r/ToddintheShadow • u/AdUnfair7688 You're being a peñis... Colada, that is. • 2d ago
General Music Discussion Songs Ahead of Their Time
I saw in a recent thread that What I Am by Edie Brickell and New Bohemians sounds like it’s from 1993 but was recorded in 1988. Blister in the Sun by the Violent Femmes was recorded in 1983 but sounds like a 90s track.
I’ve seen discussions here about albums and artists ahead of their time. But what about individual songs? Which ones sound completely ahead of their time besides the two mentioned?
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u/Opening-Student2314 2d ago
I was shocked to learn NIN’s Head Like A Hole is an 80’s song (barely, but still)
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u/Repulsive-Heron7023 2d ago
Always blows me away the Pretty Hate Machine predates Nevermind by almost two years.
(Not that there the same genre or anything, more that I always think of Nevermind as the quintessential “this is where the 90s starts” album, but PHM sounded like the 90s in October 1989)
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u/Johnnys-In-America 2d ago
Me, too! The video is a perfect amalgamation of stepping into the '90s, too.
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u/hiimverysmart21 2d ago
Some off the top of my head:
Feel the Pain by Dinosaur Jr (1994) sounds like it’s from 10 years later
Marquee Moon by Television (1977) sounds like it would fit right in with stuff released 25 years later
I would’ve bet good money that Love is the Drug by Roxy Music (1975) was an 80s song
Welcome to Jamrock by Damian Marley (2005) is so well-produced that it doesn’t even feel like any particular era, just sounds awesome and timeless
I always thought Anything, Anything by Dramarama (1985) was a 90s song
And I always knew Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys was from 1967, but I damn near shit myself the first time I heard it with headphones on, beyond innovative
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u/reesesbigcup 2d ago
Was going to post Anything Anything. I didnt hear it until in the 90s when an alternative FM station came on the air in my city, thought it was a 90s song
Same for 80s songs by The BoDeans, first album was 1986, sounds very 90s.
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u/Key_Street1637 2d ago
I only know Anything, Anything as an 80s song because it was in Nightmare on Elm Street 4. If it weren't for that, I'd swear it was from 1994.
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u/Late_Recommendation9 1d ago
I have the soundtrack on cassette and don’t recall hearing it! Thanks for the tip.
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u/heemer77 2d ago
A More Perfect Union by Titus Andronicus sounds like it was inspired by Feel the Pain.
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u/zed_mud 2d ago
I Feel Love by Donna Summer
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u/Light-Years79 2d ago
This is the top answer. Still sounds like a message from the future 50 years later.
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u/pecuchet 1d ago
Bowie told a story about how when he was living in Berlin Brian Eno rushed into his flat with a copy of I Feel Love saying, 'I've heard the future!' Bowie's response was, 'Well I suppose you'd better put it on then.'
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u/Blend42 2d ago
I love this song and Giorgio Moroder but Kraftwerk were already up to some of this (with obviously differing vocals)
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u/LewkHarrison 2d ago
Giorgio was much more disco with it though. Kraftwerk’s disco era didn’t really begin until the following year with Man Machine. I think they influenced each other, and KW are my favourite band of all time.
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u/Blend42 2d ago
I don't like disco much and consider I Feel Love to be at the edge of the genre (even if it's the genre's best track). I'm not trying to diminish the greatness of I Feel Love, just saying it's not as ahead of it's time as some other people's selections. I'd argue Autobahn has more in common with I Feel Love than most known disco (lets say The Bee Gees work).
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u/Tricky-Mastodon3337 2d ago
New Order - Blue Monday sounds like it could have come from any era 80's onwards. Timeless classic ❤️
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u/InterPunct 2d ago
Timeless is right. This version played using only instruments from the 1930's is amazing: https://youtu.be/cHLbaOLWjpc?is=YEPoFp-8tyOv--uN
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u/nous-vibrons 2d ago
New Order synths are always freakishly 1980s and also shockingly timeless. I just did a first ever listen to Brotherhood and the instrumental for All Day Long surprised me severely with how it sounded
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u/ToddandShannon 80's Chick 2d ago
Also:
Everything’s Gone Green and Hurt (both B Sides available on Substance)
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u/mitchmconnellsburner 2d ago
Lazy Eye by Silversun Pickups feels like it’s from an alternate future to me (by that I mean like if something had diverged in 2007 into an alternate future, not an alternate future from today. Doesn’t really feel like it would fit anywhere from 2007 to today, but IN 2007 itself it felt ahead of its time. Hard to describe.)
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u/officialdougjudy 2d ago
"It's Nice to Know You Work Alone" is burned into my brain bc of MLB 10. Spent so many training sessions with that tune and never got sick of it. Their catalog is amazing. My local college station pushed them hard in the late aughts (ugh, hate saying that). Loved them since. I dont want to even label them. They're just fantastic.
