# Oldies music you liked then that's never played even on oldies stations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102 "2009-09-22T17:10:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/21 "2009-09-23T05:24:51Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Bodhisattva gets plenty of play in Rock Band, though. It’s so pretty and then I want to kill someone about three quarters of the way through. Rock band? Is that something like Guitar Hero, which I also don’t understand? 'Cause why would it make you angry part way through? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/22 "2009-09-23T05:26:49Z")
The Sex Pistols, D.I., Bad Religion, The Dickies, Suburban Lawns… ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/23 "2009-09-23T05:35:35Z")
Who? Okay, I’ve heard of the Sex Pistols, but the rest? Oh MAN, am I old. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/24 "2009-09-23T09:54:15Z")
I always thought that If I won a lottery, i would invest a million or so into albums and cds, burn them all onto my hard drive, and license it so I could run a radio station that is essentially an Itunes shuffle … all random all the time. You could get anything from a renaissance carmina burana through oingo boingo or nina haagen. Since I would be rich, I wouldnt need commercials or popular financial support … ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/25 "2009-09-23T10:52:54Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Rock band? Is that something like Guitar Hero, which I also don’t understand? > > 'Cause why would it make you angry part way through? It is not the easiest song in the world to fake-play, Jim. But it lures you in. It lures you in. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/26 "2009-09-23T11:55:32Z")
> [@Emily\_Litella](#): > > Bill Cosby sang??? I never knew that. I used to listen to his comedy album Wonderfulness all the time. Oh, yeah! I loved “Little Old Man.” It’s the Coz, and yet, almost existential at the end. More to that song than what was on the surface! (OK, maybe I’m full of it, but I loved that song.) From [IMDB:](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001070/bio) [quote=] In addition to numerous best-selling comedy albums over the years, for which he won several Grammy awards, Cosby had a top-40 hit as a singer in 1969 with “Little Old Man.” [/quote] ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/27 "2009-09-23T12:36:05Z")
> [@Brainiac](#): > > I keep thinking that whoever programs oldies stations is not old enough to select the music. Motown gets beaten to death, and the middle Beatles. > > But some people with large followings in the 50s, 60s, and 70s are not considered. > Because once you get off the playlist you can’t get back on again, it’s a law I guess. > > I owned all of Elvis’s stuff, but only one or two get airtime. Same with early Beatles, and most of the Sergeant Pepper album. > > I also had a collection of Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone. > I had dozens of the lost category “instrumentals”, Al Hirt and Herb Alpert > > And I had Bill Cosby’s singing albums. Well, I guess they never hit the radio, but they got a lot of play at parties. Not long before he died, back in the early Nineties, I saw an interview with DJ Bob Smith (Aka Wolfman Jack). The interviewer talked about the Wolfman’s early days as a free-form “outlaw radio” DJ, and then asked about how corporate and regimented the radio business had become. The Wolfman shook his head and said (I’m quoting from memory- a few words may be off here or there, but I’m NOT misrepresenting what he said)", “Guy, as bad as you THINK it is, it’s a LOT worse than that. Look at me. I have a syndicated oldies program. Now, oldies is a very limited, conservative genre to begin with, but within those limits, you’d THINK I’d have some freedom. You’d THINK I could play ANY song by Elvis, right? Wrong! There are EXACTLY six Elvis songs I’m allowed to play. You’d THINK I could play any song by Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly, right? I can play exactly three songs by each of them. The corproate offices tell me exactly what I can and can’t play. I’m probably the most famous DJ in the world, but I had a lot more power when I was a nobody.” - As for other examples of bands that were HUGE in their day but no longer get played on oldies stations… 1. As you said, Pat Boone. People forget just how absurdly popular he was, in his prime. Only Elvis sold more records in the Fifties than Pat Boone. Today, no radio station plays his songs. 2. Paul Revere and the Raiders have been mentioned, and they’re a GREAT example. I can’t remember the last time I heard any of their songs on the radio… EXCEPT, once in a blue moon, “Indian Reservation.” 3. The death of Mary Travers reminds me… Peter, Paul and Mary were huge in the Sixties, but they’re pretty much forgotten by oldies radio. 4. John Denver! He was a fixture on pop radio in the Seventies. I never hear his stuff any more. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/28 "2009-09-23T14:17:42Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Who? Okay, I’ve heard of the Sex Pistols, but the rest? Oh MAN, am I old. You’ve never heard of them because they never get played anymore! > [@astorian](#): > > 1. As you said, Pat Boone. People forget just how absurdly popular he was, in his prime. Only Elvis sold more records in the Fifties than Pat Boone. Today, no radio station plays his songs. I can’t help thinking they should release a **Pat Boone In A Box Set**. 😃 (I’d provide a link, but it’s NSFW. Google pat boone in a box if you’re interested. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/29 "2009-09-23T14:44:41Z")
