Growing old

It's official. I'm heading over the hill.

The new trend in radio station formats, it seems, is to revive early '90s alternative as a "nostalgia format."

You know you're getting old when classic rock radio starts to play songs you remember vividly from when they first debuted. Acts like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains -- that whole Seattle invasion -- are no longer cutting edge but rather the hallmark of a bygone era.

Now, admittedly, I welcome this development with open arms. Hell, I've been encouraging it for several years. Basically since my later high school days, when I started listening almost exclusively to classic rock stations on the radio when established, so-called "alternative powerhouses" like L.A. KROQ stopped playing good music and gave in to the rising tide of crap-metal, nu-metal, post-punk, etc. Basically, I couldn't tolerate the preponderance of foul music and incessant, inane prattle of deejays, so I figured I'd put on classic rock in the car and could always pop in a CD if I wanted to listen to something more contemporary yet listenable.

It is kind of nice to be getting some attention finally from station executives, advertisers and other powerful phantoms who dictate these sorts of things. Not that I'm going buy their crap. But so long as they think I'll buy their crap, they might at least indulge some of my fancies. Even if this does mean I'm outgrowing my youth.