Jack Diane---John Cougar Mellancamp (1982 but could easily pass as a 90s hit)
Paranoid---Black Sabbath (1970 but sounds like it came from '94)
Penny Lane---Beatles (1960s tune that sounds like it's from '80-'81)
Traces (love this one)---Denis Yost & Classic 4 (1969 but the saxophone piece makes it sound 10 years ahead of its time)
Young Americans---David Bowie (1974 that has more of an 80s sound)

"Subterranean Homesick Blues"--Bob Dylan--possisbly the first Rap song??

"So What"--Miles Davis--a definite Jazz standard from 1959 but I think it set the framework for Rock riffs and improvisation for years to come

Faith No More "Epic"

"Numbers"/"Computer World" - Kraftwerk

Sir Duke- Stevie Wonder  -sounds very 80's or even 90's

I agree about "Penny Lane", in fact lots of Beatles songs seem to have that synthy influence to me. "Here Comes the Sun" sounds almost like 80s soft rock, and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" has an electropop new wave feel.

Here's some others imo:

Our Lips are Sealed - Go Gos
Every Breath You Take - Police
Whip it - Devo
Video Killed the Radio Star
Shake it Up - Cars
Somebody's Baby - Jackson Browne
Only the Lonely- Motels
No Reply at all - Genesis
Don't Bring Me Down - ELO
Little Red Corvette - Prince
Hes So Shy - Pointer Sisters
Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen
We Live for Love - Pat Benatar

...these all are early '80s songs that probably could've come out any time in the decade. Like the Police are so unique, in some ways they're one of the most new wave rock bands ever, and in some ways they're timeless. A few of their songs could probably come out NOW even.

Another one is Bruce Hornsby, he sounds like "alternative adult contemporary". Like that Way it is album came out in 1986, but could easily be early or mid 90s.

Malcolm McLaren: Double Dutch (1983)

It would not be until the end of Apartheid about six years later that South African "Homeland" style music would have it's day as pop in the U.S.  Things were a bit different in the UK.

Eighties - Killing Joke
Theme From S'Express - S'Express

Jack Diane---John Cougar Mellancamp (1982 but could easily pass as a 90s hit)


Now if it could just pass as music it would be great.  8-P

Okay, opinion stated, I'll shut up now.  :-X

I agree about "Penny Lane", in fact lots of Beatles songs seem to have that synthy influence to me. "Here Comes the Sun" sounds almost like 80s soft rock, and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" has an electropop new wave feel.


Speaking of Beatles songs....."Tomorrow Never Knows"  off the Revolver album is a definite influence on contemporary Electronica.  It has lots of distortion, lots of loop sand many sound aspects that can only be created in a studio.

Here's a funny story ...

In 1986, 'Twist and Shout' by The Beatles re-charted in the Top 40 due to it's use in the film 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'.  One a messageboard I once surfed into, someone who obviously had never heard of The Beatles before posted in a topic about how that 80s hit 'Twist and Shout' had a 60s feel to it LOL

For some reason the song "New Thing" (Enuff Z'nuff) sounds  like a '90's college rock song...

I think "Crazy" by "Seal" sounds like 3 or 4 years ahead of its time. The song was a hit in 1991 but sounds like a 1994 or 1995 song.

Rapture by Blondie--the first known commercially successful rap song

I guess it's all kind of subjective and depends on each person to determine if something sounds ahead of its time.
To me, these always sounded that way (at least they do now)...

I Feel Love - Donna Summer (1977)
Midnight Express soundtrack - Giorgio Moroder (1978)
Eyes - The Honeycombs (1964)
21st Century Schizoid Man - King Crimson (1969)
I Got a Line on You - Spirit (1968)
What I Like About You - The Romantics (1980)
Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramones (1976)
The Shadow World & Second Stop Is Jupiter - Sun Ra & Arkestra (1966)
Nikki - Burt Bacharach (1969)
Les Fleur - Minnie Riperton (1970) (Ramsey Lewis,1968)
Running Away - Roy Ayers Ubiquity (1977)


I'll list more if I think of them.

I agree with above mentions of:
Donna Summer - I Feel Love
Faith No More - Epic
Blondie - Rapture (though the discoy background dates it)

I would like to add:
Massive Attack - Angel, Teardrop, Dissolved Girl (or anything from the Mezzanine CD).  From 1998 but still sounds from the far apocolyptic future.

Angel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZsHNkAJBDU

BT - Smartbomb  (Hip Hop over big bad trance beats) 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1Kzp0AVfZI


How about the Clash and their punk-reggae? I would presume that they sounded futuristic back in '79.

"Problemes D' Amour" - Alexander Robotnick

Back To Life - Soul II Soul

1989, but sounds like a mid 90's 1993 - 1997 R&B song.

"Pump Up The Volume" from MARRS

More good ones that may have been a little ahead of their time (or at least they aged very well).

Isn't It Time - The Babys (1977)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DOcro7VeDo

Footsteps In the Dark - The Isley Brothers (1977)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rNx9_yBDVQ

The Big Beat - Billy Squier (1980)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIcjiXD8x0Q

Redneck Girl - Bellamy Brothers (1982)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5brntYzVsk
(I heard this one at a local bar all the time. I finally looked it up and was surprised by its date)

This is Radio Clash - The Clash (1981)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-t52zc8Ex4

You're Gonna Miss Me - 13th Floor Elevators (1966)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6gRqMthSKs

Roxy Music - Love is the Drug

That's the main one for me - sounds so 80s New Wave.

Roxy Music - Love is the Drug

That's the main one for me - sounds so 80s New Wave.


It's a good dance/"disco" '70s song too.