This little idea occurred to me and I thought it might be fun for the forum-goers of SteamGifts.

If you had to describe what it was like to live during the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's using only music, which songs would you choose?

The obvious difficulty is that of different cultures and environments while growing up during those times. Even so, the 60's saw the distribution of music (through radio and live performances) spread like never before. For that reason, I thought it would be good to start with 1960 and to make this a collaborative effort. We can use this thread to discuss which songs to add to the list and which ones to replace/drop from it. The object is to have no more than 40 songs for the years 1960-2000.

Here is the list so far:

Where Did Our Love Go? (The Supremes)
Blowin' in the Wind (Peter, Paul & Mary)
Come Together (The Beatles)
Stairway to Heaven (Led Zepplin)
Kodachrome (Paul Simon)
Night Fever (The BeeGees)
Boogie Wonderland (Earth, Wind & Fire)
Off the Wall (Michael Jackson)
Every Breath You Take (The Police)
Money for Nothing (Dire Straits)
The Message (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)
Enter Sandman (Metallica)

11 years ago*

Comment has been collapsed.

Sadly I was not alive in any of those decades, so I cannot say from first-hand experience. But for some reason, "Mickey" by Toni Basil seems to be a good way to describe the up-beatness the 80's seemed to have

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

You've got a point, there. I agree that the 80's were generally more upbeat. The optimism of the mid-70's paved the way for disco, and people were generally more optimistic by the 80's. The variety of music during the 80's was so expansive that I expect we'll have trouble narrowing it down to ten songs.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Well when I think 80's in terms of music, I think of pop and rock. I can suggest a ton of those types of songs easily. Anyone could. To narrow them down, though, I think Madonna's "Material Girl" represents 80's pop. As for 80's rock? Well, so many options that you cannot narrow it down to one. I don't even feel like trying.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

You can try to feel it here clicky

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I wasn't there in the 80s by anything other than a technicality...as in born but don't remember at all. but from what I understand isn't the safetydance(and its music video) the definitive 80s song?

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It was definitely one of them. The birth of MTV and music videos had a huge impact on American life, at least.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 4 months ago.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

There are so many songs from the Scorpions (and other bands) we could put in here.I was already going through their stuff in my head and considering it.

More to the point, however, is the importance of the Wall coming down. That definitely marked an important part of the 80's.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I didn't live through 60 70 80 90.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I was born in the 90's (right in the 90, actually), but instead of listening to fitting music to those years, i was listening to stuff like Elton John, Eagles, Kansas, Dire Straits, Led Zeppelin, Styx, Phil Collins, later on (i guess......1995?) i started listening to Metallica (Nothing else matters, One, Master of Puppets, so on so forth), then i went to classical (anything really), and by the 97 or so, when somehow their second CD was a hit, a lot of Backstreet Boys was heard in my region, it never really got my attention.

By the age of 12 or so, i started hearing solo guitarists, such as Steve Vai(Don't know why, but he scared the crap out of me back then, while Kiss was almost hilarious to watch), John Petrucci(2005), and many more. After that and much, much more music, i found Tool, which basically blew my mind, as it was this strage, ye attractive blend of "odd" tempos and fascinatin melodies, not to even mention the voice, guitar, and lyrics. Also around the '06/07, i found Apocalyptica, and stuff like Rammstein and System of a Down.

I could keep going, but i'm aware that the music i listen(ed) kinda doesn't accurately represent my age, so i'll just leave it at that, suffice it to say that thanks to music and video games i learnt english fairly well. (i'm from Argentina, never really payed much attention to national music)

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Hmmm... It seems that we don't have enough "old gamers" in the forums for sufficient feedback. Either that, or I'm the only one that finds this topic interesting. Oh, well...

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I actually just listened to almost every song chosen by others. As someone born in the 90s, I feel like I exist at the threshold of pop culture. My uncle was a diehard fan of Bee Gee and my aunt was more of a Warrant's and Mötley Crüe's groupie. I did not pay attention much to music 'till late 200-2001 due to the access to the internet (of course it's only dial-up) but Wonderwall - Oasis is definitely my definition of the 90s, the time of transition between Rock and Pop (a personal opinion, but to me Rock dominated the 80s and Pop dethroned it and became the main genre of music)

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I guess many are just too young. I was born 1990 so I can't say anything for any other decade. Since I was a kid I didn't really have a good taste in music, I listed to Backstreet Boys for example. I was a bullhead so I think I want it that way would be a funny choice because of the title. :P

Edit: Now this song is stuck in my head, nooooo!

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I was born 1985 so the living was mostly like this i guess (a random choice)

90s was like this the most free decade in the history of decades.

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I tried to think of songs from the 80's. Yet my first three that came to mind are all from 1990. :/ I wonder what happened before that?

11 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Closed 11 years ago by Khalaq.