Activism

This is an e-mail I sent last night at about 2 a.m.

Subject: A request in regard to "Harden My Heart"
From: KL5.olig@gmail.com
To: WVBO@Cumulus.com

Hi 103.9 FM,

For the most part, I enjoy the selection of music played by your station while I'm driving or at work. I'm 29 and perhaps outside of your key demographic, but I strongly prefer oldies and classic rock to maintstream country, pop, and so forth. I like most of the music played by your station and absolutely love to bask in the sound waves of the Beatles, CCR, and Van Morrison--and thanks for providing that.

This e-mail won't be entirely grateful, however. Even though I realize that, all things considered, it's not really a big deal, please-please-please stop playing "Harden My Heart" by Quarterflash so much. From a subjective standpoint, "Harden My Heart" is a terrible song, a mess of melodramatic pouting, and a trite butchering of rock and roll. "Harden My Heart" is painful to listen to; it sounds joyless, sappy, and stale--and those are poor qualities for a tune to have.

Now, from an objective, less biased and contemptuous perspective, Quarterflash has proven to be a largely forgettable band and a borderline one-hit wonder. To say the least, their relevance in rock-music is dwarfed by the likes of other female-fronted groups or artists such as Blondie, the Pretenders, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, and Fleetwood Mac, to name but a few--all of whom certainly merit more airplay than Quarterflash.

To reiterate, I would enjoy tuning in to 103.9 so much more if you didn't overplay the hell out of an awful and mawkish hit by a band very, very few people care about anymore. Please-please-please tone down your fine station's fondness for "Harden My Heart." Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Nick Olig