Honestly, I've also wondered what it is with the
strong audities opposition to the garage(ish) rock
success stories of the past couple of years.  I
thought the Strokes record was one of the most
refreshing bits of true rock 'n' roll that I'd heard
in years -- a real example that, even if there's
nothing new left to be done with guitar, bass, and
drums, there are some acts who can do "nothing new" a
million times better than anyone else.  With the
Hives, I found the record a little samey (with a few
outstanding tracks, like "Main Offender" and "Hate to
Say I Told You So"), but live they are great.  And the
White Stripes certainly have not comprised their sound
to find success -- they continue doing just what
they've always done, and, apparently the mainstream
has come to them.  While none of the these three bands
are "power pop" in the purest sense of the term, all
three have guitars and hooks, writers who come up with
smart, catchy songs, strong live shows...what's not to
like?

And to answer a question...

Gabriel Fuentes writes:

We would often get into friendly discussions about the
fact that the station did not play anything that was
released on a major.  That is a stupid reason not to
play 
something..just because it got released on a major. 
For instance. no Foo Fighters! I wonder if Shawny
Campbell's little station has the same 
rule? 

---First, I am never, EVER "Shawny."  Second, WLUW is
not going to stop playing an artist we broke simply
because they find success on mainstream radio, or get
signed to a major label.  We will opt to avoid the
singles, since they are having the hell played out of
them at other stations (the Strokes record had 10
other good tracks, so we weren't going to continue to
play "Last Night" once it was picked up by MTV and
commercial alternative radio).  We feel our job is to
expose people to music they can't find elsewhere on
the radio.  That also means cuts other than the single
from major label acts like Flaming Lips, Beck, And You
Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Bjork, Sonic Youth,
Wilco, etc.  Or, for that matter, tracks from
Television, the Velvet Underground, the MC5, Patsy
Cline, the Smiths, or any of dozens of other
highly-influential artists who spent most, if not all,
of their careers recording for major labels.  In
general, the WLUW philosophy is to play music we think
is good, not judge it based on labels (in either sense
of the word).

--Shawn




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