Songs that should be banned from radio request shows

[glamourousindierockandroll]

I love a radio listeners request show for opportunities to hear long forgotten but amazing songs.

I find it such a wasted opportunity when people ring in and ask for the same, obvious things and if i was the host, I would have a ban list. First song on it would be:

Don't Stop Me Now by Queen

Any others to add?

I used to phone up a local radio station in my teens with requests, usually ones not played for a while. They NEVER got played. Requested East 17 Stay Another Day which was number one at the time. As expected, it was played straightaway!
I think radio stations like to stick to set playlists so always choose the well known ones.

More than a feeling. Think it was by Boston?

Chasing cars 🤮

Driving home for Christmas… yes! There I was driving home for Christmas when a piece of debris on the other side of the motorway decided to smash through my window screen.
And there was Chris (he’s a happy chap said no one ever) Rea on the radio singing this shite!!

Mr Brightside by The Killers

Veto veto veto - Brandon Flowers is just ❤️‍🔥

I'd ban Ed Bloody Sheeran too and Adele and Micheal Jackson

Since everyone got Spotify I have no idea WHY people request songs.

I agree (and I don't even have Spotify!). I can understand if it's people who don't use the internet at all, but for most of us, we can listen to any song we want to at any time, as often as we like.

It's not like 20+ years ago where you either owned a physical copy of a song, could buy one IF it happened to be in the very limited selection available in record shops (assuming you had the money) or otherwise had to wait until it was on the radio. Remember when we used to tape the Top 40?! Young people nowadays would look at you like you had two heads if you suggested that now, as there's just no need whatsoever any longer.

If anything, radio stations should be specifically focusing on less-known songs rather than the ones that everybody knows very well. Just because they are available if you search for them, you may never think/know to search for them if you've never been introduced to the song before. The same as TV adverts should all be for smaller companies that you need to be informed of - not Tesco and McDonalds that everybody is already extremely familiar with and in full possession of the knowledge to decide whether to use them or not. Even our regional water company (obviously the only one we can possibly use) has recently started advertising on TV - presumably for all the people who've been wondering what those little turny metal things are in their kitchen and bathroom but never yet thought to explore any further.

Bad Day by Daniel Powter - the most dreary song ever written, it makes me irrationally angry
Anything by the lighthouse family

The scissor sisters- I don't feel like dancin. 🤬🤬🤬

To be fair, I'm a 6music person and Lauren's cloudbusting is the only request slot I hear and they're usually pretty good BUT YES to so many of these and can I add anything by Scouting for Girls?

The man can't do lyrics. He literally writes one like and shouts sings it over and over...

She's so love er lee.
She's so love er leeee.
She's so love er Lee.

Zzzzzzz

Oh dear. I like most of these.

I also hate it when a particular artist has produced a wealth of great songs, but they only ever play the best-known one or two of them.

The presenter will say something like "Now, after the news, let's enjoy some [name of artist]" and you know exactly which song (or one of two or three possibilities) it will be - your socks would be completely knocked off if they were to ever play any of the dozens of other brilliant (sometimes even better) tracks by them. Why bother giving a broad clue to get people guessing when you clearly believe that the artist's name is synonymous with just one of their many amazing songs?

Maybe those who do still send in the requests need to be more specific: "Could you please play anything by March Cohn except for Walking In Memphis!"; "I'd like to hear some Tracy Chapman - but not Baby, Can I Hold You, Fast Car or Talkin' 'Bout A Revolution this time, please!"

Cue the presenter/producer under-punching the air and puffing out their cheeks in thwarted frustration; but it's your actual job, which you're supposed to be much better at than the average person, to play a good range of songs, introduce the listeners to a variety of tracks and generally curate an interesting and memorable show. If all you're going to do is find a playlist called 'Two hours of the same old radio songs that you hear constantly' and start it going, there's really no point in your being there at all - anybody could do that. I wouldn't bother asking a well-meaning tinkerer who's 'happy to give it a go' to mend my car if I were a skilled mechanic myself!

