Maybe this will remove System of a Down from my radio

<----WORST BAND EVER

I am no fan of Noel Gallager. Whiny, bitchy, pretentious rock stars don’t do it for me. That said, his thoughts on System of a Down are so spot on that I am almost willing to give him a pass on the next ridiculous thing he says.

"After I heard System of a Down, I thought, I’m actually alive to hear the shitiest band ever. Of all the bands that have gone before and all the bands that’ll be in the future, I was around when the worst was around."

Alleluia brother, and can I get an Amen from the congregation? Holy cow does SOAD suck. They suck worst than Starlite Vocal Group played at 78 rpm. They suck worse than taking a savage beating while listening to the Chipmunks at 140 decibels. Every time I hear SOAD’s god-awful lead singer wail out some off kilter tremolo, I want to jam an ice pick into each ear. They are indeed the WORST BAND EVER.

Which leads to the inevitable question of how such dreadfulness makes its way onto the airwaves? How does an atonal, and frankly, weird band get a veritable cornucopia of spins on the radio? The answer is payola. The big distributors (Sony BMG, Warner, Universal, and EMI) pay off the big radio companies and/or local stations with money and gifts to ensure that their acts get a certain amount of play in a given market. It is very illegal, very hard to track, and has been around pretty much since radio began playing pop music (see Freed, Alan). It also means that playlists are bloated with crap and repetitive to boot.

In an effort to crack down on this practice, the FCC has reached a settlement with radio station that hits said stations squarely in the pocketbook and may force a bit of variety back on the airwaves.

Four major broadcast companies would pay the government $12.5 million and provide 8,400 half-hour segments of free airtime for independent record labels and local artists, The Associated Press has learned.

To my mind, this can only bring good things. Commercial radio needs to heal itself and giving indies a chance to compete is a great start. Maybe, just maybe, SOAD, Matchbox 20, Nickelback, etc. will yield to something worthwhile. Until that day, I have Sirius.