Time Warner Cable shows their program guide with ‘easy listenin’ tunes for old people to doze off by’ playing as background. Once a year, say, New Years, they will play 24 hours of disco and dance music instead. But earlier this year, they played the best oldies for several weeks, things I haven’t heard in years, including B-sides. Things from the 50’s and 60’s, like “Knight In Rusty Armour” by Peter and Gordon - it’s been decades since I listened to that on my little transistor radio! I was amazed at the selection of oldies. Isn’t there an oldies station on satellite radio? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/30 "2009-09-23T14:51:39Z")
Satellite, dudes. Channel 46 is **Classic Vinyl**. Channel 6 is **Sixties**. They play all sorts of stuff you haven’t heard in decades, including at least 8 different songs by Paul Revere and the Raiders. I know in the last week I’ve heard “Where The Action Is”, “Hungry,” "Steppin’ Out,“Good Thing” and “Kicks.” ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/31 "2009-09-23T14:53:17Z")
My friend had XM satellite a few years ago, he had a box and some software called TimeTrax that would allow him to turn the songs into MP3s. IIRC each station that he liked seemed to top out at around 250 unique songs. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/32 "2009-09-23T14:54:54Z")
The best place I’ve found to hear anything good is, sadly, Friendly’s Restaurant. My husband and I went there for lunch a few weeks ago and I didn’t want to leave. They were playing Bobby Vee! ---
**Author:** ![Never\_Say\_Dice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee59a6/32.png) [@Never\_Say\_Dice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Never_Say_Dice)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/33 "2009-09-23T14:59:32Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I always thought that If I won a lottery, i would invest a million or so into albums and cds, burn them all onto my hard drive, and license it so I could run a radio station that is essentially an Itunes shuffle … all random all the time. You could get anything from a renaissance carmina burana through oingo boingo or nina haagen. Since I would be rich, I wouldnt need commercials or popular financial support … I was so thrilled when I learned of Napster, but unfortunately I learned of it because of opress it was being shutdown. I downloaded day and night until it died. But at the end, some of the biggest labels were sending out “spoiler” tracks that were the correct name and length but full of static. I was crushed. We really need to get back some of the things lost that were once public domain, The labels pay for laws extending their “rights” but who represents us? We had rights when the stuff came out! It was ours after 20 years, that was the deal they signed up for. And don’t cry that the labels earned it. They gave up on the songs within months of their release. And they suck all the windfall from the unimagined later distribution. While the singers, the real stars, get zero. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/34 "2009-09-23T16:37:32Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I have nothing to add other than my great appreciation for the OP’s handle. 🆒 Did I say the OP’s handle? I meant \*Bijou Drains’ \*handle. Jesus I need to get some sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/35 "2009-09-23T16:45:48Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > My friend had XM satellite a few years ago, he had a box and some software called TimeTrax that would allow him to turn the songs into MP3s. IIRC each station that he liked seemed to top out at around 250 unique songs. Yeah, sadly I’ve seen this with satellite radio and cable TV radio stations, too. And you’d think it wouldn’t happen with Pandora, but it does, too, unless you proactively switch between Pandora stations. In any given 4 hour period you’re likely to hear several songs by repeat artists. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/36 "2009-09-23T16:58:46Z")
During the 70s, people \*listened \*to hard rock a lot more than oldies stations would have you believe. Disco and schlocky soft rock wasn’t as popular as oldies stations would have you believe, just more comically stereotypically ideosyncratic and befitting people’s imaginary rememberances of the era and more palatable for the advertisers. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/37 "2009-09-23T17:15:15Z")
I am getting sick of hearing the same “oldies” bands and the same 3 songs by them every time I get in my car lately … mostly on the Jack channel: Queen Eagles Journey Bon Jovi Def Leppard ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/38 "2009-09-23T17:35:51Z")
I used to love Steve Miller Band and Don McLean, but there’s only maybe 2 or 3 songs you ever hear played. There were so many good ones no one is ever going to hear unless they search them out on purpose. ETA: re: Steve Miller I’m referring specifically to the first 5 albums, not that big ol jet airliner crap 😛 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102/39 "2009-09-23T17:47:40Z")
Is there a financial reason other than fickle listeners for radio stations to have such limited playlists? Do they have to pay more royalties playing individual songs rather than the same song multiple times? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldies-music-you-liked-then-thats-never-played-even-on-oldies-stations/511102.md?page=1)