THE TOP 115 OF 2015

It's the end of the year, so there has to be a countdown, right?  Newcomer Big Data tops the list of songs you gave the thumbs up.  The Clash, Ramones and Social Distortion are in a three way tie for most songs in the countdown.  Here is the Top 115 of 2015:

1. Dangerous – Big Data
2. Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand
3. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4. Change the World – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
5. Woman – Wolfmother
6. Know Your Rights – Clash
7. Violet – Hole
8. Human Fly – Cramps
9. Strangelove – Depeche Mode
10.  Song 2 – Blur
11.  I Was Wrong – Social Distortion
12. Porch – Pearl Jam
13. Nearly Lost You – Screaming Trees
14.  Incinerate – Sonic Youth
15.  Suspect Device – Stiff Little Fingers
16.  Maxwell Murder – Rancid
17.  Communist Eyes – Germs
18.  Cannonball – Breeders
19.  Drug Train – Social Distortion
20.  Merchandise – Fugazi
21.  Got the Time – Anthrax
22.  Seether – Veruca Salt
23.  Fall Behind Me – Donnas
24.  I Wanna Be Where the Boys Are – Runaways
25.  Teen Age Riot – Sonic Youth
26.  Celebrity Skin – Hole
27.  Breathe – Prodigy
28.  Bittersweet Symphony – Verve
29.  Ring of Fire – Social Distortion
30.  Rockaway Beach – Ramones
31.  God Save the Queen – Sex Pistols
32.  All Apologies – Nirvana
33.  Look Back and Laugh – Minor Threat
34.  Bad Reputation – Joan Jett
35.  American Idiot – Green Day
36.  The Passenger – Iggy Pop
37.  Blood Sugar Sex Magic – Red Hot Chili Peppers
38.  Self Esteem – Offspring
39.  Clampdown – Clash
40.  Suburban Home – Descendents
41.  Los Angeles – X
42.  Tighten Up – Black Keys
43.  Love In Plaster – Hives
44.  Corona – Minutemen
45.  We Are the One – Avengers
46.  1 2 X U – Wire
47.  Halloween II – Misfits
48.  Waiting Room – Fugazi
49.  Questioning My Sanity – L7
50.  My Hero – Foo Fighters
51.  Empty Head – Screaming Females
52.  Henrietta – Fratellis
53.  Let’s Dance – David Bowie
54.  Quitter – Rhones
55.  It Haunts You Now – Go Betty Go
56.  If You Could Only See – Tonic
57.  Paul Revere – Beastie Boys
58.  Indecent – Spunk Lads
59.  Radio – New Hell Republic
60.  Alternative Ulster – Stiff Little Fingers
61.  Pronoia – Strange Wilds
62.  Underground – Sneaker Pimps
63.  House of the Rising Sun – Adolescents
64.  Straight To Hell – Clash
65.  Radar Love – Ministry
66.  Bodies – Sex Pistols
67.  Repeater – Fugazi
68.  Sappy – Nirvana
69.  Kids In America – Kim Wilde
70.  I Hate Myself For Loving You – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
71.  Natural One – Folk Imposion
72.  Howlin’ For You – Black Keys
73.  My Generation – Green Day
74.  I Just Wanna Have Something To Do – Ramones
75.  New Wind – 7 Seconds
76.  The Hardest Button To Button – White Stripes
77.  What Love Is – Dead Boys
78.  Kiss Them For Me – Siouxsie and the Banshees
79.  Friction – Television
80.  Wild Thing – X
81.  Lexicon Devil - Germs
82.  Wendy – Descendents
83.  Supermassive Black Hole – Muse
84.  Personality Crisis – New York Dolls
85.  Ven Cerca – Girl In A Coma
86.  Nazi Punks Fuck Off – Dead Kennedys
87.  Spoonman – Soundgarden
88.  Rise – Public Image Ltd.
89.  Closer – Nine Inch Nails
90.  One Way Or Another – Blondie
91.  Straight Ahead – Pennywise
92.  Stranger Than Fiction – Bad Religion
93.  Rocket – Smashing Pumpkins
94.  Prisoner of Society – Living End
95.  What Do I Get? – Buzzcocks
96.  We Care A Lot – Faith No More
97.  Crimson Wave – Tacocat
98.  Queer – Garbage
99.  Search and Destroy – Iggy and the Stooges
100. The KKK Took My Baby Away - Ramones
101. Two of a Kind – Beat Dolls
102. Precious – Pretenders
103. Pigs In Zen – Jane’s Addiction
104. Gone Daddy Gone – Violent Femmes
105. Sweet Jane – Velvet Underground
106. Give It Away – Red Hot Chili Peppers
107. Just Like Heaven – The Cure
108. Jocko Homo – Devo
109. Wild in the Street – Circle Jerks
110. Kick Me to the Curb – Dollyrots
111. When You Find Out – Nerves
112. Kick Out the Jams – Bad Brains with Henry Rollins
113. Plowed – Sponge
114. Scoff – Nirvana
115. Ghost Town – Specials

WHAT'S GOING ON (in the middle of December)

Midway through December, KJRW is back in the top 20% of the stations streaming on Live365.com.  People are spending more time with us, listening to all the cover tunes.  Your favorite songs currently are:

1. All I Want - Offspring
2. Holiday In Cambodia - Dead Kennedys
3. Imagine - A Perfect Circle
4. Come On, Let's Go - Girl in a Coma
5. Scoff - Nirvana
6. Friend to Friend in Endtime - Lungfish
7. Ghost Town - Specials
8. Porch - Pearl Jam
9. Clampdown - Clash
10. Plowed - Sponge

Watch this space for the big list of all your favorite songs of the year, the Top 115 of 2015 later this month.  KJRW adds Punk Rock Christmas tunes to the mix this week.  

