Is PEACEKEEPER Radio Friendly?

[Rainman]

Now that we know Peacekeeper is the first single off the album, I wonder--is it radio friendly? I don't even know what that means anymore. The stations seem to be more narrowly targeted with their audiences. What gets a lot of airplay?

The song has a catchy tune. (It gets stuck in my head.) The subject matter is certainly timely.

On the other hand, it seems too tame for most rock stations. Yet I'd hate to see it relegated to "soft rock".

I dunno. What do others think about this?

[iamstevienicks]

It has the potential to go top 50 on Billboard

Only songs which fit the bill of Pop/RnB/Urban and hip hop seem to do well, it needs to crossover to one of those genres, which obviously could only be pop, unless Mick adds rapping to his other talents???!!!

[Mac Fan]

Originally posted by iamstevienicks
It has the potential to go top 50 on Billboard

And how sure are you about that?Considering the amount of crap that's out at the moment.

[Sarah]

i don't think so. i love the song.. and i know it would sound great on the air.. but, i don't think it'll go much farther than soft-rock/ listen at work type stations.

with the exceptions of the "college rock" type stations that love Bob Dylan and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. there is a station here called The River.. http://www.100theriver.com/ and I've got to be almost positive that they'll play it. It's a FANTASTIC radio station, and I bet even the grumpies here couldn't bitch about it. No wait, they probably could. Nevermind.

But as far as the rest? Obviously it won't be on Urban, CHR Rhythmic, Country, Alternative, Jazz, or Talk. So, that leaves, other than CHR Pop - which everyone here hates cuz it's so youn - the AC, Hot AC, and Triple A formats as possibilities.

Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised.. even the CHR Pop stations here played Landslide and Silver Springs when they were singles.



Sarah

[Rainman]

Sarah, what is CHR Pop?

Boy, am I ever out of the radio loop.

Nowadays I pretty much listen to a few internet stations that have NO commercials and play lots of great new and old stuff.

I'm hoping they'll be into Peacekeeper, anyway.

[Skylark]

HELP Me too! What is this CHR Pop???
Is Kiss 99 such a station? Lindsey will
need to punch Peacekeepers up some
to get it heard locally! They don't like
"pretty"stuff mixed with angry!!! Sky

[BlueGrass]

This song does have 'single' qualities for sure. The chorus is one example of that. It is catchy, and it gets stuck in your head. Plues I think it will get recognition because of it's title/message. Lets hope it gets the recognition it deserves.

[JamieSPC]

Plus I think it will get recognition because of it's title/message. Lets hope it gets the recognition it deserves.

While it wouldn't bother me at all if the single shot to #1, it would bother me if the song got recognition for its TITLE with the wrong assumption as to its MESSAGE. I don't hear anti-war sentiments in the song at all. If anything, it can just as easily be interpreted the OTHER way. In the end, I read it as a "love as war" song.

But no doubt the Sheryl Crow crowd will proudly proclaim it as an anti-war masterpiece and credit FM for being so timely and so compassionate to the cause. I don't believe that's the intent of the song at all, but I do believe that's how it will play.

I FIRMLY believe that the PR machine has decided to release this as a single over "Say You Will" for opportunistic reasons (i.e. an attack on Iraq). IMHO, it takes away from the song to "make it fit" a cause it was never meant for.

Oh well... if it makes people want to buy "Say You Will," so be it, I guess. I loved the song BEFORE it was cool to protest the war.

"Peacekeeper take your time..."
"This is not a test it's not a drill...
take no prisoners only kill."

~JamieSPC

[SmthngOfADreamr]

Originally posted by JamieSPC
While it wouldn't bother me at all if the single shot to #1, it would bother me if the song got recognition for its TITLE with the wrong assumption as to its MESSAGE. I don't hear anti-war sentiments in the song at all. If anything, it can just as easily be interpreted the OTHER way.


"Peacekeeper take your time..."
"This is not a test it's not a drill...
take no prisoners only kill."

~JamieSPC

That's exactly what I've been thinking too. I'm a little confused as to how you can interpret the song as being anti-war with lines like the ones above. I suppose it can be interpreted in any way, but still, it seems a bit of a stretch to me to believe that FM would start writing politically biased songs at this point in the game. I would much rather believe that Peacekeeper is about some sort of personal relationship or something more along those lines. That's FM's arena, not war BS. I often listen to FM to escape reality, not to have it shoved down my throat.

[JamieSPC]

I'm a little confused as to how you can interpret the song as being anti-war

Thanks... glad it's not just me. I've looked at the lyrics from buckinghamnicks.net and I am having a VERY hard time finding anti-war sentiment in there, unless the whole thing is sarcasm. Knowing Lindsey, that's possible. But I think it's more likely he's using peace/war as a metaphor for a relationship or life in general. And there's always the possibility this song is a reply to Stevie's "Fall From Grace." In fact, I KNOW it's one of those two, because this song is more than a few months old.

