I'd say pre-1975.  The 80s music and late 70s is old enough to be oldies but in my opinion music will have to morph into something totally new like it did in the 60s.  For now oldies means 50s, 60s, and early 70s in my opinion.

Pre-1970, especially when you are talking about eras like "The British Invasion" or "The Motown Sound".

Tanya

Pre 1970, although in my mind I always think of it as being 40s and 50s ???

I'd say pre-1975. Early '70s music is 30 + years old now, that's old enough to be counted as oldies.

pre 70s. classic rock radio stations will play music that came out no earlier than 1970. 50s and 60s rock music is considered "oldies"

That of which my gramma listens to.  ;D

pre-75 seems to be the category around here  :)

On the "Oldies" station here, I had a freind who was fired for playing "Lyin' Eyes by The Eagles...a 1975 song. I called the program director and he told me they don't allow anything to be played after 1974....ever! Well, that was 3 years ago and he's long since left. Now the latest songs I've heard are from 1977. I answered pre-1975. As for Classic Rock Stations...around here they dive back to 1965 all the time, Yardbirds, Beatles, Cream, The Doors ect.

When I was kid, one of my sisters used to listen to an "oldies" station-while my other sisters and myself used to listen to the top 40 station. I find it "interesting" that now oldies stations are playing what we used to listen on the top 40 station.  Does that mean I'm getting old?  :-\\




Cat

When I was kid, one of my sisters used to listen to an "oldies" station-while my other sisters and myself used to listen to the top 40 station. I find it "interesting" that now oldies stations are playing what we used to listen on the top 40 station.  Does that mean I'm getting old?  :-\\




Cat
Nope, just wiser ;)

Pre 1970, although in my mind I always think of it as being 40s and 50s ???
:DMe too,with a little early 60s in the mix.Definitely pre British invasion

I think pre 1970. I just can't bring myself to call anything in the 70s oldies yet!  ;)

Pre-1975.  Just because I'm used to the repertoire our Oldies station used to play when I was younger.  I think I almost cried when they started playing "Stayin Alive" and "YMCA"

I think pre 1970. I just can't bring myself to call anything in the 70s oldies yet!  ;)


I'm with you on that, Rhonda!  ;)

Now I've actually voted.

Noting that this was taken almost a decade ago, the impression of what is considered "oldies" (and whatever old pop music has called) has changed a bit. Fewer radio stations (though some still do) brand their stations as "oldies" and instead "classic hits", "KOOL", or "(insert city name)'s Greatest Hits", and those stations tend to go up to 1989 ("Straight Up", "Love Shack" are quite often heard), with the occassional odd early '90s song like something from Michael Jackson's Dangerous album. The "focus" on these stations is from 1975-1985 or so, targeting mainly the tail end Baby Boomers and early Generation X. Songs from 1964-1974 are pretty seldomly heard compared to a decade ago (even Beatles songs) and with a much reduced playlist, and all traces of pre-Beatles, including Louie, Louie are gone. It is not unlike the format of the early Hot Adult Contemporary/MIX stations in the '80s. As for stations still brading themselves as "oldies", they play a bit more 1964-1974 music, less early '80s music and very little if any post-1985 music, but still skew a bit newer than what a typical oldies station played about 10 years ago as even there pre-Beatles songs are once in a blue moon. They also tend to be played in mostly small to mid-sized markets where money doesn't matter as much and the demographics are a bit older. It's a scary thought that its been 50 years since the Beatles recorded "I Want to Hold Your Hand", meaning that you need to be at least 55 to appreciate any bit of it firsthand. That said, with 1985 nearly 30 years ago, I'd shift the definition of "oldies" up to pre-1985. Arguably that could be extended to pre-1990 soon with Nirvana perhaps being elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but the music of the later '80s seems more dated than earlier in the decade and more formulatic, except for some of the old school hip hop and new jack swing, though that better suits a better format (Classic Urban?). If you really want the "oldies as they were originally known" ('50s-'60s and nothing later), you need to have Satellite radio or find an independent digital stream, or of course just shuffle your MP3. This will continue in the future as "nostalgic pop music" will go by a different label for each generation. For the WWII generation, it was "music of your life/beautiful music/nostalgia".

