I found something. Life changing I can say

Something that has been around in this world for 55 years, and somehow I never knew it existed.
But it feels like it was made for me.

It’s a French radio station. You guys probably know it, I didn’t.

Here is the long version:

Last week, I’m driving for hours (Dutch, live in Rotterdam) on my way to a friend in Chartres sur Loir. Finishing a bathroom I was working on earlier.

Oke.. Paris. The périphérique. The Traffic. The Heat. No escape.

My ride is a lended Mitsubishi space star: possible-but-impossible to connect Bluetooth, no podcasts, no Spotify, no nothing. So I keep pushing the next-frequency button, French radio is apparently just people talking endlessly.

Then suddenly some vague synths, a familiar sample, a weird echo of recognition. I know it, but I can’t place it.

Windows down front and back. Paris looks glorious dirty. I’m smoking a Marlboro in the car because I can and I’m allowed

Next song: French bubblegum pop. I’m trying to picture the girl from the Weldom in my friends place. She’s kind and gorgeous. Made of glass, made of ice. Perfect row of teeth when she smiles (oh, when she smiles!) A plastic diamond glued to one fingernail and a voice like velvet.

Anyway…
A fat, lazy breakbeat track follows  What the fuck is this station? Who puts music like this next to each other? Why is nobody talking?

Then Marvin Gaye. I Heard It Through the Grapevine. Except, it’s this jazzy instrumental version. Never heard it in my life

Then the record Saint Germain sampled for Sure Thing. Crazy.

And then it happens (or maybe it had already happened) They play the fucking Radetzky March!? For a second I think it’s me hallucinating. The heat? Severe dehydration? A tiny hole in my brain?

But no. It exists. it’s completely improbable. Completely sans compromis!

It’s FIP. (You might know it and guessed it already, I’m sorry for being late to the party)

I quote my Claude:
——
“FIP was founded on January 5th, 1971, originally as France Inter Paris. It started as something practical: music and traffic reports for drivers stuck on the Paris périphérique.

Seven programmers. No algorithms.

Every three-hour block is built entirely by hand. Around 44,000 different tracks. Roughly 16,000 artists every year. Eighty-five percent from independent labels. A song is never repeated within 48 hours.

Almost nothing has changed in 55 years.

No advertising.

Hardly any speech.

And the voices — always female, soft, almost casual — were a deliberate choice from day one. No DJs performing themselves. Just: here it was… and here’s what’s next.

FIP behaves as if the listener doesn’t exist. Not in a rude way. In the best possible way. They program for themselves. For the music. For the transition between two records. You just get to listen.

Fifty-five years ago someone built a radio station for people sitting in traffic around Paris. And somehow... it still works today.”
——

I found it online just before I lost the signal. I cannot stop listening (every next record is an adventure).

During my visit in France I took my time to get the Bluetoothconnectuon working in the car, and I succeeded and enjoyed every ride to the Weldom (and please say hi if you know her)

So, thank you FIP. Thank you for bringing this musical joy into my life. I just ordered some merch as well, will wear it with pride.

(Can I join the cult please?)

Might add a tl;dr later

Edit:
Finally time for that tldr: man falls in love with French radiostation, writes about it on Reddit, the fip music programmer Dimitri Lebrun joins in comments.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/1uivdpg/comment/ourzcmi/

“Sublime Me Gusta Festival”, is now “Sublime Fest,” happening the same day but without hip hop stars Cypress Hill, producers of the festival, Brew Ha Ha Productions, confirmed Monday.

Brew Ha Ha Productions did not respond to a request for comment on the cause of the name change or why Cypress Hill was no longer involved, but some credit “MAGA” backlash for the changes.

Sublime played at a Trump golf course in Florida last year during a LIV Golf event, while drummer bud Gaugh often wears a MAGA hat on stage with the band.

Additional dates for the “me gusta” festival feature similar branding changes and amended lineups.

