Op-Ed: Quad Playlist
BHS’ Leadership group playing music.
September 6, 2022
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not represent the opinion of The Charger or Bullard High School.
It’s common knowledge that the music played in the quad is predominantly PG and family-friendly. But the main consensus is that most of the music is subpar. The good songs are constantly on repeat, so you get tired of them quickly. Some examples are songs like “As It Was” by Harry Styles or the one song everyone knows by Pharrell, “Happy”. The combination results in the school’s quad playlist being less than desirable.
A common complaint about the playlist is the diversity. Most times diversity is positive but for their music choice, it’s an issue. Some days it’s a 90’s pop song followed by rap, then rock, and then back to 90’s pop. The worst part is that they don’t let the songs finish. There is no coordination in the music selection. The Bullard student community has a wide range of musical tastes, so not everyone will like certain genres, but we could make each day a different genre to fulfill everyone’s preferences.
The next problem is the criteria for the music selection. Maxwell Major, a leadership student, stated that “The music has to be extremely clean. Clean enough for kids to listen to.” Which rules out any NSFW (Not safe for work) songs. This is an obvious and fair regulation, but doubling down and prohibiting radio edits that restrict songs that are censored to be less vulgar from being played on stage is questionable. There have been exceptions in the past but for the most part, the lack of variety has held back the Quad Playlist from becoming a favorite staple of BHS. The minority of Bullard that has an uncommon taste in a specific music genre is normally at the far ends of the campus or in classrooms, so they don’t hear it anyways.
We all hear the music without an opinion on the music choice. So, the fact that 4 people decide what 3000 people listen to is quite unfair. The majority have been complaining about the selection. Eventually, there should be changes made to the music policy because plenty of music that is released weekly should grow the playlist. Everyone knows that we aren’t PG. Or, we could be more lenient with the radio edit rule. At the end of the day, we’re at least radio edit worthy.