A few songs that I found big influences...not lookin' up the years but....Get up Stand up...Bob Marley and the Wailers.....Trouble Man....Marvin Gaye.....Shaft...Isaac Hayes....The Weight...the Band...Driven to Tears...the Police....Stop making Sense...Talking Heads....Natural Woman...Aretha...this would be a book if I kept going
I used to love the local libraries collection of top 40 cds from the 1940s through the 90s....last time I went in they had gotten rid of the whole collection
Bohemian Rhapsody...Queen 1999 Prince I can hear it in the air tonight Phil Collins September Earth Wind and Fire What is hip Tower of Power Blue Joni Mitchell Madman across the water Elton John Start me up ..Rolling Stones Rapture Anita Baker Would I lie to you....Eurythmics Sweetest Taboo....Sade 50 ways to lose your lover....Paul Simon Don't dream it's over...Crowded House Middle of the road....Pretenders Imagine...John Lennon
The Beatles released Let it Be in 1970 also: that those two groups couldn't get one song in the 70's on the list is a failure.
IMO, the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s were all very good and distinctive eras of music. The 1990s, despite that being part of "my era" of music lacked that distinctiveness to me--grunge and the last of New Jack Swing (carrying over from the 1980s) were the main signifiers of the decade before it collapsed into the "alternative" scene, which had some good points (like the Smashing Pumpkins) but often blended into each other in a pretty bland soup. At least, from a rock/pop perspective. Hip-hop obviously took off in the 1990s and it was arguably the golden age for the genre. The 2000s weren't great from a mainstream perspective but was one of the best eras for indie rock and pop and pretty good for conscious rap (Common, Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, etc). The 2010s have been pretty decent--at least, if you like dance tracks. EDM has basically crossed over and merged with everything else, from hip-hop and soul to rock and pop. Some of the best stuff, though, has been throw-back music to the 1970s and 1980s, like from Pharrell, Daft Punk and more recent Bruno Mars (basically his stuff since Uptown Funk).
War was a great band....Slippin' into Darkness, The world is a ghetto and Spill the Wine. Cisco Kid David Crosby once said we look at musical decades wrong....we should start musical decades from the 5.....1955-65, 1965-75, 1975-85. 1985-1995...etc....I tend to agree
It was a fun video. Of course, there are many bands we all could say belongs on this list. I would create a list which would include The Stones, Beatles, Who, Doobies, Los Lobos and Little Feat and so forth.......
Reelin' in the Years...Steely Dan Listen to the Music ...Doobie Bros Time Loves a Hero...Little Feat Such a Night...Dr John The piano has been drinking, not me...Tom Waits Any damned song by John Prine.... Blood on the Tracks ...Bob Dylan Mama don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys...Willie Rainy Night in Georgia...Brook Benton
This video seemed to be aiming at keeping a similar tone from song to song for ease of letting them transition into one another but if you were going with the most important or representative song of each year, it would be very different. Like 1991 should certainly be Smells Like Teen Spirit.
May I offer my reflections.... Bands with a wide collection of 30 plus great songs (*) Kid Charlemane and Reelin' in the Years...Steely Dan Neils Fandango and Listen to the Music ...Doobie Bros (*) All that you dream and Time Loves a Hero...Little Feat (*) Food for Thot and Such a Night...Dr John The piano has been drinking, not me...Tom Waits Any damned song by John Prine.... (*) Serve Somebody and Blood on the Tracks ...Bob Dylan (*) Mama don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys...Willie Rainy Night in Georgia...Brook Benton 1971, now that was a summer!
Other interesting Stones songs or covers are Rock this Joint, Poor Boy, Factory Girl, Stupid Girl and ROCKS OFF. Stones and Beatles are LEGEND.
Now you're talkin'.... I've always loved this song. The lyrics crack me up. Heh, call me a Dixie chicken. In my case.....it stuck...and stuck well.
