If someone recorded the oldies medley today

[Mark-T]

That's very very nice, although admittedly, I'm not much for the rapping. But I get that in a sense, it's a modern version of poetry. Smooth soul was always an easy groove for me.

@Jack A. - I was a lot like you. In the early 80's I knew artists from the 40s and 50s, but no one around me did. My gain

I should have added this to my previous post:

 

[David A]

Just feel the need to throw this in here:

There is plenty of excellent music out there today and there always has been. There has also always been a tremendous amount of dross to wade through to get to the good stuff. I could give examples of both but this isn't the kind of place that needs that; we're a level-headed bunch. Many have it in their heads (usually those who are over forty) that there is no good music anymore and that's entirely untrue. The issue is that the music being made isn't for us anymore. Most commercial artists make music for young people. Those who consume the most music have historically been teenagers and those in their early-to-mid twenties. That's what radio used to aim for (when radio mattered - it doesn't anymore) and the record labels aim for that demographic too.

Speaking as someone who's aged out of that demo, we already had our turn. Let the kids have their fun. It's not hurting us. There are artists who are making music that isn't "young." We can have that. Our parents went though this too. Now, it's our turn...LOL!

I'm still not old, darn it!

Ed

I agree that every generation since pop music's creation has had some "good", even excellent, POP music. Heck, I can name a ton of artists that have been popular and I LIKED their music long after my "heyday" - from Alanis Morissette (outstanding, although borderline "pop") to Katie Perry to Lady Gaga (hah! I'm already still dating myself, as those artists are on the wane, or evolving beyond "pop" music in the case of Lady Gaga)...and I certainly have no problem, having 2 step-kids in their 20's, of letting them enjoy what they like and I do not "diss" their musical choices/preferences.

I stand by the view that the music can be evaluated objectively and legitimate observations can be made/assessed about the creative use of the trappings of pop music OVERALL, as a genre, over the course of the last 5 or 6 decades - and that's not my age talking.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I stand by the view that the music can be evaluated objectively and legitimate observations can be made/assessed about the creative use of the trappings of pop music OVERALL, as a genre, over the course of the last 5 or 6 decades - and that's not my age talking.

But here's the problem:

I believe that an objective, dispassionate, non-generational (as in, age of the listener) look at pop music evolution over the last 50 years would find that the level of creativity, musical depth, and variety in pop music (specifically, pop - not rock, Hip Hop, etc., or forms of avant garde musical expression) started changing fundamentally - and for the worse - in the 2000's.

You're not saying "I wonder what an objective, dispassionate, non-generational look at pop music evolution over the last 50 years would find".

You're admitting your own biases (which we all have) and then telling us that you believe an objective, dispassionate, non-generational look would reach a certain conclusion---which would agree with you.

 

[CarpentersToYou]

I find this interesting. I think that if a pop group today did an oldies medley, it wouldn't be well accepted in the industry.

I think Karen's voice was celebrated even from an early age, so that may have played a role in why this went over better in 1973.

Ouf, the mere thought of Lady Gaga's standards makes me cringe. She sounds like Kristen Wiig doing an impression of a 40s singer when she sings in this style.

 

[David A]

But here's the problem:

I believe that an objective, dispassionate, non-generational (as in, age of the listener) look at pop music evolution over the last 50 years would find that the level of creativity, musical depth, and variety in pop music (specifically, pop - not rock, Hip Hop, etc., or forms of avant garde musical expression) started changing fundamentally - and for the worse - in the 2000's.

You're not saying "I wonder what an objective, dispassionate, non-generational look at pop music evolution over the last 50 years would find".

You're admitting your own biases (which we all have) and then telling us that you believe an objective, dispassionate, non-generational look would reach a certain conclusion---which would agree with you.

