Post a favorite song, current or past, whose style is/was from a time well before the song itself came out, like a decade or more before.

Example: I like the 1983 Billy Joel album, An Innocent Man.  In creating the album, Joel stated that he intended to style the songs according to sounds he grew up with.  For instance, the following song could've easily dropped right into the Four Seasons catalog from the 1960s:

Billy Joel - Uptown Girl (1983)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-0Oect0nVQ

Post anything that seems to you to borrow its style from its past and mention approximately when it came out

Post a favorite song, current or past, whose style is/was from a time well before the song itself came out, like a decade or more before.

Example: I like the 1983 Billy Joel album, An Innocent Man.  In creating the album, Joel stated that he intended to style the songs according to sounds he grew up with.  For instance, the following song could've easily dropped right into the Four Seasons catalog from the 1960s:

Billy Joel - Uptown Girl (1983)


Post anything that seems to you to borrow its style from its past and mention approximately when it came out



Also from that album-The Longest Time


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

This song reminds me of when I was first dating Carlos and wasn't too sure where our relationship was going. We had a bit of a rocky start.


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Let me see if I’m doing this right..

“A Girl Like You” by Edwyn Collins. This song came out in the mid 1990s (it was a hit in 1995 in the States), but I always thought it sounded like a 1960s song..


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...This song came out in the mid 1990s (it was a hit in 1995 in the States), but I always thought it sounded like a 1960s song..


O0 That's exactly the idea

O0 That's exactly the idea

Great!

Songs by rockabilly band The Stray Cats were hits in the 1980s (such as “Rock This Town” and “Stray Cat Strut”) but they have sort of a 50s sound to them (i.e., early rock n roll).

Songs by rockabilly band The Stray Cats were hits in the 1980s (such as “Rock This Town” and “Stray Cat Strut”) but they have sort of a 50s sound to them (i.e., early rock n roll).


Not just their sound, but their look, too.  No question the 50's stylings was their shtick:

Stray Cats - Runaway Boys (1981)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlZPO7GB9WE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0pM5dm--yQ
Billy Joel- Tell Her About It

Would "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen fall into this category?

Would "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen fall into this category?


O0 I'd say it sounds retro for 1980, and BTW I like it...

One of my absolute favourites was a mid-80s American group called Big Daddy.  They did 50s and 60s style covers of then current 80s songs.  They were best remembered for a 1985 cover of Bruce Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark that was a Top 30 hit in the UK.  What they did was use the lyrics to the Springsteen track set against the melody of the 1961 Pat Boone hit Moody River and the end result was just fantastic!

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I have the album that track is on and it also features a cover of the Phil Collins hit Sussudio that is set to the tune of the 1959 Dion and the Belmonts classic I Wonder Why.  I don't know if this one was released as a single, but it should have been!

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In the 80s, Welsh singer Shakin' Stevens sang rockabilly and his 1950s sound was popular just about everywhere but North America.  Despite this, he still managed a few adult contemporary hits in Canada and had 1 charting single on the US Hot 100 with Cry Just A Little Bit in 1983.  I remember this one...

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I recently found most of Shakin's 80s albums on vinyl (UK and Canadian pressings) and even the album tracks are fantastic!  In Britain, he continued that 50s sound right into the 90s.  This one from 1990 called I Might made the UK Top 20 and it is so good!  Anyone who loves rockabilly needs to look up his entire catalogue.  You won't be disappointed!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph7oZnBH05s
Billy Joel - Keeping the Faith

One of my absolute favourites was a mid-80s American group called Big Daddy.  They did 50s and 60s style covers of then current 80s songs.  They were best remembered for a 1985 cover of Bruce Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark that was a Top 30 hit in the UK.  What they did was use the lyrics to the Springsteen track set against the melody of the 1961 Pat Boone hit Moody River and the end result was just fantastic!

I have the album that track is on and it also features a cover of the Phil Collins hit Sussudio that is set to the tune of the 1959 Dion and the Belmonts classic I Wonder Why.  I don't know if this one was released as a single, but it should have been!


O0 Thanks for posting these - nice, new to me!  (YouTube wouldn't let me watch their Sussudio embedded but I found one on YouTube to listen to.)

Billy Joel - Uptown Girl (1983)



Also from that album-The Longest Time



Billy Joel- Tell Her About It



Billy Joel - Keeping the Faith


^All from the same An Innocent Man album...

Here's a "less old" example.  IMO this mid-2010s smash, which I like, is barely distinguishable from some late 1970's Disco:

Daft Punk - Get Lucky (2013)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NV6Rdv1a3I

Here's a "less old" example.  IMO this mid-2010s smash, which I like, is barely distinguishable from some late 1970's Disco:

Daft Punk - Get Lucky (2013)

Yes!! (Featuring vocals by Pharrell Williams.) It sounds very much like a typical hit from the Disco Era. O0

"That Thing You Do" by The Wonders (1996):

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This one has a 60s-pop sound; that's because it's the title song from a movie that is set in the mid-1960s. The song is even performed in the film.

"That Thing You Do" by The Wonders (1996):

This one has a 60s-pop sound; that's because it's the title song from a movie that is set in the mid-1960s. The song is even performed in the film.


