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Songs of the decades
There are some song for me when I hear them represent the spirit of the decade for whatever reason, either specific memories from that decade, or in the case of the 60s and 50s a kind of reminiscent feel, even though I wasn’t around then or was too young to really develop a reference, but it exists. Feel free to add your different stand out songs for the different decades.
The 50s:
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21 Replies
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The 60s:
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The 70s:
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The 80s:
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This is kinda funny these days? We thought this was one of the koolest things ever. It was the eighties. We were young, and a bit uninformed. Music videos were rare, and along comes a TV station that shows them all the time. We were psyched. Nowadays they look kind of korny?
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JP, I know what you mean! Back then the 80s pop culture and style seemed so kool, but looking back now some things look very dated and corny for sure. I remember those mid 80s movies like The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, St Elmo’s Fire were pretty kool, but now? The clothes, hair styles all look so 80ish!
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Ah, Molly Ringwald: the angst-ridden Kristy McNichol of the 80’s.
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We’re the same age, JP, but I was actually very anti-MTV. It seemed to me that a lot of songs were becoming hits because of the visuals more than the sound, and I was worried that music was on the path to becoming unlistenable. (Which eventually happened anyway…)
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The 90s:
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The 2000s and beyond lost me!
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Until I discovered MLT in 2017!
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Some great choices there, Jung! It’s a weird coincidence, but Rock’n Me is usually the first song I think of when the topic of 70’s music comes up. It’s not my favorite, but it really puts me back in the 70’s like no other song. Although I didn’t deliberately listen to contemporary music back then, that one was inescapable.
Once in my vocal music class we were given lyrics sheets for a song I was unfamiliar with called It Never Rains in Southern California. I read over it and saw “it never rains in California, but girl, don’t they warn ya”, and in my head I instantly sang it to the tune of “northern California, where the girls are warm”.
Anyway, to expand the inventory a bit, here’s my choice for the definitive song of the 1940’s, even though technically it came out in late 1939. It’s still a crowd pleaser as performed by high school jazz bands everywhere:
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Nice one David, I think that would be my choice too for that decade, one of the few tunes from that time I know well! I can see it with it’s lively feel being a precursor to the pop/rock music that would follow in the decades to come.
That part “northern California where the girls are warm” reminded me of Beach Boys California Girls, but it goes “and the northern girls with the way they kiss, they keep their boy friends warm at night”. They kind of have a similar vibe!
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I had that same insight about California Girls when I first heard it, Jung. And as far as In the Mood as a precursor to rock and roll, have you ever heard this?
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David, no I haven’t heard this one before, it’s quite brilliant blending the music of Glenn Miller from the 40s so smoothly through to Little Richard and Elvis, the Kings of rock and roll. Illustrates that musical progression perfectly. I think it would be possible with the right choice of songs to continue that blending progression into the 60s too.
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You must be psychic, Jung. David Bennett just posted a video titled “My favourite song of each decade”.
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David, what a delightful coincidence. We must have been on the same wavelength. His runner up to his favourite 60s song is Beatles Hey Bull Dog. I’m liking David Bennett more. Did you know his last name is actually piano. His name is David Bennett Piano.
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He said that in response to a viewer question about the name of his YouTube channel, but I think he was just joking. On his web site his name is given as David Bennett.
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I think you are right David. On second thought anyone having a sir name of Piano sounds far fetched, but David looked so serious when he said his sir name was Piano in response to that question. LOL, 🙂
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Well, David B. ALWAYS looks serious, so I think you have to take that into account. I can’t picture him so much as smirking.
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Well, this is an interesting thread Jung, it’s going to be eclectic and diverse as we all have different music tastes outside of MLT …lol
I don’t want to go on and on as I’d love to , and list every nook and cranny from each decade but I’ll give a few songs/ bands/singers from that era, from each decade for me at least how I feel for today, it can change…
From before 1950s – Chattanooga ( BoogieWoogie Shoe Shine Boy, Anything by Glenn Miller , other big band eras, etc! Carter Family, etc
1950s ~ Blue Suede Shoes Elvis, Rock Around The Clock Bill Haley & Comets, etc Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Patsy Cline, etc
1960s~ Beatles, Dusty Springfiels, Mamas and Papas, All Motown, Cilla Black, The Seekers, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, etc
1970s ~ The Raes- Que Serra Serra cover, All BeeGees, Hot Chocolate, Sister Sledge, John Denver, Elton John, Pure Prairie League, Fleetwood Mac, Kansas, Boston, Styx, Traffic, CSN, etc, Guess Who, Air Supply, Susan & Terry Jacks , Carpenters, etc
1980s~ Glass Tiger, Duran Duran, Greatest American Hero TV show theme, Anne Murray, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Van Halen, Corey Hart, Heart, etc
1990s~ Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, LeAnn Rimes, Alan Jackson, Debbie Gibson, etc
2000-now ~ MonaLisaTwins, Amy Winehouse, Le Meow, Jason Miraz, The Fugees with Lauryn Hill, and etc…
In a nutshell really, I prefer stuff from before 2000 more so, and of course what I was exposed to growing up at home, predominantly country, rock n roll, bluegrass, motown, southern rock, gospel… BUT MLT happy discovery I made 14 yrs ago, made me have confidence that some younger folks can/do appreciate the older stuff…!!!! ????
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Jacki, thanks for that! You certainly have had some impressive exposure to a lot of artists, especially the pre 60s and 80s and beyond as well. I never knew about Jason Mraz, but after seeing MLTs wonderful raw and expressive cover of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” they did when they were 14 or so, I explored a bunch of his stuff, and it’s really good.
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Wow Jacki, so cool thanks for the break down, brought back great memories. One song from the 60’s to me that stands out is If I Can Dream 1968 Elvis, a song that came out after the passings of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. The 70’s brought American Pie, and the 80’s brought Michael Jackson and Madona etc….kind of got lost a bit after that. But 2017 opened my eyes with the Mona Lisa Twins thank god.
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