Dust In the Wind--Kansas (came out in '77 but sounds like a hit from the earlier 70s)
In the Ghetto--Elvis Presley (a '69 hit that sounds like it's from the early '60s)
Hella Good--No Doubt (from '02 but sounds like it's from '89)
It's Only Rock'n Roll--The Rolling Stones (from their '74 album but sounds like it's from the late 60s)

One song that always comes up in these discussions is November Rain by Guns N Roses (sounds earlier than 1991/92 to many)

Also:

Lemon Tree - Fool's Garden (1996/97ish but sounds like it could be much, much older)
Porcelain - Moby (1999/2000 but sounds like it could be older)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuccqN63I4I

From 1972. Sounds like it's from decades earlier.

Two recent songs that sound like they came from a earlier time period is N****s in Paris(sounds like dirty south rap circa 2006) and Otis(sounds like Kanye's earlier chipmunk soul rap circa '03/'04).

Hella Good--No Doubt (from '02 but sounds like it's from '89)

Hella Good doesn't sound much like late '80s music to me, it sounds like typical Neptunes style production circa '01-'03 mixed with ska-punk.

I always thought that the Stray Cats' music (which is from the 80's) had a 50's sound to it.

"That Thing You Do", by the Wonders, is from 1996 but sounds more 60's (that's because it was performed in a movie that was set in the mid-60s).

Friday, I'm in love by The Cure. I have always thought it sounds like an '80s song, but it is actually a song from 1992.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0WosMpzDxI&feature=related

This song by Maroon 5 sounded like it came from the Rock era from the late 70's but it's actually from the 2000's and it first the voice sounded like Frankie Valli.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuccqN63I4I

From 1972. Sounds like it's from decades earlier.


Whoa, that does sound like it could have been release from 1952!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmENMZFUU_0

From 1991 but sounds like a late 70s mellow tune, especially at 2:05-2:25

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6fVDAjs9f0

Came out in 1974  but sounds like a hit from 10 years ago.

Friday, I'm in love by The Cure. I have always thought it sounds like an '80s song, but it is actually a song from 1992.

Well, the Cure did have lots of their hits/well-known songs during the 80's.

As did New Order (whose 1993 hit "Regret" maintains the new-wave sound) and Tears For Fears (who also had a hit in 1993 with "Break It Down Again").

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmENMZFUU_0

From 1991 but sounds like a late 70s mellow tune, especially at 2:05-2:25

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6fVDAjs9f0

Came out in 1974  but sounds like a hit from 10 years ago.


The Three Degrees song does sound like the mid 60's era.

Friday, I'm in love by The Cure. I have always thought it sounds like an '80s song, but it is actually a song from 1992.


That song actually harkens back to the '60s jangle guitar pop sound(as did a huge chuck of '80s alternative rock).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY-Z6wm6TMQ

Incredible Bongo Band "Apache" sounds a little bit like the early 90's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY-Z6wm6TMQ

Incredible Bongo Band "Apache" sounds a little bit like the early 90's.


Then it would sound ahead of it's time.

To me, taking that this track was released in '73, it sounds a little outdated for its time and has a late 60s tone, imo.

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



Cat

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



Cat


Good choice, a few songs from that album "An innocent man"  fit this thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvadrVUfT2c

This remix of this song was released in 1992. However, tt sounds like it came straight out of the mid 80's!

Here's one that sounds as if it's straight from an All-American diner somewhere in the late 50s...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMPa7LOosSE

Er...but not quite! It actually dates from early Spring 1967!

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



Cat


sounds more like the doo wop era.

Anything by:

Chromeo
Passion Pit
The Killers
M83

sounds like it came out in the 80s.

sounds more like the doo wop era.

That's because he wanted it to have that doo-wop sound.

Another one that comes to mind: "A Girl Like You" by Edwyn Collins. It was a hit in the mid-1990's, but has an evident 60's "motown" sound to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7sEchp-n64

Just The Way You Are by Moony(2002) - sounds like a light disco song from the '70s with it's groovy baseline and acoustic guitar sound(it is technically a house-based song though)

Liverpool by The Bangles(1984) - female version of merseybeat/early beatles circa 1964

See My Baby Jive by Wizzard(1973) - sounds just like Phil Spector's circa 1963 wall of sound productions

Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel(1986) - aside from the synthesized flute sound, sounds like mid '60s stax soul

Alejandro by Lady Gaga(2010) - reminiscent of early '90s eurodance, especially Ace of Base

Ring Ring by Abba(1973) - must have been a lot of nostalgia for the early '60s around '72/'73, Phil Spector wall of sound production

Walkin' On The Sun by Smash Mouth(1997) - sounds like something from '66/'67, in the style of The Monkees

Get It On(Bang A Gong) by T Rex(1971) - sounds like mixture of Chuck Berry and Phil Spector, more '50s/early '60s revival stuff from the '70s

Another one that comes to mind: "A Girl Like You" by Edwyn Collins. It was a hit in the mid-1990's, but has an evident 60's "motown" sound to it.


That's because the drum riff is based (I don't think it's sampled) upon Len Barry's '1-2-3'...not a Motown song, but a very popular blue-eyed soul number from the mid-60s...

MTA - Wiki says it is sampled, but I'm not so sure... :-\\

One song that comes to mind is "Still Loving You" by the Scorpions (1987).

I remember hearing it for the first time, and thinking I was listening to an oldie.

April Wine ~ You won't dance with me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DTQUhhnMec

Sounds more like a 50s or early 60s ballad, but it's from 1977.

April Wine ~ You won't dance with me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DTQUhhnMec

Sounds more like a 50s or early 60s ballad, but it's from 1977.


It does sound like a '50s pop ballad but then again it has Arp string synth sounds too(which was typical of the disco era).

It does sound like a '50s pop ballad but then again it has Arp string synth sounds too(which was typical of the disco era).


I think most disco actually used real orchestral music, and not synths. At least up to about 1978 or so. Synths of the 70's were too primitive to give that 'big' sound that defines disco, as you could generally only play one note at a time on them back in those days. They were mostly used as garnishment to music back then, like I'm pretty sure the bassline in Boogie Fever is a synth.

I think most disco actually used real orchestral music, and not synths. At least up to about 1978 or so. Synths of the 70's were too primitive to give that 'big' sound that defines disco, as you could generally only play one note at a time on them back in those days. They were mostly used as garnishment to music back then, like I'm pretty sure the bassline in Boogie Fever is a synth.


Yeah music '70s music was dominated by strings, acoustic guitars, electric pianos, electric guitar effects(wah wah, talkbox), funky basslines and rhythmic guitar but increasingly synths became more prominent around '74, '75. The Arp synth sound was pretty pervasive in a lot of mid/late '70s music, for example Dream Weaver. Disco itself was predominately large orchestra based but when you get to about '79 the synth sounds became more incorporated in the more acoustic/electric instrumentation of disco(I'm thinking of late disco hits like Michael Jackson's Off The Wall album).

The '70s managed IMO a good balance between acoustic/electric instrumentation and the more novel sounds(at the time) of synths, although the non electronic instrumentation was still predominate in the pop music of the time.

The songs off Depeche Mode's Violator sound more like 1982 than 1990.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oz9vbJIYkM

From 1996, but sounds like it's from 1984.