# I listen to Oldies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685 "2010-02-04T16:35:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/41 "2010-02-07T06:16:44Z")
Dunno if Green Day is really “oldies”, they are still releasing popular albums. Not really my bag, but I did find I ended up liking 21st Century Breakdown after a co-worker played it in his lab repeatedly. Of course, he’s 49 years old. Muwahahahahahahaha! ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/42 "2010-02-07T07:23:05Z")
Where’s my damn eight track? ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/43 "2011-03-11T14:50:01Z")
Girls lets twist again like we did last summer! My radio is tuned to AM 1480 [You’re just too good be to true](http://www.wgvu.org/realoldies/index.cfm) what a kick! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/44 "2011-03-11T14:55:36Z")
I like “Time of the Season” by the Zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/45 "2011-03-11T15:14:31Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Did “Oldies” as a radio brand really take off before the mid-80s? I think that many people’s, including mine, conception of it is still that the “oldies” are confined to the 50’s thru the mid-60s because that’s what the first oldies stations played (if lighter on the mid-60s at first.) Classic Rock didn’t take off till the early 90s and they played very late 60s-early 80s so my conception of that music is also stuck in that era. > > So in a sense the radio marketing was too successful. I won’t listen to their attempts to rebrand “classic” and “oldies” by a time differential rather than a strict time period because their first definition stuck. Oldies generally refers to 50s/60s and maybe early 70s music. 80s music is often referred to as “retro”. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/46 "2011-03-11T15:29:33Z")
The Stripper Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/47 "2011-03-11T16:15:22Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Oldies generally refers to 50s/60s and maybe early 70s music. 80s music is often referred to as “retro”. While I don’t disagree, I’ve seen that many “oldies” format radio stations have shifted away from that definition in recent years. IME, most “oldies” stations no longer play anything pre-Beatles, and tend to now focus on the late 60s through the mid-to-late 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/48 "2011-03-11T17:34:53Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > While I don’t disagree, I’ve seen that many “oldies” format radio stations have shifted away from that definition in recent years. IME, most “oldies” stations no longer play anything pre-Beatles, and tend to now focus on the late 60s through the mid-to-late 70s. Yeah, they seem to be refining it further and further. Sirius/XM even has stations dedicated to one artist, or one particular style, such as disco. “True” oldies stations play nothing but pre-Beatles, or will maybe include a bit of that genre (Stones, Byrds, Hendryx, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/49 "2011-03-11T17:47:24Z")
Being a folkie, I consider all the stuff you people are talking about to be quite new. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/50 "2011-03-11T18:02:55Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > Being a folkie, I consider all the stuff you people are talking about to be quite new. I used to be a huge fan of groups/artists like The Limelighters, Buffy Saint-Marie, The Clancy Brothers, Ian & Sylvia, etc. That was more of a 60s folk movement, rather than part of the old artists like Guthrie. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/51 "2011-03-11T20:07:58Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > TMBG’s _Flood_ is 20 years old. That was uncalled for. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/52 "2011-03-11T21:25:38Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Oldies generally refers to 50s/60s and maybe early 70s music. 80s music is often referred to as “retro”. 50s = Oldies 60s and 70s = Classic Rock 80s = Modern Rock 90s = Alternative Rock 00s = Indie Rock at least that’s how I understand it ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/53 "2011-03-11T21:38:46Z")
I was station surfing and heard a U2 song and stayed on that station to listen. Then came a station break - I was listening to “Your Favorite Oldies Station.” I had to pull the car over and let that sink in for a minute before I could drive off. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/54 "2011-03-11T22:19:38Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > 60s and 70s = Classic Rock Classic Rock, as a radio format, spun out of what used to be known as “album-oriented rock”. While most “classic rock” stations do, indeed, mostly source their music from artists from the 60s and 70s, there’s a definite focus on harder and progressive rock, and rarely will you hear “pop” songs from those decades (unless they’re from artists who fit into the previous definition). And, some classic rock stations will extend the time frame for their playlists into the 1980s (but, again, mostly for artists which were already active in the 1960s or 1970s). Oldies stations, on the other hand, will typically play pop songs (often defined as top-40 hits) from whichever time period they’ve decided to use. 20 years ago, Oldies stations played songs from the birth of rock and roll (mid-50s) through the early-to-mid 70s. As noted earlier, many oldies stations now play little, or no, music from before the British Invasion. If you’re hearing Tony Orlando and Dawn or The Supremes, you’re almost undoubtedly listening to an Oldies station, not a Classic Rock station. Conversely, if you’re hearing Jimi Hendrix or Rush, you’re almost undoubtedly listening to a Classic Rock station, not an Oldies station. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685/55 "2011-03-13T03:58:13Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > 50s = Oldies > 60s and 70s = Classic Rock > 80s = Modern Rock > 90s = Alternative Rock > 00s = Indie Rock > > at least that’s how I understand it I agree with “oldies” being '50s & '60s, that’s about all the cds I own (several hundreds), but then, I’m an “oldie”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-listen-to-oldies/527685.md?page=2)