Welding Tips and Tricks

Our outfit has no prohibition of loud music; It's not considered a safety issue.

However, one hand has a large boom-box, and plays the same station every day. This might not be so bad, but it's one of those corporate chain stations that purports to play "country music", which means I hear the same damn Taylor Swift song six times in eight hours. They only play the "top ten" over and over, and it ain't country music, it's "Nashville Pop."

Anyone else suffer this?

The "Classic Rock" station is no better... You'd think the Rolling Stones only wrote five songs.

What the hell happened to radio? Why are there so few independent stations that can still play good music without making us sick of one song?

We probably have the same radio corporate owners in Detroit. The same songs over and over and over. I can't even listen to the clasic rock station up here anymore. If I hear "Freebird" one more time ........... I liked most of those songs the first 879,345 times I heard them , but the last 345,789 times,they started to get a little old.

I'm a heavy metal guy, Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Metallica, etc, but everybody else likes other stuff, so we compromised and now we listen to sports talk radio. So far that's stayed on for over a year and now we can all agree on the one thing that the sports guys up here continually harp on....The Detroit Lions are terrible!

Hey,

More than a few radios have been disabled due to hearing the song 'one' too many times. I dont really care, I can take it of leave it. However I understand what you guys are talking about, I dont see why songs must be flogged to within an inch of there lives . Do they want us to hate them? For those who have the option and the job permits, a personal mp3 player such as an ipod could be a good option. Also you can buy ear muff( hearing protection) that have a radio receiver in them. So you can have your own music but still habe hearing safety.

Mick

I suffered the same thing at my passed two shop, the country stations in Minnesota suck. I ended up buying a cheap mp3 and listened to that. I say cheap because they don't hold up long when the are welding all day, the high frequently takes it toll LOL, same with phones. But at my new shop we are not allowed any radios, I would take listening to the same song over and over now.

That's exactly why the kids today are wearing ear buds and tune out the rest of the world. Controlling your environment is key to having a good day. I've been buying my music from the contestants on 'America's Got Talent' and 'Australia's Got Talent' television shows, as well as any street artist that I find interesting. I put my money directly into the hands of the artist.

My taste in music is all over the place. (Owen Campbell, Marty Murray, Chooka Parker, etc.) I play the saxophone on the depressing days and my PRS Custom 24 with GR55 synthesizer on the inspirational days. Music can change the mood and productivity of any shop. If management understood this, they would get a lot more done and have a much happier work environment. Studies have shown that you can actually pay people less for the same work as long as you treat them like gold.

Music is a very personal thing, just like politics and religion.
http://owencampbell.com.au/
http://www.chookaparkermusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/martymurraysingersongwriter

Otto Nobedder wrote:Our outfit has no prohibition of loud music; It's not considered a safety issue.

However, one hand has a large boom-box, and plays the same station every day. This might not be so bad, but it's one of those corporate chain stations that purports to play "country music", which means I hear the same damn Taylor Swift song six times in eight hours. They only play the "top ten" over and over, and it ain't country music, it's "Nashville Pop."

Anyone else suffer this?

I appreciate the feedback on my rant. Some days I can just tune it out like background noise. Other days, it makes my teeth hurt!

I, too, have broad taste in music. The CDs in my truck right now include Queensryche and Frank Sinatra, Eric Clapton and Crash Test Dummies. At home, I listen to satellite radio, as they have no marketing board calaulating which songs sell the most ads.

I live near New Orleans, so there is a great variety of local talent to hear, as well. I don't understand why we don't have even one local independent station marketing the local talent. We do have one independent station, and they're pretty good, but they stick to one genre, contemporary pop/rock, so even they don't have enough variety for me (and some of that stuff barely qualifies as music).

Best FM station I ever heard was WXPN public radio, Philedelphia. Thanks to them, I had Adele's first release before the rest of North America had heard of her. Every weekday, they have the "Live Lunch", featuring a live performance that might be a local/regional artist, a rising star needing exposure, or something quirky and different from anywhere in the world. They're a college-run station, and have a wide variety of themed shows, including a late-night show targeted specifically at lesbians, for just one example.

Steve S

I ran into the same issue at an old job, we were only allowed to listen to one radio station in particular. After a month, we knew every song they played by heart.

Perhaps, if you sang along to this music with the worst possible vocals,
your co-worker might change the station. If you can't beat em, join them.

WerkSpace wrote:Perhaps, if you sang along to this music with the worst possible vocals,
your co-worker might change the station. If you can't beat em, join them.

There's a thought! I have a deep, booming voice that can be heard a great distance, and I couldn't carry a tune in a chamber-pot.

