Sunday morning, as I was driving to the grocery store (which, by the way, I despise doing on a Sunday, but it had to be done), “It Takes Two” by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock came on the radio. As any good self-respecting Gen Xer would do, I turned up the volume and started shamelessly belting out the lyrics … I wanna rock right now, I’m Rob Base and I came to get down, I’m not internationally known, but I’m known to rock the microphone …
Anyway, at the end of the song, the station tag was announced. Apparently, I was listening to an “oldies” station. While I’m not ashamed of that, I do have a question: since when is Rob Base and ’80s hip hop considered oldies music? Classic, yes. Old, yes. Oldies, no.
WOGL-FM, I am legit offended (and apparently, old — or preferably, classic).
A little background to make my case: I was born in 1972 and raised on Motown and the Beach Boys (yes, I know — vastly different, but that’s a post for another day). To me, “oldies” music is from the 1950s and ’60. I’ll even give you 1970s, but that’s it.
The logical side of my brain knows that songs from the 1980s and ’90 are, in fact, old because that was 30-40 years ago. But the illogical side of my brain cannot grasp the fact that I was rocking out to Rob Base, Salt-n-Pepa, and other hip hop legends almost four decades ago. DECADES! How is that possible?
Ironically, this was first brought to my attention around this time 10 years ago when my boys were each in elementary school, and I’m still in denial.
Every February, the fifth graders in our school district participate in an “oldies dance” competition. Groups of boys and girls get together, select a song, choreograph a dance, dress in costumes to represent the era or song theme, and lipsynch their performance in front of friends and family. I distinctly remember being appalled when my oldest told me that because it was 2014, they are allowed to choose any song from 1984 or earlier because oldies music was classified as anything older than 30 years ago.
1984! I felt old — and annoyed (which, I’m learning, go hand-in-hand most often).
I was not amused, but also not surprised, that there was a group of girls who performed Cindy Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and a pair of boys who lipsynched “Whip It” by Devo as their oldies-song-of-choice. Thankfully, my kid and his friends went the traditional route with The Beatle’s version of “Twist and Shout” from 1963.
Wanna see? Here it is, in all it’s glory (H is the curly-haired boy usually in the second position when they line up with the boys on the right) — and yes, they won first place!
For the record, I will not be referring to ’80s and ’90s hip hop as oldies music any time soon. Classic, yes. Old, yes. Oldies, no. Never.
Oh, and if “It Takes Two” is now stuck in your head, you’re welcome. It’s a classic! #sorrynotsorry
-LJDT
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