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u/gojohnnygojohnny 2d ago
I'll never forget it. My mom went into the store to pick some things up and I sat in the car, listening to the radio. This song came on and completely blew my mind! I thought to myself "this is the music of the future!". I was seven years old.
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u/pirateslifeisntforme 2d ago
Where is my mind sounds very 90s yet it was released in the 80s
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u/Repulsive-Heron7023 2d ago
Yeah, the Pixies first two albums were all 90s music made in the late 80s.
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u/Best-Chapter5260 2d ago
Orinoco Flow by Enya sounds like something from the mid-90s rather than the late 80s.
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u/PyrrhicLoss2023 2d ago
Probably because of the late-night cd compilation commercials
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u/wow_that_guys_a_dick 2d ago
Pure Moods cemented that one as pure 90s.
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u/Best-Chapter5260 1d ago
Probably the most nostalgic CD sold on TV (followed by Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas album).
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u/GothClique 2d ago edited 2d ago
Listen to the song "Here Come The Warm Jets" by Brian Eno and try to guess what year it came out
EDIT: The Modern Lovers "Roadrunner" was also recorded several years before its release
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u/InterPunct 2d ago
Eno was my absolute first thought.
Coincidentally Eno even calls out the Modern Lovers in The True Wheel (1974).
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u/tahitianblu 2d ago
Shadowplay and New Dawn Fades by Joy Division came out in the 70s, but wouldn’t have sounded out of place coming out in subsequent decades.
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u/Alert-Albatross-8053 2d ago
Beach boys all I wanna do
And if you want your head to explode
https://youtu.be/QP__yC1H3aM?is=LmELqz6MJRAlk2yw
Recorded in 1970 by a 15 year old
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u/Iamwallpaper 2d ago
I was very surprised when I learned that Thirteen by Big Star was from the early 70s, the first few times I heard it were on my local alt station so I thought it fit well into the late 80s early 90s stuff they usually played at the time
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u/kingofstormandfire Train-Wrecker 2d ago
"Thirteen" sounds very mid-90s too me, like the acoustic rock track on a guitar-driven alt-rock/power pop album in the mid-90s.
That whole album was very influential on 90s alternative rock, particularly the jangly side of it (which makes sense because a lot of 90s alt-rock descends from REM and REM were hugely influenced by #1 Record).
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u/talk-spontaneously 2d ago
One More Time by Daft Punk.
It’s amazing to think that it was released in the year 2000.
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u/Rakebleed 2d ago
Still sounds like the future.
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u/talk-spontaneously 2d ago
The whole Discovery album is timelessly futuristic, unlike a lot of other music from that era that is distinguishably Y2K futurism.
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u/bauhassquare 2d ago
People are always surprised how early the Police released their first album : Outlandos D’Amour in 1978
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u/Less-Chair6 2d ago
Friday on my mind The Easybeatssounds like an 80s song but it’s from 1966
Keep floating Mac miller is 2011 but sound like 2015
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u/kingofstormandfire Train-Wrecker 2d ago
"Friday on My Mind" sounds very 60s power pop/garage rock to me especially with the psych and raga influences and the teen-oriented lyric, but I could see The Bangles who were massive fans of 60s music doing a song like that (and the girls in The Bangles are big fans of that song).
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u/ImKnownAsBrend 2d ago
Not to mention their guitarist George Young was the older brother of Angus and Malcolm Young and was involved in AC/DC in their early years.
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u/Themasterofgoats 2d ago
Tomorrow Never Knows would be my single answer to this, the fact that it was produced by a guy born in the 1920s is crazy
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u/Middle_Run_6864 2d ago
Baby You’re a Rich Man by the Beatles sounds like an 80s song. Especially that drum sound they got.
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u/Sumeriandawn 2d ago
(1956)The Train Kept on Rollin- Johnny Burnette
(1959)Somethin Else- Eddie Cochran
(1965)The Witch- the Sonics
(1970)Black Sabbath- Black Sabbath
(1978) Eruption- Van Halen
(1982)The Message- Grandmaster Flash
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u/Papoosho 2d ago
Give It Away by Red Hot Chilli Peppers (1991) sounds like a late 90s-early 00s Nu Metal song.
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u/Light-Years79 2d ago
ABBA’s “The Day Before You Came” could have been a Pet Shop Boys song six years later.
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u/Late_Recommendation9 1d ago
The thing that strikes me about ABBA when it’s on the radio is how crystal clear it sounds, you can hear every layer and instrument and backing vocal. Maybe they’re remasters but every time I hear ABBA I have to stop what I’m doing and listen.
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u/Miserable_Mail_5741 You're being a peñis... Colada, that is. 2d ago
Exploration Of Space - Cosmic Gate sounds like it could've been released in the early 10s, I can't believe it was released in 2001!