If either side of the war debate tries to make it fit their cause, they can. And songs do tend to take on different meanings over the years. This one just doesn't seem specific enough to make either side's point.

"We make all of our suns the same
Every one will suffer the fire we've made (could be anti-war)
They all explode just the same
And there's no going back on the plans we've made"

"Peacekeeper, don't tell why
Don't be afraid to fight (could be pro-war)
Love is the sweet surprise"

~JamieSPC

[Rainman]

Okay, some of you will probably think I'm on drugs (oh, if only). I don’t know about anyone else, but when I listen to this song and read the lyrics, I picture this crazed leader looking at his Peacekeeper missiles and getting all choked up over the great power he has. What if Lindsey wrote this song as the voice of some maniacal president bent on taking over the world with his nuclear WMD (weapons of mass destruction)?

So spoken as the voice of this wacko ruler, the words take on a whole new meaning:

“We make all of our suns the same
Every one will suffer the fire we've made
They all explode just the same
And there's no going back on the plans we've made”

Where did the U.S. drop the first hydrogen bomb? Japan—Empire of the Sun. And remember that hydrogen is the element that powers the sun.

“Peacekeeper, take your time
Wait for the dark of night
Soon all the suns will rise
Peacekeeper, don't tell why
Don't be afraid to fight
Love is the sweet surprise”

Oh, can’t you just see George—er, I mean, this crazed leader looking at his Peacekeeper missiles, running his hands over them, cooing to them? Like a gunfighter polishing his guns?

“Only creatures who are on their way
Ever poison their own well
But we still have time to hate
And there's still something we can sell.”

Poisoning the well could easily refer to the idea (held by crazed rulers) that mass destruction is necessary to make the world the way they think it should be made. But in the meantime, we still have time to stir up fear of other cultures and countries (i.e., hate) and sell them weapons (of course, we know the U.S. has NEVER funded any deadly and repressive regimes in the world). Or also sell them our ideas, which we of course know are right and everyone else is wrong.

“When the night is cold and still
When you thought you've had your fill
Take all the time you will
This is not a test, it's not a drill
Take no prisoners, only kill”

Well, this one’s not very subtle. No interpretation necessary.

Sure, it's a crazy interpretation of Peacekeeper. But I keep seeing this when I hear it.

[Steve]

CHR = Contemporary Hit Radio.

FM/WB are very clever with their lead FM studio singles. I remember the interest concerning the oohs and ahhs at the end of "Big Love" when it came out. The whole "is that Stevie grunting with Lindsey?" mystery.

Now it's "Peacekeeper" coming out right before a major war. Is that clever marketing or what? Like they say, timing is everything. We shall see.

Someone commented on one of the threads that PK was too pop. It's like "HELLO" FM usually releases what are considered "pop" singles. They are a pop/rock band.

[DownOnRodeo]

Originally posted by JamieSPC
While it wouldn't bother me at all if the single shot to #1, it would bother me if the song got recognition for its TITLE with the wrong assumption as to its MESSAGE. I don't hear anti-war sentiments in the song at all. If anything, it can just as easily be interpreted the OTHER way. In the end, I read it as a "love as war" song.

Oh well... if it makes people want to buy "Say You Will," so be it, I guess. I loved the song BEFORE it was cool to protest the war.

"Peacekeeper take your time..."
"This is not a test it's not a drill...
take no prisoners only kill."

"Cool to protest the war"? Has it ever been 'cool' to support the war in America?

I'm sorry but suggesting this is a love song is both a stretch of the imagination and a remark about Lindsey's songwriting along the lines that he's only capable of "love/baby" tripe.

This song could not be more blatantly on the topic of war.

As for its comment on war, It's far from pro-war. Those lines you quoted above are tongue in cheek, sarcastic .... Because that is the drive of the whole song . A warhead called 'Peacekeeper'? This song is about the irony of doublespeak and peace wars.

[ShangriLaTroubl]

I dont know if you all have stations like this in your area, but here we have to "pop" stations - they play justin, nelly, eminem, sheryl crow kid rock, techno, lots of rap, and r &b" those stations dont play pop like John Mayer and DMB, stuff like that

We have another station Star 94, that plays some r & b (no rap), john mayer, stuff like Dave Matthews Band, its not soft rock, its a hits station STAR 94 The hits of today......but i could see a station like that playing Fleetwood Mac...

Here we also have 2 kinds of rock stations...one plays Nirvana, System of A Down, things like that and the other plays creed, metallica, dave matthews band, rolling stones, alice n chains...i could also see this kind of station picking up PEACEKEEPER (they played PLanets some when it came out)

Chris

[Sarah]

CHR = contemporary hit radio or current hit radio.. whichever floats your boat. They just throw the "rhythmic" and the "pop" in to kinda distinguish between the more urban and "mainstream" pop stations.

Same crap, fancy name.

Sarah