This last week, we visited the family cottage. Specifically, it’s my wife’s mother’s father’s, who bequeathed it unto two of his daughters upon moving into assisted living. It’s up near Wausau, WI, which means it’s a looong way to drive.
But 10 hours in a car left me plenty of time to pontificate on how much the radio stations in Midwestern states suck. Interspersed amid the 24/7 bible and country stations are a selection of oldies, but not good classic rock oldies–random oldies.
What I found interested was the ubiquity of these random oldies, as if DJs everywhere had attended an annoying music summit and agreed upon a selection. For example, as we approached the western border of Ohio, on came Dexys Midnight Runners’ “Come On Eileen”, a song I feel is safe to classify as a one hit wonder.
This time, it made me smile briefly. I commented to Liz that the song was an odd choice, and we discussed it for a moment, for as I stated, the car ride was long, so conversational topics tended to arise out of any minor stimuli to break the tedium.
Later, somewhere in Indiana, the song came on again. I thought that was unusual, since by then we were cruising different radio stations. Then we heard it again in Illinois. At that point, we were in the heart of the Midwest, and though the nation might hate Ohio as a whole, at least we have a more diverse culture. But in Illinois, we didn’t have more than one rock station available, so we endured it.
Then we heard the song again in Wisconsin, and at this point began to debate why this song was suddenly so popular again. All I can conclude is that, since it released in the 80s, and music in the 80s was terrible, it’s a song for which the aging disco-era weirdos feel nostalgic. Who knows?
–Simon