Why must the line for what constitutes a song as an oldie change?
Just because the years go on doesn't mean we should lump everything that was
put out twenty years ago and beyond in the same genre of music.
When I think of an oldies channel on the radio, I think of Beatles...Van Morrison...the Mamas and the Papas. Janis Joplin for crying out loud.
Motown. Elvis. Buddy Holly.
Not Styx. Not Billy Joel. Please don't let there ever be a day when I get my "Brown-Eyed Girl" back-to-back with "Hungry Like The Wolf."
I tell you what has to happen, and this could very well benefit radio, is to diversify their stations even more. Country already does it by offering stations with Top 40, contemporary Country music and stations with Classic Country,like Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, George Jones and all those legends.
I consider 50's music as the "Rock n' Roll" era, and a station dedicated to just that would be awesome. I consider the 60's and 70's Classic Rock. And to me, because those were pretty much the founding years of relevant music, those genres should remain untouched.
From then on, music thus far can be put into genre's by decade. 80's. 90's. Today's Top 40.
In my truck now, I have a Top 40 rock station programmed, a country station, a country legends station, an 80's station programmed, and my greatly diluted oldies station.
All I ask is for a little separation. When I'm in the mood for oldies, I'm in the mood for a little "Satisfaction"...not "Come Sail Away."
What do you think? Grind that, and let me know.
Mike Tobias, Port Arthur News
mtobias@panews.com
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
9 comments:
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Just enjoy the music! It doesn't matter what category it falls into. Change the channel when you come across something you don't like. Also, look into satellite radio...they have channels dedicated to each decade and all different types.
ReplyDeleteSee, that's really not even the point of what I'm trying to get at. Like I said, I have a varying taste in music. I have my presets on my radio and there's plenty of stations around here that I love to listen to.
ReplyDeleteIt's just when I'm in the mood for some oldies, all of a sudden I'm thrown a bunch of late 70's, early 80's songs that to me just doesn't fit the mold of the genre.
Also, I refuse to resort to having to pay for what's already available free of charge. Until the entire local stations turn into rap or dance music that all sounds the same and has no meaning behind it whatsoever, I'm sticking with my plain, old-fashioned radio dial.
Mike Tobias, Port Arthur News
mtobias@panews.com
The sad thing is, Mike, that in 20 years, you'll be listening to classic Rap music.
ReplyDeleteLook into XM or Sirrus....I have quit local radio because of it...Besides, where else can I get BBC World Service?
ReplyDeleteBTW: It is worth the money...
ReplyDeleteI refuse to resort to having to pay for what's already available free of charge.
ReplyDeleteI see where you're coming from, but that's not exactly true. I ponied up for Sirius a couple of weeks ago and since then, it seems like on a daily basis I've been hearing stuff I haven't heard in years. I've gotten my money's worth several times over already. Yeah, it's that good.
Regarding music that doesn't fit the genre, well...I know it's all country music, but it's a bit aggravating to see people like Alan Jackson and John Michael Montgomery referred to as "classic country" and getting played on classic country shows like the one on KAYD every Sunday night (which, btw, is a really, really good show nonetheless). I always thought that shows like that should have their cutoff date around 1989. But maybe that's just me...
...A reader from Port Arthur
i like oldies u like super oldies!!! lol
ReplyDeleteYou can do whatever you want but the bettles sucks! and not just me, because they are like the jonas brothers, they just sing crap...
ReplyDeleteThanks
funny you should mention Hungry Like the Wolf, since i recently heard that on my local oldies station. problem is, music from the 80s still sounds somewhat modern and therefore doesn't really fit the "oldies" format. a lot songs from the early 80s, especially the synthy new wave stuff, doesn't really "sound old" or mix well played alongside 60s and 70s music. i think the "oldies" term should always be 50s, 60s and 70s, while "classic hits" is a better term for 80s and 90s music. i also doubt that in the future we'll have 2000s music played on oldies stations, since music hasn't really evolved in sound since the start of the 21st century. even now, you could play a pop song from 2000 on stations playing today's pop, and no one would notice. i'm sure music will still sound the same in 2025, and even then you could play songs from the 2000s on the same station and no one would notice. even a lot of music from the 90s sounds similar to music of today. we don't even have 90s music on oldies stations now, though that music was from 20 or 25 years ago. because it still sounds somewhat modern, i don't think 90s music will even get played on oldies stations in the future. i think oldies stations in the 2020s will still be old-sounding 60s, 70s and early 80s, while 80s, 90s, 2000s or 2010s stuff will have their own stations or be mixed together with each other, or be played alongside today's pop.
ReplyDelete