Originally published at: David Crosby's "Laughing" turns 50 | Boing Boing
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It used to be the “oldies” station played songs that were 30-40 years, and things like this were on the station that played music from the ‘70s, 80s, and today’. Although this probably never got played on those classic rock stations. Now that this is 50 years old, the oldies stations are dead, and things like this are on the station that plays music from the “70s, 80s, and today” or whatever their tag line is now. Except they are still probably not playing anything as good as this.
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This whole album is fantastic, and I’m not a huge CSNY fan (more on the Y side than anything). Pretty much the whole Laurel Canyon alumni guests on this album. I put it up there with Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On in the: You-tell-me-you-don’t-like-this-type-of-music-and-have-only-heard-the-single-from-this-album-but-seriously-just-buy-this-album-and-listen-to-it-the-all-the-way-through-for-a-week-and-then-tell-me-what-you-think category.
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this used to be a regular tune on K-SHE 95 in St. Louis back in the 80s, which is how i know it. great song.
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and a fraction of the grateful dead to boot
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In fact, there was so much recorded music produced in the 20th century that you COULD start an oldies station that played lots of good songs that weren’t hits. I have seen my fair share of doo-wop complete artist collections and classic country box sets where there are a lot of good but forgotten songs. You could make up an entire album of Beatles non-hits that were as good as their hits, same with a lot of other classic rock artists.
“Internet radio” and streaming services have changed the broadcasting landscape, but there could be some way to create a “new oldies” station, although it would depend on the market and might have to be non-commercial.
it’s been a while since i’ve subscribed, but sirius satellite radio had the “deep tracks” station which attempted spiritually reproduce the album rock format that most classic rock stations have become today. although this, too, can find itself in a rut–yes, “shine on you crazy diamond” doesn’t usually appear on the radio, but it’s not exactly obscure.
(and i know classic rock is not the same as oldies, even though it’s distressing to hear music that was new when i was in high school on classic rock stations)
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I refuse to pay for radio, so I was sort of aware that something like what I proposed probably existed.
Sometimes it’s hard to comprehend that back in the 70’s FM radio was a wild free-for-all where stations still played full album sides and “obscure” artists like Hawkwind or Beefheart could still get airplay on occasion.
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yeah, i totally get that. i paid for satellite radio for years because getting radio signals in my area was always a crapshoot and it’s all country anyway, plus i listened to the radio like all the time so it felt justifiable. but in the end it’s really not worth it. now i pay 10 dollars a month for spotify and i get hulu for free as part of that. i can tell my car’s knight industries two thousand unit to play king crimson and it (usually) just does it.
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Crimson was not on those streaming services for a long time, so that was also part of my beef with them.
Sure, I’m spoiled for radio living in a big N.E. city with a huge college population. Perhaps if I lived elsewhere I would opt for satellite radio or streaming. Or maybe I would come to appreciate the silence.
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Despite all the amputations, you know you could just go out and dance to the rock & roll station, and it was all right.
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