Access Atlanta > Entertainment > Radio Talk > Archives > 2007 > January > 30
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
1/31: What happened to the novelty record?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sean Ross, a radio consultant at Edison Media Research, writes about the lack of novelty records on the radio nowadays.
No “Disco Duck.” Or “Hooked on Classics.” Or “Pac-Man Fever.” Or more recently, “Because I Was High” or “Baby Got Back.” We had “Laffy Taffy” a little while back. But the pure novelty record seldom hits the airwaves anymore. Even Weird Al Yankovic’s “White & Nerdy,” while getting tons of video airplay and digital single sales on iTunes, barely got airplay on the radio.
Do you miss the occasionally wacky, strange songs hitting the airwaves, the types of songs you know won’t ever be heard again a few years down the road but are fun for a few spins? As Sean notes, country radio will occasionally nab a “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off” or “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.” But top 40? Not much going on there though you can argue every Gwen Stefani or Fergie/Black-Eyed Peas song has novelty elements to it. (Yodeling anybody? My humps?). And “Smack That” is certainly a goofy come-on line if I’ve ever heard one.
He also wondered why radio didn’t jump on that SNL “Lazy Sunday” song a year ago that helped jumpstart youtube’s popularity or the more recent hilarious takeoff starring Justin Timberlake, “[bleep] in a box.”
As one person noted on Sean’s blog:
Don Rice on January 25, 2007 05:21 AM
Thank you for saying what I’ve been thinking since “Lazy Sunday” first aired. I believe that programmers have become afraid to have any kind of fun with their stations. Or is it just lack of vision? Looks like Tivo got all the TSL on that high quality piece of pop culture! Just one more reason radio sucked in 2006
