# Silly Oldies that Never Get Radio Play Anymore **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907 "2012-11-05T00:47:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/61 "2012-11-05T20:58:54Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > For a couple of weeks in 1972, you couldn’t turn on a radio without hearing “Convention '72” by The Delegates. For a couple of _months_ in 1975, you couldn’t turn on a radio without hearing “Mister Jaws”. > > I was heartily sick of them at the time, but now I kind of miss them. I haven’t heard either since they dropped off the charts. > > As an added bonus, the former included the “Gotta Find a Woman” chant from the funk single “Troglodyte (Cave Man)”, and I can’t remember the last time I heard **it** , either. I remember those. They were also known as “flying saucer” records, after the first one popularized by [Dickie Goodman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickie_Goodman). My favorite one was [“Watergrate”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJBLQCGRhOI). ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/62 "2012-11-05T21:07:30Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > And, that most odious of songs: Open the Door Richard. Edit: Never mind. I was thinking of the wrong song. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/63 "2012-11-05T21:21:36Z")
_Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)_ Joe Tex _Along Came Jones_ Ray Stevens \*Hot Rod Lincoln \* Charlie Ryan ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/64 "2012-11-05T21:23:01Z")
They’re Coming to Take Me Away. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/65 "2012-11-05T21:23:10Z")
\*The Marvelous Toy \* Peter, Paul and Mary ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/66 "2012-11-05T21:43:57Z")
“Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter”, by Herman’s Hermits. I remember getting thoroughly sick of it when it was #1 for more than nine weeks one summer. Mind you, I was only six or so, but my older siblings listened to it constantly. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/67 "2012-11-05T23:08:49Z")
Aww, I love all of these! I still hear some of the not-quite-only-novelty ones on the local oldies station in L.A. (KRTH) Part of the problem is that “oldies” used to mean 50s, 60s, and a few 70s. I feel REALLY old when I hear “my” generation of songs on the oldies station. Like Pat Benatar. and Billy Joel. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/68 "2012-11-05T23:18:14Z")
> [@kath94](#): > > Part of the problem is that “oldies” used to mean 50s, 60s, and a few 70s. I feel REALLY old when I hear “my” generation of songs on the oldies station. Like Pat Benatar. and Billy Joel. ☹ WVLI (linked above) still has the “old” in oldies; they have two hours of The Beatles on Sunday mornings and Sinatra & The Rat Pack for two hours on Sunday nights. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/69 "2012-11-06T00:54:14Z")
[Turning Japanese](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEmJ-VWPDM4) - The Vapors I heard on Sirius the other day. on the 80’s channel ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/70 "2012-11-06T01:18:49Z")
Leader of the Pack - The Shangri-Las Chantilly Lace - The Big Bopper Bread and Butter - The Newbeats (one of my personal favorites) I’m only 26, so all of my knowledge of old goofy songs comes from a cassette I had when I was a kid called “Goofy Greats” ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/71 "2012-11-06T01:54:41Z")
> [@Hoss\_N.Feffa](#): > > This song immediately came to mind when I read the OP. I’m not sure how much airplay it got when it was new, but I’ve only heard it on the radio once and I immediately loved it (it was on a mainstream oldies station in Austin, TX about 10 years ago). I don’t know if this is the original (I doubt it) but it’s the version I heard: > [Fendermen - Muleskinner Blues](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PleN0AmuT9M) (“Send that buck-buck-bucket on down!”) That’s my favorite song! (I have the 45.) Cha-cha-cha! (\* Yes, that’s the original, at least the Top-40 original, maybe not the down-home bluesman with a broken cigar-box homemade geetar original.) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/72 "2012-11-06T02:17:12Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > _Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)_ Joe Tex And its companion _Bertha Butt Boogie_. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/73 "2012-11-06T03:09:47Z")
I am **not** a fan of The Three Stooges. I don’t think the guy doing the Curly impression is good. That said, I am the proud and happy owner of a 45-rpm vinyl recording–which I bought new!–of [_The Curly Shuffle_](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L5zCO1AF4sg) by “Jump N The Saddle”. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/74 "2012-11-06T04:21:58Z")
“Sky Pilot” by Eric Burdon and the Animals ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/75 "2012-11-06T05:03:23Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > “Sky Pilot” by Eric Burdon and the Animals That’s your idea of a silly song 😕 ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/76 "2012-11-06T05:18:55Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > That’s your idea of a silly song 😕 If by silly, we mean dislike, then no. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/77 "2012-11-06T05:29:52Z")
[Whispering Grass](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10dmK7O-KSY), Windsor Davies and Don Estelle. If you don’t know the 70s UK TV show _It Ain’t Half Hot Mum_ you may be confused. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/78 "2012-11-06T05:53:22Z")
I actually don’t think of _Who Put the Bomp_ as a novelty song, and generally it isn’t treated as one on oldies radio. I think maybe _Mr. Bassman_ is treated as novelty. These examples make the dividing line unclear. But the OP does specify ‘fun’ songs, which is not necessarily the same thing, though songs considered novelty get less play. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/79 "2012-11-06T06:13:06Z")
[Shoop Shoop Diddy Wop Cumma Cumma Wang Dang](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgmSJeipim0) - Monte Video [Right Said Fred](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOWA-L3JZO4) - Bernard Cribbins [Space Invaders](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0dup-9wvQc) - Player One [Funky Gibbon](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=iAmx_XdQky8#t=30s) - The Goodies ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907/80 "2012-11-06T15:38:54Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > “Pac-Man Fever” by … ? Buckner & Garcia, IIRC. Has anyone mentioned [“General Hospi-tale” by the Afternoon Delights](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD7XkD5scTI) yet? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldies-that-never-get-radio-play-anymore/639907.md?page=5)