[Formulabruce]

Ok, last few years the "oldies" radio stations are playing 70's and early 80' music. Car shows seem stuck in the 50's and early 60's.... STILL.. A 75 year old guy told me today he is sick of the big bopper !!
Time to train the DJ or someone's I pod?
Where do YOU think the range should be ( in years).
We all " dislike something " ignore that and put your range.

[Simple Man]

1960-1985 Don't mind earlier, or later, just not the same songs continuously, like 409, or Little GTO, Deuce Coupe, or Little Cobra.

[vertigto]

I think each answer is going to be based on whatever years were formative for the individual car-wise and the music that reflects that.

For me, my preference is the 70s-80s, but enjoy select songs from any era.

[fyrffytr1]

I would choose a mix of 50s through mid 70s. Not jut car tunes but top tens for each month maybe.

[mgarblik]

I think a decent rule of thumb would be to play music that would be coming out of the radio's of the majority of the cars at the car show or cruise-in when the car was new. That could cover allot of years of music, but at least it's a range. As easy as it is to carry a huge catalog on a memory stick now, DJ's should be able to play some deeper cuts from the era as well. There are more than the typical 50 songs that get played to death at every old car show out there.

[Sirrotica]

If you look at the sound track of American Graffiti they used late 50s and early 60s music, stuff that would be played on radio rock stations at the time frame (1962). George Lucas was very instrumental in choosing the music that was played, and he grew up in southern CA. He also made the Wolfman Jack connection as it was relevant in that area during that time frame.

In the later American Graffiti sequels they moved the songs on the sound track into the mid 60s, they were pretty good on keeping the music in the same time frame as the movie was, while still playing some songs from the earlier years.

If someone were to follow that same pattern and play what was actually on play lists during the represented years I would think it would be a good formula. I really enjoyed the sound track used in American Graffiti, but extending it into the 70s would also be fine with me.

[4zpeed]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

Car shows seem stuck in the 50's and early 60's.... STILL.. A 75 year old guy told me today he is sick of the big bopper !

I agree with the young man, 'Out of the Rut and into the Groove!'

Ever heard of the Wrecking Crew? Play everything they covered.

"There may never be a group of Rock an Roll musicians of this caliber again"

If you don't know who they are and Really enjoy diversity...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZgBexrZvM0&t=2s



Frank

[Half-Inch Stud]

Our Weekly carclub "Cruise -In" DJs late 50s thru mid-70s, with a lean towards CCR, some Cream, Skinny Lenard, green onions, some elvis, daytona GTO, HR Lincoln, beached boys.

[dhcarguy]

For me, "Classic Rock". Mostly 60's + 70's
My everyday driver - Sirius "Classic Rewind" and "Classic Vinyl" all the time

[1965gp]

I would think by this time 70s - 80s with some 60s mixed in.

[Stuart]

The DJ should be able to look at the crowd and figure out what kind of music to play.

[blue81ta]

Originally Posted by Stuart

The DJ should be able to look at the crowd and figure out what kind of music to play.

I agree. A friend of mine is a DJ for many car shows and playing to the crowd is exactly what he does. Usually, he plays music from the 50's to the 80's. He takes requests AND he plays deep cuts. He must be doing something right because he DJ's four cruise ins during the week and two car shows every weekend.

[jhein]

Originally Posted by dhcarguy

For me, "Classic Rock". Mostly 60's + 70's
My everyday driver - Sirius "Classic Rewind" and "Classic Vinyl" all the time

Ditto on that

[indymanjoe]

whatever era it is keep it low, I hate loud music at the point you can't talk to people ya meet.

[694.1]

Sick to death of car show music, there is SO much great stuff off of the well worn grooves. There are great covers & live stuff that would be a change too!

[71GP76TA]

No music.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

Ok, last few years the "oldies" radio stations are playing 70's and early 80' music. Car shows seem stuck in the 50's and early 60's.... STILL.. A 75 year old guy told me today he is sick of the big bopper !!
Time to train the DJ or someone's I pod?
Where do YOU think the range should be ( in years).
We all " dislike something " ignore that and put your range.

The music at that show yesterday was annoying.

[U47]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

Ok, last few years the "oldies" radio stations are playing 70's and early 80' music. Car shows seem stuck in the 50's and early 60's.... STILL.. A 75 year old guy told me today he is sick of the big bopper !!
Time to train the DJ or someone's I pod?
Where do YOU think the range should be ( in years).
We all " dislike something " ignore that and put your range.

