What songs stand up at cultural markers?

November 11, 2009 7:38 AM

What songs capture a snapshot in time or define an era? Not necessarily the most popular song of the day, but one that is a true marker of a specific time.

Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" seems to capture the Reaganomics/Cold War/Vietnam introspection of 1984.

Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" not only helped change music, but captures the disaffection with the excess/slickness of the years prior to 1991.

Even the Bee-Gee's "Staying Alive" captures the late 70's better than most.

What other songs are cultural milestones? And why?

posted by smelvis to society & culture (40 comments total)

Dire Straits's Money for Nothing is like the pure, distilled essence of 1985 (or so I imagine, I, uh, wasn't born yet).
posted by oinopaponton at 7:42 AM on November 11

To me, Nena’s "99 Red Balloons" (“99 Luftballoons”) perfectly captures that mid-eighties feeling that we’re all only one silly mistake away from being vaporized by a nuclear warhead. This was the era of Threads, Testament, and The Day After. The shit was gonna go down and we all knew it, it was only a matter of time. Whenever I hear that song I’m immediately brought back to 1984, joking with my friends that as soon as “The Button” is pushed we were all going to sit out in lawn chairs and wait for the bombs. Because, as we all now know, everyone’s town was #4 on The Hit List because of the steel mill / ball bearing factory / army base / high-tech highway / shopping mall / really awesome pizza place / etc.
posted by bondcliff at 7:56 AM on November 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 7:57 AM on November 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

While one really has nothing to do with the other, Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones has become inexorably linked to the Vietnam War.

And any song off Thriller can be said to define 1982.
posted by quin at 7:59 AM on November 11

And Ball of Confusion by the Temptations is a sort of condensed synopsis of the 1960s (and a great song).
posted by quin at 8:03 AM on November 11

I think Britney Spears' bubble gum pop classics "...Baby One More Time" and "Oops... I Did It Again" captures the frivolousness and optimism of the dot-com bubble era.
posted by mhum at 8:04 AM on November 11

To me, Nena’s "99 Red Balloons" (“99 Luftballoons”) perfectly captures that mid-eighties feeling that we’re all only one silly mistake away from being vaporized by a nuclear warhead. posted by bondcliff

Great answer.
posted by smelvis at 8:24 AM on November 11

Chicago's "Saturday In The Park"
posted by Aquaman at 8:25 AM on November 11

As someone who was nowhere near growing up or being alive in the 60s, movies and tv shows use the following three songs pretty heavily when trying to set up a scene during the Vietnam War era, so I assume they would fall under the heading you're looking for.
Fortunate Son by CCR
Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones
For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield
posted by phunniemee at 8:33 AM on November 11

American Pie - Don McLean
posted by torquemaniac at 8:36 AM on November 11

Hipster ranting--perhaps--but the reviewers over at Pitchfork make a case for B.O.B. representing the 2000's

To wit: "B.O.B." is not just the song of the decade-- it is the decade. Appropriately, the contemporary hip-hop act most in tune with the Afro-Futurist philosophies of Sun Ra, George Clinton, and Afrika Bambaataa, wound up effectively crafting a fast-forwarded highlight-reel prophecy of what the next 10 years held in store. The title-- aka "Bombs Over Baghdad", a phrase that sounded oddly anachronistic in 2000, sadly ubiquitous two and a half years later-- is only the start of it. In "B.O.B"'s booty-bass blitzkrieg, we hear an obliteration of the boundaries separating hip-hop, metal, and electro, setting the stage for a decade of dance/rock crossovers. We hear a bloodthirsty gospel choir inaugurating a presidential administration of warmongering evangelicals. We hear André 3000 and Big Boi fire off a synapse-bursting stream of ripped-from-the-headlines buzzwords ("Cure for cancer/ Cure for AIDS"), personal anecdotes ("Got a son on the way by the name of Bamboo") and product placements ("Yo quiero Taco Bell") that read like the world's first Twitter feed. We hear four minutes of utter fucking chaos yielding to a joyously optimistic denouement (a point reinforced by the Stankonia cover's re-imagination of the American flag, which anticipates a White House set to be painted black).
posted by Suciu at 8:38 AM on November 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

In the Mood, by Glenn Miller, always evokes pre-WWII America, at least to me.

