Re: Bartley used to be the cadillac of oldies shows
miamimadman said:
Sorry to hear Bartley is now playing Brother Louie. He was so knowledgeable and Intense in what he spoke about.
HAHAHAHAHA...this short quote sums up the demise of oldies shows/stations better than I could have done in a whole essay. 8) And the irony of it is: this is coming from someone who actually
likes Brother Louie. It's not my favorite song in the world, but I think there are much worse songs from the 70s, like "American Woman" or "Best of My Love" by the Emotions...IMHO. Plus, the part that goes 'Louie, Louie, Louie, Louieeeee' is just too catchy to complain about.
Anyhow, you are right to point out that Brother Louie has very little depth (and, SADLY, neither does most of the music that constitutes "oldies" today).
My dad recently played a tape that he recorded back in 1998 from one night's worth of Bartley's "Rock and Roll's Greatest Hits". After noticing the fantastic music AND fantastic sound quality, I immediately copied that tape (as well as all of his other radio tapes) onto the computer for him...it's unbelievable how great radio was just 10-15 years ago!!! Here's a list of songs on the tape:
La-la Means I Love You- Delfonics
Sweet Caroline- Neil Diamond
Strangers in the Night- Frank Sinatra
Draggin' the Line- Tommy James & the Shondells
I'm Your Puppet- James & Bobby Purify
Love Can Make You Happy- Mercy
Marie's the Name of His Latest Flame- Elvis Presley
Unchained Melody- Righteous Brothers
Cry Like a Baby- Box Tops
Mr. Blue- Fleetwoods
Could It Be I'm Falling in Love- Spinners
These Eyes- Guess Who
Summer Wind- Frank Sinatra
Valleri- Monkees
(unidentified instrumental)
Bad Moon Rising- CCR
Something Stupid- Frank & Nancy Sinatra
Stop in the Name of Love- Diana Ross & the Supremes
I don't know about you, but I call that REAL music. I should point out that the tape doesn't contain Bartley's entire show...it only has the songs that my dad chose to record, so it is suited to his tastes. Nevertheless, I think that tape exemplifies exactly what "oldies/classic hits" should be...today or 12 years ago, it doesn't matter. Why? Because almost every song on that list has such a
universal appeal that the actual age of the music is virtually IRRELEVANT. Those songs have catchy tunes, they have rich musical backing, they have essentially perfect vocals...enough to make them appeal to even the youngest listeners. Just because 60s music came out when today's 60 year olds were growing up DOES NOT MEAN that this music should be associated only with 60 year olds.
Oldies/classic hits stations should not forget who their target audience is: younger people who like to listen to older music. And believe me...there are plenty of such younger people...otherwise, why are oldies/classic hits stations still in business?? Now, do you really think these younger people like to hear a rotation of 50 songs by Hall & Oates, Billy Joel, Elton John, Doobie Brothers, Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac (which are all great artists I should say) OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN???
HINT: Younger people tend to get bored VERY VERY quickly. Or, would these younger people prefer a VARIETY of good,
classic songs (regardless of era), like the list above? What I'm trying to say is,
for younger people who do listen to oldies/classic hits stations, the list of songs above would be almost certainly a success, because those songs are regarded highly by almost ANYBODY who likes older music. That is what the foolish advertisers and stations fail to realize.
Oh, you want to know my age? 27. That is TWENTY-SEVEN. (not 72, not 127...)
