If you had to choose a single song to represent each decade, what song would it be?

io organic industrialism on 23/5/2016 at 22:16

Not really a fair question, I know, because there are so many different genres of music. But that's what makes it interesting and challenging I think.

I'll get it started...

70's = Stevie Wonder - Superstition. This is the song that made me think of this question. I heard it come on when I was at work, and I thought... What a great song that exemplifies so much of what makes 70's music good.

80's = Bon Jovi - Livin on a Prayer. This was a bit tougher, this is the first decade I was alive so it seems like I have an obligation to make a "great choice". I'm only somewhat a Bon Jovi fan, (I almost chose Toto - Africa), but this song just seems to ooze so much 80's-ness.

90's = Counting Crows - Mr Jones. Another hard one, I think many songs by Dave Matthews or Alanis Morissette would have worked here too, but "Mr Jones" just has such an emotional response I figured it couldn't go wrong. :)

As for 60's and before, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to make very good choices because I'm not very familiar with music from those eras. And 2000's and beyond, my music preferences have been too far off mainstream to be able to make good choices that would resonate with many people. (Eminem was the best selling act of the 2000's? I didn't even know that until a few months ago)

So... What are your choices?

:joke: (I've always loved the jester smiley)

faetal on 24/5/2016 at 00:45

David Bowie

demagogue on 24/5/2016 at 03:37

Ok.
1890s. Hello My Baby
1900s. Take me Out to the Ballgame
1910s. Swanee
1920s. Puttin on the Ritz
1930s. In the Mood
1940s. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
1950s. Johnny B. Goode
1960s. Purple Haze
1970s. YMCA
1980s. Take on Me
1990s. Smells Like Teen Spirit
2000s. Umbrella or Pokerface or whatever, I don't care
2010s. Firework

io organic industrialism on 24/5/2016 at 06:43

Quote Posted by demagogue

Dang! Going all the way back to the 1890's! What! I don't think I could name ANY songs before the 40's except maybe "Hep to the Jive" and "Somewhere over the Rainbow", and maybe some Shirley Temple stuff.

Great choices for the 50's, 70's, 80's, and 90's! Truly excellent!

Like I said I don't even know those songs from the 00's and 10's. But I'll try to check them all out at some point :)

Oh! I think I -can- decide a song for the 2010's.... Maroon 5 - "Payphone". Heard this a couple years ago and it is SO catchy.

io organic industrialism on 24/5/2016 at 07:06

Swanee... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB5_FScm41Q) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB5_FScm41Q
Not bad, I can't believe I'm listening to something that was recorded almost 100 years ago!

In the mood... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAQgXPTekOU) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAQgXPTekOU
Ah yes, I've heard this before. Must have been some rocking stuff back then!

Johnny B Goode.... Classic made well known to our generation from Back to the Future :-D If I had to pick something from the 50's I'd probably go with some Doo-Wop like "In the Still of the Night" or even "Lollipop" (haha, cheesy I know)

As for the newer stuff, I listened to "Firework" and indeed I have heard this while shopping and whatnot. Kinda generic but not a bad song. I don't think I had ever heard "Umbrella", and I thought "Pokerface" was pretty crap, but whatever. :)

icemann on 24/5/2016 at 07:36

90s - Nirvana - Teen Spirit

And as I typed that, I scroll up and it's been said already. Well it's my pick too :p. That said the 90s really went in 3 phases. The early 90s which had alot of techno + rap, then the middle where it went heavy metal and alternative (Metallica, Smashing Pumpkins, Faith No More etc), and then very hip hop / R'n'b centered (2Pac, Notorious, R Kelly, Jagged Edge etc).

henke on 24/5/2016 at 09:54

I like this idea, but I'd have a hard time making informed picks for most decades. Instead I'll pick a song for each year in the 2000s, since everyone else seems to be struggling with that decade.

2000 Outkast - B.O.B.
2001 Daft Punk - One More Time
2002 Nelly - Hot In Herre
2003 The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
2004 Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
2005 Eminem - Lose Yourself
2006 Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
2007 Rihanna ft. Jay-Z - Umbrella
2008 M.I.A. - Paper Planes
2009 Donkeyboy - Ambitions

(https://open.spotify.com/user/leemajorz/playlist/0JBKkCBTWfqfckP5i6bOnL) PLAYLIST!

