11/2 Missing Songs: Who Makes These Decisions?

[3david]

We're one week away from the 1st anniversary of the massacre, er, I mean murder...uh I mean merger of XM and Sirius.

Since that time:

50's fans are in a ruckus over what's happened to their channel;

60's channel, though slightly improved in recent weeks, is still basically the same 35 acts and 500 songs over and over, with a few hundred others thrown in twice an hour. If you can stand listening to the burnout songs, there are a few surprises these days.

70's channel has been in a rut for months, seemingly on autopilot with no significant changes; still largely Elton, Eagles, Earth Wind & Fire, Andy Gibb and the Doobies, with a few "cheesy" songs (but not nearly enough others, including some of the 70's biggest hits)

80's channel: Dad always said if you can't say something good about someone, just don't say anything. Hello Nina.

90's channel: We're adding songs. Now we're taking 'em away. Now we're adding them back. Whatever, dude.

So far, we've spotlighted 202 missing songs, and 45 have been re-added since Zellner/Blatter deleted them post-merger. Still a long way to go. Who's making decisions to keep hit songs off every one
of Sirius' 71 commercial-free all-music channels, like:

*** "That's What Friends Are For" by Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder ( # 1, 1985)
Yes, here we go again. A number-one song, not to be found on ANY Sirius FM channel. I had forgotten about it, to be honest. I heard it played yesterday in a department store, and saw a lady attempt to sing along with Gladys' show-stopping verse (Gladys won, again). Sirius has found room for 1982's "Fantasy" by Aldo Nova (# 23) on 5 channels. And yet there's no room for this one, anywhere. Pure Sirius genius.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGbnua2kSa8&feature=related


*** "It Must Be Him" by Vikki Carr ( # 3, 1967)
I'm sure the Sirius programmers don't know what to make of this song. It's not really a ballad, but it isn't Brit-rock, California-pop, Liverpool, English Invasion, Motown or bubblegum either. It's some female singer, but her name isn't Aretha, Petula or Dusty. So they simply don't have a round hole for this square peg of a song to fit in. Never mind it was a # 3 hit in the midst of everything else going on. The don't know who Vikki Carr is. Or they would play it, at least on one freaking channel. Preferably the 60's...did I mention it was a # 3 hit?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzG4ewJ9_kk


*** "Rockin' Roll Baby" by Stylistics ( # 14, 1973)
Few acts had more hits in the first half of the 70's than the Stylistics. And as you might expect, you can hear most of them on Sirius, just not on the 70's channel. And this nice uptempo song, a welcome departure for the Stylistics, is ignored, totally, on every channel. Even Soul Town, where most of the unwanted hits by black acts get dumped, won't touch this one. Fortunately, YouTube hasn't exiled it yet. Great intro too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OJQl8FENm0


BONUS SONG:
*** "I Just Can't Help Believing" by BJ Thomas ( # 9, 1970)
This one is played only on Escape, with all the elevator hits, about once a month. After all, it only went top 10, and BJ Thomas was only one of the most successful, recognizable voices of the top-40 era. Speaking of Escape, one must assume its elevator songs are familiar. So you can hear the instrumental ripoffs of 2 of the above Missing Songs ("It Must Be Him" and "That's What Friends are For") constantly on Escape. Yet their actual hit versions are deemed unfamiliar by the Sirius experts. Again, who's making these inane decisions?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb6TwmWeXNY&feature=related


BONUS BONUS:
*** "Wake Up Everybody" by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes ( # 12, 1975)
Another point I've proven many times over, is that the Sirius weasels, who obviously know little about music, are totally uninterested in quality. You would think that programmers of a national satellite music service might give its paying customers the credit and respect they deserve for being music lovers; people who are willing to pay for radio must really be into good music. But an absolutely amazing song like this, with a powerful, perennial message and a wonderful performance by Teddy Pendergrass cannot be heard on the 70's channel, ever. It's on Soul Town only.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itUrjWNGnZQ

[udfan07]

"That's What Friends Are For" by Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder ( # 1, 1985)

I love this song. I have good memories with this song. My mom played this song to me when I was young and I recently rediscovered this last week. Great song and it's too bad that Sirus can't play it anywhere. I could almost see it on the Bridge.

