When You Say Wisconsin in Song
When we learned that an alumnus listens to songs for a living, we couldn’t resist asking him to pick five that say UW-Madison and tell us why.
By Jenny Price ’96
While growing up in a small town in central Wisconsin, Stephen Thompson ’94 spent Sundays parked in front of the radio, armed with a notebook to meticulously document the charts from Casey Kasem’s American Top 40, followed by Rick Dees’s Weekly Top 40.
“This is before I discovered girls,” says Thompson, now the editor for National Public Radio’s music Web site, www.npr.org/music.
Thompson’s music obsession grew during his sophomore year at UW-Madison, when he became music director of the now-defunct student radio station WLHA in fall 1991. The station transmitted at just 1.5 watts and could only be heard in some lakeshore residence halls, but it was a transformative experience for Thompson.
“I had an opportunity to dive in head first, and just immerse myself in all this new music,” he says, recalling that the first song he played on the air was Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Thompson’s access to the station’s music library also gave him the chance to discover bands and genres he had missed during the 1980s, when he was glued to the pop charts.
“It’s part of what everyone treasures about college,” he says. “You certainly had your eyes opened to new things.”
His interest in music eventually turned into a full-time job at the Onion, where he started writing music reviews after a stint with the Daily Cardinal. “There’s sort of an inverse relationship between my professional development while in college and my interest in going to class,” says Thompson, who graduated with degrees in history and journalism. He helped launch the Onion’s entertainment section — “The A.V. Club” — while still an undergraduate, and his role grew as the satirical newspaper did.
Thompson served as the section’s editor until he left the Onion in 2004. He joined NPR’s Digital Media team in 2006 after contributing pieces as a freelancer, including some for the music Web site’s “Song of the Day,” which features tunes by artists ranging from Death Cab for Cutie to Scott Joplin. Now, reviewers e-mail Thompson a digital file of the song they want to write about, and he decides whether it’s worthy of being included on the site.
“My number one criterion that I tell writers is just love the song,” he says. “And if you love the song, and you can write a passionate defense of the song … then if I don’t despise it, it will make the cut for ‘Song of the Day.’ ”
Thompson also appears as a music commentator on NPR’s All Songs Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend All Things Considered. One thing you won’t hear him do is disparage a piece of music as a “guilty pleasure,” even if the source is a former American Idol winner. An example is Kelly Clarkson’s hit “Since U Been Gone,” which Thompson has defended on air.
“There’s no such thing [as a guilty pleasure],” he says. “You should not feel guilty about something that’s awesome. If you think something is awesome, it’s awesome. If a song is sort of catchy, and wonderful, and it makes you feel good, it’s awesome.”
Jenny Price ’96 is a writer for On Wisconsin. She would add “Beer Barrel Polka” to the list of songs that say UW-Madison.
By Jenny Price ’96
While growing up in a small town in central Wisconsin, Stephen Thompson ’94 spent Sundays parked in front of the radio, armed with a notebook to meticulously document the charts from Casey Kasem’s American Top 40, followed by Rick Dees’s Weekly Top 40.
“This is before I discovered girls,” says Thompson, now the editor for National Public Radio’s music Web site, www.npr.org/music.
Thompson’s music obsession grew during his sophomore year at UW-Madison, when he became music director of the now-defunct student radio station WLHA in fall 1991. The station transmitted at just 1.5 watts and could only be heard in some lakeshore residence halls, but it was a transformative experience for Thompson.
“I had an opportunity to dive in head first, and just immerse myself in all this new music,” he says, recalling that the first song he played on the air was Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Thompson’s access to the station’s music library also gave him the chance to discover bands and genres he had missed during the 1980s, when he was glued to the pop charts.
“It’s part of what everyone treasures about college,” he says. “You certainly had your eyes opened to new things.”
His interest in music eventually turned into a full-time job at the Onion, where he started writing music reviews after a stint with the Daily Cardinal. “There’s sort of an inverse relationship between my professional development while in college and my interest in going to class,” says Thompson, who graduated with degrees in history and journalism. He helped launch the Onion’s entertainment section — “The A.V. Club” — while still an undergraduate, and his role grew as the satirical newspaper did.
Thompson served as the section’s editor until he left the Onion in 2004. He joined NPR’s Digital Media team in 2006 after contributing pieces as a freelancer, including some for the music Web site’s “Song of the Day,” which features tunes by artists ranging from Death Cab for Cutie to Scott Joplin. Now, reviewers e-mail Thompson a digital file of the song they want to write about, and he decides whether it’s worthy of being included on the site.
