On the Scene | Oldies today, oldies tomorrow?

By Sebastian Fryer
Arts Editor

Every once in awhile (especially on a sunny day), while I’m driving my car, I’ll become bored of the CD I’m listening to or the radio station I’m tuned to. Without hesitation, I’ll turn to old reliable – the oldies station.

Be it The Beatles, Donovan, or Simon & Garfunkel, the oldies station never fails to brighten up my day.  In between songs, the cheesy announcers will give their two cents and boast how the station brings listeners “the hits from the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s.”

Which has me thinking – we’re in the odd position in that we listen to (and enjoy) what our parents listened to, and that hasn’t happened any time recently.

But what will be on our children’s “oldies station?”  In 20, 30, 50 years, when I reach for the dial (or whatever invention Apple has introduced by then), will Lil Wayne blast from my speakers?  Lady Gaga? 

I hope not.  I don’t want the next generation to have that kind of impression of us.

So what will be remembered? I’d like to think that the music I like to listen to – your Grizzly Bears, your Animal Collectives, et cetera – will show our kids that we listened to smart, daring music. But no, I’m not quite sure if our indie darlings will be remembered in the long run, either.

 It’s possible that the music of the ‘90s and ‘00s gets skipped over completely. I don’t see any stations catering to ‘80s music, but maybe that’s because we’re not too far enough behind the decade to feel nostalgic for its music.

The “oldies” generation of music never left, and I think it’ll be here to stay for a long time. The Beatles will never die, and neither will Bob Dylan.  

What makes the oldies era so long lasting? Perhaps that era of music is just better than anything else.  

Popular music after the ‘70s added synthesizers and other electric influences, which sound corny to us now. New music listeners can’t relate to the bright synths of popular ‘80s music, but they can relate to the guitar-bass-drums-vocals formula that was ever so popular in the ‘60s and ‘70s, which many modern artists base their music on today.  

Like all things, only time will tell. Hey, maybe in the long run, Lady Gaga will be what we remember about 2010.

Or maybe – when I’m an old man, and I feel like listening to some oldies – I’ll tune the radio to the oldies station only to have The Beatles greet me.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=15486

Posted by heraldstaff on Mar 11 2010. Filed under A & E, Weekend Scene. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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