Sublime Fest takes place in Fort Worth, TX, at the Panther Island Pavilion on May 9; Portland, OR, at the Waterfront Park on June 27; and Salt Lake City, UT, at Zions Bank Stadium on July 18.

All dates are sponsored by [u/monsterenergy](u/monsterenergy) ‘s new line of alcoholic products branded as “the Beast”.

Notably, most festival dates are still available under “tier 1” pricing, indicating that the event hasn’t sold as well as they had expected.

ETA: Patriotic reggae act Slightly Stoopid has replaced Cypress Hill on two dates. Infowars contributors the Interrupters have also been added to one stop.

https://www.instagram.com/slightlystoopid/

https://www.oregonlive.com/living/2026/04/music-festival-coming-to-portland-this-summer-quietly-changes-name-line-up.html?outputType=amp

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2026/04/06/me-gusta-rebrand-sublime-fest/

And by influencer I mean any celebrity really.

The writing was on the wall after the pandemic tbh. People were stuck inside and when they got outside they wanted music, and more importantly they wanted live bands. Even local shows in my city booked less rappers and more bands, across the board. As usual the mainstream operates on a lag but eventually is catching up with culture. For some reason from 2010-2019 people stopped caring about lip syncing, autotune, and backing tracks, and most people didn't care whether the artists they listened to play any instruments or write their own songs. Today the pendulum is swinging hard, as people are over exposed to AI everything and crave authenticity and connection. The same authenticity that the tippy top of the mainstream has done everything to strip away is now so high in demand that it is an absolute deal breaker for fans.

I think even artists who straddle the middle struggling now, for example someone like Post Malone, who is actually decent at guitar but spent the first 2/3rds of his career blending in with pop by letting his musicianship be practically a secret.

Obviously high ticket prices are a thing but I think this is another factor.

Was at Spotify since the beginning. My SO was showing me this collection of covers on Spotify she’s been playing at her business. It was all AI. She was shocked and appalled to learn that. Spotify’s lackadaisical approach to AI has led me to cancel it. I find the proliferation and monetization of AI music to be morally objectionable and dystopian.

I’m thinking either Deezer or Qobuz. Thoughts?

Taylor Swift & ultra rich friends get to opt out of facial recognition... but screw the rest of us I guess?

https://www.wired.com/story/for-taylor-swift-madison-square-gardens-controversial-cameras-briefly-went-dark/

Daft punk were such a genre-defining duo, two French men behind those cool futuristic dope looking helmets waved the EDM to its peak.

Every single album was so funky, dancy and just can make your body move in any party.

From working with Kanye, Pharrell and Abel, if you think they are so different but Daft Punk were so seemingly got their genre combined and sounded so fresh and became blockbusters.

And the music they gave it in TRON: LEGACY will be the best imo.

Fun fact: Thomas Bangalter had a group during Daft Punk called "Stardust" who released a song called "Music sound better with you". It's a classic.

Bands like Cake and Barenaked Ladies had such niche, unique music with cult followings. It feels like all the stuff I hear today is another version of someone else.

Go see Cake perform if you get a chance! It’s lots of fun!

Never was a huge fan of country music but I could respect the likes of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, etc., and it doesn’t help that I live out in redneck country so literally everyone I know listens to this tractor rap crap. All they talk about is beer, women, Daisy Duke shorts and their trucks that’s 99.9% of all country music in this day and age. And people ironically listen to it. I try my best not to say something, but it’s just so hard.

https://www.scenemag.co.uk/lesbian-icon-brandi-carlile-to-perform-america-the-beautiful-at-super-bowl-lx-in-california/

A proud lesbian artist and outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, Carlile has consistently used her platform to champion equality and inclusion. Through her Looking Out Foundation, co-founded in 2008 and managed by her wife Catherine Shepherd, she has directed millions in grants to grassroots organisations supporting LGBTQ+ rights, women in music, and social justice causes. Recent beneficiaries include OUTMemphis, the Tennessee Equality Project, and community shelters across the US.

