MUSICAL SCOPE: Newly released rock'n'roll, plus artists such as:
Big Star, the Sonics, the Wailers, Ruth Brown, NRBQ, Doug Sahm,
Eliza Gilkyson, the Byrds, Bettye LaVette, the Kinks, Howlin' Wolf,
Pieta Brown, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Louis Jordan, Joe Ely,
Richard Thompson, Little Willie John, Thee Midniters,
Marion Williams, Courtney Barnett, the Clash, Janiva Magness,
Dinah Washington, the Band, Solomon Burke--and both Elvises.
_________________________________________________
Putting Retroactive together every week since 1994 is a labor of love,
as I try to balance exciting, modern rock'n'roll with classic roots
material worth experiencing again--or for the first time.
You'll hear recurring artists and themes on this show, but you'll never
get outright repetition. A few years into Retroactive, I decided not to
air music from the same album (or the same artist) two weeks in-a-row.
Superb new releases get airplay every other week--and it's always a
different track.
Good radio programmers have hundreds of favorite artists, not ten.
Good radio programmers love thousands of songs, not hundreds.
For these reasons, and because I detest unimaginative radio, when I play
a certain tune, I'm not playing it again for ten years. Crazy? Damn
right. Of course, if you request the song in question, it will be aired, and
every once in a great while, you may hear a live version of said song,
but generally, I want to draw from other pieces of an artist's catalog,
because I'm in this for the long haul.
This is meant to keep the show fresh for myself--and I pass the savings
on to you. --J.J.
____________________________________________________
RETROACTIVE SPECIAL SHOWS
*Mid-January: Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr. at different points
throughout the show in speech clips and relevant music.
*Last week of January: The All Michigan/Motown show, in memory of
Motown's brilliant bassist, James Jamerson, Jr.
*Third week in March: All '60s show.
*Third week in May: The third hour of Retroactive features Dylan
music--Bob himself, and covers galore.
*Last week in May: The All Texas show, with original and Texas transplants,
and even a few artists who have moved from Texas (horrors!).
*Second week in September: All '60s show.
*First week in October: The third hour of the program is
devoted to John Lennon music, covers, and a few from that kind
of well-known band he formed.
*Last week of October: A Halloween edition that's not too silly
or overly morbid.
*Last week in November: Hour three is all Jimi Hendrix music,
including the remakes that keep coming.
*Third week of December: Mostly a Christmas edition, although some
non-holiday songs worm their way in.
______________________________________________________
THE PLAYLISTS for Retroactive are as simple as I can make them--
just artist and song are listed, and sometimes a brief notation if it's a
live track or not the first recording of the particular song by that
artist. Every playlist (starting with the first show, in 1994) appears on
this website. For much more detail--albums from which the songs are
taken, dates, recording info--go to the Spinitron.com site, find KAOS,
and then Retroactive.
_______________________________________________________
RETROACTIVE THEME MUSIC
Intro: "Summer On Signal Hill," performed by Killer Joe (album:
Scene of the Crime, 1991) was the theme song for Retroactive for the
first 18 years; it returned in November 2022. From May 2012 to
March 2020, the Clarence Clemons & the Red Bank Rockers
version (non-LP B-side, 1983) opened the show.
Outro: "(One) Mint Julep," performed by Charles Brown
(album: Blues and Other Love Songs, 1992)
_______________________________________________________
AWARDS: Retroactive was voted the favorite KAOS show by KAOS
programmers in 2000, 2001, 2008, 2010 (sharing the honor with
Scott Stevens and Spin the Globe) and 2016.
_______________________________________________________
ON THE AIR: KAOS QUOTES
"Life's too short for prog rock."
--Aaron Kruse, the Spork show, 1990s
"Ha ha!"
I was listening with my daughter Emily to an announcer reading a message on KAOS
back in the '90s. They goofed it up, and way off in the distance (probably the hallway),
someone made fun of the error, using the "Ha ha!" of Nelson from The Simpsons.
Father and daughter both got a kick out of it.
"Rock'n'Roll has never been democratic. How is it that the Band had three superb,
distinctive vocalists, and the Grateful Dead didn't have one?"
--J.J., 1990s
"Another great thing about New Orleans: you'll never see Stephen Miller (the
racist Trump advisor) there."
--J.J., 2018
________________________________________________________
RETROACTIVE THANKS...
...KAOS listeners, who support the station year in, year out.
For years, my underwriter was Steven P. Weinberg & Associates.
Thank you. Thanks to the Olympia Supply Company, whose
commitment to KAOS continues, currently with other programs.
Carl Cook Photography was also a big supporter of Retroactive
and KAOS radio as a whole. Carl (1945-2007) was well-respected
in the Olympia community and continues to be missed.
Please pledge--anytime: www.kaosradio.org