Oldies Cat said:
adma said:
Personally, I think "Old Time Rock & Roll" was the death of the oldies. That song, more than anything before it, epitomizes how the oldies concept collapsed into adult-lifestyle inanity. It sounds more "over 55" than *any* of those beloved pre-1964 chestnuts. Oldies fans who feel that song's an essential cornerstone of the format should be melted down into pig slop
OK, so now we're in the business of telling Oldies raidio fans what they SHOULD like and ignoring what they do like? Because "Old Time Rock & Roll" has for years been one of the universally top testing '70s titles for Oldies audiences across all age groups.
It's one thing if, philosophically, you don't like it. But Oldies listeners everywhere love that song, so why would we in the radio industry want to deny our listeners what they tell us they like?
Well, put it this way--you refer to Oldies *listeners* and *radio fans*, and the term "top testing" implies something radio-related, too. In fact, this whole matter (or at least the way you're reacting to it) may feed into the issue I've raised before of commercial radio these days reflecting the bottom of the barrel of whatever audience it caters to.
"Top testing" or not, that song is, to me, where Oldies jumped the shark--and that's from the time certain such stations (and not necessarily WCBS--correct me if I'm wrong) started playing it, say, a decade ago or so?
As I see it, the magic of Oldies up through about the mid-90s was a more abstract thing of music-and-milieu, rather than a debased notion of "serving the listener". Perhaps as a reflection of the AM Top 40 era it covered, it transcended its listenership, to the point where you almost didn't notice any inherent fogeyness.
Then, such stations started playlisting "Old Time Rock & Roll".
Now, I
do agree with Oldies Cat about the inherent illiteracy of NJListener's judgment of "OTR&R"; frankly, when it comes to anything post-Woodstock, Classic Rock and Oldies can melt any-which-way into each other--and besides, the "Classic Rock" brand implies something hipper, right? Like, up there with Zeppelin and the Who?
That isn't the problem with "OTR&R"; quite the contrary (though the subtle "laterness" in date might indeed play a part here), its problem came to be in how it embodied the
square. It's the anthem of the embarrassing old fogey couple on the banquet hall dance floor following their daughter's wedding. Regardless of the actual merit of song or artist,
it's become a bigger emblem of squareness than any oldies chronologically before it. Heck, its audience mean must be even older than Bob Seger at this point.
Once oldies stations started playing that song, visions of its embarrassing-old-fogey listeners started detracting from the majesty of the format.
That's when the oldies became "square"--with what was, paradoxically, nearly the newest item on its playlist.
Now, I'm stopping short of suggesting that song ought to be removed from oldies playlists; basically, if you're dealing with anything that touches on 1978/9 and/or thereafter, it's pretty well unavoidable, "classic rock" or no. But just take it as a reminder.
And re the differences from the oldies of radio of yesteryear; well, maybe once upon the time, it was more about "the programming" and less bluntly about "the listener". Of course, the word "programming" may have its Orwellian negative connotations, too, I realize; something reflecting a glossed-up forced fantasy reality rather than actuality (i.e. "SHOULD like" vs "do like", in Oldies Cat terms). But given the crossroads radio is at these days, it's that which is most bluntly listener-geared that may be most threatened by technology (after all, in a game of iPods vs Jack-FM, Jack-FM loses), so perhaps the main hope for the future is in reemphasizing "programming"...