FYI, since Last Monday falls between Christmas and New Year's this month, our guest round of the Shadowland Pub Quiz is postponed until Monday, January 4, 2016.

WHAT'S GOING ON (at the beginning of December)

We're a week into December and KJRW has been Under the Covers.  There were 500 visits to the station page this week.  There are back-to-back Joan Jett songs on your favorite song list this week, which makes our Jetthead Program Director happy.  There are also a couple cover songs.  Maybe there will be more next time.

1. Scoff - Nirvana
2. Plowed - Sponge
3. Porch - Pearl Jam
4. Suspect Device - Stiff Little Fingers
5. I Wanna Be Where the Boys Are - Runaways
6. Change the World - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
7. Sheena Is a Punk Rocker - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
8. Wild Thing - X
9. 1 2 X U - Wire
10. Fell in Love with a Girl - White Stripes

KJRW Declares War on Christmas later this month!  

Get Under the Covers with KJRW all winter long!

WHAT'S GOING ON (at the Beginning of Our 6th Year)

Hello and welcome to December, the beginning of KJRW's 6th year online!  We launched 5 years ago with the Presidents of the U.S.A.'s cover of the MC5's Kick Out the Jams.  Consequently, we kick out our 6th year with covers.  It's our most popular feature, so we're starting it early.  Get Under the Covers with KJRW all winter long!

All Request Fall came to a close as November and our 5th year online ended.  The most requested songs in November were:

1. Special - Garbage
2. When You Find Out - Nerves
3. Song 2 - Blur
4. I Only Fucked You As A Joke - Childbirth
5. Communist Eyes - Germs
6. Nearly Lost You - Screaming Trees
7. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
8. Celebrity Skin - Hole
9. Straight Ahead - Pennywise
10. N.W.O. - Ministry
11. Suburban Home - Descendents
12. Clampdown - Clash
13. 1 2 X U - Wire
14. What Love Is - Dead Boys
15. Breathe - Prodigy

KJRW's rank on Live365 went up because people spent more time listening to the station than they had in the previous month.  There were over 18 hundred visits to the station page in November.  People listened the most in:

1. U.S.A.
2. Czech Republic
3. Canada
4. Switzerland
5. Mexico
6. Colombia
7. Spain
8. Venezuela
9. Italy
10. Japan

Inside the U.S., listening was tops in:

1. Seattle, WA
2. San Francisco, CA
3. El Paso, TX
4. Albany, NY
5. Philadelphia, PA
6. Detroit, MI
7. Kansas City, MO
8. Austin, TX
9. Chicago, IL
10. Louisville, KY

Please help us start out our 6th year strong with a donation. KJRW is totally listener-supported.  We do not receive any money from the ads you hear on the station.  All the ad money goes to Live365.
And tell a friend about KJRW.  They'll thank you... or punch you.  We think it's worth the risk.

WHAT'S GOING ON (In the middle of November)

There are only a couple weeks left of ALL Request FALL on KJRW.  Here are the current most requested songs:

1. Halloween II - Misfits
2. My Hero - Foo Fighters
3. Celebrity Skin - Hole
4. Porch - Pearl Jam
5. Howlin' For You - Black Keys
6. Waiting Room - Fugazi
7. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
8. I Wanna Be Where the Boys Are - Runaways
9. Breathe - Prodigy
10. Suspect Device - Stiff Little Fingers

Remember to join us the last Monday of the month (November 30th) at the Shadowland Pub Quiz.   The trivia questions and Happy Hour food specials start at 8 p.m.  Win FREE drinks and more, where Oregon meets California in West Seattle.  There's NO ENTRY FEE, so Come Out and Play!

KJRW's 5th year online ends in a couple weeks.  You can help keep us online with a donation.  We begin our 6th year with your favorite feature, Under the Covers!  Punk Rock versions of Pop songs.  Punk Rock versions of Classic Rock songs.  Punk Rock versions of -- Punk Rock songs.  Get Under the Covers with KJRW this December and all winter long!

WHAT'S GOING ON (at the beginning of November)

 

 

Hey, look at all the folks who dressed up in costumes for the Halloween themed Shadowland Pub Quiz!  It was a fun night of thrills and chills. One trivia team answered all of the questions correctly in the KJRW round.  Scott M.X. hosts the quiz every Monday night at 8 p.m.  KJRW is there the last Monday of every month.

There were over sixteen hundred visits to the station page in October.  Hope you enjoyed the Great PUNKin Tunes as much as we did.  Your favorite songs of the month were:

1. Clampdown - Clash
2. What Do I Get? - Buzzcocks
3. Suburban Home - Descendents
4. It's A Shame About Ray - Lemonheads
5. When You Find Out - Nerves
6. Change the World - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
7. One More Minute - Authority Zero
8. We Care A Lot - Faith No More
9. Song 2 - Blur
10. Personality Crisis - New York Dolls

People listened the most in the U.S., Canada, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Spain, Mexico, Sweden, Germany, France and Angola.  Inside the U.S., listening was highest in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Tampa, Detroit, Kansas City, Chicago, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C.

November is the last month of our fifth year online.  You can help keep KJRW online with a donation.  It is also the last month of ALL Request FALL.  Get your requests in now while you can at kjrwwestseattle@yahoo.com.

