Thursday, March 15, 2012

Don’t use a song that conflicts with your image

















Here in Boise the early morning Kevin Miller talk show on KIDO-AM sometimes uses questionable rock music. He usually follows a series of commercials with a brief clip (bumper music) that repeats the title words from the 1982 song Up All Night by the Irish punk-rock group, The Boomtown Rats.

Kevin may think he’s describing how seriously he prepares for that show. The message I get instead is that he’s another blowhard carpetbagger who’s mocking this town as being far too quiet. That's because those lyrics also say:

“It’s an agreeable town,
it’s neat and sedate.
Why even the muggers
are off the streets by eight.”

The video with snakes also doesn’t fit his “Mr. Right” social conservative image. Did he ever listen to the whole song or watch the video? Perhaps an intern snipped out that clip for him. Last April I pointed out how Kevin has also used Prince’s Raspberry Beret for bumper music.

Popular songs with memorable, upbeat tunes, like Pumped Up Kicks and Sunny Came Home, can have very dark lyrics.

The Burmese Python image came from Wikimedia Commons.

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