The Black Keys "Lonely Boy"

I wrote about how it is sometimes incumbent upon the station, to play a new track from a veteran artist, regardless of quality, because to ignore it would be weird.

Like, we always play a new Neil Young track, if only to let the listeners decide for themselves that maybe this one wasn't Neil's best.

Similarly, there comes a point with certain new artists, where we may need to address them, whether they are "mvy-style" or not.

Personally, I like sound of The Black Keys. But I've never heard them do a song that made me think they should be on mvy. The noisy garage rock just isn't the right fit.

But the band has had quite a run in the last year or so, showing up in places that mvy listeners are hearing them (Saturday Night Live, Letterman). People are curious.

This new song is good, but, objectively it still doesn't sound like mvy to me.

As the song gets added to stations around the country that are similar to mvy, as the band shows up on TV programs that mvy-listeners watch, as positive reviews stack up in publications our listeners read, it may become weird that we're not playing them.

Their absence is noticeable. But their presence seems out of place.

It's weird to feel so awkwardly ambivalent about what is a seriously kick-ass song.


Hear the song on Youtube.