Growing up, my parents owned the car radio. To be fair, they let us choose our favorite station quite a bit but they had first dibs. The go-to FM stations of my mom and dad are eternally cemented in my brain. They were Classic Rock 98.9 and Oldies 101.1.

The former station’s format was primarily guitar-based music from the 1970s. The latter station featured popular tracks from the 1960s. I liked some of the songs but for the most part they didn’t resonate with me. They sounded boring, out of touch, and cheesy. Most of all, they sounded old.

My parents used to listen to Oldies….but I think I listen to Oldies now.

At least that was my opinion from the ages of 8-14. I think as I got a little older I started to appreciate music from different eras a little bit more. But from my pre-teen to early-teen years, I didn’t want anything to do with that “ancient” music. Why did my parents want to listen to old songs? Why didn’t they want to embrace the latest and greatest Top 40 music?

It is so funny how once you become an adult you start to change your tune (no pun intended). I now listen to the modern day equivalent of the classic rock and oldies stations my parents listened to in the late 1990s.

A couple years ago, I wrote about a handful of my favorite SiriusXM Radio stations. Well, over the past many months, I have found myself listening to a few others that are on the more “retro” side. They include…

‘90s on 9 – Some of the first ever sounds that I consciously remember my young ears listening to as they were released as brand new tracks.

POP2K – Although I label the 2000s, especially the earlier part of the decade, as a less-than-stellar era of Top 40 music, I find myself going back to this station more for the memories the songs inspire as opposed to their actual quality.

PopRocks – The spot-on equivalent to when my dad listened to 1970s hits on Classic Rock 98.9 when I was young. This station is ripe with rock and punk hits from the 1990s and 2000s and is an oasis of Weezer, Goo Goo Dolls, The Killers, etc.

Y2Kountry – My guilty pleasure! Whereas I found a lot of the 2000s Top 40 music to be a little irritating, I like a lot of the country hits from 2005-2010, even if the quality probably matches that of its mainstream counterpart.

Although Sloan isn’t quite at the age where she can offer a musical critique of my “oldies” stations I am sure it will be coming in just a few short years. Will these stations sound as outdated to her as my parents’ stations? Although I can’t answer that question with 100% certainty at this time, there is something I can say with the utmost confidence: I am getting old. Don’t Blink.