oldies vs. newies part 157
Good post JT. So called "newies" DJ (is there such a thing these days?) have to play oldies as you rightly say there aren't the quantity of "new" 60's records today, hasn't been for a while. But there are still plenty of records that are forgotten, ignored, neglected, underplayed (or whatever term you wish to use) out there or ......that's where the knowledge of some DJ's/collectors comes to the fore. Even when a "new " record turns up it's very difficult (practically impossible sometimes) to "break" a record on todays scene if it is in the hands of just one maybe two dj's, especially with the scene being so regionalised today. There are still plenty of records unknown to many out there....remember not everyone was old enough to do the Torch, Wheel & Wigan and many had left the scene and missed out on the 80's early 90's when 100's of new records played to return in later years, there will be records from each era that are known only to those who were there. There will be records totally ignored simply because they aren't from the era of the DJ's youth?
There's very little tolerance today with new sounds, because they are so hard to break people are almost unwilling to accept them regardless how good they are for the simple reason of being unknown to them and because they rarely hear DJ's from outside their catchment area. Maybe it's an age thing and people just want to go out and live in the same comfort zone week in week out, just listen to records they are comfortable with from their youth.....what happened to the tolerance of their youth, the quest to seek out, listen to and dance to new records?
Oldies are the core of the scene in reality but why do venues have to play the same old same week in week out when there are so many records out there? It's like going to a "normal" nightclub and hearing the same top 40 for years Much of the problem lies with certain areas utilising the same dj's for each venue. I look at the events calendar on a regular basis and some areas very rarely have DJ's guesting from outside their particular area,....all this IMO leads to a stagnant standing still scene.
I don't think anyone insults "oldies" or the oldies brigade as you call them, some just have a preference to hear something different on their nights out.