I suffered thru "modern" country music today. WTH happened to country music??? If I hear one more Kenney Chesney, Brad Paisley, Tracy Byrd nasal country song, I will drill my ear drums out with a 1/2" bit till it comes clear out the other side. I was having visual fantasies of creating a pneumatic rocket launcher and just taking the rigid portable radio out of existence. I could just picture it traveling across the yard, impaled on it's high speed shuttle.

I'm the senior at the shop. I typically control the music. This new guy doesn't know that yet, but tomorrow he will. I can't do another day of that. I listen to CD's. Judas Priest, Boston, Dire Straits, Def Leppard etc. If it's a busy customer day, I will put on softer rock barely audible above the machines. But man, that country twanga-langa was inescapable.

There's a real country song, called "Murder on Music Row", about the death of country music.

Your experience is what I was talking about.

I didn't have to go through it today. The radio wasn't on. Made a big difference of how the day went. I grew up around country music. Liked a lot of it and still do occasionally. This new crop is seemingly nothing more than some re-badged chippendale dancers that can hold half a note. My kids don't even listen to the new stuff. They listen to mine while somehow acting like they invented it or something.

I really thought the ipod was going to be the invention that spared us from such things, but it seems it's more about who you can impress upon these days. Like that god awful bass (i can't call it music if there isn't a melody) stuff, that constantly has me thinking my engine has sucked a valve at the light.

Hey,

Every new generation thinks they invented everything. I heard that in reference to something we wont talk about here,

Anyway, This topic came to my mind today after hearing some god awful song blasted for about the 5th time.... Is there a product that could be used to block radio signals, therefore rendering the squawk box useless for all except CD/tapes and MP3s? Hidden in a secret location in the shop. Or is that illegal?
Mick

Highly illegal, but very easy to do. I was going to do the same thing in my shop, but decided to change the channel instead. When they complained, I said either we find a channel that we can both tolerate or the radio stays off. So far, we manage to listen to something. The younger crowd that I work with, would prefer to listen to a band called RAGE that scream negative emotions to you all day long. I asked this younger crowd why they listen to such music and their response was that the band allows them to express how they are feeling. They should seek a good therapist if this is how they feel. No one should go thru such pain, listening to it, or otherwise. http://www.last.fm/music/Rage

weldin mike 27 wrote:Hey,

Every new generation thinks they invented everything. I heard that in reference to something we wont talk about here,

Anyway, This topic came to my mind today after hearing some god awful song blasted for about the 5th time.... Is there a product that could be used to block radio signals, therefore rendering the squawk box useless for all except CD/tapes and MP3s? Hidden in a secret location in the shop. Or is that illegal?
Mick

Hey,

Good to know that they are illegal. Probably block out important stuff like emergency radios i spose.

People in my immediate area dont have a radio but you always catch snippets of some song, although it always seems to be the most annoying/most played. Or Working Class Man by Cold Chisel. Good song but they really do flog it.

Mick

We made up a list of all the songs we were sick of listening to and if anyone of them came on the radio, the person closest to it had to pull the plug. 99% of those songs were considered "classic rock"

The list included... "Freebird", "Stairway to Heaven", "We Will Rock You", "Rock You Like A Hurricane",anything by Elton John, Peter Frampton, Boston and the 3 different Rolling Stones songs that got played every day. It seemed that whenever someone would put on the classic rock station, there was someone else pulling the plug a few minutes later!

Absolutely.

Know the band, "Golden Earring?"

Name three songs.

"Radar Love", "Twilight Zone", and ??????

They've produced at least 25 albums!

One year George Thorogood was up here for a show and got a call from the local rock station for a live interview. The dj who interviewed him was also the music director for the station. About 5 minutes into the interview the dj/ music director asks George Thorogood "Why are all your songs about drinking and drugs?" George Thorogood says, "Listen, I've made over 15 albums and only 3 songs are about drinking or drugs, but you wouldn't know that because those are the only songs that you ever play!"


I gained a lot of respect for George Thorogood that afternoon!

delraydella wrote:?..The same songs over and over and over....I'm a heavy metal guy, Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Metallica, etc...!

Don't forget Motörhead, Megadeath, Black Label Society, Life of Agony, Prong, etc.. In the shop!
My partner at work listens to XM Serious radio and what I call, "Disco Country." It friggin sucks camel @$$!!! There's even one "country" singer guy that raps in half of his song!!!! Seriously, WTF???? Everytime i hear that turd song, it makes me just wanna punch that "artist" right in the kisser! It's like a cowboy straight outa Compton!!!! It sucks bad!!! Satellite radio also plays the same FRIGGIN 15 songs over and over and over and over and over again.

To tell you the truth, I'm sick and tired of Ozzy and Metallica too, because "Boneyard" channel just repeats all that sh!t way too much.