Phunniemee targets the mid-60's. If you prefer the early 60's I'd nominate The Twist, by Chubby Checker; Bob Dylan's version of Blowin in the Wind, and I Want to Hold Your Hand, by the Beatles.
posted by TDIpod at 8:38 AM on November 11

Bob Dylan's Masters of War captures early Vietnam War anger pretty well. (Though, sadly, he might as well be singing to Dick Cheney and the rest of the Bush administration)
posted by oinopaponton at 8:44 AM on November 11

I love "99 Red Balloons" because it has a totally 80s cheesy feel and sound to it, and yet it's about the perils of nuclear holocaust. To me, that's a great example of what you're looking for.

Well said, bondcliff.
posted by elder18 at 8:46 AM on November 11

Video Killed the Radio Star, the first video ever played on MTV is iconic for that time in the early eighties when MTV played videos and the whole world changed because of it.
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:51 AM on November 11

"Billie Jean" famously cracked MTV's color bar in 1983, in addition to just simply being a monster of a song.
posted by Skot at 9:26 AM on November 11

I went directly to the 60s:
Crosby, Stills, and Nash - Ohio and Almost Cut My hair.

Then to my senior year in high school:
Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall, so dark but with a BeeGees-style disco beat to it.
posted by booth at 9:26 AM on November 11

Pulp's Common People nicely defined the Britpop era in the UK, when it was hip to be poor, the Tories were on their way out, and everything was going to be OK forever.

That went well, then.
posted by Conductor71 at 9:32 AM on November 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

Tons of good replies here!
Anything more from the 2000s? Or is it too soon to have that historic view?
posted by smelvis at 9:34 AM on November 11

I think "Johnny B. Goode" is one of the most culturally significant songs of the twentieth century. Not only does it evoke the late 1950s, but it also perfectly crystallizes the rock & roll genre. Any number of songs by Chuck Berry qualify in that respect I suppose, but "Johnny B. Goode" is the one that got sent out into space with Voyager.

"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" by Bessie Smith perfectly encapsulates the Great Depression despite the fact that it predates the stock market crash by 6 years.

For the civil rights era I don't think you can do much better than "A Change Is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke. But "People Get Ready" by Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions is a close second.

Seconding "Money For Nothing" for 1985.

"Fight the Power" by Public Enemy is strongly linked to Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" and the messages of that movie but it also really captures the state of rap music at the time while also being a kick-ass track.

"All Along the Watchtower" as played by Jimi Hendrix has become a common shorthand in films for the late sixties.

Personally, I hate the Byrds, but they seem to always come up whenever anybody wants to evoke hippy culture, usually it's that "Turn Turn Turn" song.
posted by wabbittwax at 9:35 AM on November 11 [2 favorites has favorites]

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? captures the Great Depression perfectly. "They used to tell me I was building a dream, and so I followed the mob..."

I think Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue represents the 1920s...both modern and classical, urban, bright.

And when I think of World War II (at least during the holidays), I think of I'll Be Home for Christmas. It's so wistful and sad, compared to most of the "Rah Rah Rah, V for Victory" songs that were around at the time.

All these songs were hugely popular when they came out.
posted by castlebravo at 9:37 AM on November 11

Oh! Good God, how can we have gotten this far without mentioning "Strange Fruit"?
posted by Skot at 9:40 AM on November 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

"For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield always reminds me of Vietnam War newsreel footage.
posted by Oriole Adams at 9:45 AM on November 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

UK-centric but Ghost Town will forever evoke a nation suffering the ravaging and unjustly distributed social pain wrought by a policy of de-industrialisation.
posted by Dan Brilliant at 9:57 AM on November 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

Tangentially: you may want to start keeping an eye on the show Cold Case on CBS -- for me, the most intriguing part when I've seen it is seeing what songs they select for their "period flashback" segments. If you're not familiar with the show, it's about a police squad working on cold homicide cases of various vintages, and as the team tracks down and interviews the leads generated during the initial investigation -- the show carries flashbacks to scenes taking place in the life of the murder victim in the days leading up to the murder (they've gone as recent as "last year" and as old as 1917).