WHAT'S GOING ON (In Mid-October)

We're midway through October and ALL Request FALL on KJRW.  The most-requested songs currently are:

1. Season of the Witch - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
2. All Apologies - Nirvana
3. Indecent - The Spunk Lads
4. Wanted To Be Your - Spoon
5. Empty Head - Screaming Females
6. Dangerous - Big Data
7. Paul Revere - Beastie Boys
8. Incinerate - Sonic Youth
9. I Was Wrong - Social Distortion
10. Quitter - The Rhones

Listen for the Great Punkin Tunes the rest of the October.  Get the KJRW Halloween T-shirt. 
And join us in costume THIS MONDAY at the Shadowland Pub Quiz.  Scott M.X. is Quizmaster Extraordinaire at Shadowland  every Monday night.   Shadowland is located at the corner of  California and Oregon in West Seattle.  Come Out and Play one of the rare INDEPENDENT trivia nights with NO ENTRY FEE.  Don't settle for a nationwide chain-quiz!  The Shadowland Pub Quiz is written fresh every week here in West Seattle.  KJRW presents the music question round the last Monday of each month.

WHAT'S GOING ON (At the Beginning of October)

September was a great month for KJRW.  The station reached its highest rank ever on Live365.com.
There were over 2 thousand visits to the station page last month.

People spent the most time listening to KJRW since last spring.  Where were they listening?  In the U.S., Canada, Switzerland, Spain, Argentina, Belarus, Sweden, New Zealand, Mexico and Italy.  Washington, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, New York, California, Tennessee, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Kentucky were the places inside the U.S. with the most listeners.

And we got to hang out with the Dollyrots at the Crocodile Café in the middle of September.

They are currently working on their first live CD/DVD.  You can get the scoop on that and even suggest a title they may use here:  http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/dollyrotslive/updates/59837.


ALL Request FALL continues on KJRW.  Send us some spooky Halloween song suggestions at kjrwwestseattle@yahoo.com.  The most requested tunes on KJRW right now are:

1. Dangerous - Big Data
2. Paul Revere - Beastie Boys
3. Quitter - Rhones
4. Indecent - Spunk Lads
5. I Was Wrong - Social Distortion
6. Empty Head - Screaming Females
7. Change the World - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
8. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
9. Incinerate - Sonic Youth
10. Look Back and Laugh - Minor Threat

WHAT'S GOING ON (In the middle of September)

ALL Request Fall is underway at KJRW.  You may email your song requests to kjrwwestseattle@yahoo.com.  The most requested songs playing on KJRW now are:

1. Incinerate - Sonic Youth
2. Look Back and Laugh - Minor Threat
3. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
4. I Was Wrong - Social Distortion
5. Change the World - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
6. Human Fly - Cramps
7. Know Your Rights - Clash
8. Tighten Up - Black Keys
9. The Passenger - Iggy Pop
10. Crimson Wave - Tacocat

Our rank among the thousands of stations on Live365 is climbing higher and higher.  We've been made a favorite station several more times.  KJRW has picked up a few more followers on twitter and facebook.

We designed a Special Edition T-shirt with tfund.  It is not available in the KJRW Corner Store.  It is only available here.  10 shirts need to be pre-ordered in the next 10 days, or the shirt will not get printed!  It's only $20 and part of that will go to keep our little radio-station-that-could chugging away. Please order a shirt today!

Last Monday is a little over a week away.  KJRW hosts the music round at the Shadowland Pub Quiz on the 28th at 8 p.m. in West Seattle.  This month's category is Alternative Rock Resumes.  Musicians who have been members of more than one successful band are highlighted.  Come Out and Play!

WHAT'S GOING ON (at the beginning of September)

Monday night's Shadowland Pub Quiz was rockin' and raucous. Rico walked away with the fan-made KJRW T-shirt for correctly guessing the lyrics: "You said irony was the shackles of youth" belonged to a song by R.E.M. (What's the Frequency, Kenneth?). We thank Scott M.X. for letting us invade his quiz show the last Monday of every month.  Scott hosts the Shadowland Pub Quiz in West Seattle Monday nights at 8.

The station's rank climbed a few notches in August. We hit the milestone of 70 thousand visits to the KJRW station page at Live365.com.  There were almost 2 thousand visits in August alone. VIPs spent more time with us in August than in the previous 3 months.  KJRW was made a favorite station the most times since January.  The Facebook page got a bunch more likes.  And we gathered another batch of followers on Twitter.

People were listening the most in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Belarus, Mexico, Italy, Japan and Belgium.

Inside the U.S., people spent the greatest amount of time with KJRW in:

• Seattle, WA
• Kansas City, MO
• Detroit, MI
• Philadelphia, PA
• Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
• Cincinnati, OH
• Atlanta, GA
• San Francisco, CA
• Albany, NY
• Boston, MA

The songs getting the thumbs up currently are:

1. Know Your Rights - Clash
2. Friction - Television
3. Don't Go - Yaz(oo)
4. Corduroy - Pearl Jam
5. Kiss Them for Me - Siouxsie and the Banshees
6. Tighten Up - Black Keys
7. Maxwell Murder - Rancid
8. Ven Cerca - Girl in a Coma
9. Strangelove - Depeche Mode
10. Seven Nation Army - White Stripes

It's the last week of New Wave Summer.  Grab your T-shirt before it leaves the KJRW Corner Store.

ALL REQUEST FALL begins after Labor Day. You may make requests by clicking the talk bubble on the station page, or by emailing kjrwwestseattle@yahoo.com.   You can even request your own band's music to be played if you include an mp3.