Up until about six months ago we had a radio station that played 50's and 60's.
Recently they went to 60's and 70's.
Getting tired of the big Bopper? The problem with ALL stations that play 50's 60's 70's 80"s is they play music from a PLAY LIST. If you google the top 40 hits of each month of each year for any of the decades I mentioned you will find that those stations only play 20% or less of the top 40 songs! Also there were many good songs that never made the top 40.
If your grand kids listened to any of these stations, and it doesn't matter which decade you grew up in, your grandkids would not hear a proper representation of what we actually heard.
Another observation of 50's music, because I was there, is almost all the 50's music that these remaining stations will play is music from 1955-59. You won't hear any of the top ten from 1950-54. And they call this 50's music??????

[U47]

Originally Posted by Sirrotica

If you look at the sound track of American Graffiti they used late 50s and early 60s music, stuff that would be played on radio rock stations at the time frame (1962). George Lucas was very instrumental in choosing the music that was played, and he grew up in southern CA. He also made the Wolfman Jack connection as it was relevant in that area during that time frame.

In the later American Graffiti sequels they moved the songs on the sound track into the mid 60s, they were pretty good on keeping the music in the same time frame as the movie was, while still playing some songs from the earlier years.

If someone were to follow that same pattern and play what was actually on play lists during the represented years I would think it would be a good formula. I really enjoyed the sound track used in American Graffiti, but extending it into the 70s would also be fine with me.

If you were living in 1962 and you turned on POP radio you were getting songs from the weekly top 100 songs. We didn't have oldies per say. If you were cruising in 62 you were hearing 100 songs of that week. American Graffiti is a compilation of feelings and songs of a era and not the reality of what you would hear on a Saturday night cruise in 1962. If you were a DJ back then you couldn't even get through your shift playing the top 100 let alone playing a oldie.
Week of November 10, 1962
NOV
1
Steady
He's A Rebel
The Crystals
1
1
10

