When you turn on the radio to your local Golden Oldies station(For purposes of this thread, 50’s 60’s and 70’s), what are the top 5 songs you are most likely to hear, and what are the top 5 songs you’d like to hear?
It’s interesting that you post this question. We were just mentioning the other day how we seem to be hearing a lot of the same songs by the same acts endlessly.
We have two of these stations here; one is on AM and plays songs from the 50s through the 70s (although not too much 50s stuff) and the one on FM plays “70s, 80s and whatever”.
They do have to play according to Cancon rules, which means that 35% of all the music played has to be Canadian, so we get a lot of Lightfoot, Guess Who and Anne Murray from those eras, and the lack of Canadian acts from the 50s (other than the Crew Cuts, the Diamonds, The Four Lads, and Paul Anka) is likely why we don’t get too much 50s on the AM station.
Anyway, it’s as if they only have three or four songs for most of the artists that they play over and over. For example, for Dire Straits, all we seem to hear is “Sultans of Swing”, the censored version of “Money For Nothing”, and “So Far Away” – nothing else, despite the fact that they released seven or eight albums. For Paul McCartney, all they play is “Another Day”, “Band on the Run”, “Mull of Kintyre” and “With A Little Luck”. For The Who, all they play is “Baba O’Reilly”, “Wont Get Fooled Again”, “Pinball Wizard”, the single version of “Who Are You”.
It’s as if all they have is three or four greatest hits from each artist, and that’s it. The only exceptions are Elvis and The Beatles, and while they have a lot more songs to choose from all they play are (again) greatest hits, but even here there is not a lot of variety.
Of course, it’s because the dj’s don’t program their own music, I suspect; they probably subscribe to some kind of service that provides them with an endless loop of music that either comes in a sequence, or there is some computerized method of choosing what to play. It’s totally soul-less radio.
Why? No mixture, no album cuts, and some of the songs they’re playing are even remakes (!), which aren’t spottable, I guess, to most people.
I’d love to hear a lot more doo-wop on the AM station that purports to play 50s music instead of endless playings of Paul Anka’s “Diana”, Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up”, Connie Frances’ “Among My Souvenirs”, the Diamonds’ “Little Darlin’”, etc. I can’t remember the last time I head some variety that wasn’t so whitebread, such as “Gee” by the Crows, the Penguins’ “Earth Angel”, the Five Satins’ “In the Still of the Night” and maybe something like “Susie-Q” by Dale Hawkins or “Party Doll” by Buddy Knox.
Don’t get me wrong, they play some great music, but it’s all very monotonous. Changes are needed here.
There’s an old saying: “Variety may be the spice of life, but monotony is its bread and butter.”
Put it this way: there’s a lot of great music from the 50s, or any decade, that nobody remembers. And the formula is memories - obvious, simple nostalgia. If that means playing the same 25 hits over and over again - or even bastardizing based on what people think they remember, or what programmers want them to remember - you do it. Or you don’t sell any ads and go off the air.
What I hear most often:
Brandy-Looking Glass
You Don’t Mess Around With Jim-Jim Croce
Little Deuce Coupe-The Beach Boys
Indian Reservation-The Raiders
Silly Love Songs-Paul McCartney
The joys of satellite radio. XM Channel 6 is solid 60s, and I hear everything.
I guess it’s not the type of station I am referring to then, is it?
I’m surprised that in this digital age, any oldies stations can survive recycling the same stuff endlessly.
Have any stations attempted to program more than the surface skim that makes up every oldies format I’ve ever heard? There are plenty of songs that became Top Forty hits that people would remember and enjoy, but they’re hardly ever heard because programmers stick to the supposedly “safe” songs.
If I was to program my own Top 40 oldies station I would, in addition to the top top hits that get played relentlessly, add songs like these to the rotation:
Western Union - The Five Americans
Baby, I’m Yours - Barbara Lewis
I Got Rhythm - The Happenings
Pied Piper - Crispian St. Peters
Bottle Of Wine - The Fireballs
Baby The Rain Must Fall - Glenn Yarbrough
The Crying Game - Brenda Lee
D.W. Washburn - The Monkees
Classical Gas - Mason Williams
Nashville Cats - The Lovin’ Spoonful
Come On Down To My Boat - Every Mother’s Son
Mr Dieingly Sad - The Critters
Long Lonesome Highway - Michael Parks
Note: these are among the songs featured on a CD I have called “Lost Hits of the '60s”.
Not that I absolutely love all these songs, but they’re the kind of thing an oldies station should play every once in awhile, instead of pretending that only the top 5 songs in any given week are worthwhile (i.e. the stuff on Czarcasm’s list).
As far as “classic rock” oldies playlists go, the songs I’d demote to less frequent airplay include
Bob Seger hits such as “Against The Wind”, “Hollywood Nights” and “Night Moves”
“Sweet Home Alabama” - Lynyrd Skynyrd
“Free Bird” - Lynyrd Skynyrd
“The Boys Are Back In Town” - Thin Lizzy
“Carry On Wayward Son” - Kansas
“Do You Feel Like We Do” - Peter Frampton
but could we please hear "Stairway To Heaven’ one more time?
And Hotel California!