WHAT'S GOING ON (in the middle of August)

Halfway through August, the station page at Live365.com has been visited 800 times. Your favorite songs playing on KJRW currently are:

1. Give It Away - Red Hot Chili Peppers
2. Maxwell Murder - Rancid
3. Know Your Rights - Clash
4. Pronoia - Strange Wilds
5. Got the Time - Anthrax
6. Radio - New Hell Republic
7. Strangelove - Depeche Mode
8. Mountain Man - Crash Kings
9. New Wind - 7 Seconds
10. Let's Dance - David Bowie

There are only a few weeks left of New Wave Summer.  Get your T-shirt before it leaves the store!

And we are 2 weeks away from LAST MONDAY.  KJRW hosts the music round of the Shadowland Pub Quiz the last Monday of the month.  Shadowland is located at the corner of California and Oregon in West Seattle.  If you are in the area, come out and play!

TOP TEN TRACKS

A week (or so) into August, these are your favorite songs playing on KJRW:

1. Maxwell Murder - Rancid
2. Shout - Tears For Fears
3. Know Your Rights - Clash
4. New Wind - 7 Seconds
5. God Save the Queen - Sex Pistols
6. Rockaway Beach - Ramones
7. Pronoia - Strange Wilds
8. Got the Time - Anthrax
9. Ring of Fire - Social Distortion
10. Strangelove - Depeche Mode

We just uploaded about 40 more tunes.  If you like a song, click the thumb or arrow up while it's playing on KJRW, and you may see it in the next posted list.

WHAT'S GOING ON (at the beginning of August)

It's the middle of New Wave Summer on KJRW.  More streams were launched in July than in June.  We saw the milestone of being made a favorite station on Live365 over 700 times.  A bunch more people have followed us on twitter and liked the facebook page.  Click the links to do the same and get more frequent updates on KJRW.

Your current favorite songs are:

1. Communist Eyes - Germs
2. Let's Dance - David Bowie
3. Ring of Fire - Social Distortion
4. Radio - New Hell Republic
5. Drug Train - Social Distortion
6. Kids In America - Kim Wilde
7. Strangelove - Depeche Mode
8. God Save the Queen - Sex Pistols
9. Rockaway Beach - Ramones
10. American Idiot - Green Day

People listened the most in the U.S., Argentina, Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Belgium, New Zealand, Venezuela, Sweden and Serbia during July.  In the U.S., listening was highest in Washington, Texas, California, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York and Oregon.

Our first round of music trivia at the Shadowland Pub Quiz was well received.  We are looking forward to doing it again the last Monday of August.  If you are in the Seattle area, please come out and play.

FRANCES FARMER WILL HAVE HER REVENGE ON SEATTLE*

KJRW once again gives you a trivia night in West Seattle!  Beginning next Monday, July 27th, Program Director Julie will be presenting the music round of the Shadowland Pub Quiz the last Monday of every month.

Scott M.X. Turner hosts the Pub Quiz every Monday at 8 p.m. at Shadowland Bar and Restaurant, located at the corner of California and Oregon in West Seattle.  Scott says, "Come on down to one of Seattle's increasingly rare INDEPENDENT pub quizzes and trivia nights.  Don't settle for a nationwide chain-quiz available at 30 Seattle area bars.  The Shadowland Pub Quiz & Trivia Night is written fresh every week here in West Seattle."

It's FREE to play!  So mark your calendar for Monday night at 8, and brush up on your current events and New Wave music knowledge!



*Here's some trivia for you:  The title of this post is the title of a Nirvana song about actress Frances Farmer.  Shadowland is the title of a book by William Arnold about actress Frances Farmer.

WHAT'S GOING ON (in the middle of July)

New Wave Summer is in full swing on KJRW.  We've been enjoying songs from INXS, Blondie, Depeche Mode, Split Enz and more.  Listeners have made us a favorite station 700 times.  Your most liked tunes overall right now are:

1. Communist Eyes - The Germs
2. Los Angeles - X
3. Kids In America - Kim Wilde
4. American Idiot - Green Day
5. Nazi Punks Fuck Off - Dead Kennedys
6. Just Like Heaven - The Cure
7. Sappy - Nirvana
8. I Will Buy You A New Life - Everclear
9. It Haunts You Now - Go Betty Go
10. Questioning My Sanity - L7

KJRW will once again be hosting trivia in West Seattle. Watch this space for details.

WHAT'S GOING ON (at the beginning of July)

NEW WAVE SUMMER IS A HIT! Listening time has increased since New Wave Summer began on KJRW on June 22nd.  The average length of each stream launched in June was the highest since February.  More people visited the station page during the month of June than in any given month in the past couple years. Listeners added KJRW to their favorite lists more times than in the previous two months.  Consequently, the station's rank climbed.

VIPs spent more time listening than they did in May.  That puts a few pennies in our pockets. Speaking of VIP... If you sign up for a 12-month membership on the Fourth of July, you will receive an additional 4 months FREE. Click here.

People listened the most in the U.S., Belarus, Canada, Spain, France, Brazil, New Zealand, Switzerland, the U.K., and Peru. Listening in the U.S. was tops in our home of Seattle, Washington (as usual). Texas came in second due to 3 cities spending time with KJRW: San Antonio, Dallas and El Paso.  Other hot spots were Tampa, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Albany, New York; Detroit, Michigan; and San Francisco, California.