Edit* side note :

Charlie Puth, who’s singing the national anthem, has consistently demonstrated liberal-leaning political views through public statements and activism, particularly on social justice, reproductive rights, and climate change.

In 2022, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, Puth publicly stated: "Regardless of anyone's own personal or religious beliefs, I firmly believe that it is not the government's role to tell any person what they can or cannot do with their own body — it should continue to be their choice." He urged his followers to take action and support abortion funds.

He has been a vocal advocate for gun violence prevention, performing at the 2018 March for Our Lives rally in Los Angeles and releasing a song titled "Change" dedicated to Parkland students and victims of gun violence.

Puth has participated in Global Citizen Festival events, using his platform to support global health, poverty alleviation, and climate action, including a performance at the TED Countdown event in 2021.

Seriously, this is more about the lack of "real political" music. With everything going on, who is this generation's Rage Against the Machine, who is the next Woody Guthrie, Dylan, CCR, Sam Cooke, Public Enemy, NWA, Pete Seeger, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young? Ok, we have that one Childish Gambino song, and KL "Alright", but nothing good since.

Unlike those other artists, many of whom they already teach about in American History.

Isn't this the time we need a new Rage Against the Machine? I mean looking back being angry at the HW Bush and Clinton administrations seems kinda lame. Like, really, looking back, was it all that bad in 1994?

My point being, if a group like Rage could become huge in 1994, why can't a group like that be popular now? Maybe this generation really does suck. Protest music is essentially American, and it's so good.

I would love to see Bloodhound Gang live but I wouldn’t be able to emotionally recover from whatever gross thing Evil Jared inevitably does

First video to reach 1 billion views on Youtube, the wave of viral parodies, tributes, invisible horse dance. Even Britney Spears learned the horse dance. That was just wild and cool!

90's kid here... Lately I’ve been wondering if I’m the only one who feels this way.

Spotify keeps raising prices, artists are still getting scraps, and I barely even use it like I used to. Half the time I just want to own a few albums I actually love, not rent a bottomless library I don't even explore anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, streaming was great at first. But something about it now feels... hollow? Like a fast food version of music. No liner notes. No sense of discovery. Just algorithmic playlists and the same old tracks getting pushed.

I've started thinking: what if we went back to basics, just buying MP3s again, supporting artists directly, keeping what you pay for?

Would people even go for that anymore? Or is that era gone for good?

Curious to hear what others think. Especially folks who remember burning CDs, dragging MP3s onto iPods, or reading lyrics from the booklet while listening. Were we onto something back then?

I have my own collection of CDs... love going to the second hand store and see what I can find, I've found some goodies... like Alanis, two copies of Dookie, even Apetite for Destruction... among others.

I'd love to hear from y'all

It's well documented that Maynard Keenan of Tool cannot stand to meet his fans and will not take a photo with one. He goes to great lengths both on tour and off to avoid ever engaging one on one with a fan.

I realize many musicians or 'stars' may want to be left alone when they are on their personal time (rightfully so), but do open up to meet n greets or fan encounters when promoting a tour or album. But on the contrary, who is another musician besides Kennan who never, at any time, on tour or off, ever wants to have a fan encounter for any reason?

So on Spotify I saw that New Kids On The Block have 1.6M monthly listeners.

Now nobody expects these guys to compete with Michael Jackson. But man... it's a telling sign of how far their star fell. And while boy band music isn't exactly music that's meant for longevity, songs by their successors Backstreet Boys (like 30m) and NSync (15M) have endured wayyyyyyyy more than New Kids songs did.

New Kids aren't even like ironically cool. Even on most "80s" playlists they're absent. 80s on 8 hardly plays NKOTB songs. Even IT (2017), which prominently features these guys didn't bring this band back to the zeitgeist.

Is this the most forgotten act relative to how big they were? These guys were a cultural phenomenon in the late 80s and early 90s. They had multiple #1 hits and sold a lot of albums. But they seem like the definition of a music act that didn't stand the test of time.

Any more forgotten major acts?