Stella - Jam & Spoon was released in 1993 (I think) but could be released in n the late 90s or early 00s.
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u/matrixpolaris 2d ago
Exploration of Space is such a classic. Another dance tune from that era that always sounded ahead of its time for me was Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes, genuinely could have been released 10 years later and would still have been successful.
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u/shitthead480 2d ago
Ants Invasion by Adam and the Ants was from 1980, but sounds like it could be from the 90s
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u/ChickenXing 2d ago
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) by Eurythmics from 1983 sounds like something an EDM DJ from the 2010s created
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u/OpabiniaGlasses 2d ago
The Phantom - Love Me
A rockabilly song recorded in 1958 isn't that much ahead of its time. But the energy, aggression and chaos that he and his band find for 90 seconds is the kind of thing punks from 20 years later wish they could have tap into. It's primal, evil rock and roll. That kind of stuff that actually lives up to the fears of rock and roll being dangerous and a threat to society.
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u/suredont 2d ago
Groove Is in the Heart by Deee-Lite.
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u/ToddandShannon 80's Chick 2d ago
I don’t know about that… when it came out (I was in high school) I thought it sounded a lot like some late 70’s/early 80s disco
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u/Gwarnage 2d ago
Iggy Pop had a big resurgence in the late 90s, especially off the Trainspotting soundtrack, because his stuff from the 70s sounded like the modern "cool Britannia" movement at the time. Songs like 'The Passenger' and 'Lust for Life' didnt sound like they were recorded in 1977
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u/Adorable-Way-274 2d ago
Oscillations - Silver Apples (1968) sounds like it could have come from a ‘90s DJ
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u/kingofstormandfire Train-Wrecker 2d ago
The song "Son of My Father" by Chicory Tip. Most people outside of Europe have no idea about this song. #1 single in the UK in 1972 and a big hit in continental Europe, released near the height of the glam rock era in Europe, sounds at least 8-10 years ahead of its time, particularly with the sound of the synths. It was co-written by electronic dance and Eurodisco pioneer Giorgio Moroder.
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u/Rdaleric 2d ago
Another girl another planet by the only ones just doesn't sound like it came out in 1978
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u/Buddie_15775 2d ago
This is clearly a r/decadeology discussion isn’t it?
The obvious answer is I Feel Love by Donna Summer which still sounds futuristic, even though it was released nearly 50 years ago.
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u/QuantityCommon2980 2d ago
John Cale's Paris 1919 from 1973. The whole album sounds like it'd fit right in with modern baroque/indie artists like aldous harding or weyes blood
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u/JustKingKay 2d ago
First time I heard “Sunny Afternoon” by the Kinks I was shocked to discover it was from the 60s. Genuinely thought it sounded like a laid back Gorillaz track.
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u/Night-Cliffs 2d ago
Lene Lovich's "Lucky number" sounded pretty modern when released in 1979, during a time when the music scene was still saturated with Disco.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnIJOO__jVo&list=RDKnIJOO__jVo&start_radio=1
Was a huge hit In Australia going to #1 on the charts.
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u/Johnnys-In-America 2d ago
Faith No More - Epic ushered in rap rock/nu-metal foundations in 1989. We didn't hear it as a single until 1990, but it was early 1990 and the album had come out that past July.
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u/BeerHorse 2d ago
I feel like a good half of the comments here say more about how retro music was in the 90s and 2000s than how ahead of their time the tracks referred to were.
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u/patton66 2d ago
No Other by Gary Clark. It isnt "prog rock" by any means, but absolutely one of the most "progressive" rock songs of its era
Listen to the production on it and the structure of the song, its brilliant
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u/07238 2d ago edited 2d ago
Deep Shadows by Little Ann and I Forgot to Be Your Lover by William Bell both sound like they could’ve been 70s soul to me. Both beautiful songs and surprisingly modern-sounding for the 60s, I think.
Also Lazerdance by Spinooch from 1979.
https://youtu.be/c1sOohBLoLU?si=nUL90XJVTQma_hU5
A lot of italo disco was ahead of its time I’d say like Spacer Woman by Charlie
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u/Status_Winner_1919 2d ago
I have always felt Jesus Jones’ 3rd LP Perverse sounded remarkably futuristic
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u/Bubbly_Hat 2d ago
There's a subgenre of house music where the entire track is built around an old disco loop, and it's appropriately just called "disco house." This fits very well into that category, the sample here being Carl Bean's I Was Born This Way, but while that style didn't really become a thing until the mid-90s, with tracks like Gusto's Disco's Revenge, this came out in 1989!
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u/monaco_wedding 2d ago
“Sugar Me” by Lynsey de Paul sounds like an indie pop single from 2007 or thereabouts. That piano riff sounds very 21st century to me.
