Live Music Blog

The term, “oldies,” refers to both popular music from the 1950s-1970s and the radio format that specializes in this type of music. “Golden oldies” generally refers to oldies music exclusively from the 1950s-early 1960s. Oldies songs are typically from the Rythm & Blues (R&B), pop and rock music genres but could also include country, movie soundtrack, novelty, and other types of popular music played on the radio from around 1950-on. Pop music genres that had their heyday before the 1950s (e.g., ragtime, ample band) are generally considered “too old” to be included in the oldies radio format. Oldies music radio stations, which typically feature bands and performers such as (to name a few ) Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Pat Boone, Sam Cooke, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, the Rascals, the Association, the Temptations, the Who, Elton John, and Fleetwood Mac, cover a expansive variety of styles including early rock and roll, rockabilly, doo-wop, surf rock, girl groups, the British Invasion, folk rock, psychedelic rock, baroque pop, soul music, Motown, and bubblegum pop. Oldies music also overlaps with classic rock which focuses on the rock music of the late 1960s and 1970s as well as newer music in a similar style.

The phrase, “oldies but wonderful ies,” has been first coined in 1957 by renowned disc jockey Art Laboe who, at around that time, used to get frequent requests from his listeners for songs from the early 1950s. A central figure in L.A. radio for over half a century, Laboe has been the first disc jockey to play rock and roll on the West Coast and one of the first to play black and white performers on the same show. In 1959, he put together the first LP to feature (mostly older) songs by varying performers. This immensely popular compilation album, entitled “Oldies But Goodies,” stayed on Billboard’s Top 100 LP’s chart for over three years and has, to date, spawned some 14 sequels. (Click here for a recent interview with Art Laboe.)

Soon after the release of Laboe’s first “Oldies But Goodies” album, the phrase, “oldies but nice ies,” became commonplace and by around 1960, people were waxing nostalgic for 1950s doo-wop which has been already starting to be classified as “oldies.” Little Caesar And The Romans’ 1961 hit, “Those Oldies But Goodies (Remind Me of You)” and its sequel, “Memories of Those Oldies But Goodies,” both pay homage to early doo-wop and doo-wop performers. This wave of nostalgia brought about a doo-wop revival in the early 1960s which has been the first of a lot of nostalgia movements in pop music since the term, “oldies,” has been first applied to older pop music.

While “golden oldies” has remained a constant over the years, the larger body of pop music that we still call “oldies” now – which is made up of core golden oldies songs plus more modern material – isn’t fixed but has been gradually expanding forward in time to keep up with changing demographics. Nowadays, oldies music is generally considered to include all of the 1970s, even disco, and the same is expected to be true someday for the music of the 1980s, now a lot of the time described as “retro.” Oldies music is also expanding in breadth as thousands of long-forgotten tunes from the 1950s and 1960s that never made the Top 40 in their day are being re found and resurrected. Whether because of nostalgia, curiosity, or a genuine love for wonderful music, the oldies format has maintained a very large following and will might continue to do so for many years to come.

Less than four months ago, Lee Douglas began to translate his love for the music of the 50’s and 60’s lovingly called Oldies, into a new medium, the podcast. Together with the folks at Talkshoe.com, he began his venture into the new medium.

His new show, which he called “Old Time Rock n Roll, would be different in the way it has been presented.

The usual playlists that are the venue mark of the Oldies AM radio stations were out the window. His own collection of 12,000 songs would be digitized onto his computer to lay the groundwork for the show. Instead of playing those songs which the oldies lovers had grown tired of, he opened his collection and played the songs that haven’t been heard for many years. Then he’d have a spotlight for each show, Novelties on one, doo wops on another, rockabilly on yet another. Each one with a dose of rock history and reminiscing.

He researches each singer and each song to offer background for each show. So in November he went on the air on talkshoe.com. The first week he had 8 audiences. Obviously,his friends had at least listened. By the third week he managed 80 audiences, still quite a jump. However, he has been un prepared for the next week when out of nowhere 800 individuals listened in.

