Proto-Decade Songs

1970s:


This came out in late 1968. Though there were other funky soul songs at the time, this was the first that really seemed to take the genre in a more Soul Train direction. It would fit very naturally into a Blaxploitation flick of the early ‘70s, even though it would sound outdated by the second half of the decade.


Even though Abbey Road and its sleeve are iconic to the 1960s, some of its tracks, especially this one in particular, were clear progenitors of a lot pop rock from the 1970s. That lush mix, those wailing guitars, and generally laid back tone cause this track to mirror plenty of tracks from around the vicinity of 1972 and 1973.

1980s:



“Just What I Needed” was the first new wave song to really make it big, at least in the US. Melodically and aesthetically, The Cars were quite ahead of their time. However, I also find the production of their first two albums to be distinctly more retro than the new wave of the actual 1980s.



I find it hard to believe this came out in early 1978! Even though it blends in okay with some of the hard rock acts of the time like Foghat and Kiss, this song is still a progenitor to the hair metal craze of the 1980s.

1990s:


As far as the pop genre goes, this is probably the ultimate example of the ‘80s evolving into the ‘90s. While the percussion itself blends in decently with a fair amount of the urban at the time, the extremely eclectic phrasing, use of rapping intermixed with singing, edgy feel, creative lyrics, and less reverby drums give it a heavy ‘90s flavour, albeit mostly early ‘90s.


While R.E.M. released music for almost the entirety of the ‘80s, there’s no denying they were heavily influential to a lot of adult alternative bands from the 1990s, and this is when the influence was becoming most apparent.

2000s:


Timbaland was very ahead of his time upon his initial breakthrough, so it’s no coincidence this is the third production of his to be mentioned. While there were other urban songs from 1997 produced in this general style, it would have still sounded very current even in 2003, as well.


Creed had one album from 1997 that was popular before Human Clay, and the post-grunge movement had been around since 1994, but this was the single that really heralded the 2000s phase of the movement, what with its notably more polished production that was still grunge-based at the core but no longer copied the gritty attitude of the genre anymore, instead opting for melodic grandiosity.

1960s:


Somehow, I feel that this song would fit the early-mid-1960s quite seamlessly. For 1958, it has a very progressive drum mix that's more akin to stuff from the pre-hippie '60s, and its guitars sound rather British Invasion-esque, too.

1970s:


The Stones may have been at their most popular in the 1960s, but by their album golden age from 1968-1972, they were quite a step ahead of the curve. you can compare this song here to the type of stuff Creedence Clearwater Revival were putting out at the same time, but characteristically, I find it to be quite '70s and definitely newer than songs like "Jumpin' Jack Flash", for example.


Similar sentiments here. I always found this song raspier, chuggier, and heavier than the overwhelming majority of '60s songs, yet at the same time, it does still feel a little too primitive to fit perfectly with the 1970s as well.

1980s:


This may have a distinctly '70s mix style, but it features iconic '80s singer Robert Palmer on the vocals, the composition itself is very '80s, and there is also prominent use of early '80s-style synthesizers here.


While there were certainly other lush, piano-driven pop rock songs in 1978/1979, this one in particular really sounds like a preview of early '80s music.


This may clearly be '70s disco, but groups such as ABBA and The Buggles (who were clearly heavily influenced by ABBA and in my opinion are overrated in terms of impact to the '80s music scene) were already delving heavily into the world of electronic synthesizers before the MTV era began.

1990s:


The new jack swing genre in general was this in the late 1980s. I see the movement as being overwhelmingly influential to pop and R&B throughout the entire 1990s decade, but it did get its breakthrough during the last couple of years of the '80s, complete with '80s-style drums.


Profanity-laden gangsta rap was one of the dominant styles of the 1990s, but back when N.W.A. were still together, their production was distinctly older than what came out after The Chronic, despite heading in more of an early '90s direction than Run-D.M.C.'s mid-'80s output.

2000s:


Blink-182 were extremely influential to a lot of 2000s rock bands, but at the time they released this song off Dude Ranch, they were still just a bit punkier than they'd be by the time their more polished hits from the Y2K era/early 2000s were.


No Limit Records was snugly confined to the late '90s in terms of commercial relevance, but there's no doubt they were also extremely influential to the Dirty South hip hop scene and their eventual rise to dominance in the industry.

2010s:


This song blends in fine with other R&B from the late 2000s, but its heavy use of trap elements cause it to also sound like a very primitive 2010s track, not to mention Jason Derulo is primarily a '10s artist, having been relevant for basically the whole decade.


This is basically a 2000s pop rock band integrating straight-up electronic production into their sound, making it an early example of rock music losing its identity. It would also sound fairly current for the first couple of years of the 2000s. However, it's not super ahead of its time for 2009, either.

Back in 1957 this country duo took a few clues from Rock & Roll and made what I think is Proto-60s Pop Rock. It has all the ingredients from the high-pitched voices to the love-longing sensibilities that will forshadow bands from the mid-to-late 60s, under which the Beatles.

I've been looking for this thread for quite a while, so i'm glad I've stumbled across it again! Here's another example of a song from 1996 which could be argued as having a "proto-2000s" sound:



I'm not sure if it's simply due to the woman's vocals sounding strikingly similar to those of Rihanna's, or if it possibly has something to do with the song being a blatantly over-sexualized, pop-rap crossover (much in the same vein as "Pony"). Whatever the case, I have long felt as though this song bares quite a lot of stylistic similarities with the pop music of the 2000s. There are core '90s elements to this song of course, such as the disco synths and a number of the close-up camera angles in the music video, but otherwise, I honestly don't think this would sound that out of place had it been released during the 2000s.