Reading many forums about what oldies means, I've seen people in two camps:

A. As a genre associated with particular music, normally Rockabilly, Doo-Wop, Surf Rock, The British Invasion, Motown, Folk Rock, and Garage/Psychedelic rock.
B. Describing that anything older than X years is considered "oldies".

Well, I have a potential idea that melds these two schools of thought together- a term described as "modern oldies". It allows stuff from the '70s and '80s to be accepted more freely, as a radio station in Wildwood, NJ is dubbed as "classic oldies", and plays only the genres as described in "A", with none of the genres I'm about to list associated with "modern oldies". I feel that the term "greatest hits" or "classic hits" is a bit too politically correct, as "oldies" implies nostalgia and taking a trip back in time to another, simpler time. With all of the music released since 1990, no wonder even the '70s and '80s sounds like a different, bygone era to a whole new generation. But, this oxymoron, modern oldies, is generally thought as follows:

-Pretty much everything represented as classic rock (hard, some prog, psychedelic, arena, New Wave, Hair Metal)- and even a few early '90s grunge hits could be added here as well.
-Country pop from the '70s and early '80s
-R&B music mostly from the '70s, with some '80s crossover hits (Michael Jackson, Prince, Lionel Richie) along with funk, disco, "quiet storm", and a sprinkling of some late '60s Motown hits as well.
-Singer-songwriters of the '70s and the '80s
-Classic MTV-era hits
-Pre-gangsta rap
-Disco, Hi-NRG, and Freestyle dance music

But to me these genres should NOT be associated with "modern oldies":

-New Jack Swing (though I could see this being added soon as this is very 1990ish music)
-Post-grunge
-'90s R&B (though could be added in the future)
-'90s country crossovers
-House and Techo dance music
-Gangsta rap
-'90s Pop (Mariah Carey-type, though once again, this could be added in the future: I found a station that was playing the Everly Brothers "All I Have To Do Is Dream" followed by a few songs later Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On! But that would probably just be plain old oldies as the Everly Brothers are too old of an act to have a modern sound.)

Another reason why I prefer the term "modern oldies" is so that a younger generation can enjoy the type of music- this is not your father's oldies.

It's the opposite of neo-vintage!
8)