Musical evolution in a song

May 25, 2013 11:15 AM

"Giorgio by Moroder" is a track on the new Daft Punk album that progresses through different eras of dance/electronic/club music, with the life and work of both Giorgio Moroder and Daft Punk themselves as musical and narrative framing devices. Are there any other songs, in any genre, that progress musically through various eras?
posted by capricorn to Media & Arts (9 answers total)

Best answer: Masterpiece is probably the best example.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:48 AM on May 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

The Beatles have a lot of these. "Happiness is a Warm Gun" goes back in time, from rock to doo wop. "Strawberry Fields Forever" reflects their own evolution from folk-rock to orchestration and acid rock. "A Day in the Life" spans folk to McCartney-esque pop to avant garde. "You Never Give Me Your Money" goes from ballad to '50s rock ("out of college, money spent...") to more like '60s rock ("but oh that magic feeling...") to something approaching '70s hard rock ("one sweet dream..."). "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" goes from old-school blues to Led Zeppelin to experimental noise.

Ben Folds Five's "Underground" goes from musical comedy to Billy Joel-esque pop to Beatley rock to jazz.

The Smashing Pumpkins' "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" reflects the band's own evolving musical personality, going through various styles that would be hard to neatly label.

Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody": pop ballad to opera to hard rock.
posted by John Cohen at 11:56 AM on May 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

Best answer: "Baby Boomer Santa" on the show Community.
posted by Radiophonic Oddity at 12:05 PM on May 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: This is the wrong season for Christmas music, but Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration starts with a song called "Overture: A Partial History of Black Music" that does exactly that. The iTunes Store has preview clips; it's a really fun album.
posted by dreamyshade at 12:10 PM on May 25, 2013

Billy Joel's "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," is three songs in one -- a piano bar crooner as a framing device, a 50s jumpy/jazzy thing, and a straight-up Joel-style song. It's not intended to be an evolution, but shows off the styles he was good at.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:16 PM on May 25, 2013

Response by poster: Just to clarify my question, I'm looking for things that specifically show the historical evolution of music or of a specific genre. Like the famous "Evolution of Dance" video but in audio form. Thanks and sorry if it was unclear!
posted by capricorn at 12:55 PM on May 25, 2013

The movie "Xanadu" (which isn't very good) has a dance number near the end which is like this, with several segments in which the music gets progressively more modern and the dance style and costumes do, too.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:01 PM on May 25, 2013

XTC goes through 4 decades in 20 seconds in The History of Rock & Roll. It isn't really a proper song though.
posted by Devoidoid at 8:42 AM on May 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The Pentatonix (A Cappela Group) put their History of Music up on their Youtube channel recently.

I once wrote one of these for a college surround sound project as an instrumental track based on a blues -> rock evolution. Fun project!
posted by TwoWordReview at 5:48 PM on May 28, 2013