Have you ever noticed that pretty much every oldies or classic rock station on the air will spend significant airwave on events like "the Beatles A-Z" which often includes non-Beatles tracks by the solo Beatles, while playing the same one Otis Redding song (Dock of the Bay) over and over again? This frustrates me for a lot of reasons:
1) While you'll never find me claiming the 60s as a special decade (quite the opposite), nevertheless, there was a lot of great music in those ten years, a surprising percentage of it not written by the Beatles.
2) By privileging the white/male Beatles, these stations continue the trend of pushing music by blacks and women from the 60s to the very edges of their programming.
A month ago, I looked at the website for my local "classic rock" station, 103.7 The Band, and found that of the last 200 songs they played as of 6/3/10, 6 were by black artists (4 by Hendix, one each for Stevie Wonder and War), and 3 were by women (Janis Joplin and Heart). Another 4 were Latino, all Santana. Looked at another way, Pink Floyd, Elton John, the Eagles, and the Beatles each had more tracks (7 each) than all black artists combined, and Journey matched the black output of 6. I mean, Jesus, how many ELO songs do we have to hear (4) before getting something from the Shirelles (0)? We get no songs from Otis Redding, but we do get the Black Crowes cringe-worthy cover of his classic "Hard to Handle." I just repeated the same experiment today on 7/3/10, and it was even worse: one Stevie song, one Hendrix, and two Santana.
I don't want to belabor the point--it's clear that classic rock programmers have no interest in black or female music. And obviously, the target audience here is very narrow: but assuming that the target is nostalgic boomers, isn't it a bit ironic that in the relatively more racist late 50s and 60s, these same boomers would have heard a significantly higher proportion of black and female music on top 40 radio than they do on these "nostalgic" stations? The reason I think this is important is that I happen to believe that the history of rock and roll is both incredibly enjoyable, and important for anyone who wants to understand what the music signifies in the present.
And at one point at least, "oldies" and "classic rock" stations were the way to access this history (that was the case for me). Today, of course, there's youtube, iTunes, and various semi-legal ways of downloading music. And I completely embrace those means of accessing rock and roll history. But the radio stations (in theory) offer a unique means of accessing this history, because: 1) they're free (unlike iTunes); 2) they are social, in that they encourage a community appreciation for a set of music; and 3) they (again, very much in theory) offer music preselected by people who know something about the period. In other words, if I want to educate myself about 60s rock and roll, I would much rather listen to the extended mix-tape that is a radio station than blindly stumble through websites, books, etc. to find out what to listen to, then track down the music, and often have to pay for the music.
By playing the same tired white-guy-jam music over and over, "classic rock" stations fail to capitalize on what could be a perfect opportunity to educate listeners, young and old, about the history of what I think of as the greatest music on earth.
So, for anyone who was introduced to 60s music through these stations, or has completely forgotten their youth, I offer below a primer on what you should really be listening to from the 60s. I'm not including stuff that is already well known and heavily played on these stations (Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Who, etc.), and focusing mainly on black men and women, for the reasons stated above. Here you go:
Otis Redding - every studio album he put out (plus a live one) is worth owning, roughly in this order: Dictionary of Soul, Otis Blue, Immortal Otis Redding, In Person at the Whiskey a Go Go, Pain in My Heart, Love Man, Sings Soul Ballads, Soul Album, Dock of the Bay, King and Queen, Tell the Truth
The Shirelles - Very Best of the Shirelles (Rhino) - the very best girl group, woefully unknown.
James Brown - Star Time (4 CD Box) - seriously, the whole thing is worth owning.
Wilson Pickett - A Man and a Half (Rhino)
Bobby Bland - any greatest hits comp
Ray Charles - you should have his 50s stuff first, but any 60s comp is essential too
Sam Cooke - The Man and His Music, if you can find it. Otherwise, any greatest hits
Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man, Lady Soul, Spirit in the Dark, Young Gifted and Black
Marvelletes - Anthology
The Supremes - Anthology - the most popular group of the 1960s, aside from the Beatles, is known, primarily by route of Diana Ross, but not nearly listened to enough. Pick up this double CD.
Stevie Wonder - A lot of people have the 70s and 80s Stevie, but for 60s stuff, try to track down Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and Vol. 2
Phil Spector - Back to Mono - another box set, weaker than the JB, but easy to find cheap used.
Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis
Temptations - Anthology
Joe Tex - any greatest hits comp
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