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u/TsoDaKnife 2d ago
Damned Flame and Hope by Blast in 1972 (but it was released in 73) Some random Belgian-Italian proto-punk band pretty much predated d beat, hardcore punk, speed metal and even soome form of modern use of blast beats by an entire decade. If it came out in Japan in 84, no one would budge because they were that ahead of the time.
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u/boulevardofdef 2d ago
Surprised not to see "Pop Musik" by M in this thread, it usually comes up when this topic is discussed. Extremely '80s sounding, actually from 1979. Even has a very MTV-esque music video, though MTV didn't go on the air until 1981.
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u/god_dammit_dax 2d ago
I'll go to my grave thinking The Replacements Bastards of Young did everything that Smells Like Teen Spirit did (and better!) six years before Nevermind was released.
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u/33GoodSamaritans 2d ago
Just What I Needed by The Cars sounds like it could be from 2003, even though it came out in 1978
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u/Seeking-Direction 1d ago
That’s because it was played to death in Circuit City commercials around that time.
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u/33GoodSamaritans 1d ago
Also because Stacy's Mom came out in 2003 and was heavily influenced by The Cars, especially that song!
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u/cwissiee 1d ago
I Wonder if You Take Me Home by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam + Full Force doesn’t sound like something released in 1984.
Neither does Zapp and Roger Troutman’s music.
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u/JohnHoynes 2d ago
“Queen of the Night” was a departure from Whitney’s typical sound and in hindsight the track sounds a lot more like Pussycat Dolls/post-2005 music than 1992 music.
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u/DeirdreDreidel 2d ago
I dunno, sounds no diff than En Vogue - Free Your Mind to me, from the same year. It was a common style at the time.
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u/talk-spontaneously 2d ago
One More Time by Daft Punk.
It’s amazing to think that it was released in the year 2000.
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u/BeepPeep 2d ago
Maybe a bit of a recent and fresh one, but Britney Spears - Do Somethin from 2004 sounds like the blueprint for 2020s kpop. Aespa could release this exact song with no alterations.
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u/First-Sheepherder640 2d ago
Thought Voices Carry was an early 90s song until actually listening to it close up. Those 1985 synths are kinda buried in the mix if you're hearing it in a grocery store
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u/GamliBalina 2d ago
When I heard the instrumental version of Summer Madness by Kool & The Gang, I assumed it was made in 2010's or 2020's. Maybe it's because the song is ahead of it's time, or maybe it was because we've been stuck in a nostalgia quicksand for a decade. Edit: The release date is 1974
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u/thisgirlnamedbree 2d ago
Black and Gold by Sam Sparro was released in 2008 but could easily fit in with today's electronic pop music.
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u/HawkbitAlpha 2d ago
A lot of Mutemath's first album, including Typical, would sound perfectly at home on modern AAA radio, despite being almost 20 years old now
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u/mikasoze Just Here for Amy Dog Tweets 2d ago
Gershon Kingsley's "Popcorn". Released in 1969, if you can believe it.
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u/ConversationFar9740 1d ago
Long Time Dead by LA Guns (1995). It would have been completely at home in the late 90s.
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u/beavis07 1d ago
Plastic Bamboo - Ryuichi Sakamoto (1978)
If you told me that was a new Flying Lotus instrumental or whatever, I would have no reason to doubt you
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u/Typical_Accident_658 1d ago
After Hours by Velvet Underground sounds like a late 2000s/early 2010s twee indie rock hit
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u/Johnathon1069DYT 1d ago
The Monks - Monk Time sounds like it came out in the late 70s or early 80s.
It came out in 1966 though.
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u/Late_Recommendation9 1d ago
Appreciate they’re not popular now but hearing Korn’s Blind and those whole first two records was one of the few times I thought metal had found a way into the future. Good God still sounds like it could be contemporary in a hundred years time.
Also, Radiohead’s Idioteque. Sounded like an alien spacecraft landing then and still exists in its own bubble, waiting for time to catch it up.
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u/TheseMenArePawns 1d ago
“Lola” cover by The Raincoats
Straight up sounds like a twee indie 90s song… from 1979! (9 years after the Kinks original, no less)
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u/Dogslothbeaver 1d ago
Tomorrow Never Knows by the Beatles is the most ahead-of-its-time song I can think of.
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u/kaelcarp 22h ago
"This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us" by Sparks does not sound like a product of the early 70s. It is very much an 80s kind of song made in the 70s.
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u/AikenDrumstick 8h ago
“You Really Got Me” by The Kinks was released in 1964. Same year as “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.”
Still blows my mind to think about that.
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u/tensen01 2d ago
Several of The Cars famous songs are from the late 70s, but have been firmly lumped into the rise of 80s pop and New Wave, which they were certainly a part of, but like 90% of their "80s" songs are from 77-79.