Since then with advertising on a few classified website s, the show has continued to grow and grow, breaking all types of records on the Web and the website itself.

Now just 4 months later, an impressive 25,000 listeners have logged in to his show, in one month.

His gateway web site http://www.wrestlingwrap.com, which used to serve as his flagship wrestling show web site and portals to his own promotion, now is the host to Old Time Rock n Roll.

His Brooklyn bred voice could still be heard even though he has been a Floridian for many years. He actually still takes requests and dedications just like in the old days through his e mail address -Oldtimernr@hotmail.com-

Where does he go from here? His plans are to as he puts it, “take it the next level.”

He states he would like to garner an even larger fans and eventually try his hand at bringing some live oldies and doo wop shows around the country. But that is a long way off.

His focus is to make Old Time Rock n Roll n Roll even bigger and better with each passing week. With his success also means success to his pod casting network called Talkshoe.com. Douglas predicts that Talkshoe will be the biggest thing in podcasting in 2007 and beyond.

The term, “oldies,” refers to both popular music from the 1950s-1970s and the radio format that specializes in this kind of music. “Golden oldies” usually refers to oldies music exclusively from the 1950s-early 1960s. Oldies songs are typically from the R&B, pop and rock music genres but can additionally include country, movie soundtrack, novelty, and other types of popular music played on the radio from around 1950-on. Pop music genres that had their heyday before the 1950s (e.g., ragtime, big band) are generally thought to be “too old” to be included in the oldies radio format. Oldies music radio stations, which typically feature performers and artists such as (to name a few ) Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Pat Boone, Sam Cooke, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, the Rascals, the Association, the Temptations, the Who, Elton John, and Fleetwood Mac, cover a broad  variety of styles including early rock and roll, rockabilly, doo-wop, surf rock, girl groups, the British Invasion, folk rock, psychedelic rock, baroque pop, soul music, Motown, and bubblegum pop. Oldies music additionally overlaps with classic rock which focuses on the rock music of the late 1960s and 1970s as well as newer music in a similar style.
The phrase, “oldies but nice ies,” has been first coined in 1957 by renowned deejay Art Laboe who, at around that time, used to get frequent requests from his audiences for songs from the early 1950s. A central figure in L.A. radio for over half a century, Laboe has been the first deejay to play rock and roll on the West Coast and one of the first to play black and white artists on the same show. In 1959, he put together the first LP to feature (mostly older) songs by divergent artist s. This immensely popular compilation album, entitled “Oldies But Goodies,” stayed on Billboard’s Top 100 LP’s chart for over three years and has, to date, spawned some 14 sequels. (Click here for a recent interview with Art Laboe.)
Soon following the release of Laboe’s first “Oldies But Goodies” album, the phrase, “oldies but nice ies,” became commonplace and by around 1960, people were waxing nostalgic for 1950s doo-wop which has been already starting to be classified as “oldies.” Little Caesar And The Romans’ 1961 hit, “Those Oldies But Goodies (Remind Me of You)” and its sequel, “Memories of Those Oldies But Goodies,” both pay homage to early doo-wop and doo-wop artist s. This wave of nostalgia brought about a doo-wop revival in the early 1960s which has been the first of many nostalgia movements in pop music since the term, “oldies,” has been first applied to older pop music.
While “golden oldies” has remained a constant over the years, the larger body of pop music that  we  still call “oldies” now – which is made up of core golden oldies songs plus more modern material – is not fixed but has been gradually expanding forward in time to keep up with changing demographics. Nowadays, oldies music is generally considered to include all of the 1970s, even disco, and the same is expected to be true someday for the music of the 1980s, now usually described as “retro.” Oldies music is additionally expanding in breadth as thousands of long-forgotten tunes from the 1950s and 1960s that never made the Top 40 in their day are being re located and resurrected. Whether because of nostalgia, curiosity, or a genuine love for nice music, the oldies format has maintained a very big following and will probably continue to do so for many years to come.