When does a song become an "oldie"?

[Phlegmak]

So, how long does a song need to exist before it becomes an "oldie"? For me, oldie is anything that was an oldie when I was a child, and I'm going to lump in the music of the 80s in that group. So, let's say music from 1988 and older is an "oldie" to me. (When I was a child, I considered everything from around 1979 and older to be an oldie.)

 

[warpus]

I don't know - anything they play on oldie radio stations.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Anything that's so old I cannot recall, or prefer to pretend not to recall, when it was first released.

 

[Ecofarm]

Cars become classics in 20 or 30 years? Whatever makes a car classic makes a song oldie.

 

[bhsup]

Well, when I was in high school the oldies station played 50s and 60s music. That's what I still mentally view as oldies. But now the oldies station goes all the way into the 80s, and that just rubs me wrong.

 

[kulade]

...when old people listen to it.

 

[rhawn]

When I think of "oldies", its pre-Beatles stuff. Well that rock'n'roll sound, which was popular in the 50's and 60's. Since then most music is defined by some particular genre. Like you say pre-88, well there's all sorts of different types of rock, metal, punk, pop, sub-pop, alternative, etc. If you go into a music store and look in the "oldies" section, I think you find Roy Orbison and The Beach Boys, not Rush and Black Sabbath.

 

[Ecofarm]

True. Oldies are different than Classic Rock.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Oldie = old pop-ish songs for me.

No classical/psychedelic/blues/country/punk/etc rock.

Most synthpop i consider oldies because it's from before i was born. And all jazz. And Michael Jackson. And Roxette-like bands. And reggae. And acid house. Country. And others.

 

[.Shane.]

Once its been muzaked.

 

[bhsup]

Once its been muzaked.

http://music.muzak.com/music/programs/list/

They actually have classic rock and power rock options!!

 

[Ecofarm]

I think there are no new 'oldies'. The catagory is closed, like classic rock.

?

 

[Brighteye]

A song is an oldie when Steve Wright says so.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wright_(DJ)

 

[Munch]

Err, '50s music is oldie. '60s less so.

 

[Leonel]

35 years exactly. If you deviate from that rule, I personally crawl out of your sock and punch you in the left ear.

 

[Gustave5436]

Music from after WWII and before the 60s, excepting African-American music and things which grew out of it (like Elvis).

Of course this analysis is US-centric though.

 

[Cutlass]

I think the average age of popular radio listeners isn't more than 30 or so. So any music that was around before a 30 year old was born is pretty much an oldie as far as the radio is concerned.

 

[aronnax]

I though Oldies was a music Genre of the early 20th century? 1900-1945

 

[nc-1701]

Anything your parents listen to.

 

[Berzerker]

when they play it in elevators and grocery stores