Now, it's all about the iPad in the shop! Ahhhhhh, life is once again "restored" outa chaos. ...by the way, besides my "metal" music, I also get to throw down my "Chet Atkins-Jerry Reed-Les Paul" electric guitar classics on the iPad as well!!!! It makes me weld better!

Tombstone,

My barber is an ex-Marine who plays guitar and sometimes has Chet Atkins-Jerry Reed-Les Paul playing through the amps in his shop. He has it cranked most of the day, you can hear it a block away, and he does a great job cutting hair whenever it's on.

We used to have an on-air station here called "ZRock". They only played heavy metal and their slogan was "If it's too loud, tough s***!" They played everything from White Zombie to Pantera and put all of the other "rock" stations to shame because they would play more than just the same old 2 or 3 songs. A part of me died the day they went off the air Now it's back to the same old songs over and over and over and over.......a big part of the reason why we switched to sports talk radio.


I live in Detroit, home of the Motown sound. Now Motown had a lot of artists and put out a lot of records, so you would think in the city that it was founded in you might hear a lot of different Motown variety on the radio. Nope, not a chance. If you hear a song that's different from the same 6 that are in constant play, it's a very rare day.

delraydella wrote:Tombstone,

My barber is an ex-Marine who plays guitar and sometimes has Chet Atkins-Jerry Reed-Les Paul playing through the amps in his shop. He has it cranked most of the day, you can hear it a block away, and he does a great job cutting hair whenever it's on.

We used to have an on-air station here called "ZRock". They only played heavy metal and their slogan was "If it's too loud, tough s***!" They played everything from White Zombie to Pantera and put all of the other "rock" stations to shame because they would play more than just the same old 2 or 3 songs. A part of me died the day they went off the air Now it's back to the same old songs over and over and over and over.......a big part of the reason why we switched to sports talk radio.


I live in Detroit, home of the Motown sound. Now Motown had a lot of artists and put out a lot of records, so you would think in the city that it was founded in you might hear a lot of different Motown variety on the radio. Nope, not a chance. If you hear a song that's different from the same 6 that are in constant play, it's a very rare day.

delraydella,,,,,,

I hear ya! I feel your pain!! That's very cool your barber puts on Chet, Jerry and Les! My son is learning to play like those true guitar masters. I used to live in SoCal and we had a heavy metal rock station out here that was called "105.5 KNAC". Their motto out there was "105.5, KNAC, PURE SH!T". It was great. All the heavy metal and hard rock fans out there always had that station on..... Until the Mexican movement came out there and the station went pure Spanish only. Now 75% of L.A. Radio station on both AM and FM are all Spanish music/speaking. I'm glad I just got outa dodge there when I did. No heavy metal, I'm outta here!!!

Tombstone,

That's great news about your son. I don't think you could ask for any better to learn from than those guys. Lately I've been going back into the archives, Robin Trower, Montrose, Alvin Lee...I like the heavy metal , but every now and then I gotta get back to the blues style that started it all.

My first wife wasn't much into metal, but she did like Stevie Ray Vaughn, so I took her to a show where he opened for Jeff Beck. She didn't really know who Jeff Beck was,and from what i could tell from most of the audience, 95% of them had no clue who Jeff Beck was either. After SRV played (and he was very good), I went to get us some drinks and all the talk was about how SRV was the greatest ever. I told them all.."you haven't heard anything yet!"

Stevie Ray would be a hard act for anyone to follow, but Jeff Beck blew him away. During Jeff Becks encore, SRV came out with him and they played 'Vodoo Child" and another song. Pretty amazing stuff....

About 9 months later, Stevie Ray Vaughn died in a helicopter crash.

\m/
Other Steve

delraydella wrote:Tombstone,

That's great news about your son. I don't think you could ask for any better to learn from than those guys. Lately I've been going back into the archives, Robin Trower, Montrose, Alvin Lee...I like the heavy metal , but every now and then I gotta get back to the blues style that started it all.

My first wife wasn't much into metal, but she did like Stevie Ray Vaughn, so I took her to a show where he opened for Jeff Beck. She didn't really know who Jeff Beck was,and from what i could tell from most of the audience, 95% of them had no clue who Jeff Beck was either. After SRV played (and he was very good), I went to get us some drinks and all the talk was about how SRV was the greatest ever. I told them all.."you haven't heard anything yet!"

Stevie Ray would be a hard act for anyone to follow, but Jeff Beck blew him away. During Jeff Becks encore, SRV came out with him and they played 'Vodoo Child" and another song. Pretty amazing stuff....

About 9 months later, Stevie Ray Vaughn died in a helicopter crash.

\m/
Other Steve

Oh man, that sucked when SRV died!!!! Jeff Beck is awesome too!!!! I hate today's music, it just sucks.

Kenny Wayne Sheppard has potential. He's no Stevie Ray, yet, but he's got the skills.

Give him time.