“My number one criterion that I tell writers is just love the song,” he says. “And if you love the song, and you can write a passionate defense of the song … then if I don’t despise it, it will make the cut for ‘Song of the Day.’ ”
Thompson also appears as a music commentator on NPR’s All Songs Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend All Things Considered. One thing you won’t hear him do is disparage a piece of music as a “guilty pleasure,” even if the source is a former American Idol winner. An example is Kelly Clarkson’s hit “Since U Been Gone,” which Thompson has defended on air.
“There’s no such thing [as a guilty pleasure],” he says. “You should not feel guilty about something that’s awesome. If you think something is awesome, it’s awesome. If a song is sort of catchy, and wonderful, and it makes you feel good, it’s awesome.”
Jenny Price ’96 is a writer for On Wisconsin. She would add “Beer Barrel Polka” to the list of songs that say UW-Madison.
Stephen Thompson's Picks
I listen to songs for a living, and I never would have gotten to that point in
my career if I hadn’t gone to the UW. So it’s no surprise that my thoughts of
campus involve a heady mixture of gratitude, nostalgia, and anxiety about the
fate of some Badger sports team or another — and more than a few songs. When On Wisconsin asked me to pick five that say UW-Madison, I had plenty to choose from. Here are the songs that ultimately made my list.
my career if I hadn’t gone to the UW. So it’s no surprise that my thoughts of
campus involve a heady mixture of gratitude, nostalgia, and anxiety about the
fate of some Badger sports team or another — and more than a few songs. When On Wisconsin asked me to pick five that say UW-Madison, I had plenty to choose from. Here are the songs that ultimately made my list.
Bon Iver, “Wisconsin”
One of the most widely praised new bands of 2008, Bon Iver has Wisconsin etched into every strand of its DNA. Based in Eau Claire, singer Justin Vernon wrote and recorded Bon Iver’s brilliant debut, “For Emma, Forever Ago,” in a cabin in the state’s north woods. He once appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman wearing a Bucky Badger T-shirt — the one thing Vernon could have done to make his music more appealing in my eyes. He recorded this wonderful song, “Wisconsin,” complete with a mantra for everyone who’s ever had to leave the state behind: “Every place I go, I take another place with me.”
House of Pain, "Jump Around"
I was still in college when House of Pain’s “Jump Around” came out, and I never viewed it as more than a hip-hop crossover novelty — culturally indistinguishable from, say, “Rump Shaker” by Wreckx-N-Effect. But ever since the Badger football team started using it to kick off the fourth quarter at home games, I’ve come to view “Jump Around” as an unimpeachable classic of not only hip-hop, but also motivation itself.
Stars of the Lid, “Even If You’re Never Awake (Deuxieme)”
I’m a big believer in minimizing academics and using the college experience to explore work in the career of your choice. I spent far more time at WLHA, the Daily Cardinal, and the Onion than I ever spent studying — or, for that matter, attending classes. But when I did study, I often trotted out the trusty, head-clearing Twin Peaks score. Every time I put on this similarly hypnotic gem by Stars of the Lid — a perfect companion for editing, studying, or any other activity requiring concentration — I flash back to those dorm-room study sessions, and reflect on how glad I am that I no longer have to think for free.
Badwolf, "Smooth Elevator"
This song won’t mean much to all but a handful of local hard-rock fans. But few Madison bands meant more to me than Badwolf, a monumentally silly late-’90s hair-metal throwback that frequented the Badger Bowl long after its genre’s gory demise. For all the great Madison bands to have been etched into local legend — Killdozer, The Tar Babies, Spooner, Pachinko, et al. — I prefer to celebrate Badwolf, and ponder what might have been had it come along, say, ten years earlier. If you can find its album Sleeping Dogs Lie, then you have found yourself a ludicrously entertaining pop-metal gem.
The University of Wisconsin Marching Band, “The Bud Song,” a.k.a. “You’ve Said It All”
I had a tough time settling on a fifth song: Would I pick something to capture the spirit of activism that’s defined campus life since long before I got there? The work of a beloved but defunct Madison band other than Badwolf? A track by one-time American Idol eighth-place finisher Bucky Covington — or, as I like to think of him, “Buckingham U. Covington”? Finally, I chose a brief but rousing instrumental, which concludes with eight of the greatest words in all of song: “When you say Wiiiiiiiiisconsin, you’ve said it all!”
