Posted by Marty Brooks on August 17, 2008 at 10:50:24:
In Reply to: Re: Oldies: The New Hot Thing posted by Jim Surace on August 17, 2008 at 10:14:41:
Oldie stations don't play 80s and 90s music because there aren't enough songs to play from earlier decades - they play 80s and 90s because they perceive the oldies audience to be demographically too old and they feel playing more recent music will attract a younger audience.
But I do agree that it's refreshing to hear other tracks from great artists. This obsession with only playing the top few tracks from any artist is absurd, especially for artists who had many hits and long careers, but also:
- sales at time of release have little to do with reception of the track today.
- back in the 50s-70s, the charts were usually not more than informal surveys of record stores and frequently corrupt.
- the charts always punished artists who may have sold more copies, but sold slower, over a longer period of time.
- the charts were relative: so a #10 record in a week when lots of singles were sold may have sold more than a #2 record in a week when fewer records were sold.
- a #1 record in 1965 did not necessarily mean the same thing as a #1 record in 1975 as the size of the market changed AND the importance of singles changed over time (declined in the late 70s and 80s, but back very strong today due to downloading)
- Billboard (and Cashbox and Record World) were national charts and did not necessarily reflect what was happening in New York City.
If you really want to use charts at all, you have factor in the total amount of actual sales in a given week, chart position and longevity. And even then, you'll miss some great music.