WXRT Loves the China Girl

Chicago’s WXRT is taunting me.

I’ve poked fun at them in the past about their playlist, using “Devil Inside” by INXS as an example of laziness and an ignorance of eclectic. Then last week during a few dial turns to 93.1 FM I came across “Devil” yet again. Twice. They’re in need of a song monitor…a song czar…to stop the insanity. Does anyone at the studio ever say, “shit, we’re playing this again?”

Here’s proof of their ignorance.

They’re celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. This weekend is the 80s flashback. Looking at their extended play list, at 11:30 p.m. Friday night they played David Bowie’s hit “China Girl.”

There are a lot of great songs from the 80s, right? And plenty from Mr. Bowie. So what gets played Saturday, just over 12 hours later, at about 1:30 p.m.?

“China Girl” by David Bowie.

Think of all the songs from a decade of music. Yet that’s two China Girls in a 14 hour period. Feck off ‘XRT, there’s no excuse for that! Someone should be fired. I’d force them to listen to this song continuously while locked in a closet for 72 hours but I think they’d enjoy that.

For one thing, “China Girl” is a song, much like “Devil Inside,” that’s pretty much in the station’s regular rotation. So playing it again during 80s weekend is nothing special.

Sometime I scratch my pants wondering what’s going on there. Is it that they’re getting old? In need of fresh blood?

Here’s a sample of 80s songs they played over a short period of time this Saturday afternoon.

Bad (overplayed, songs in their regular rotation anyway, etc.)

“China Girl” – David Bowie

“In Your Eyes” – Peter Gabriel (really??)

“Dancing with Myself” – Billy Idol

“The Finer Things” – Steve Winwood

“She Blinded Me with Science” – Thomas Dolby

“Mystify” – INXS (almost like “Devil” but not quite. Better than playing “Suicide Blonde” again, however).

GOOD (Ok, these are more like it for a “cool” 80s weekend)

“Home of the Brave” – The Nails

“Make a Circuit with Me” – The Polecats

“What do All the People Know” – The Monroes

“Pictures of Matchstick Men” – Camper Van Beethoven

“I Want Your (Hands on Me)” – Sinead O’Connor (A close one. They also played “Mandika.” A better choice would have been “Jerusalem” – one of the best songs of the 80s, period).

So far I have not heard, nor seen I believe, a decent Depeche Mode song. And this is the decade that brought us “Black Celebration.”

I assume they’re having a 90s a weekend. I’ll be more interested in that. Lots of great songs to choose from. Will they?

Sometimes I get violently ill when discussing 80s music (and fashion). So I must end with a clip of a fairly new song by the Scottish band The Imagineers, “The Imagineer.” Craig Ferguson has been using it to promote his upcoming shows in Scotland (there’s a great video for that promo).