O0 I like the movie.  Do you know if the song was a chart hit?

O0 I like the movie.  Do you know if the song was a chart hit?



Yes. In real life the song did get some radio airplay in the fall months of 1996, but only peaked at #41 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Love that Daft Punk one.  It's so good!  In keeping with a dance music theme, in 2020, French DJ David Guetta teamed up with Australian singer Sia to create an 80s new wave inspired track called Let's Love.  With a beat reminiscent of Pat Benatar's Love Is a Battefield, this was so good, it might just be my favourite song of 2020.

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... in 2020, French DJ David Guetta teamed up with Australian singer Sia to create an 80s new wave inspired track called Let's Love.  With a beat reminiscent of Pat Benatar's Love Is a Battefield, this was so good, it might just be my favourite song of 2020.


O0 I do indeed hear the 80's new wave sound in this.  I don't know David Guetta but my familiarity with Sia is from some Christmas tunes.

O0 I do indeed hear the 80's new wave sound in this.  I don't know David Guetta but my familiarity with Sia is from some Christmas tunes.

Sia has had a handful of hits in recent years, including “Chandelier”, “Cheap Thrills” (one that I find catchy) and “Unstoppable”.

If burning CDs were still a popular thing, I would totally make a CD of current songs that are 80s inspired.  There are so many of them, and I've yet to hear one that is terrible.  Here are two more...

In November 2020, popular British singer Dua Lipa held a live stream concert called Studio 2054 and one of her special guests was legendary Aussie Kylie Minogue and together they sang a duet of Kylie's 2020 hit Real Groove.  The duet was released as a single, but a remix subtitled Initial Talk Remix literally sounds so retro that you could probably take this song back to 1989, tell people it's the newest Kylie song and they would believe you! 

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Here is the 2021 hit Patience by British rapper KSI, British singer YUNGBLUD and American rapper Polo G.  This one was a pleasant surprise because all 3 singers were born in the 90s and have such a modern look that you wouldn't even guess that this is an 80s inspired synth-pop song.  I liked this one so much that not only was it my favourite song of last year, it is (along with the aforementioned David Guetta/Sia song) in my Top 10 of favourite songs so far this decade!

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"That Thing You Do" by The Wonders (1996):

This one has a 60s-pop sound; that's because it's the title song from a movie that is set in the mid-1960s. The song is even performed in the film.

O0 I like the movie.  Do you know if the song was a chart hit?

Yes. In real life the song did get some radio airplay in the fall months of 1996, but only peaked at #41 on the Billboard Hot 100.


And because of the time setting in the film, other songs from it have that time-period sound, such as this one:
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I love when newer artists pay homage to the 80s and this one from 2003 is one of the best ...

Scottish DJ Linus Loves featuring vocals from British singer Sam Obernik.  It is a cover of the 1983 Stevie Nicks hit Stand Back and just the whole package was done well.  I've mentioned this one before in other threads and here I go again because this song is just amazing!  It has an 80s feel and the music video is a spoof to the dance scene of your typical high school comedy film of the 80s.  What's interesting about this was Stevie's original was never a chart hit in the UK, but this peaked at UK #31.

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Love that synth pop sound of the 80s?  Here is Somebody by a Norwegian singer named Dagny and this was a Top 3 hit in Norway in 2020.  Not sure where else it charted as I found it purely by browsing the charts of other countries and it's songs like these why I often do that. 

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I'm not sure if this one counts. John Lennon was very deliberately evoking Elvis Presley and the 1950s on this song, yet at the same time it sounded very "1980 current" when it came out in late 1980. It straddles two worlds.

John Lennon
"(Just Like) Starting Over"
1980

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF8H89cQ9D4

Though it has some modern lyrical references, this song sounds to me like a late 70s disco era song. VERY MUCH.

DNCE
"Cake By The Ocean"
2015

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf3rdnzNgOg

This somewhat cheesy novelty song, by the studio-concocted "New Vaudeville Band" was, I guess, meant to invoke the 1920s. Funnily enough, it won a Grammy in 1967 for best contemporary song. Go figure!

The New Vaudeville Band
"Winchester Cathedral"
1966

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_EEC7Zn6gU

I'm not sure if this one counts. John Lennon was very deliberately evoking Elvis Presley and the 1950s on this song, yet at the same time it sounded very "1980 current" when it came out in late 1980. It straddles two worlds.

John Lennon
"(Just Like) Starting Over"
1980


O0 I completely agree on "(Just Like) Starting Over" - it has a strong throwback vibe, a good thing IMO.

How about this one...

"Zoot Suit Riot" by Cherry Poppin' Daddies (late 1997/early 1998)
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This band and its music are classified as "swing revival", a style that is reminiscent of a style active in the Big Band Era (1930s/1940s).

Anyone like that big band and blues style of music?

In 1993, Saskatchewan-born singer Colin James released his 3rd album titled Colin James and The Little Big Band and it spawned 4 chart hits in Canada, one of which is a simply fantastic track called Surely (I Love You).  While it never charted in the US, it can be heard in the 1996 Farrelly Brothers film Kingpin and appears on that film's soundtrack.  Play this one loud!!!

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^ Never heard that one before, but it does sound rather catchy!