Interesting rhetorical device. By suggesting that an objective, dispassionate observation of a subject will find certain results that will support my assumption, I'm being biased. Let's just agree to disagree, as this is...in my objective, unbiased opinion, becoming fruitless (and definitely off-topic, apologies to the thread for that)

 

[Michael Hagerty]

Interesting rhetorical device. By suggesting that an objective, dispassionate observation of a subject will find certain results that will support my assumption, I'm being biased. Let's just agree to disagree, as this is...in my objective, unbiased opinion, becoming fruitless (and definitely off-topic, apologies to the thread for that)

Not a device and not suggesting you have bias because of that. You admitted your bias upfront and I acknowledged we all have it. I just think that acknowledging our biases, we'd have no idea what an objective, dispassionate observation would find.

 

[WYBIMLA]

This is a very interesting thread! The problem is that obviously the art of creating medleys and good melodies are a rare find these days.
You don't have songs segue into one another. In fact the art of the 'fade out' is lost too. You're hearing cold endings and often songs are edited for social media. So I don't even think it's really possible to do a medley or oldies selection today.

I think a great example of an equivalent is actually an album that was done by Johnny Mathis in 2017 called "Johnny Mathis sings the great new American songbook."



It's an attempt to cover the 'new standards' of recent decades. In my opinion, they're not as memorable as say songs of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s.
I just don't hear it myself. I think they're good song selections, but they don't have that same feeling. Hard to explain.

A similar concept was done by Paul Anka on his album Rock Swings. That's closer to covering great oldies of the 80s and 90s.



Check them out to get an idea of contemporary standards. There appears to be less selections than previous decades.
The concept works, but then again I'm not sure many people remember these songs compared to Carpenters doing their oldies routine.

The other thing about this is that the idea of covering oldies ends up becoming something a legacy act does. You won't really find many younger acts doing tributes or covers in the same way anymore.

It's anybody's guess why that is. It's not a risk labels are willing to make. That's not where the focus is. It has been done before. Like with Paul Anka, Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis, Petula Clark, Smokey Robinson or Aretha Franklin. Aretha had decent run with The Great Diva Classics in 2014.
Then, you have acts like Barry Manilow and Rod Stewart doing the oldies from different decades and things like that.
But it's a totally different look and feel.

For a young group or artist to do it looks to be a tough sell and people don't even sing that way anymore. The nostalgia factor does seem to draw crowds, but it seems you had to have already had a long career to begin thinking of doing some sort of traditional, standard album covering oldies.
That's like what Adam Lambert just did on his album High Drama.

It's something considered a bit more of a niche thing or novelty act and probably more suited for live shows (opposed to something you would market for social media, radio, film and television) and had to have had years experience first before getting there probably.

I could see maybe artists, good singers like Adele, Lady Gaga or Jennifer Hudson might end up doing shows like that at some point down the road.
But as for an album concept it's probably a really difficult sell these days. Especially when every piece of media and content is produced and written 'for the moment' as opposed to something timeless or ends up being glossed over in an oversaturated market.

It would likely be done in such a way that there may not be much originality, authenticity to it or easy listening. In a world that's post-talent shows (Idol, The Voice, AGT, etc) it's going to be something more obnoxious, pretentious, acrobatics and cookie cutter packaging.

Also, I find that oldies selections tend to work because they're romantic songs. I haven't seen many romantic themes in recent decades. More so break up songs and darker themes that make it into the Top 10. I can't imagine how enjoyable that would be really.

For the idea mentioned in this thread you'd be borrowing from the Johnny Mathis album mentioned above. I think he chose some of the best already. As for the latter parts of last decade and going into the 2020s I haven't really heard anything you'd think of in the same vein, yet.
Personally I keep my ear open and love a good song of course. I just don't hear many that often. Not the same gems you'd have from say a collection of songs from previous decades.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[AM Matt]

Just heard Paul Anka doing the remake of the 1996 Oasis song "Wonderwall" (from "Rock Swings") at the Olive Garden in Midland, Michigan. Anka did performed at the Midland Center For The Arts in Midland, MI in the late 90's!! (not sure what year)

 

[Another Son]

I’ve been listening to songs from the oldies medley this morning (which I really enjoy), and it occurred to me that if some kids in their mid-20s recorded an oldies medley of songs from around 2013 today, I would think they were ridiculous. I still consider those “new” songs, and I can’t imagine which songs they’d choose.

They'd just have to sit on one chord for all of the collective songs. But there would be lots of 'Diva' bellowing.