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What do you consider “oldies?”

post #1 of 32
10/9/09 at 11:23pm
Thread Starter 
I get a kick out of asking people I meet what “oldies” they like. It gives me an idea where they’re coming from musically. I grew up during the age of the Stones, Beatles, and Zeppelin (yeah I’m old), so I consider stuff older than that as “oldies”. I smile when someone says Michael Jackson or No doubt some band from the 80’s. But I was really floored when a young girl at the convenience store said, “did you know Paul McCartney had a band before Wings?”

What do you consider “oldies?”
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post #2 of 32
10/9/09 at 11:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin Uthadude View Post
But I was really floored when a young girl at the convenience store said, “did you know Paul McCartney had a band before Wings?”

What do you consider “oldies?”
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I have a folder of 50's and 60's that I call "Oldies". 70's reminds me of childhood. I'm 42. The 80's was a goofy time for a lot of rock music...MTV!
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post #3 of 32
10/9/09 at 11:47pm
I typically consider the 50's to early 70's as oldies.
I'm 18 by the way.
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post #4 of 32
10/9/09 at 11:49pm
I know what you're saying, Justin, but it's hard to stay current and not get a distorted sense of what "oldies" entails. Co-terminal with the now famous original K-Tel collections, I think I grew up in the age of the first dedicated "oldies" pop rock stations (as opposed to "oldies" classical music, jazz, country, gospel, and WDED--All William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" Speech, All the Time!).

So in other words, there was this remarkable moment in my personal musical education when all at approximately the same time, I discovered that I dug The Beatles, Hendrix, Motown, Chicago electric blues, The Doors, Donald Fagen, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Prince singing "Paisley Park," AND Looking Glass' "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)." That last was the consequence of our conservative "Home of the Oldies" station. That's probably the origin of Johnny Horton's "The Battle of New Orleans" too.

And yet now I look back to Beck's seminal Odelay album, and PJ Harvey's 4-track Demos, and even Wilco's Summerteeth and think, "Gawrd, that's part of oldies music now." I mean, Jeff Tweedy golfs on the weekend and has got a lingering groin injury from when he moved too fast, and he's younger than I am (and I feel like a perpetually confused 22-year-old).

I mean, wasn't that Cobain feller one of the musicians that died on the flight with the Big Bopper?
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post #5 of 32
10/9/09 at 11:51pm
Oldies is most any rock 'n roll before The Beatles.
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post #6 of 32
10/10/09 at 12:58am
Anything before about 1973.
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post #7 of 32
10/10/09 at 1:18am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by crazyjeeper View Post
Anything before about 1973.
Wow, I'm becoming an "oldie". Zeppelin had 5 albums by then.
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post #8 of 32
10/10/09 at 1:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin Uthadude View Post
Wow, I'm becoming an "oldie". Zeppelin had 5 albums by then.
And all of those albums were brilliant, I have them all

I still think it counts an an oldie though.

FYI, I'm 20.
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post #9 of 32
10/10/09 at 1:41am
60's and 70's to me.
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post #10 of 32
10/10/09 at 4:56am
60's and 70's to me as well.
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post #11 of 32
10/10/09 at 6:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ham Sandwich View Post
Oldies is most any rock 'n roll before The Beatles.
x2

I am the same opinion.
There was change at the appearance front and back of The Beatles.
That is start of age of the Singer song writer.
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post #12 of 32
10/10/09 at 1:53pm
Elvis, the Beatles, 50's rock n roll, 60's Motown. These were the things playing on "oldies" stations when I was a kid.

It's strange but I always felt like Pink Floyd, Hendrix, LZ, etc. were like new rock bands even though the songs I was listening to were 20+ years old, but most of the Beatles catalog sounded like "oldies" and still does (although the older I get, the better "oldies" in general start to sound).
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post #13 of 32
10/10/09 at 3:02pm
Motion picture "American Graffiti" 1973 (film co-written/directed by George Lucas)

"Rockandroll's been going down hill ever since Buddy Holly died."

This dialog comes out.
I also think so.
The music that flows at this time is The Beach Boys.
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post #14 of 32
10/10/09 at 8:15pm
I'm generation Y, but as I was growing up my father listened to mostly late 60s-70s rock like CCR, Floyd, Zeppelin etc. so I really connect "oldies" to music older than that. Early Beatles, for example.
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post #15 of 32
10/10/09 at 8:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ham Sandwich View Post
Oldies is most any rock 'n roll before The Beatles.
ding ding ding!

To me oldies is pretty much 50s and early 60s rock and doo-wop. I'm not really a big fan of the stuff outside of Buddy Holly, Elvis and a few others.

In highschool I went through a hippie phase and really got into a lot of mid 60s to very early 70s folk and rock music... (I don't consider that stuff Oldies)

In the early 90s, with the death of glam metal, a lot of metal stations changed format to "Classic Rock" stations. I can't stand that stuff. At first I didn't mind it much, but over time the constant rotation of Southern/Country Rock, Progressive, and Arena Rock, and the almost complete lack of any interesting 60s stuff that we haven't already heard a billion times just really grates on me. In my neck of the woods Classic Rock stations are the epitome of sort of a good ol' boy thing. I'd much rather the Oldies stations over the Classic rock ones now. Odd thing is happening now though, a lot of the Classic rock stations are now playing later and later music. Its not too surprising to hear early 80s rock on a Classic rock station... I'm wondering if that means we'll be hearing later 60s stuff on the Oldies stations then...
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