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How AM Pre-empted & Changed The Steely Dan Song "FM"
When the title Steely Dan song from the movie "FM" came out in 1977, AM stations - which were still big in the ratings - refused to air it because it promoted the other band and encouraged listeners to switch stations. But it was a hit, so what were they supposed to do?
As it turns out, they figured out a workaround. Another Steely Dan song, "Aja," just happened to have a similar sounding vowel in in it, and some talented producer decided to replace the "F" with an "A" - and incredibly, it worked.
Here's the version of that song that only played on one band, despite the ridiculous contention that AM had "no static at all."
One of those weird musical anomalies that could only happen in Top 40 radio.
- Jody Thornton
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Re: How AM Pre-empted & Changed The Steely Dan Song "FM"
I remember us discussing this on the forum, and on the Top 40 Music on CD forum some years ago. It prompted me to make a higher fidelity edit of the song, and I turned out well. I might still have it on my One Drive.
EDIT: I don’t, but here’s the recent post/thread from three years ago.
Last edited by Jody Thornton (April 24, 2023 10:58 pm)
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Jody Thornton
- Paul Jeffries
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Re: How AM Pre-empted & Changed The Steely Dan Song "FM"
On the subject of odd radio station edits, a poster on YouTube reminisces about how his local station was skittish about playing the unedited version of Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" back in the early '70s.
"Back in 1973, when Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" was becoming a hit, the radio station I listened to, WIOQ Philadelphia, must have been uncomfortable with airing the word "crap". So someone at the station took to some scissors and splicing tape and came up with this effort, which eliminated the line about "crap.""
I wonder how they felt about Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer" from about three years earlier, singing about "the whores on 7th Avenue"?
PJ
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Re: How AM Pre-empted & Changed The Steely Dan Song "FM"
Here's a great story about a long-forgotten alternate. The Royal Guardsmen recorded the well-known novelty smash "Snoopy vs. The Red Baron" and it was released as a single in North America. But there were found to be copyright issues with the characters in Canada, so the record company quickly ushered the group back into the studio and had them re-record the song as "Squeaky vs. The Black Knight."
In this case, Squeaky wasn't a dog but a big beaver, which totally changed the whole image.
Eventually, the issues were resolved and the former song came back on the charts to great acclaim, and before the substitute had a chance to make much of an impact. So everyone forgot about the second version, and Snoopy eventually shot down the Red Baron, as history decrees!
But for a while it was a war song that urged listeners to leave it to Beaver. It's pretty obscure, which of course means it's on YouTube.
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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Re: How AM Pre-empted & Changed The Steely Dan Song "FM"
Jody Thornton wrote:
I remember us discussing this on the forum, and on the Top 40 Music on CD forum some years ago. It prompted me to make a higher fidelity edit of the song, and I turned out well. I might still have it on my One Drive.
EDIT: I don’t, but here’s the recent post/thread from three years ago.
You're right. Not only did we do this topic before but I was the one who posted it! Ah, the joys of getting older and more forgetful. Sorry about that. Still, I really enjoyed hearing the Kodachrome edit, so it wasn't a total waste!
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Thread Starter- Paul Jeffries
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Re: How AM Pre-empted & Changed The Steely Dan Song "FM"
A footnote about "Kodachrome": it was originally banned by the BBC, but not because of a bad word, but because it went against their strict policy of not playing songs that mentioned brand names. For the same reason, The Kinks had to change the line in the song "Lola" from "tastes just like Coca-Cola" to "tastes just like cherry cola" in order to get airplay on the national broadcaster.
PJ
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- Fitz
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Re: How AM Pre-empted & Changed The Steely Dan Song "FM"
A footnote about "Kodachrome": it was originally banned by the BBC, but not because of a bad word, but because it went against their strict policy of not playing songs that mentioned brand names. For the same reason, The Kinks had to change the line in the song "Lola" from "tastes just like Coca-Cola" to "tastes just like cherry cola" in order to get airplay on the national broadcaster.
PJ
I think the BBC played the flip of Kodachrome to avoid the brand name. How about this concoction for replacing brand names and supposedly the one that got played on the BBC:
Cover of The Radio Times:
Last edited by Fitz (April 25, 2023 7:27 am)
Cool Airchecks and More:
- mace
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Re: How AM Pre-empted & Changed The Steely Dan Song "FM"
Here's a great story about a long-forgotten alternate. The Royal Guardsmen recorded the well-known novelty smash "Snoopy vs. The Red Baron" and it was released as a single in North America. But there were found to be copyright issues with the characters in Canada, so the record company quickly ushered the group back into the studio and had them re-record the song as "Squeaky vs. The Black Knight."
In this case, Squeaky wasn't a dog but a big beaver, which totally changed the whole image.
Eventually, the issues were resolved and the former song came back on the charts to great acclaim, and before the substitute had a chance to make much of an impact. So everyone forgot about the second version, and Snoopy eventually shot down the Red Baron, as history decrees!
But for a while it was a war song that urged listeners to leave it to Beaver. It's pretty obscure, which of course means it's on YouTube.
Squeaky spent one week at #73 on the RPM Dec 19, 1966 chart and made one appearance on the Dec 21, 1966 CHLO St. Thomas chart. Snoopy, on the other hand was CKOC "Pick to Click" on their Dec 2, 1966 Chart and would reach the top 10 several weeks later. It was a "Hot New Hit" on the Nov 28, 1966 CHUM Chart and would eventually spend four weeks at #2 [behind I'm A Believer] and 10 total weeks on the chart.