What songs from 1990-1991 would you consider '80s holdovers? I'd say any Phil Collins song from 1990, for sure.

Pretty much anything from Cause & Effect, be if 90-91 or later... less you're refering specifically to people that were big in the 80s, in which cause I'll toss in The Cure.

What songs from 1990-1991 would you consider '80s holdovers? I'd say any Phil Collins song from 1990, for sure.

True on Phil Collins. For awhile, I thought Two Hearts was from the early '90s.

Alannah Myles, Taylor Dayne, etc. Anything by them.

If you played any Roxette or Wilson Philips song from 1990 or 1991 and asked the question "What decade was that from", and most people would probably say "the '80s", and even Extreme's More Than Words from 1991 would get the "80s" response given its inclusion in Rock of Ages, which is '80s-based.

Many  adult contemporary songs in 1990 and 1991 (especially the former) still used either the Yamaha DX7 or gated reverb drum sounds. Bette Midler's From A Distance uses them both, hence the percieved "80s holdover". Even Madonna's "This Used To Be My Playground" from 1992 still has a bit of that feel as well. However, production was starting to become more computer based as opposed to just synthesizers. 

I'd rank the generes that had had the most '80s hangovers:

1. Soft Rock
2. Hair Metal
3. R&B (the non-new jack swing soulful variety only)
4. New Wave (it was dying out however altogether)

This = VERY 80S

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry4iwzS4Na0

A definite holdover

Wasn't Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode the last big Synthpop/New Wave hit in 1990?

Another thing I wonder is what the latest copyright date of an '80s year of an ad appears in a magazine, as I am scanning a magazine issue from February 1992 and one of the ads has a 1987 copyright date.

This is an example of holdover what I call "copyright lag". For example, the "normal" culture associated with a year depending on publication can be anywhere from a few weeks to a few years based on what is shown. For instance it looks like its current, but in reality its just a "recurrent" (radio DJs use that term as well on music that is off Top 40 charts, but is not yet considered gold/flashback/classics. In the early years of the '90s you still had some recurrents from the late '80s on radio as well.

Another thing I wonder is what the latest copyright date of an '80s year of an ad appears in a magazine, as I am scanning a magazine issue from February 1992 and one of the ads has a 1987 copyright date.

This is an example of holdover what I call "copyright lag". For example, the "normal" culture associated with a year depending on publication can be anywhere from a few weeks to a few years based on what is shown. For instance it looks like its current, but in reality its just a "recurrent" (radio DJs use that term as well on music that is off Top 40 charts, but is not yet considered gold/flashback/classics. In the early years of the '90s you still had some recurrents from the late '80s on radio as well.


I think when the Cold War ended in Dec 1991, things started to get a little less 80s. 

Genesis' We Can't Dance is an 80s holdover. I always thought that came out in the 80s and was surprised with the 1991 copyright date. It's interesting that album was released around the same time as Nevermind. I also think that Ordinary World by Duran Duran and 07 by Prince sound straight out of the 80s.

This = VERY 80S

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry4iwzS4Na0

A definite holdover
"King Of Wishful Thinking" has a little 80's production tinge to it I would say.

Genesis' We Can't Dance is an 80s holdover. I always thought that came out in the 80s and was surprised with the 1991 copyright date. It's interesting that album was released around the same time as Nevermind. I also think that Ordinary World by Duran Duran and 07 by Prince sound straight out of the 80s.
Yeah "Hold On My Heart" sounds 80's and sounds like it could have been on Genesis's 1986 album "Invisible Touch. "Ordinary World" sounds 90's A/C like though alhough it could have been put out in the late 80's and nobody would have noticed maybe.

60-70 percent of songs from 1990 and 1991 sound like they could come from 1989. That's natural, considering it was extremely early in the decade.

I'd say New Kids on the Block, they were popular in 1988 and they were still popular in 1991.