And for the 2010's because why not:
2010 Kanye West ft. Pusha T - Runaway
2011 Adele - Rolling In The Deep
2012 Death Grips - I've Seen Footage
2013 Chvrches - The Mother We Share
2014 Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Stranger To My Happiness
2015 Shamir - On The Regular
2016 Kanye West - Ultralight Beam

KANYE AGAIN? WHAT AN UPSET

I tried striking a balance between mainstream popularity and personal preference but honestly I haven't really listened to the radio for the past few years so it ended up being more and more personal faves.

heywood on 24/5/2016 at 21:50

1960s is easy - I Want To Hold Your Hand. It's tempting to go for psychedelic rock, but Beetlemania was just HUGE and this is how it started.

1970s is really hard. I feel like I can't sum up 1970s music without including at least disco, prog rock, funk/soul, hard rock, and punk. I would also have a hard time not including something representing all those light sunny pop acts with hit after hit like ABBA, Air Supply, Little River Band, Carpenters, John Denver. I also don't see how I could leave out Pink Floyd. Dark Side of the Moon was in the charts for the entire first half of my life and remained the all time best selling album for ages, I think until Michael Jackson died. Here was my 1970s short list:

Stayin' Alive
Supper's Ready
Superstition (OK choice but probably not the biggest funk/soul hit)
Stairway to Heaven
Anarchy in the UK
Dancing Queen or All Out of Love?
Time

If I had to pick just one from the 1970s it would be Stairway to Heaven, but it's a really hard call.

For the 1980s, I also had a hard time narrowing down. First thoughts were:

Billie Jean
When Doves Cry
Hungry Like a Wolf
Like a Virgin
Here I Go Again (Whitesnake)

But I feel like I'm short changing metal. The one that had the biggest impact on me was Metallica One. But arguably something by GNR/Poison/Motley Crue would be better representative, like Welcome to the Jungle or Doctor Feelgood. I also can't leave out all that girly pop that dominated the Billboard, like Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, Whitney Houston. Doctor Feelgood might be my choice since it represents the peak of the hair bands but also the cocaine fueled celebrity culture of the 80s. But ultimately, you have to give the nod to something from Michael Jackson's Thriller, so I'm going with Billie Jean since that was the start of everyone trying to dress and dance like him (remember the moon walk!).

For the 1990s, the choice is easy, Smells Like Teen Spirit. I might have picked REM since they had a pretty huge impact, but there wasn't any one song that really stood out to define them. Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You is also hard to argue against based on airplay and sales, but I can't get behind it. I think you have to pick something from the grunge movement since the rest of the 1990s was pretty fragmented. If we were just talking about the latter half of the decade, I might nominate something from Phish, but like REM there is no one song that defines them.

2000s - Something hip hop, but I'll be damned if I can pick one.

ffox on 25/5/2016 at 15:35

I don't think you can represent either the 40s or the 50s with a single song because both decades split into two distinct halves.

Early 40s was wartime, with swing (in The Mood, Take the A Train) or sentimental songs inspired by the war (White Cliffs of Dover, Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree).

Later 40s was mainly crooning and ballads (Accentuate the Positive, I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry).

Early 50s was a load of sentimental slush (Secret Love, Answer Me). Then Bill Haley put the boot in with Rock Around The Clock; the coupe de grace was administered by Elvis with Hound Dog and All Shook Up.

io organic industrialism on 25/5/2016 at 21:07

Quote Posted by ffox

Rock Around The Clock

As I'm reading this, Rock Around the Clock was already stuck in my head!

You gotta watch this:
[video=youtube;6YVuRWjQeSw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YVuRWjQeSw[/video]

Ibarra starts "Rock Around the Clock" at around 6:30 into the video.

The best part I think is that you don't really know what song is coming until he does the "1 2 3 o'clock 4 o'clock rock"... I mean you hear the bassline and you know it's a 50's rock thing but there's lots of songs with that chord progression.

Anyway yeah... Gives me chills :D