It depends on how old you are, to answer this question. I have had this discussion with a close circle of friends (ages 45+) and what we came up with was this, more or less:

Any music made before or around the time when you were born is considered an oldie.
"Classic" was a song that was released between your childhood and high school graduation.

So the answer differs between people. For me Elvis is an oldie. Beatles, old Rolling Stones, CCR, Led zeppelin (etc..) are classic.
Anything post 1985 is still fairly new music to me.

Pre 1970's, the music (in my case) that you know and heard when young, but knew nothing about the groups, singers, etc.

Well, we use to have an oldies music radio station where we could listen to a variety of older music: it was mainly music from the '60s, the '50s, and from other eras that came before. And it was called "Oldies Radio". So I'm also going to say pre 1970's. I think that is about right.

For Xers, "oldies" is pre-Beatles rock and roll.  Voted pre-70s, but was really thinking 50s/60s. 

So my real answer is "two generations past whatever you think was retro."

My parents saw Chuck Berry as "early rock and roll" and Glenn Miller as "oldies."

Mozart

I was born in the late 80s.

To me 'oldies' is anything pre-1990.

Mozart
J.S. Bach is even older!  ;D

Wow!  This thread was brought back?  Wow!

If someone asks what "oldies" music is, it would be basically anything that came out before they were born lol

If someone asks what "oldies" music is, it would be basically anything that came out before they were born lol


This is what I thought too, this is why what I'd consider an oldie is different than people much older or younger than me.

Wow!  This thread was brought back?  Wow!

If someone asks what "oldies" music is, it would be basically anything that came out before they were born lol


that's basically what you would call it. How else can you describe an "oldie"? ???

The Oldies station where I live plays easy listening hits from the 60s, 70s, and early 80s.

The Oldies station where I live plays easy listening hits from the 60s, 70s, and early 80s.
Can it be heard online?

Can it be heard online?
http://kearth101.cbslocal.com/

http://kearth101.cbslocal.com/
Thanks, link saved, will try out later.

http://kearth101.cbslocal.com/

I listen to that station frequently.

They used to only play songs from as far back as the mid-1950s, when the Rock Era began, through the 60's and early 70's... but in later years they began going further into the 70's, and now they have 80s' on their playlist as well. Personally I can't think of music from the Disco Era onward as "Oldies"; it just doesn't have the same feel as 60's (and earlier) music that I'm accustomed to thinking of as "oldies". However, I will listen to 70s-80s on there, no problem.

I listen to that station frequently.

They used to only play songs from as far back as the mid-1950s, when the Rock Era began, through the 60's and early 70's... but in later years they began going further into the 70's, and now they have 80s' on their playlist as well. Personally I can't think of music from the Disco Era onward as "Oldies"; it just doesn't have the same feel as 60's (and earlier) music that I'm accustomed to thinking of as "oldies". However, I will listen to 70s-80s on there, no problem.
They've been playing early 80s stuff since the early 2000s (back when I used to summer here).
To me early 80s would be considered old, stuff like Madonna's first album sounds very vintage to my ears.

They've been playing early 80s stuff since the early 2000s (back when I used to summer here).
To me early 80s would be considered old, stuff like Madonna's first album sounds very vintage to my ears.

Yeah, I remember *some* 80s stuff being played on there circa 2000, such as "What's Love Got To Do With It" by Tina Turner and "Every Breath You Take" by the Police. But I think the station dropped it at one point in time after that, only to re-add it a couple years or so later.

Interestingly, I heard Nirvana and Green Day on my local classic rock station the other day. That surprised me, and made me feel old. However, I later found out that the station is not solely classic rock, just that the majority of their playlist is 70s and 80s music.
That being said, I still hear 90s alternative on my local alternative rock stations quite commonly, with even a few 80s alternative songs here and there (stuff like the Smiths or Depeche Mode). At the same time, I've noticed that 80s music has started to disappear from contemporary radio stations over the past few years. My local contemporary mix station used to have their slogan as "80s, 90s, and now" and now they just say "from the 90s till now", they also used to have "the 80s on 8" every Saturday, which I miss. So I guess this means 80s is now old enough to be considered "oldies".