When I was in my teens and twenties, oldies were tunes from the fiftes. Bill Haley & the Comets. Elvis. Jerry Lee Lewis. Even back then,oldies were associated with poodle skirts, bobby-socks, and bouffant hairdos. "Oldies" was NOT the term used to describe the vocalists on Ed Sullivan at the end of the 50's until the venerable show was eventually was canceled. Bobby Darin, Rosemary Clooney, Johnny Mathis, Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorme, Tony Bennett, Patsy Cline, Goulet, Connie Francis, Sammy Davis Jr., ...in fact, the entire rat pack.
So oldies were pop artists and songs from roughly 10 to 20 years earlier, geared toward car radio that was decidedly youth oriented. My point, and somewhere in here I do have a point...is that people in their thirties and forties probably consider "oldies" to be roughly the early to late 80s. Fifties and poodle skirts for them is like "big band" music to boomers. It's great music. I could listen to it all day, but "it ain't my generation." (Which are the words used by a young guy in my office when I asked him if he was a Rolling Stones fan.)
What was the 70's? Seriously...imagine a "seventies night" event...which would be the "fifties night" for generation X (which followed the Baby Boomer generation.) I'm guessing Disco. The biggest thing to happen musically in that decade. otherwise, the 70s is a lot of music for listening to, but not much for dancing. The amazing thing is that the big "acts" from the 70s are STILL touring and filling arenas. Aerosmith! The Eagles! Clapton!
So if the 70's was disco, what would "eighties night" sound and look like? Madonna. New Wave. Glam rock (big hair!) Eighties are the new "oldies" for generation Y. Whoa...Janet Jackson, Madonna, and Paula Abdul....oldies acts!
Man, does time fly.
So oldies were pop artists and songs from roughly 10 to 20 years earlier, geared toward car radio that was decidedly youth oriented. My point, and somewhere in here I do have a point...is that people in their thirties and forties probably consider "oldies" to be roughly the early to late 80s. Fifties and poodle skirts for them is like "big band" music to boomers. It's great music. I could listen to it all day, but "it ain't my generation." (Which are the words used by a young guy in my office when I asked him if he was a Rolling Stones fan.)
What was the 70's? Seriously...imagine a "seventies night" event...which would be the "fifties night" for generation X (which followed the Baby Boomer generation.) I'm guessing Disco. The biggest thing to happen musically in that decade. otherwise, the 70s is a lot of music for listening to, but not much for dancing. The amazing thing is that the big "acts" from the 70s are STILL touring and filling arenas. Aerosmith! The Eagles! Clapton!
So if the 70's was disco, what would "eighties night" sound and look like? Madonna. New Wave. Glam rock (big hair!) Eighties are the new "oldies" for generation Y. Whoa...Janet Jackson, Madonna, and Paula Abdul....oldies acts!
Man, does time fly.
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