I attempt to finish this post

Non-music junkies like needles might be already put off by the gradual trickling of music-related posts in my blog. But hey, he articulated it best in one of our bus rides to Manila: 'Music is my food.'

Last night, after almost a year of twiddling my FM dial between JAM 88.3 (all ex-Citylite listeners collectively cringe) and 99.5 RT, I adjusted the dial to NU 107. It wasn't an accurate day for checking out what's on their current playlist since Friday night is already part of their weekend requests period, whereas before, I knew that it only starts on Saturdays around 6 am.

To my chagrin (and I swear, this is the first time I use that word, just to indicate how surprised I was) I hear Maroon 5 and Avril Lavigne coming out of the speakers. Now, I have no qualms with Maroon 5. I thought their song being included in the OST of 'Something's Gotta Give' is a brilliant career move (as I hear their album 'Songs About Jane' have been languishing in record shelves)and their sound is very much welcomed. But if I wanted to hear a Maroon 5 song, I'd just stick it with JAM 88.3, a station more inclined to play them. (Then again, I heard a song of theirs being played on STAR FM. Or was it that 'For life!' station?)

As for Miss Lavigne, I think I correctly remember one of their DJs really fighting NOT to include her songs on their playlist, after there was a change of station managers. (I think the DJ in question was Francis Brew.) Obviously, he lost.

Which brings me to my point: I've always thought of NU as one of those stalwarts in the FM arena when it comes to maintaining a certain 'integrity' (and I enclose the word in 's) when it comes to knowing their musical genre identity. Sure, they did that awful experiment in playing (without any designated timeslot) rock songs from various decades. Picture in one hour: Faith No More (ayos!) then Jimi Hendrix (lalong okay!) tapos biglang Bachman Turner Overdrive or one of those bands. Say what?? Precisely.

Now what? Maroon 5 played after Taproot? Or Avril Lavigne after Beth Orton? Wag naman, 'pre. Sacrilege na yan, e.

That is why when I still listened to NU on a daily basis, I always looked forward to Francis Brew's and Myrene's timeslots because I knew their playlists were just nutty enough for me. They know their rock music and have the instinct for it.

Now, Myrene's gone, but thank goodness Francis is still around. I wonder how he feels about the Avril-ization of NU?