Your current favorite songs playing on KJRW are:

1. It Haunts You Now - Go Betty Go
2. Sappy - Nirvana
3. The Passenger - Iggy Pop
4. See No Evil - Television
5. Flying Saucer Attack - The Rezillos
6. Questioning My Sanity - L7
7. All Apologies - Nirvana
8. Repeater - Fugazi
9. Henrietta - The Fratellis
10. Drug Train - Social Distortion

New Wave Summer rolls on... and be sure to listen for "American" songs on the Fourth of July.

WHAT'S GOING ON (in the middle of June)

Your favorite tunes on KJRW in the middle of June are:

1. Repeater - Fugazi
2. Henrietta - Fratellis
3. Drug Train - Social Distortion
4. All Apologies - Nirvana
5. Ripe - Screaming Females
6. Supermassive Black Hole - Muse
7. Search and Destroy - Stooges
8. Pigs In Zen - Jane's Addiction
9. I Just Wanna Have Something To Do - Ramones 
10. Cannonball - Breeders

New Wave Summer rolls in next week!  The next top ten might include the Cars, Eurythmics or Men At Work...

WHAT'S GOING ON (at the beginning of June)

Are you ready for the Summer? New Wave Summer rolls in later this month!

Last month, our rank held steady on Live365. KJRW remains in the top 25 rock stations on the site. (There are over 500 of them.)

The average time people spent listening to KJRW in May was a bit higher than in April. The United States still tops the list of listeners, with the most time spent with KJRW in:

• Seattle, WA
• Chicago, IL
• Las Vegas, NV
• Atlanta, GA
• Philadelphia, PA
• Sacramento and Los Angeles, CA
• Detroit and Grand Rapids, MI
• Albany, NY
• Minneapolis, MN
• Orlando, FL

People are rocking out to KJRW in other parts of the globe, such as:  Canada, China, Spain, Belarus, Germany, New Zealand, Peru, Hungary and France.

Your favorite songs in May were:

1. We Are the One - Avengers
2. Straight To Hell - Clash
3. Lexicon Devil - Germs
4. Seether - Veruca Salt
5. Gone Daddy Gone - Violent Femmes
6. Two of a Kind - Beat Dolls
7. Everlong - Foo Fighters
8. Hey Girl - Tacocat
9. Self Esteem - Offspring
10. Fall Behind Me - Donnas

We noticed Live365 added pop up ads to our station page that start playing randomly.  We are as annoyed by this as you are.  We clicked on "Feedback" and told them, and so should you.  Once again, KJRW receives NO MONEY from ADS, pop up or otherwise. Download the FREE Live365 app to listen to KJRW without the pop up ads chiming in at odd moments.

AMERICAN IDIOT

"A recent study served to confirm the patently obvious: song lyrics for the most popular genres of music are ridiculously obtuse — and getting worse over time. Though this might not be a revelation, the figures are distressing indicators of both an intellectually vapid societal and cultural future as well as its apparent inevitability.

If you’ve already moved away from Billboard music, congratulations, you refuse to be insulted. But if you haven’t, or if you’re concerned about pop culture trends acting as portents of systemic dysfunction, you should probably pay attention. Andrew Powell-Morse of SeatSmart studied the “Lyric Intelligence” of 225 Billboard songs in the Pop, Country, Hip-hop, and Rock genres that spent three or more weeks parked at the top of the charts to analyze any changes over the course of ten years. And change there was.

Ten years ago, the most popular songs read between a third and fourth grade level, but the inanity only increased with time, and after a five-year downward tumble ending in 2014 (the last year of the study), chart-topping hits had a reading level equivalent to second or third grade. Broken into genres, the levels measured just 2.6 for Hip-hop/R&B, a tie of 2.9 for Rock and Pop, and faring best was Country at 3.3 — though declaring a winner in this insipid race to the bottom seems somewhat defeatist. Even further to that point, the most intellectually stimulating song, Blake Shelton’s Country hit “All About Tonight”, measured just 5.8, while wading deeply into the ludicrous was Three Days Grace’s “The Good Life”, at a level equivalent to 0.8 — begging the question, did they have to try to craft lyrics a kindergartner could easily read?

So how did this happen and why is it getting even worse? For the sake of brevity, this is a systemic issue being reinforced across the board by pandemic anti-intellectualism. Some have argued there is no harm in a bit of mindless distraction, but this is incontrovertibly false. When just six corporations control 90% of the media, and 80% of radio stations have identical playlists, mindless content isn’t a choice — it’s a virtual mandate. In this self-propelled cycle of banality, the conglomerates dictate content to be promoted by radio, which in turn pushes it endlessly, creating a false perception that what is being played is due to listener demand. But this insidious marketing ploy is more akin to kidnapping and is every bit as dangerous.

There is a dearth in music options over the airwaves, so when vacuous lyrics are foisted on listeners, they become captives under duress. It is scientifically proven that flexing the intellect can slow cognitive decline, but there has been a cultural shift away from stimulating thought in favor of homogenization and living for the moment, and empty radio content is both symptom and reinforcement of that trend. Society is focused on entertainment, materialism, and self-promotion, and when coupled with a need for instant gratification, it’s really no wonder we’re in such a sorry state. Occasional forays into mindless distraction would be understandable and harmless if they were just forays, but the foundation is faulty due to a sharp decline in quality education at every level.

Education has become the highest form of indoctrination with teachers forced into regurgitating information so their students can pass tests rather than become innovators and original thinkers. And who could blame them? Currently, they’re held to the ridiculous system where their performance is ranked, and salary determined by how those students perform on standardized tests that are, themselves, flawed. As Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, put it, “This country has spent billions on accountability, not on the improvement of teaching and learning at the classroom level.”

