Death of the radio: 2002

Not many people are aware, but the radio died in 2002. For me at least, and it should be for everyone else. Some may make the argument that it died the second the first britney spears/nsync/backstreet boys (you get the picture) song hit the airwaves, but there were other radio stations. The 'cool' ones that played throughout colleges across the country. The ones who weren't afraid to play Rage unedited at three in the morning. The independent radio stations that didn't have a selected play list, they just play what they felt like. The radio stations you tuned into your parents cars while you were driving only to find them changed back the next time you drove. The stations parents didn't want you to listen to. Back when alternative meant Beck (and Bush to some extent) not Maroon Five.

Maroon Five...the band that killed the radio...for me. I was in college when Songs About Jane came out. The songs were catchy, but still felt a bit outside the box. The songs then started to sound the same after they released a few of them. *Ironic moment: Maroon Five just came on the ipod...awkward* I remember walking across campus one day not too long after 'This Love' was released and it was everywhere. On the radio, now Mt. Pleasant didn't have too many modern music stations, so it was flooded with the songs that were popular at that moment. To that extent it was on VH1 and mtv. Yes, back when those channels played music videos.

Anyway, as I was walking across campus I stopped at a road and up pulled this sorority girl in her parents (allegedly) little sports car with her windows rolled down and stereo blaring. Blaring Maroon Five on the local pop radio station. She was getting all into it singing, head bobbing, and even moving her hand all around in that uncomfortable, you know you can't dance so while you're in the car you're gonna 'dance' using your hands. Most people will just play the air drums or tap on the steering wheel, but she wasn't most people.

The radio died that day. It was a sunny spring day on Central Michigan's campus. There was a slight breeze in the air, the kind of air that makes you want the weather to stay in the fifties all year just so you can enjoy it. As that sorority brat drove away in the car too expensive for any college kid to afford, she unknowingly drove the radio's hearse.