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Original poster

Care home music

66 replies

Whoopitywhoops · 18/12/2023 16:14

I passed a care home today and it must have been a Christmas party or something as the music was loud. It was the usual Vera Lynn style war music. It got me thinking. Will care homes ever move on from this style of music? The vast majority of residents even now won't remember songs like 'we'll meet again' as they came out over 80 years ago and although some will be in their 80s and 90s they'll only have been very young at this time. I can't see care homes playing Taylor Swift etc in 80 years but if I ever end up in a care home I'd be sick of my life if I had to sit and listen to Vera Lynn and co. Will it ever move on?

OP posts:
qpdlurgak · 18/12/2023 16:21

Omg it's going to be Adele isn't it. Shoot me now.

Original poster
Whoopitywhoops · 18/12/2023 16:21

qpdlurgak · 18/12/2023 16:21

Omg it's going to be Adele isn't it. Shoot me now.

🤣

OP posts:
Gettingbysomehow · 18/12/2023 16:23

Or Mariah Carey in which case I'll be heading off to Switzerland.

Original poster
Whoopitywhoops · 18/12/2023 16:24

Gettingbysomehow · 18/12/2023 16:23

Or Mariah Carey in which case I'll be heading off to Switzerland.

Can I come in your suitcase?

OP posts:
BrendaMcPherson · 18/12/2023 16:24

My MIL is 96 and in a Care Home. When I visit her, there's usually music playing in one of the lounges and it's certainly a lot more modern than Vera Lynn. Yesterday, it was Dolly Parton!

BarryK3nt · 18/12/2023 16:24

I work in one and we play stuff like Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, 80s and 90s classics, modern pop songs, R&B etc. The residents love it, I think most care homes are similar now.

NooNakedJacuzziness · 18/12/2023 16:25

Hoping for 80s music in my care home

PelvicFloorClenchReminder · 18/12/2023 16:25

If there's no Green Day when it's my turn then I'm not going.

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 18/12/2023 16:26

NooNakedJacuzziness · 18/12/2023 16:25

Hoping for 80s music in my care home

You beat me to it 😁

BMW6 · 18/12/2023 16:27

It's going to be Fairytale of New York non stop when I end up in one. Lots of Punk.

Original poster
Whoopitywhoops · 18/12/2023 16:29

Good to hear it's not all 1930s stuff!

OP posts:
powershowerforanhour · 18/12/2023 16:29

I love that, in the "Similar threads" bit when I scroll down, the MN algorithm has suggested
"Songs for care homes" and
"House/techno/Ibiza classics"

Original poster
Whoopitywhoops · 18/12/2023 16:30

powershowerforanhour · 18/12/2023 16:29

I love that, in the "Similar threads" bit when I scroll down, the MN algorithm has suggested
"Songs for care homes" and
"House/techno/Ibiza classics"

😅

OP posts:
squashyhat · 18/12/2023 16:33

Merry Xmas Everybody is 50 years old and the care home residents where my choir gave a performance this afternoon knew all the words. At least some people enjoyed it even if the rest of us were singing through gritted teeth.

Fieldofbrokenpromises · 18/12/2023 16:33

This is something I was thinking about as my Dad's in one. They were playing wartime stuff one time when I went before. There again, growing up as a child of the 60s I heard a lot of this stuff - it's not as if we forgot all about the war, what with programmes on TV like Dad's Army and Ello Ello as well as countless documentaries and annual remembrance coverage, so a lot of that music will have been familiar to the them, even if they were just kids during the war.

TiredOfYourNonsense · 18/12/2023 16:33

I'm mid-60s, so might well end up in a care home in 10 years or so - I very much doubt the music I like will be playing - Linkin Park, Papa Roach, Arctic Monkeys, The Pigeon Detectives and The Black Keys, to name a few.

theresnolimits · 18/12/2023 16:34

It's so funny when people make assumptions about oldies. My dad (early 90s) loved Bruno Mars and a bit of Uptown Funk. My dearly departed aunt (88) had Rod Stewart played at her funeral.

My working class family loathe the Royal Family with a passion (socialists and keen union card carriers) and my DP in a care home got really fed up with the Jubilee, Queen's Funeral, Coronation stuff. Has no time for it all but everyone assumes oldies must be fervent royalists.

Nanny0gg · 18/12/2023 16:36

There is a radio station for us Oldies called Boom Radio (loathe the name, love the station)

It plays music mainly from the 60s and 70s which is my era (I grew up with the 50s & 60s and my teenage and early adult years were the 70s) and they don't just play chart stuff so it's everything I grew up with. There is another station, Boom Light, which is more 50s)
But both will also play from the 80s/90s too and some new stuff from musicians we used to love (new Stones album for a start)
And the presenters are from those times too so as far as I'm concerned they're reliving my heydays!

So I hope to god if I end up in a home they've got that on DAB because there's no excuse now not to play music that would be relevant to the residents. Might get them up dancing too...😂

Vera Lynn etc were my parent's generation and if they were still alive they'd be 100+!!

alongtimeagoandfaraway · 18/12/2023 16:38

My mother in law’s otherwise wonderful care home had Daniel O’Donnell playing on loop. It would have driven me demented.

NashvilleQueen · 18/12/2023 16:39

Definitely spotting a niche here

nutsnutspistachionuts · 18/12/2023 16:39

It's nuts isn't it. It should all be Beatles and Stones by now, surely?

Although my mum was looking into retirement properties recently and she said all the McCarthy & Stone type places that were built 10+ years ago are pure nana chintz, but the newer ones are like Oliver Bonas! So it is catching up.

I could go on a big socialist rant about how this country has a big problem with false nostalgia industry! See all those Facebook groups where people born in 1972 are giving it Billy Big Balls like they were in the Battle of Britain.

Peasand · 18/12/2023 16:39

I’m hoping for the sex pistols and led zeppelin when I need a care home

Fieldofbrokenpromises · 18/12/2023 16:40

Unless they play The Fall all the time I am not going to mine. Not likely to be an issue as I am not expecting to make it to an advanced age, much like Mark E Smith.

NecklessMumster · 18/12/2023 16:41

I was talking about this with colleagues when we had some 'reminiscing' training for older people, some of the material was still ww2 songs, someone said 'if I had dementia and they played me this Id be thinking'bloody hell I don't remember this I must be worse than I thought'

qpdlurgak · 18/12/2023 16:41

I've often wondered this with decor too. I wonder when my time comes if there will be feature walls, scandi furniture and "live, laugh, love" quotes on the walls....