An education system based almost solely on taking tests is not only intellectually dimming, it’s stressful — instructors doling out the tests are given a set of instructions for what to do when students vomit on their test booklets. All of this is designed to send students to college where the situation is perpetuated. According toCatherine Liu, a film and media studies professor at the University of California, “We don’t educate people anymore. We train them to get jobs.”

From a political standpoint, all this ‘dumbing down’ makes sense: indoctrination creates obedience. If music and culture focus on mindless diversion, and education lacks, well, education, then people lack the acuity necessary to question the absurdity of the system. Those who manage to liberate themselves from this mold and have the gumption to question official authority will find a cozy spot on the government’s watch list. So while we bemoan our country’s lack of intellectual prowess, it isn’t by a failure of design.

The author of aptly titled Idiot America, journalist Charles Pierce, thoroughly summed up the issue this way:“The rise of idiot America today represents–for profit mainly, but also and more cynically, for political advantage in the pursuit of power–the breakdown of a consensus that the pursuit of knowledge is a good.”

Unfortunately, if the lyrics study is a prognostic omen, the epidemic of idiocy will only get worse."

- Written by Claire Burnish for theantimedia.org

WHAT'S GOING ON (in the middle of May)

Our host site, Live365 is currently conducting a survey by sending listeners an email with a link to the poll questions.  They mostly concern how you would like to monetarily support your favorite broadcasters.  The results we have seen show that people do not really like the idea of subscribing to Live365 and giving a fixed extra amount of money as a donation to their favorite station.  If you would like to support KJRW without going through Live365, you may visit our Go Fund Me page, and donate any amount you wish.  We have added rewards such as stickers, magnets and T-shirts for your contribution.


The Top Tracks on KJRW currently are:

1. Change the World - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
2. Self Esteem - The Offspring
3. We Are the One - The Avengers
4. Got the Time - Anthrax
5. Straight To Hell - The Clash
6. One Way Or Another - Blondie
7. Jocko Homo - Devo
8. Wild in the Street - Circle Jerks
9. Kick Me to the Curb - The Dollyrots
10. Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day

TOP TRACKS (APRIL)

The Top Tracks for April were:

1. Woman - Wolfmother
2. Shut Your Face - Bratmobile
3. Human Fly - The Cramps
4. Dangerous - Big Data
5. Precious - The Pretenders
6. Queer - Garbage
7. Bad Reputation - Joan Jett
8. Cannonball - The Breeders
9. Oh Come On - The Julie Ruin
10. Wendy - The Descendents
11. Teen Age Riot - Sonic Youth
12. Why Can't I - Big Eyes
13. Search and Destroy - Iggy & the Stooges
14. Sweet Jane - The Velvet Underground
15. Fall Behind Me - The Donnas

Click the thumbs up icon when your favorite song is playing on KJRW to see it make the list.

WHAT'S GOING ON (at the beginning of May)

KJRW celebrated the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in April. More streams were launched than in March and February. There were the most visits to the station page since last June.
However, people spent slightly less time listening, so our rank dropped a bit. They were listening to KJRW the most in the U.S., Belarus, Spain, Canada, Hungary, New Zealand, Italy, Venezuela, Slovak Republic and Germany. Tops in listening inside the U.S. were:  Seattle, WA; San Francisco, CA; Philadelphia, PA; Denver, CO; New York and Albany, NY; El Paso, TX; Chicago, IL; Grand Rapids, MI and Atlanta, GA.

New Wave Summer is right around the corner.  Listen to KJRW now: KJRW-West Seattle-Alternative & Punk Rock.

WHAT'S GOING ON (in the middle of April)

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction is this weekend.  KJRW is celebrating members all month long.  Listen for Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground.  The Velvets joined a few years back, and this year it's Lou's turn as a solo artist.  You will also hear David Bowie, The Ramones, Talking Heads, The Police, The Clash, Elvis Costello, The Pretenders, U2, Sex Pistols, Blondie, Patti Smith, R.E.M., The Stooges, Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana. On top of that are a couple more artists entering the hall this weekend:  Green Day and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

April Fool's Day didn't drive folks away, even though it consisted mostly of 80's and 90's pop music. In fact, that day saw the most visits to the station page so far this month.

We recently added a boatload of tunes to the mix, and will continue to add more each week.  Your favorite songs playing on KJRW currently are:

1. Seether - Veruca Salt
2. Fall Behind Me - The Donnas
3. Dangerous - Big Data
4. Teen Age Riot - Sonic Youth
5. I Hate Myself for Loving You - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
6. Bad Reputation - Joan Jett
7. Woman - Wolfmother
8. Violet - Hole
9. Ring of Fire - Social Distortion
10. The KKK Took My Baby Away - The Ramones

KJRW is listener-supported INDIE Radio.  You can throw a few bucks our way on the Go Fund Me page.

WHAT'S GOING ON (at the end of March)

During the past month, KJRW has enjoyed honoring Women Who Rock. We hope you enjoyed it also. There were over twelve hundred visits to the station page at Live365. 

People spent over a thousand hours listening in the U.S., Spain, Canada, Belarus, Mexico, Germany, New Zealand, France, United Kingdom and Italy in March.  Tops in time listening inside the U.S. were Seattle, Dallas, Cincinnati, Chicago, Charlotte, New York, Peoria, Philadelphia, Fort Myers and San Francisco.

