Comments on: The Flobots Make Modern Rock Radio Safe For Rappin’ Whitey Again

By: Jean Bon

Jean Bon — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 15:10:52 +0000

I must try what you say, it sound interesting. I’ll talk about your blog to my friends :). Sorry for my bad english :S

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:35:23 +0000

@Al Shipley:
don't know if it strictly qualifies as hiphop or rap but i remember HFS playing "Oh Carolina" by Shaggy quite heavily in about 93 i think.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 05 May 2008 05:46:13 +0000

Did we already forget about Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda’s side project “Fort Minor” from last year?

By: Butch Huskey

Butch Huskey — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:22:50 +0000

until i found out these guys thought of themselves at a rap unit, i thought they sounded just like Cake

another recent "rap" styled Modern Rock charting band was Transplants and of course Gnarls Barkley

By: jus10j

jus10j — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:29:35 +0000

You know, I actually like this song…mainly because it’s (now) different from what’s played a lot. However, I have one complaint: The version in the video (and the album) isn’t the same as the one on the radio…the radio mix has some different effects to it, and builds much better. I dunno, I just like to be able to get the version I like.

And they’re definitely like angry Cake. I can’t imagine that guy raising his voice.

By: Clevertrousers

Clevertrousers — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:37:27 +0000

@Reidicus: ...and Frank Stallone

By: Reidicus

Reidicus — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:25:15 +0000

@Clevertrousers: Right, like Hall & Oates.

By: Ned Raggett

Ned Raggett — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:46:05 +0000

@Al Shipley: Just wait until it gets to 420 views.

By: Al Shipley

Al Shipley — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:48:37 +0000

Another kinda-rap Modern Rock hit popped into my head: Us3's "Cantaloop."

@Audif Jackson Winters III: Ah, good catch. It's definitely telling that Rabin wrote that article 8-9 years ago but all you'd have to do is change/add a couple names to update for any point since then.

@Chris Molanphy: Yeah, I can kinda hear the Cake comparison in the voice. But I mean, Cake's approach to rapping is very deadpan and droll, these Flobots guys very clearly had their lives changed by Zack De La Rocha (or maybe Sage Francis).

@beta.rogan: They don't seem to have ever made the rock charts, but that's not surprising. HFS always seemed a little more rap-friendly than the average alt station, a lot of songs I'd mentioned here were stuff I heard them play a lot, but turned out not to have enough national Modern Rock exposure to chart.

By: beta.rogan

beta.rogan — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:34:13 +0000

I'm not sure if they ever officially made it on the Modern Rock charts, but 3rd Bass got some play on WHFS with Pop goes the weasel. That could have been more because of their Dj "Weasel" rather than anything else I suppose...

By: Al Shipley

Al Shipley — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:05:30 +0000

lol:
10:00 AM on Thu May 1 2008
By Al Shipley
311 views

By: Chris Molanphy

Chris Molanphy — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:30:13 +0000

@Al Shipley: Apologies -- I missed your mention of Cake in the middle of that list.

I realize you've now got a slew of comments here with a boatload of comparisons to other acts, but to me Cake is the obvious comparison and probably why, to the average modern-rock PD, this is an easy sell.

By: Audif Jackson Winters III

Audif Jackson Winters III — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:29:14 +0000

Nathan Rabin of the Onion AV Club wrote a nice piece on this topic:

[www.avclub.com]

I initially thought this piece was from a few years back, but it's from *'99* ... and I know I read it when it came out. Yikes.

By: Al Shipley

Al Shipley — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:19:10 +0000

BTW, “Handlebars” has climbed up to #5 on the new MR chart that Billboard released today.

By: Al Shipley

Al Shipley — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:04:22 +0000

@Butch Huskey: Lily Allen never charted on Modern Rock, and I mean, does she even count? I pretty much left artists that sang over samples/drum loops (like Primitive Radio Gods) out of the equation here just to narrow the field.

By: Butch Huskey

Butch Huskey — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:56:22 +0000

and nobody remembers Lily Allen?

By: Butch Huskey

Butch Huskey — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:56:07 +0000

it’s actually #2 on USA Today/Mediabase and would have been #1 this week if it wasnt for those pesky Weezer kids

By: Al Shipley

Al Shipley — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:28:57 +0000

@AL: Bloodhound Gang! Another great exampled that eluded me! I definitely didn't mean to come off like everything I discussed in the column was bad. For the record, I like Soul Coughing, Beck and the Beasties to varying degrees, and the occasional single by RHCP, 311, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, RATM, etc. The only songs I totally hate or never understood the appeal of are "Hey Ya!" and "Pepper."

@Chris Molanphy: Good point, but hey, I did mention Cake!

By: Chris Molanphy

Chris Molanphy — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:22:55 +0000

Nice, and uncannily good timing. I had this very theme on the brain the other day when WRXP here in NYC threw the Beasties' "Hey Ladies" into the mix like it ain't no thang -- and I thought to myself, This is the closest I'll ever come to hearing something directly attributable to James Brown on a rock radio station. Why does this get a pass?

All I'll add to the Flobots discussion is a comparison to one other modern-rock staple band you didn't mention: Cake. Dude's voice is a ringer for John McCrea's, and the bits of horn they throw in about halfway through make the similarity even more overt. Honestly, the song sounds to me like Cake covering a (nonexistent) RATM song. Which makes its acceptance by modern-rock radio understandable -- it's as if Flobots are taking advantage of a gap in the market.

By: Clevertrousers

Clevertrousers — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:22:50 +0000

@Al Shipley: To be fair, it could just as easily be Dennis Kucinich rap or Ralph Nader rap, too...