2
Rising
Big Girls Don't Cry
The 4 Seasons
6
2
4

3
Rising
All Alone Am I
Brenda Lee
5
3
7

4
Rising
Return To Sender
Elvis Presley With The Jordanaires
10
4
4

5
Failing
Only Love Can Break A Heart
Gene Pitney
2
2
9

6
Rising
Next Door To An Angel
Neil Sedaka
9
6
6

7
Steady
Gina
Johnny Mathis
7
7
8

8
Failing
Monster Mash
Bobby "Boris" Pickett And The Crypt-Kickers
4
1
10

9
Failing
Do You Love Me
The Contours
3
3
14

10
Rising
Popeye (The Hitchhiker)
Chubby Checker
14
10
9

11
Failing
Limbo Rock
Chubby Checker
8
8
10

12
Steady
Close To Cathy
Mike Clifford
12
12
9

13
Rising
Nothing Can Change This Love
Sam Cooke
22
13
7

14
Rising
The Cha-Cha-Cha
Bobby Rydell
15
14
5

15
Failing
Sherry
The 4 Seasons
11
1
12

16
Rising
Don't Hang Up
The Orlons
32
16
5

17
Rising
James (Hold The Ladder Steady)
Sue Thompson
18
17
7

18
Failing
What Kind Of Fool Am I
Sammy Davis Jr.
17
17
11

19
Rising
Bobby's Girl
Marcie Blane
41
19
4

20
Rising
Desafinado
Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd
26
20
7

21
Failing
Patches
Dickey Lee
13
6
12

22
Rising
I Left My Heart In San Francisco
Tony Bennett
24
19
14

23
Rising
I've Got A Woman (Part I)
Jimmy McGriff
29
23
5

24
Rising
Love Me Tender
Richard Chamberlain
27
24
6

25
Failing
Surfin' Safari
The Beach Boys
23
14
14

26
Failing
Green Onions
Booker T. & The MG's
19
3
14

27
Rising
Ride!
Dee Dee Sharp
44
27
4

28
Rising
I Was Such A Fool (To Fall In Love With You)
Connie Francis
31
28
6

29
Failing
Ramblin' Rose
Nat King Cole
16
2
15

30
Rising
(Dance With The) Guitar Man
Duane Eddy and the Rebelettes
40
30
6

31
Rising
Léah
Roy Orbison
38
31
6

32
Rising
If A Man Answers
Bobby Darin
34
32
7

33
Steady
Workin' For The Man
Roy Orbison
33
33
8

34
Failing
I Remember You
Frank Ifield
21
5
10

35
Rising
Susie Darlin'
Tommy Roe
36
35
6

36
Failing
Alley Cat
Bent Fabric and His Piano
30
7
16

37
Rising
My Own True Love
The Duprees
45
37
4

38
Failing
Torture
Kris Jensen
20
20
11

39
Rising
The Lonely Bull (El Solo Torro)
Herb Alpert And Tijuana Brass
64
39
3

40
Rising
Pop Pop Pop - Pie
The Sherrys
42
40
6

41
Failing
Let's Dance
Chris Montez
28
4
14

42
Rising
Mama Sang A Song
Stan Kenton
47
42
5

43
Rising
That Stranger Used To Be My Girl
Trade Martin
50
43
4

44
Rising
I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)
Johnny Tillotson
55
44
3

45
Failing
Warmed Over Kisses (Left Over Love)
Brian Hyland
25
25
8

46
Failing
Little Black Book
Jimmy Dean
37
29
9

47
Rising
I'll Bring It Home To You
Carla Thomas
54
47
5

48
Rising
Wiggle Wobble
Les Cooper and the Soul Rockers
59
48
4

49
Failing
Don't You Believe It
Andy Williams
39
39
9

50
Rising
Release Me
Esther Phillips "Little Esther"
68
50
3

51
Rising
Mama Sang A Song
Walter Brennan
61
51
4

52
Rising
I'm Going Back To School
Dee Clark
56
52
6

53
Failing
Venus In Blue Jeans
Jimmy Clanton
35
7
13

54
Failing
Hide & Go Seek, Part I
Bunker Hill
49
33
12

55
Rising
Lovers By Night, Strangers By Day
The Fleetwoods
60
55
5

56
Failing
Baby Face
Bobby Darin
43
42
7

57
Failing
Stormy Monday Blues
Bobby Bland
51
43
10

58
Rising
Don't Ask Me To Be Friends
The Everly Brothers
62
58
4

59
Failing
No One Will Ever Know
Jimmie Rodgers
46
43
11

60
Rising
Eso Beso (That Kiss!)
Paul Anka
81
60
2

61
Rising
Twistin' With Linda
The Isley Brothers
69
54
8

62
Rising
Keep Your Hands Off My Baby
Little Eva
90
62
2

63
Rising
The Burning Of Atlanta
Claude King
65
53
6

64
Rising
Mr. Lonely
Buddy Greco
66
64
8

65
Rising
Untie Me
The Tams
72
65
4

66
Rising
Rumors
Johnny Crawford
95
66
2

67
Rising
You Can Run (But You Can't Hide)
Jerry Butler
70
67
5

68
Rising
He Thinks I Still Care
Connie Francis
73
57
6

69
Rising
I've Been Everywhere
Hank Snow
71
69
6

70
Rising
Anna (Go To Him)
Arthur Alexander
83
70
3

71
Rising
Telstar
The Tornadoes
85
71
2

72
Failing
Second Fiddle Girl
Barbara Lynn
63
63
8

73
Rising
Let's Go (pony)
The Routers
80
73
2

74
New
Love Came To Me
Dion
-
74
1

75
Rising
Stubborn Kind Of Fellow
Marvin Gaye
77
75
4

76
Steady
I'm Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail
The Everly Brothers
76
76
5

77
Rising
Mary Ann Regrets
Burl Ives
87
77
2

78
Rising
Somebody Have Mercy
Sam Cooke
79
77
3

79
Failing
Happy Weekend
Dave "Baby" Cortez
67
67
5

80
Rising
I'll Remember Carol
Tommy Boyce
82
80
3

81
Rising
The Alley Cat Song
David Thorne
84
79
3

82
Failing
Heartaches
Patsy Cline
75
75
5

83
New
Spanish Lace
Gene McDaniels
-
83
1

84
New
If You Were A Rock And Roll Record
Freddy Cannon
-
84
1

85
Rising
Don't Ever Leave Me
Bob And Earl
86
85
4

86
Rising
Comin' Home Baby
Mel Torme
88
86
2

87
New
Chains
The Cookies
-
87
1

88
New
The Push And Kick
Mark Valentino
-
88
1

89
New
Dear Lonely Hearts
Nat King Cole
-
89
1

90
Rising
I Lost My Baby
Joey Dee
98
90
2

91
Rising
Up On The Roof
The Drifters
93
91
2

92
Failing
Magic Wand
Don & Juan
91
91
3

93
Re-Enter
What Kind Of Fool Am I?
Robert Goulet
-
89
2

94
Rising
Heart Breaker
Dean Christie
96
94
2

95
Failing
I Left My Heart In The Balcony
Linda Scott
74
74
8

96
Failing
Mama Sang A Song
Bill Anderson
89
89
3

97
New
That's Life (That's Tough)
Gabriel And The Angels
-
97
1

98
Rising
Dear Hearts And Gentle People
The Springfields
99
98
2

99
Failing
Four Walls
Kay Starr
97
97
3

100
New
Go Away Little Girl
Steve Lawrence
-
100
1

[OG68]

Same with 60's music. Seems like for some stations, 60's music started with the British Invasion in 64.

Personally I like 60's/80's and Big Band music from the 40's.