Your favorite tunes were:

1. I Hate Myself for Loving You - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
2. Teen Age Riot - Sonic Youth
3. Seether - Veruca Salt
4. Dangerous - Big Data
5. Prisoner of Society - Living End
6. I Feel You - Depeche Mode
7. Pinhead - Ramones
8. M.e.x.i.c.o. - Kills
9. Stranger Than Fiction - Bad Religion
10. Human Fly - Cramps

In April, KJRW celebrates the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame. This year's inductees include Lou Reed, Green Day and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.  We will also highlight members such as Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Bowie and more.

WHAT'S GOING ON (in the middle of March)

KJRW is halfway through Women Who Rock month. We achieved the milestone of having over 60 thousand visits to the station page at Live365.com.

Your current favorite songs on KJRW are:

1. Human Fly - Cramps
2. My Generation - Green Day
3. Do You Wanna Touch Me - Joan Jett
4. Alternative Ulster - Stiff Little Fingers
5. Merchandise - Fugazi
6. Dangerous - Big Data
7. House of the Rising Sun - Adolescents
8. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
9. Los Angeles - X
10. Woman - Wolfmother

Listen for Celtic punk rock from Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly and more on St. Patrick's Day on KJRW.

WHAT'S GOING ON (at the beginning of March)

At a recent bed-in at the KJRW studios (It's a thing.  See: John and Yoko.), it was decided that it was time to come out from Under the Covers. And since March is Women in History month, KJRW honors  Women Who Rock. Linda Perry, Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox, Tobi Vail, Kat Bjelland, Allison Wolfe, Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry, Kim Deal, Siouxsie Sioux, Polly Styrene, Kathy Valentine, Gina Schock, Jane Wiedlin, Charlotte Coffey, Karen O., Courtney Love,  Patty Schemel, Joan Jett, Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker, Patti Smith, Kim Gordon, Shirley Manson, Alison Mosshart, Tina Weymouth, Exene Cervenka, Kim Warnick, Poison Ivy, Kristen Hersh, Tanya Donnelly,  Kim Shattuck,  Johnette Napolitano,  Brody Dalle, Beth Ditto, Jennifer Finch, Lita Ford, Nina Gordon, Juliana Hatfield,  Annie Lennox,  Aimee Mann, Donita Sparks, Suzi Gardner, Dee Plakas, Selene Vigil, Mia Zapata, Stefanie Sargent, Elizabeth Davis, Sandy West, Valerie Agnew and many more.

Let's take a quick look back at February.  As you may recall, January was the best month ever for KJRW.  We kept the momentum going in February.  Even though our rank clicked down a couple notches due to a few less streams being launched, the average amount of time people spent listening to the station was the highest ever. In other words, a slightly smaller amount of people pressed the play button, but when they did they stuck around longer.  And you know, "the longer you listen, the more songs you hear".

People listened the most in the U.S., Sweden, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Poland, Germany, Republic of Korea and Italy.  Inside the U.S., listeners spent the most time with KJRW in our home base of Seattle, WA; Dallas, TX; Cincinnati, OH; Los Angeles, CA; Tampa, FL; Philadelphia, PA; Atlanta, GA; Denver, CO; New York, NY and Beaumont, TX.

Your favorite songs at the end of February included 4 Get Under the Covers tunes:

1. My Generation - Green Day
2. Radar Love - Ministry
3. Merchandise - Fugazi
4. House of the Rising Sun - Adolescents
5. Underground - Sneaker Pimps
6. Nearly Lost You - Screaming Trees
7. Violet - Hole
8. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
9. The Hardest Button To Button - White Stripes
10. Bittersweet Symphony - Verve

WHAT'S GOING ON (In the Middle of February)

Hope you enjoyed the "love" songs on KJRW this past week, and they made you feel all gooey inside. The station's rank continues to inch higher day by day. About 700 streams have been launched so far this month, and people have spent almost a thousand hours listening to KJRW in the last couple weeks. Your current favorite songs are:

1. Radar Love - Ministry
2. Underground - Sneaker Pimps
3. Bodies - Sex Pistols
4. Nearly Lost You - Screaming Trees
5. Merchandise - Fugazi
6. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
7. Violet - Hole
8. Death By Diamonds and Pearls - Band of Skulls
9. Song 2 - Blur
10. Woman - Wolfmother

To vote for your favorite song, click on the thumbs up icon while it's playing on KJRW.

WHAT'S GOING ON (At the beginning of February)

Hey Kids! We are very happy to report that January was the best month in KJRW's sordid history!
We were picked as a favorite station the highest number of times in a month ever.  We finally cracked the top thousand of the several thousand stations on Live365.com. There are 500 rock stations on the site, and last month KJRW was ranked number 17!!
People spent the most time listening to KJRW in January also, especially in:

• U.S.A.
• Mexico
• Canada
• Spain
• Switzerland
• Russia
• Czech Republic
• New Zealand
• Slovenia
• Malaysia

Inside the U.S.A., listeners were from:

• Seattle
• Philadelphia
• Los Angeles
• Tampa
• Louisville
• Kansas City
• New York
• Dallas
• Sacramento
• Cincinnati

Your current favorite songs on KJRW are:

1. Natural One - Folk Implosion
2. Love In Plaster - Hives
3. Bodies - Sex Pistols
4. Violet - Hole
5. Song 2 - Blur
6. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
7. Rocket - Smashing Pumpkins
8. Kick Out the Jams - Bad Brains with Henry Rollins
9. If You Could Only See - Tonic
10. Alternative Ulster - Stiff Little Fingers

Listen for love songs next week on KJRW...