The flashbacks usually are underscored by "period music", and I usually end up getting more caught up in evaluating their music choices (which, on the whole, I often agree with) than I end up following the plot.

I just tried finding a site that would list the music for each episode WITH the era the episode was set in; alas, all the sites seemed to list either one or the other.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:57 AM on November 11

If you want more from the 90s, I would go with some Third Eye Blind, especially "Semi-Charmed Life"; maybe it's just because I was about thirteen but that song really feels like 1997 to me. I don't think it's just that it reminds me of 1997, I think that it FEELS like the year.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 10:08 AM on November 11

Jimi Hendrix's version of The Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock has got to be a marker for the late '60s and early '70s.
posted by Kippersoft at 10:18 AM on November 11

Well, the 2000's are obvs going to be harder becaue we're not far enough from them (ahem ahem) to get that nostalgia feeling when we hear a certain song, but I'll throw out a few possibilities. Lot's of folks will have totally different thoughts, so, take it for what it's worth.

Bodysnatchers by Radiohead seems seminal and a sort of defining musical moment of 2007. I probably only think that because I'm a sucker for the bridge line "it is the 21st century, it is the 21st century" - because everytime I hear it i think, "oh shit. that's true." There's also something ineffible about the sound that captures *now* in a poetic way, imo.

When the President Talks to God by Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) I've always thought is a horribly depressing but incredible summation of the fucked-upedness of the Bush presidency.

All the Answers by Raul Midon is kind of an awesome song about technology like facebook and google. He performed it at TED.

And we would be remiss if we didn't have a bit of musical theatre in the mix. The Internet is for Porn from Avenue Q is my recommendation.
posted by Lutoslawski at 10:34 AM on November 11

*lots. jesus. it's still early.
posted by Lutoslawski at 10:34 AM on November 11

The 2000s seem like a "retro" decade to me so with that in mind for the decade 00:

1985 by Bowling for Soup
Smooth Criminal by Alien Ant Farm
American Woman by Lenny Kravitz

For something a bit more original:

American Idiot by Green Day

totally reminds me of the politics and period of time from 2001 to about now.
posted by Lord Fancy Pants at 10:40 AM on November 11

Vera Lynn's songs, "We'll Meet Again", and "White Cliffs of Dover" always convey that bittersweet "smile while you carry on" attitude of England during WWII.

nthing "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield

"Everyday People" by Sly and the Family Stone evokes the difficulties of racial integration in the US in the '60s.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 10:55 AM on November 11

Just about everything from the Purple Rain soundtrack, especially "Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain", and "When Doves Cry" really evoke a period in the mid-'90s
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 11:26 AM on November 11

Several people have mentioned "For What It's Worth" - excellent example.

I wonder how a song becomes so symbolic of an era. Did "For What Its Worth" have the same impact in the late 60's that it does today? Is it used in most Vietnam movies because it is such a cultural marker - or has it grown into a cultural marker because it is used so often in popular culture?
posted by smelvis at 11:30 AM on November 11

For an awful lot of people, Alan Jackson's "Where were you when the world stopped turning" is a definitive 9/11 song.
posted by jbickers at 11:32 AM on November 11

Anything more from the 2000s?

It might be too soon, but I suspect that White Stripes Seven Nation Army is going to be one of those songs that will mark the decade.
posted by quin at 12:17 PM on November 11

"For What Its Worth" ... or has it grown into a cultural marker because it is used so often in popular culture?

I'm pretty sure it's this. A lot of people believed that the song was really more relevantly used to describe the Kent State Shootings than Vietnam (though it was written years before that event), but because of lyrics like "There's a man with a gun over there" which can overlay footage of Vietnam soldiers and instantly evoke some powerful images.

I suspect that it's this more than anything that tied it to people's memories of the war.
posted by quin at 12:24 PM on November 11

Duran Duran's Rio, both the song and video, scream 80s excess, glamour, and style over substance.
posted by otters walk among us at 12:47 PM on November 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen" encapsulates the magic of the coked-up, seedy late 1970s perfectly
posted by porn in the woods at 1:44 PM on November 11

Great suggestions all. thanks
posted by smelvis at 5:28 PM on November 11

Oops. Damn. Purple Rain was mid '80s. My apologies.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 10:30 AM on November 12