While scrolling through the archives, I encountered an article featuring a playlist made in 2006 advertising “oldies but goodies” and “sizzling spring hits” to replace “horrible selections of new music” available this spring (Niemieac). As a lover of old music and someone whose ears suffered from hearing Justin Bieber’s new song Yummy on the radio this spring, this piece intrigued me. I quickly made a Spotify playlist with the songs listed after reading the article, so I could hear what this writer from fourteen years ago selected as quality music from a different era.

Once I read the article and began duplicating the playlist, I noticed that Charlsie Niemieac, the author, decided to include more recent songs, with the newest being produced the year Niemieac wrote the article. Although these tunes may qualify as old in 2020, they definitely did not in 2006, but I added them to preserve whatever Niemieac intended the playlist to sound like and retained my interest to hear the complete mix of songs. 

Out of the fifteen songs I compiled, I recognized only one by its title, so I began the playlist from the beginning, hoping to discover a new favorite tune or two. I listened to song after song, becoming increasingly confused as the playlist rolled on without any rhyme or reason. It attempted to incorporate artists such as Tupac, the Beatles and the Postal Service, to name a few. While I enjoyed the majority of the songs, the playlist did not feel cohesive nor seem to follow the theme of springtime, apart from infrequent mentions of love or sunshine. Although others might enjoy this eclectic mix of genres and time periods, it sounded as if the author put all of their songs on shuffle and added the first fifteen that came up without considering if the song’s mood flowed with the rest of the playlist. 

Upon reading the article a second time and repeatedly listening to the playlist, it seemed that Niemieac added songs that clearly did not play well together in an attempt to appeal to every group of high schoolers, from “lovey-dovey” to “mellow” to songs with “party vibes” (Niemieac). I am certain that nearly everyone can find a song they enjoy from the diverse selection, however, because of this inconsistency, I found the title of the article misleading and the playlist itself somewhat disappointing as I heard more songs from the 2000s than true golden oldies.

Since the playlist did not live up to my expectations, I decided to make a new one. This newer playlist incorporates songs I found in the original playlist, as well as other truer “golden oldies” in an attempt to create the type of playlist I had hoped to hear.

I did discover a couple of newer songs that I enjoyed, so the playlist did not completely fail to provide enjoyable music for me. Although, in my opinion, the playlist itself ultimately did not stand the test of time. Finding this article provided an interesting view of someone’s music preferences nearly fifteen years ago. Taste in music ultimately comes down to the individual, and this playlist showed that.