Scientists Just Discovered Why All Pop Music Sounds Exactly the Same

Tom Barnes wrote at mic.com:

"Anyone who listens to pop radio regularly has probably been hit with this realization at one point or another – a ton of pop music sounds very similar. It seems like grandpa logic, but a growing body of research confirms what we all suspect: Pop music is actually getting more and more homogeneous. And now, thanks to a new study, they know why.

A new study, surveying more than 500,000 albums, shows simplicity sells best across all music genres. As something becomes popular, it necessarily dumbs down and becomes more formulaic. So if you're wondering why the top 10 features two Meghan Trainor songs that sound exactly the same and two Taylor Swift songs that sound exactly the same, scientists think they finally have the answer.

The study: In a recent study, researchers from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria studied 15 genres and 374 subgenres. They rated the genre's complexity over time — measured by researchers in purely quantitative aspects, such as timbre and acoustical variations — and compared that to the genre's sales. They found that in nearly every case, as genres increase in popularity, they also become more generic.

"This can be interpreted," the researchers write, "as music becoming increasingly formulaic in terms of instrumentation under increasing sales numbers due to a tendency to popularize music styles with low variety and musicians with similar skills." 

So music all starts simplifying and sounding similar. Not only that, but complexity actually starts turning people off of musical styles. Alternative rock, experimental and hip-hop music are all more complex now than when they began, and each has seen their sales plummet. Startlingly few genres have retained high levels of musical complexity over their histories, according to the researchers. And ones that have — folk, folk rock and experimental music — aren't exactly big earners. Unless, of course, they fit into the Mumford & Sons/Lumineers pop-folk mold.

The findings are somewhat intuitive. Of course a genre will sell more once it forms an established sound that listeners can identify with. But the science is only proving the now-dominant truth of pop music: Record companies are only comfortable promoting things they already know will sell. And they know that now better than ever.

Record labels are pouring resources into data analysis tools, using them to predict which songs will be the next breakout hit. According to Derek Thompson at the Atlantic, executives can use services like Shazam and HitPredictor to see which songs will break out next with surprising accuracy.

Once a worthy song or artist emerges from the data, radio conglomerates have mechanisms in place to ensure that music will connect with an audience. Clear Channel's "On the Verge" program is one of the most talked about. When a song is dubbed "On the Verge," every station in the Clear Channel network has to play it at least 150 times — blasting it to a potential network of about 245 million listeners. This undoubtedly helped launch Iggy Azalea to incredible new heights of success, which she may not have otherwise earned with her talent alone. And her success, in turn, is spawning legions of hip-hop pop imitators whom labels will choose to blast out because their chance at success has been proven. It's a cycle.

The study is right — and it's more of a problem now than ever. Iggy Azalea may be the harbinger of hip-hop's eventual homogenization, but she is only a pawn of the larger media circuit. As reported by the Atlantic, "Top 40 stations last year played the 10 biggest songs almost twice as much as they did a decade ago."

Human beings crave familiarity. Numerous psychological studies show that people choose songs they're familiar with over songs that more closely match their reported music tastes. Our somewhat manipulative music industry, which chooses familiar-sounding music and pushes it to listeners in massive quantities, knows well how to capitalize on those cravings. Genres standardize over time as a way to plug into this psychology. And then we hear the same songs, over and over again.

But there's a point at which that becomes tired, and the space opens for something revolutionary — something that totally shifts the way we think about music. If we're aware of these sort of trends and practices, we can better resist what they do to our music. We can champion the genuinely original and leave aside the derivative. We can make a better musical culture."

Champion the genuinely original with KJRW! 

WHAT'S GOING ON (in the middle of January)

January has been a good month for KJRW so far. Our rank on Live365.com is climbing, and our rank among the rock stations on the site are the highest they have ever been. Listeners have made us a favorite station over 630 times as of this week.

The Top Ten Tracks on KJRW are:

1. Natural One - Folk Implosion
2. If You Could Only See - Tonic
3. Love In Plaster - Hives
4. Skin and Bones - Foo Fighters
5. Kick Out the Jams - Bad Brains with Henry Rollins
6. Backwater - Meat Puppets
7. Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers
8. Bittersweet Symphony - Verve
9. Corona - Minutemen
10. Empty Promise - Girl In A Coma

WHAT'S GOING ON (at the beginning of the new year)

Hello and welcome to 2015!  KJRW's 5th year online is underway.  Most of 2014 was good for the station.  The play button was clicked about a thousand times a month.  We were riding especially high in April, when KJRW held its highest rank ever among all the stations on Live365.com.  We got Under the Covers, listened to love songs, had a New Wave Summer, went back to College in the fall and had a Punk Rock Christmas.  We'll do it all again in 2015, from Punk to Grunge and beyond!

People spent the most time listening to KJRW in the U.S., Switzerland, Spain, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, Italy, Russia, Peru and the Czech Republic in the month of December.  Inside the U.S., listeners were found in our home base of Seattle, WA; Chicago, IL; Louisville,KY; Philadelphia, PA; New York, NY; Kansas City, MO; Los Angeles, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Cincinnati, OH and Dallas, TX.

The current top ten tracks on KJRW are:

1. Rise - Public Image Ltd.
2. Spoonman - Soundgarden
3. Bonzo Goes To Bitburg - Ramones
4. Woman - Wolfmother
5. Bittersweet Symphony - Verve
6. Corona - Minutemen
7. Welcome To Paradise - Green Day
8. Cannonball - Breeders
9. Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers
10. Closer - Nine Inch Nails

Get Under the Covers with KJRW now.  Your favorite cover songs play all winter long.