
Good Riddance Steve Physioc, Go Royals
by Kevin Burton The Royals lost their season-opening baseball game to Minnesota 2-0 Thursday. The prediction I saw last week said the team would lose 103 games this year. So why am I newly pumped about the team? The team has promoted Jake Eisenberg, who had been doing play-by-play for its Omaha …
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