Dancing Queen by ABBA. Enough, it’s been played too much and now I can’t stand it.

Radio 2 sometimes play some gems but most of the time, it's the same well known tracks by the same old faces.

Ken Bruce's Tracks of my Years sometimes - sometimes - the person choosing plays something really different or something you might have only heard once of twice ever on the radio.

I discovered Nick Drake many years ago thanks to Jules Holland picking one of his songs. Have I ever heard anything by Nick Drake since - Nope!!

Janice Long (I think) once played a Fleetwood Mac song that I have only ever heard that one time - Hypnotized.

Then Jo Public goes and requests ... We Built This Bloody City ...!!😡

I was around when Queen and ABBA were first on the scene. ABBA were the bubblegummy group your Mum liked and Queen - well what 17 year old wants to listen to orchestra music when there are bands like Free, Alex Harvey Band, stones , pink floyd, deep purple etc etc etc

i like the oldies played at 3.00 on the steve wright show

Just realised my typo: I'm not sure there actually is an artist at all called March Cohn....

'My Way' vile song by even viler Frank Sinatra.

Oops. I don't think 'viler' is actually a word. Should be 'even more vile'

@Sparklingbrook most of these were on my DO NOT PLAY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES list at my wedding!
I spent a large proportion of my life working at a cheesy bar, and the ‘party song’ section of the night made me want to rip my ears off.
My all time worst song is Sweet Home Alabama. Closely followed by Summer of 69. And more recently Sweet Caroline. I’m livid that it was adopted as the song for England at the Euros.

I was invited to a wedding once where the invitation said 'I will get up and dance if you play <insert song of choice>. Brave!

'My Way' vile song by even viler Frank Sinatra.

I'm with you there. Like with the same songs that radio DJs play endlessly, My Way is one of the equivalents for funerals (along with Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life).

It's absolutely none of my business to tell people what song they should/shouldn't want to choose for their own funeral, however popular or not; but a lot of people will tell you that they've chosen one of those two songs in a very 'aren't I amazingly original - nobody else has ever thought of having that one at their funeral' way and will wait for you to respond accordingly with open-mouthed admiration and surprise. I have to say, it does often seem to be the "I went to the university of LIFE!!!!!!" sort.

most of these were on my DO NOT PLAY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES list at my wedding!

We had a few of these, but the stupid DJ still played them anyway. We also clearly told him which 'first dance' we wanted and, having apparently agreed, he just ignored it and played a nice-but-generic record that he probably had in an envelope labelled 'first dance song' that all newlywed couples got, like it or not.

I sometimes wonder if there's a secret course that it's compulsory for any class of DJ to attend - and those who express any kind of interest in considering choices from a big, wide, diverse range of tracks, rather than the 'approved' restricted narrow repertoire, are instantly thrown off the course and banned from working in any capacity of playing music for public consumption for the rest of their lives.

@Sparklingbrook actually, I also did this. But had a disclaimer that it would be played ‘if possible’. And then I chose which ones were acceptable.
And actually, you’ve reminded me of another one I hate… Simply The Best.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll I’d have been FUMING!

@Lovetok

We were too, but the moment had passed and we didn't really want to spend our wedding arguing with the DJ, so we made our peace with it - and resolved to very much not recommend him to anybody else.

It's also one of those scenarios where, if parents are very kindly paying for it, you don't want to complain in case it sounds like you're blaming them or ungrateful or it makes them feel somehow at fault. Same principle as with disreputable flower delivery businesses who know that very few people, on receiving a shrivelled up half-dead bunch from a loved one who lives far away, will ever want to tell them the truth, for fear of upsetting them and putting a huge damper on their lovely intentions.

I don't think it helps that you get quite a lot of people who will be coy about something like that when they're really meaning that they will boogie on down to what might be their party piece with a (very) small amount of persuasion and quite a lot of alcohol. In fact, the DJ might just have been so used to wall-to-wall very drunk people at the events he normally worked that he didn't think anybody would care/notice if he just did his usual set without putting any thought into it.

Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer". When Simon Mayo did his R2 show it was requested virtually every week.