[Richie]

[that70sguy]

B. J. Thomas is one of my favorites, then and now. He had a lot of hits in the 70's, so why does SXM 7 play only "Don't Worry Baby?"

In addition to "Just Can't Help Believin", where's "Most of All, "Mighty Clouds of Joy." "Rock and Roll Lullaby"
"No Love At All" "Somebody Done Somebody Wrong" ???

And here's some trivia: He recorded a song called "That's What Friends Are For" in the 70's too. So maybe anything associated with that title is on Sirius's **** list.

[benale]

"It Must Be Him"was a great song,that sadly doesn't get any airplay on SiriusXM. I ve never heard it on Siriusly Sinatra or Escape,and of course you won't find it on the channel it belongs on, 6.

I ve said it before and I ll say it again: Why aren't we hearing Vicki Carr,Sinatra,Dean Martin,Herb Alpert,etc on the 60s on 6? All these artists had major hits and are nowhere to be found on the channel that proclaims they play "all the 60s hits".

Vicki Carr #3, Dean Martin,Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong each had #1 hits in the 60s, Al Martino Herb Alpert and Tony Bennett had Top 10 songs,and the list goes on and on.

The MOR hits were a huge part of the makeup of the music of the 60s. Why can't SiriusXM 6 understand this?

[AZjoe]

[seventhdwarf]

It Must Be Him, a classic. Too MOR, too passe, too good for Sickius Sicks.

Mighty Clouds of Joy is one of the best pop songs ever. But all you will get from Sickius Sicks Time-Life BJ Thomas is Hooked On A Feeling. I Just Can't Help Believing has not been released on Time-Life. So, forget about it.

Rockin Roll Baby, like all Stylistics songs, should be part of a 3000 songs rotation on Sickius Sicks and Soul Hamlet.

But, this is Sickius. And, we are not gonna get anything, but Supremes, Beach Boys, Stones, Four Seasons, Four Tops.

[ALR]

Sirius management continues to program a mass appeal format to a niche audience. As long as the current arrogant ignorant management team stays in place this will continue. Other companies that offer pay for view type services have learned that you superserve your "A" type listeners with special shows developed for them, constant communication with them to build buzz and get feedback, and pushing the envelope. Sirius on the other hand offers the most bland programming possible, has contempt for its listeners and pushes no envelopes. The numbers speak for themselves" Over 6 millions subscribers dumped the service in the first two quarters. No doubt, over 10 million will cancel this year. Sirius management, you have alot to be proud about!

[Troglodyte]

This thread is making me very sad because all the songs 3David mentioned were most likely played on Sirius's "Movin Easy" channel, my favorite channel, which was murdered and thrown in the river (with Soulstreet) about a year ago (Backspin and The Strobe were rescued). It was an MOR channel but NOT elevator music. I feel like I'm being shook down for my subs every month. I'm still sad. I need a drink.........

[Richie]

[Thomps2525]

ALR, you said that Sirius programs a "mass appeal format." Are you sure you meant to
type that first "m" in there?

[blevins1491]

Thanks for the link to "Rockin' Roll Baby." It brings back memories of a time when even a # 14 song was great, and got played a lot, because there were always 20-25 current songs that were actual hits...and they turned over every 3 months or so for another great bunch of hits. Unlike now, when the top 20 is pretty much unchanged for a year or so.

About the only reason I can figure for the staleness of the Sirius Decades channels is the lack of hands-on programmers. Under XM, each channel had a programmer who took care of that channel. Now, the Decades channels are overseen by Sirius types who each have several channels. They park a few familiar songs on the decade channels, then ignore them.

Lou Simon has added a few songs to the 60's, but 90 percent of the time, you turn it on and hear the usual overplayed songs.

The 80's replaced Casey Kasem with Nina Blackwood. How's that for improvement?

[musicfan19]

BJ Thomas did some great songs, and I wish Sirius XM would play more of them. Thanks to Cousin Brucie for an unexpected treat last night. He played "Everybody's Out Of Town" BJ's follow-up to "Raindrops." It wasn't that big a hit, but I'm so tired of "Raindrops" and "Hooked On A Feeling" that it was nice to hear something different.

I wish the other 60's live jocks could play some requests like Brucie, like in the "good old days" of XM!

[Cool80sfan]