Not too long ago, I heard "Don't You Forget about Me" on the oldies station.
This won't do.
I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong. My issue here is not that a song that was popular when I was in high school is now being called an "oldie," thereby making me an "oldie." I'm aware of my aging, and I'm pretty comfortable with it, as these things go. My issue is that a big part of our musical history is disappearing, and it's going to happen one "Safety Dance" at a time.
The Oldies format has been around since the 1970s, rising to prominence during the first wave of '50s nostalgia. Its stayed relatively consistent through the 1980s and the advent of Classic Rock format. Even as more 1960s songs began to creep their way in to Oldies playlists, there was still based on a fairly simply dichotomy at work: Songs that were originally played on AM radio and purchased on 45 were "oldies," while songs that were purchased on LP and played on FM radio were "classic rock." The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction"? An Oldie. "Fool to Cry"? Classic Rock. The Beatles, as you might expect, were more ambidextrous, although pre-1966 Beatles were more or less strictly Oldies. The system worked. Young people were hearing "Runaround Sue" and were surely the better for it.
But over time, this useful dichotomy has collapsed upon itself. Nowadays, the Oldies station plays mostly songs from the 1970s, and more specifically the kind of Seals and Crofts Mellow Gold that made the rock 'n' roll traditionalists vomit with rage. Case in point: A few weeks back I was going back and forth between our Oldies and Classic Rock stations. Both were playing "Peaceful Easy Feeling" by the Eagles. I considered driving my car over the median strip and into oncoming traffic to make it stop.
Unlike Classic Rock, which I recall was originally trying to forge a link between early '70s FM, Zeppelinist dogma and more analogous contemporary sounds, oldies radio was a preservationist format. Just because they played rockabilly didn't open the door for the Stray Cats. But now the Stray Cats are the only vaguely '50s-ish sounds you'll hear on the Oldies station. And while we were too often exposed to the irritations of Frankie Valli's shrieking back then, we're now exposed to his even more contemptible '70s output, including the wall-punchingly hideous "Grease Is the Word."
Nostalgia is already a great equalizer. Oldies radio created the impression that CCR = Buddy Holly = the Archies, which was odd enough. Now we're led to believe that CCR = Donna Summer = Huey Lewis and the News, and that's just plain frightening.
It's a problem that's only been compounded by the consolidation of radio by the Clear Channel/Cumulus stranglehold. No one's going to break with existing formats for a demographic as undesirable as the 50 and up group. And as a result, the few kids that actually scan the radio dial will only know of Chuck Berry as the "My Ding-a-Ling" guy, and they won't know about Sam Cooke at all. And nothing good can come of that.
It's Got the Whole World Shakin'.mp3
This won't do.
I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong. My issue here is not that a song that was popular when I was in high school is now being called an "oldie," thereby making me an "oldie." I'm aware of my aging, and I'm pretty comfortable with it, as these things go. My issue is that a big part of our musical history is disappearing, and it's going to happen one "Safety Dance" at a time.
The Oldies format has been around since the 1970s, rising to prominence during the first wave of '50s nostalgia. Its stayed relatively consistent through the 1980s and the advent of Classic Rock format. Even as more 1960s songs began to creep their way in to Oldies playlists, there was still based on a fairly simply dichotomy at work: Songs that were originally played on AM radio and purchased on 45 were "oldies," while songs that were purchased on LP and played on FM radio were "classic rock." The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction"? An Oldie. "Fool to Cry"? Classic Rock. The Beatles, as you might expect, were more ambidextrous, although pre-1966 Beatles were more or less strictly Oldies. The system worked. Young people were hearing "Runaround Sue" and were surely the better for it.
But over time, this useful dichotomy has collapsed upon itself. Nowadays, the Oldies station plays mostly songs from the 1970s, and more specifically the kind of Seals and Crofts Mellow Gold that made the rock 'n' roll traditionalists vomit with rage. Case in point: A few weeks back I was going back and forth between our Oldies and Classic Rock stations. Both were playing "Peaceful Easy Feeling" by the Eagles. I considered driving my car over the median strip and into oncoming traffic to make it stop.
Unlike Classic Rock, which I recall was originally trying to forge a link between early '70s FM, Zeppelinist dogma and more analogous contemporary sounds, oldies radio was a preservationist format. Just because they played rockabilly didn't open the door for the Stray Cats. But now the Stray Cats are the only vaguely '50s-ish sounds you'll hear on the Oldies station. And while we were too often exposed to the irritations of Frankie Valli's shrieking back then, we're now exposed to his even more contemptible '70s output, including the wall-punchingly hideous "Grease Is the Word."
Nostalgia is already a great equalizer. Oldies radio created the impression that CCR = Buddy Holly = the Archies, which was odd enough. Now we're led to believe that CCR = Donna Summer = Huey Lewis and the News, and that's just plain frightening.
It's a problem that's only been compounded by the consolidation of radio by the Clear Channel/Cumulus stranglehold. No one's going to break with existing formats for a demographic as undesirable as the 50 and up group. And as a result, the few kids that actually scan the radio dial will only know of Chuck Berry as the "My Ding-a-Ling" guy, and they won't know about Sam Cooke at all. And nothing good can come of that.
It's Got the Whole World Shakin'.mp3
I just had a similar conversation with a couple friends about Classic Rock and Alternative Rock – as Classic Rock stations are starting to rely heavily on older Alternative Rock to fill out playlists.
The Classic Rock Station I listened to as a teenager are now playing a lot of music that was new when I was a teenager. In 1995, Classic Rock was the stuff that you could go to Goodwill and find on vinyl. Alternative Rock was the stuff being pumped out on the shiny CD things. You could buy Classic Rock in CD format but it sounded bad.
Not that any of it really matters. Satellite radio is slowly killing regular radio while MP3s and Streaming audio services are performing a Hannibal Lecter-stlye lobotomy on radio in general.
People still listen to the radio?
I mean other than talk radio....
It is precisely the reasons you mentioned above that I listen almost entirely to Public Radio. On my local station, I can hear Jazz, Blues, Bluegrass, Electronic,.....
You're a lucky man, Op. Our local public radio station is all classical. Saturday afternoons are all opera. Opera. Let that sink in.
You do have dance and electronic at 9:00pm on Sundays... I can not get into Opera, though!
Great post! I hardly ever comment on blogs, but your well reasoned and thoughtful analysis of the subject just required I give you a pat on the back.
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