Monday, April 24, 2006

XFM Cometh.... and disappointeth


The indie credential, who were really cheerleadering XFM's move to Manchester on their blog, have become sorely disenchanted with the new XFM Manchester on account of their playlist. And they're not the only ones. I've read more than a few bloggers grumbling about it, and take a gander at the XFM messageboard - the criticisms are all the same: too much dad rock, MOR, old baggy anthems and mid-table indie rock from the 90s, not enough of the new, edgy indie bands and quirkily selected mix of old tunes we all heard from London on DAB or the internet. And what's up with the repetitive bangin' techno on a Saturday night? - you might as well be listening to Key 103.

I'm listening right now, and as I've been writing this we've had Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus, which they seem to play a lot( if they want to play DM, there are much better, less-mainstream choices...) That muzak-like Groove Armada song about sand dunes and salty air. A Muse song. Some crappy late REM (see DM comment). Some Madchester band so boring I've forgotten their name. Radiohead. Nirvana. Joss Stone. I think that's a fairly representative sampling.

So in response, Indie Credential have created a my space site where people can register their displeasure with the new station. It's called XFM Manchester Sucks. Manchester will not sit back and listen to David Gray. Manchester deserves better. Thems fightin' words.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cheers for that Yankunian. You've hit the nail on the head. As I was reading this, The Ledge was moaning that he'd turned XFM on for 5 minutes and heard Hard-Fi, who are rapidly becoming my least favourite band ever, and the band most likely to turn me into a serial killer to stop them, and "Smells Like Teen Spirit," which is a great song, but if you're going to play old stuff, play different old stuff, not the same old songs day in and day out. We have Virgin for that.

And why oh why can we no longer get the XFM London station on digital? so yeah, come to the MySpace page and let people know how much you love to hear the same old songs forever ad nauseum.

fonebk.com said...

erm, can i take a moment to ask exactly what the hell you were all expecting? since when has music radio been niche market?? and ohmygod have you seen their website?

but no, wait a minute. they have a competition where if you win you can GO TO LONDON!!!

whooooooOOOOOOOOoooooooo (not)

Kate Feld said...

oooh - does this mean we have another manchester blogger to add to the blogroll, ffff?

Anonymous said...

Oh man... I can't pass up this excuse for another plug (hopefully yankunian won't block it -- we promise we'll plug you this week)...

you want good radio? Tune into HoodlumTribe.com on Wednesday between 9pm and midnight. I'll be co-hosting again, because this time Mat's out of town and I'll be working with the infamous Dunk Le Chunk. Last time we had a few great bloggers listening... we love it when you send us messages.

Kate Feld said...

Mr. Maaaaasssss, the next plug is going to cost you 50 cents. And every time you use the word yankunian to describe yourself it's 75 cents. he he he.

Anonymous said...

What's that, 27 pence? Money well spent.

What if I call them invitations rather than plugs?

Anonymous said...

And actually, wasn't I here first? Apparently I'm being billed as "American Dave" again... the Hoodlum Tribe email newsletter used that, then there's a quiz at Fuel with it as well.... consider me branded. It'll be weird going back to the US and being just, you know, Dave. I'll need a new epithet. Any ideas?

Kate Feld said...

unamerican dave?

fonebk.com said...

add me, add me!

ISLAND MONKEY said...

My local radio station is fantastic. It's called All FM.