I write this blog for the Radio Olsztyn web site

Jeff Taylor fot. Sławomir Ostrowski

I do not listen to Radio Olsztyn. Even though I write this blog for the Radio Olsztyn web site, actually listening to the station is beyond me. In all honesty, I rarely listen to any of the stations in Poland. The presenters who are intent on boring us to death while talking on end about some obscure band. Full of themselves. Breathing in and out rhythmically in an attempt to hypnotize the listeners. The same songs which have been played for the last twenty years. There are some additions to this playlist but those songs are just as crappy.

At this moment, let’s do the first Streffa Jeffa List, the topic is Top Songs that Polish Radio Stations (particularly Radio Olsztyn) Have to Stop Playing:

10) Cher, The Shoop Shoop Song

9) Anything by Roxette

8) Queen, This Must be Like Heaven

7) Guns n’ Roses, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

6) Bryan Adam, (Everything I Do) I Do It for You

5) Sting, most of his solo stuff

4) Marc Cohn, Walking in Memphis

3) Cher, Walking in Memphis

2) Euope, The Final Countdown

1) Allanah Myles, Black Velvet

(A couple years ago I would have added Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best”, but finally radio programmers in this country seemed to have realized on their own that the song was being overplayed and pulled it form the air. Recently, I listened to several cover versions of the song on Youtube and concluded that ironically her version is really good)

I have selected these songs not because they are bad but because this is music for people who do not generally like music. This makes sense as radio stations in Poland do not play the songs that people like. Day-time music is to played at work in the offices, and the bosses would not want their workers to become all excited and distracted which cuts down on production.

Instead of playing groups’ cool songs, stations choose the slower, less-rocking songs. For example, radio presenters forego Queen’s “We Will Rock You” for their “This Must Be Heaven.” You will never hear Ozzy’s rockers like “Crazy Train” or “Iron Man” and must settle for his super-lame ballads. Finally, Guns-n-Roses recorded Appetite for Destruction, one of the greatest kick-ass rock-n-roll record ever, with awesome songs like “Welcome to the Jungle”, “Night Train” and “You’re Crazy, but you will hear them because stations insist on playing “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, a Bob Dylan cover.

Finally, my point is that most likely you will not hear much good music on any radio station, unless they play it by accident. In my blog Streffa Jeffa, I plan to present bands each week, so that you can hear what else is out there. The band I have been meaning to write about is my band BINGE, an acoustic band playing BLOODgrass – a mix of country, rock and folk with a punk feel sometimes. A quick reminder, we are playing this Friday August 9 at Vinyl Pub in Olsztyn’s Old Town and Saturday August 10 at Złoty Strug in Pluski. Hope to see you there, it’s free so you can’t complain about the price