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I will continue my thread based on music topic. Alright so what songs surprised you when learned of their release date, in that they sounded like they were from a different era?
The one song that always seemed out of place in terms of the year they were released, and you always seemed to think it was suited to be released at another time period?
Again some songs were truly ground breaking, but in hindsight and retrospect they sound very much part of their respective era. So those songs don't count. I think the vast majority of The Beatles Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's were ground breaking and was the Beach Boys Good Vibrations, but seem very much of the 60's.
Maybe I am wrong, hence you can give your perspectives and ideas.
To me some songs are not really ground breaking in terms of technology or production, but looking back seem to sound ahead of their time.
"What I am" by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians was released in 1988, but sounds like a song from the 1994-1997 time period. It sounds NOTHING like a typical late 80's song at all. Jane's Addiction's single "Jane Says" is another example, so is "Head Like A Hole" by Nine Inch Nails. Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" does not sound 1988 at all.
Isaac Hayes' song sounds like a mid to late 70's disco era song, even though I read it was from 1971, being the sound track of the self titled movie.
Those are the ones that come to mind now, and again it does not have to be a song you like, try not to be biased. Many songs are awesome, but sound like their "time", nothing wrong with that.
Mission of Burma (pre-hiatus) is a band that comes to mind. One could argue that they not only did not fit their time, but they also did not fit their place. MOB often sounded like an early 1990s alternative band, except for the fact they were doing their thing in the 1979-1983 time period. (MOB also preceded by a few years relatively similar-sounding bands like Husker Du, Sonic Youth, and Dinosaur Jr., who were popular in the mid-to-late 1980s and much bigger bands in the underground than MOB was.) Additionally, MOB had many stylistic similarities to similar/same era bands like Gang of Four, early Siouxie and the Banshees, and even Joy Division (even down to the name of the band in the case of Gang of Four and Joy Division), but unlike those other bands they were American and not British. To be fair, Pere Ubu, a band from Cleveland whose first recordings were released in the late 1970s, had a number of similarities with Mission of Burma (or vice-versa, if you want to state that comparison more accurately), though they didn't rock nearly as hard as Mission of Burma (who added strong elements of the Stooges and Led Zeppelin to their arty post-punk mix). Pere Ubu themselves could be considered a band that didn't fit their time or place sound-wise. (They sounded post-punk almost before punk.)
A couple other bands that come to mind as not fitting their time include Neu! and the Modern Lovers. Neu! was active in the early-to-mid 1970s and is classified as a Krautrock band, but they sounded like a late 1970s/early 1980s new wave band that dabbled in both experimental rock and disco-oriented rock. The Modern Lovers were the godfathers of geek rock, way, way ahead of that genre's growth in the mid-1990s. With their classic first album by the original group (which included future members of the Talking Heads and the Cars) that was released in 1976 but recorded in part as early as 1972, they were even a few years ahead of the first wave of punk-inspired new wave bands.
Another musician who comes to mind is Link Wray. The Linkster, who primarily released guitar-driven instrumentals, was contemporary (late 1950s and early 1960s) with instrumental bands like the Ventures or the Shadows, but unlike those bands didn't release smooth-sounding guitar-rock songs but rather raunchy-sounding, slightly countryish guitar-rock songs. Wray sounded like he was around at birth of heavy metal in the late 1960s, but his biggest, most influential songs were released 5-10 prior to that.
When talking about individual songs, Television's "Marquee Moon" comes to mind. Television was one of the first true punk-inspired new wave bands (albeit a band that was more guitar-oriented than "true" new wave bands) but "Marquee Moon" is nearly 11 minutes long and sounds like it took a page from Neil Young's or even the Allman Brothers' "lengthy song with an extended instrumental break and dueling guitars" songbook.
BTW, considering musicians like Robyn Hitchcock were around in the late 1980s and fairly popular in indie rock, I would argue that Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians DID fit in their period. What was a little more surprising is that they had a hit in the late 1980s with that sound. (On the other hand, considering that "What I Am" was their only major hit, it supports the argument that weren't really a breakout band popularity-wise within their era and genre of quirky pop rock but rather a more representative band of their era and genre.)
P.S. From the music video category, Bob Dylan's video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (which Dylan's classic flipping through the song's lyrics using flashcards) and various videos put together by the Beatles in the mid-1960s were way, way ahead of the MTV era.
Somehow I forgot to mention the Minutemen. Their music, while generally accepted as mid-1980s post-punk and alternative rock (and inspired by Creedence Clearwater Revival more than any other single band), didn't really fit its era...or any other era for that matter.
If you don't know it and just listened to it the first time, you'd think it's one of the songs that came out in the late 90s or early 2000s, just because of the sound and beat.
It's too ahead of its time it had a word in the lyrics that is not even yet defined up to now.
I was surprised to recently learn that the Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket" was from 1980. I always guessed it was around 1992-93, and probably first heard it around then.
I was surprised to recently learn that the Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket" was from 1980. I always guessed it was around 1992-93, and probably first heard it around then.
You’ll be even more surprised ...”Brass in Pocket” is actually a 1970s song....that’s right..
it was released in november 1979 in the UK...it rose to number 1 on the British charts..
become the first UK number 1 of the 1980s ...a good song that did sound a bit ahead of it’s time.
That same year...1979....Gary Numan came out of nowhere with a fresh look and sound...
he looked like he was from another planet and his music was way out too....
foreshadowing synth dominated pop of the 1980s with two giant songs in 1979...
“Are Friends Electric?” and “Cars” ....those two I could listen to all day.
Also in 1979...Roxy Music scored a big hit that spring with “Dance Away” ....sounding 80s
a year before the decade started. Sounding not too much different than lead singer Bryan Ferry’s
1985 hit “Slave to Love”....Bryan Ferry a former teacher (like Sting) born in 1945.
Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” was probably 1979’s biggest hit (perhaps tied with The Knack’s “My Sharona”),
it sounded like nothing else that spring...combo of new wave and euro disco...it was actually
a 1978 song off their album “Parallel Lines” released six months later as a single.
Lead singer Deborah Harry became a style icon during their brief (2 year) hit making years,
and she looked young and ahead of the style curve but was in fact already in her mid 30s (born 1945),
ex-playboy bunny, go-go dancer in the 60s, ex-heroin junkie too, she turns 74 this june!
There are lots of underground songs like that. But Edie Brickell and Tracy Chapman had HITS.
Let's try to focus on hit songs that everyone and their grandmother has heard. I assume that's the original question, right? It's an interesting topic, regardless.
There are lots of underground songs like that. But Edie Brickell and Tracy Chapman had HITS.
Let's try to focus on hit songs that everyone and their grandmother has heard. I assume that's the original question, right? It's an interesting topic, regardless.
Who are you refering to?
I personally never liked that Tracy Chapman song ...I think it is a simple 4 chord song
that does nothing for me. Brickell song is just ok, quirky.
You want huge hits....
The Rolling Stones “Satisfaction” from 1965 ...game changing monster number 1.
Keith Richard used a fuzz box for the main riff and the rest is history,
after that every electric guitar player was scrambling to get one.
A timeless song that still sounds fresh, over 50 years later.
Last edited by BMI; 02-24-2019 at 06:20 AM..
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