Oldies Music

"Oldies", "rock'n'roll", "classic rock"... All terms describe the music that I love. Many my age shun oldies for more modern, auto-tuned music, proclaiming disgust at their parents' music, ignoring the beautiful lyrics and interesting sound behind it and not even thinking twice about it. I understand that people have different music tastes but I think they should really try to open their minds to the greatness of oldies music. My own music taste is eclectic and, while I do listen to other types of music also, I really do love my oldies music quite a bit.

I like all of the types of oldies, too, which is apparently unusual even among oldies lovers (who usually like one type of oldies music). Of course, I love many of the artists that my parents enjoy: Fleetwood Mac, James Taylor, Carole King, Bruce Springsteen, and Cat Stevens. I also enjoy artists like Billy Joel, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Bon Jovi, Jim Croce, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Suzanne Vega and many others. Occasionally, I will even listen to the Beatles too. My oldies library is quite large.

There's something honest, something quite pure about listening to music that has been completely unaltered and that was obviously completely from the heart. When singers like Bob Dylan pour their heart out in songs about issues that were relevant to them (and are often still even relevant today). Many of these artists were truly representative of their era, capturing an essence of their times. Even when they're singing songs obviously written while high (*cough, cough, the Beatles, cough*), they sing with so much emotion and so much passion that it almost feels like they were writing about something that almost did have meaning to it. And, of course, their talent was outstanding with each song that they sung, truly showing off the greatness they possessed.

Oldies music is a remnant of another time. It's so cool to see how music has changed, to see another perspective and another sound. I listen to oldies music from all different eras so obviously I hear quite a bit of music. It's a nice contrast to what I usually listen to and each artist also serves as a nice contrast with each other. Listening to such an array of artists, I almost get to hear the evolution of music itself, which is always pretty awesome.

I think the main reason why their music was so amazing was because these musicians were not afraid to take risks. They performed in ways that no other artist before them performed and they also weren't afraid to write about taboo subjects. In that regard, they were different from modern artists, who often sing the same tired subjects over and over again with the same tired sound to it. That's why they are so refreshing to listen to.

I love oldies music. Many teenagers are afraid to listen to oldies for fear that it's "uncool" or it "sounds weird". But it doesn't.  I would encourage anyone to listen to all sorts of music just to broaden the mind a little bit.