Oldies: The Soundtrack or Our Youth

To people of my parents' generation who were teens and young adults during World War II, "oldies" refers to the Big Band and Swing music of groups led by the likes of Harry James, Tommy and/or Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman or Glenn Miller. Popular vocalists of that era such as the Andrews Sisters are likewise regarded as being the oldies of their generation.

"Oldies" is the term used to describe the music popular as a particular generation came of age and that generation identified with that music as being its own. It is their generational soundtrack.

To those of us who grew through that trying transition from adolescence to early adulthood in the 1960's, Oldies generally refers to the Rock and Roll and R&B tunes popular on AM radio as we were on the verge of finishing High School and moving on to whatever life would bring us next. Because this particular generation, the 'Baby Boomers,' is now such a huge proportion of the population of the United States with the largest per capita available disposable income of any generation before it, much media attention is paid to our particular version of Oldies.

There are both AM and FM radio stations in every major media market area devoted to playing and endlessly replaying the top 40 tunes of that era. This is probably less out of respect for the music than it is responsive to the profit driven demand for to sell expensive advertising time to those who have things to sell to we children of the 1960s. They play Elvis, The Beatles, Eagles and Rick Nelson. They play the older songs of The Rolling Stones and those of The Band and the Bob Dylan recalled by those of us who were young when he was. These were and are a handful of our Oldies.

We thought it would never sound old. In a similar way, I recall my next door neighbor's family getting a new 1957 Chevy - 3-tone - and saying to my friend that I thought that no matter how old we might live to be - that his Chevy would always look new! We were 11 years old at the time and we agreed. Oy!