I wonder if I'm being a little too petty.
Let me explain. Those of you who've listened to the station know that for the 13 or 14 years we've been doing this thing called “Upper Michigan's Favorite Friday”, in which we take listener votes for Upper Michigan's favorite song by a particular artist or along a particular theme. I usually don't have an opinion on which song wins; after all, it's not Jim's favorite song by a particular artist or along a particular theme, it's Upper Michigan's favorite, and my vote is just one out of 300,000. Once we find out the winner, we play a liner before we play the winning song, saying something along the lines of “Q107-WMQT, with the song you voted as Upper Michigan's favorite ______ song ever”. After all, if the song wins the honor, it should be noted for everyone listening, right?
Well, I'm gonna come clean here, because there's one winning song for which we don't play the liner. I know that because I played it yesterday. And since I'm the one who schedules the liners, I think that maybe I'm allowing my personal opinion to override the votes of all of our listeners. And I don't know if that's a good thing. I'll let you guys decide.
I think I've written here too many times about my admiration for the talent of and the songs written by Brian Wilson. I think he's one of the iconic pop composers of the last 50 years, and when you dive into the breadth of his work for The Beach Boys, you just walk away stunned. I don't think anyone would disagree, and I think everyone can name at least one song of his from the group's catalog that puts a smile on their face.
And yet listeners, twice, have picked “Kokomo”, a schlocky piece of movie soundtrack fodder recorded 20 years after the group's heyday, as Upper Michigan's favorite Beach Boys song ever. Not “Good Vibrations”, not “God Only Knows”, not “California Girls”, but “Kokomo”, a song recorded by only two or three members of the original group and featuring among its four co-writers only one of those two or three original members. That would be like Bernie Leadon and Don Felder recording a Randy Meisner song and having people vote for it as Upper Michigan's favorite Eagles song ever.
It's just not right.
Now, like I said, maybe I'm a little biased here. Maybe my admiration for Brian Wilson and the work of the original group is clouding my judgment. But I don't consider “Kokomo” a Beach Boys song. Sure, it's a song recorded by people who call themselves “The Beach Boys”, but does it stack up next to anything the original group recorded? I don't believe so. But a plurality of our listeners do, which is why it's been twice voted as “Upper Michigan's favorite Beach Boys song ever”. And since you can't change the results of an election by, oh, threatening to sue or threatening to throw out votes or by just refusing to acknowledge the results, I'll just have to protest my own way.
By not scheduling the liner before the song every time it plays.
Yes, I know it's petty. It's like a six year old holding their breath because they can't have a Snickers bar for dinner. I should take the high road and play the liner before the song; after all, the song won the vote, and often times in a democracy your candidate doesn't win. A big person accepts the results and moves on.
A sore loser doesn't play the liner. A sore loser can be a bit petty about it all. And that, in this instance, describes me.
Sorry about that. I will be a better person than that.
8-)
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