Was flipping through the radio stations today when a question popped into my head: When did people begin to refer to music from the 1950s and 60s as “oldies” music? Is there a known date/year for when radio stations that play said tunes started to be known as “oldies” stations?
In the 1960s, did people call music from the 1940s and earlier “oldies” or some other such name to differentiate contemporary music from that of their fogey forebears?
I can tell you that by the early 1970s, at the time of such nostalgia as Grease and American Graffiti, rock and roll music from the 1950s was what was referred to as “oldies”.
Well, some call classic rock stations Oldies stations, but the stations don’t call themselves that. And it’s called that by younger kids, not dinosaurs like myself.
So there’s a point at which the kids start thinking of it as old peopel music, then a point at which most of the listeners are getting older — and somewhere down the road, the acutal station officially calls itself that.
Probably not a very helpful answer, but that’s what I got. IMO, I would guess a 30-40 year rolling lag is about right.
By the late 50’s/early60’s, rock & roll/rhythm & blues from the early and mid 50’s were being called oldies. There was even a song titled “Those Oldies but Goodies.” Whether the term was used before then, I don’t know.
The OED gives a citation for “oldie” in this sense in 1940.
It’s kind of interesting…when I was a kid in the 80s, and my parents listened to the ‘oldies’ station, it was stuff from the 50s and 60s, and I thought…hey, in 20 years, THIS stuff will be oldies! But, instead, 20 years later, oldies are STILL 50s and 60s, where 70s and 80s are “classic rock.” Makes me wonder what we’ll call alternative/grunge rock like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, STP, and Soundgarden in another decade or so. (which, despite my eclectic music tastes, I still deem to be ‘my music’ of growing up…it’s what I listened to in HS)
Jman
Not true. Look at what happens when you do a Google search on “oldies station”. Most of the first results are for radio stations that call themselves that.
Back in the 50s, an “oldie” usually referred to a song that was no longer on the current charts. The top 40 stations would play those 40 tunes, and would also play one or two older songs each hour. An “oldie” could possibly be a song that was only a year old or less (there were jokes about that).
Later, a format of “all oldies” played songs from Bill Haley to just before the Beatles (and didn’t play folk or blues). I’m noticing the oldies station around here is now playing songs as late as the 80s and has cut back on things from the 50s.
it’s all relative really when you think about it.
i think as a general working definition you can probably say that an “oldie” is anything that your parents grew up listening to.
so by definition your music will become an “oldie” when your kids start finding their own music.
its worth remembering though i think that an “oldie” can definitely be a good song regardless of age - Frank Sinatra, Franki Valli and the Animals are all playing on my MP3 player right now alongside new stuff from Staind, Counting Crows and Limp Bizkit.
To answer the original question, no one knows for sure. But prevailing opinion seems to be that, most likely, it was longtime LA DJ Art Laboe who popularized the term “oldies” as a format. See FAQ for rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s and 1960s, item #6. (Chagrined to admit, but I have Laboe’s whole box set, which is what sent me hunting for a cite.)
I’d guess “alternative rock”, or “modern rock”, which are pretty much what 90s+ music was/is called. Just a thought.
“Classic Alternative.” At least that’s what The Edge in T.O. is caling it… Stuff from the eighties is “Retro”.
Stuff from the nineties is “Classic Alternative”, at least on The Edge in Toronto. Stuff from the eighties is “Eighties Retro”. But that is influenced by style as well as by time period.