Let there be rock on the radio

TeenTimes/Jack O'Donovan:Every day I am forced to rely on my MP3 player to hear decent music. I turn on any station and I hear drivel. All these modern artists sound the same.

I am sick of turning on the radio only to hear some pop princess trying to sing about the same thing that last week's big new sensation was failing to sing about. I am clearly not a fan of "popular" or "normal" music.

I love heavy metal. I cannot live without it. But every day I am left out in the cold when it comes to seeking my kind of music on the radio. I am tired of hearing rappers talk about the same old thing: "I had a hard up-bringing"; "my parents had a terrible relationship"; or "I never knew my father." Well, I don't really care.

If I want to know your life story, I'll buy your autobiography, otherwise keep it the hell away from me.

I have asked around and I am not alone - we need a metal station. Of course there will be the "in" crowd who will moan, saying "it's all about killing yourself", "it's so depressing", or the old favourite, "damn grungers". Do you want to know what's depressing? Hearing the same old filth on the radio every day. Westlife? Talentless bunch of wasters. Eminem? Don't get me started. Face it Marshall, you're not black, you never will be, get over yourself.

I personally hate rap. It's only a person talking in rhyme. Where's the skill in that, I ask you? Listen to a Dave Mustaine or a Kerry King guitar solo. There's skill. Just because you listen to anything that isn't considered "popular" by the social elite, you are a "grunger". I for one hate grunge. It is a vent for people who have made a mess of their own lives but blame their parents because they are afraid to face up to the fact that it is their own fault.

I do have an immense grá for metal. This includes groups such as Slipknot, DevilDriver, Slayer, and Anthrax, to name but a few. I love metal because it is based on the purest and most basic human emotion, anger.

If you have had a really bad day, and let's face it we all do at some point, there is nothing more relaxing than unleashing this pent-up rage. That is what metal is based on, releasing anger in a productive manner. When rappers get angry, they go out and have a "drive by" shooting at some poor random punter or they "slap" their "ho".

So, let's get this fine country of Ireland back on track and bring in a metal station. Lose the pop, dance and rap. Put down your rapper's crack pipe, your DJ's decks and your pop princess's false idea of life, and take a real look at life. Life isn't "all good", things don't always work out, get real, and get metalised.

Jack O'Donovan (17) is a Leaving Cert student at Newbridge College, Co Kildare

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