Recommended Viewings

I highly recommend the following music-related videos/movies:

Genghis Blues: I understand that Paul P. died last week. He wrote "Jet Airliner" and he was the first non-native to win the Tuvan throat-singing contest. This movie documents the latter accomplishment. Outstanding stuff.

Stop Making Sense: Stop whining -- it is still the best concert movie of all time. At least it is until I make one for XTC -- anyone want to join me?

Urgh! A Music War: This was my first concert movie. I want to make the sequel. Anyone want to join me?

The Mayor of the Sunset Strip: Rodney B. is the ultimate DJ -- in both the best and the worst senses of the term.

Tom Dowd and the Language of Music: Tom was the real-life version of Zelig. He had an amazing knack for being at the right place at the right time in music history. Of course, a lot of that knack came from his smarts and his musical abilities.

Some Kind of Monster: I hate Metallica. I loved this movie.

Dig!: Like "Some Kind of Monster" this movie is an interesting glimpse into the rivalry between two huge and self-destructive egos.

End of the Century: I followed the Ramones since almost the beginning (I was very young when I started). I still learned some things.

Live Forever: This BBC documentary looks at the rise and fall of Britpop with a few excursions into some other realms.

The Beatles Anthology: John was my favorite Beatle. Now it's a tie between John and George, and now I would rather hang out with Ringo.

This Is Spinal Tap: This is still the best mockumentary of all time, though it might as well be a documentary.

A Hard Day's Night: This is (in a sense) a mockumentary, too. So maybe the category of "Best Mockumentary" now has a tie.

I'm sure that I have forgotten some -- I may post more in the future.

Introduction

I still don't have a syllabus prepared for the "course" -- if you have any suggestions for future shows or musical movements to feature from the past 50+ years of college music, please let me know (either here or at collegemusic101@yahoo.com).

For anyone who accessed this site without hearing about it from WRVU Nashville, this blog concerns the radio show College Music 101: Now & Then. You can access the webcast at www.wrvu.org or access the last show at www.wrvu.org/schedule.html (or just click the Show Schedule link from the main page and look for "College Music 101").

I won't cover new-school rap or jam bands (aka noodle music, spinny music, faux-Dead music). Although college radio plays these genres, they didn't depend on college radio to build their audiences. Old-school rap did rely on college radio to get past its initial audience, so I may include it as well as some instrumental hip hop and electronica (for the same reason).

I will mostly concentrate on college rock and emphasize the years 1975 to 1990 -- what I consider the golden years of college radio. The "Then" portion of the show covers the years 1953 (the year WRVU started) to last year. The "Now" portion of the show covers brand-new music.