# Songs that epitomize decades besides the 80s **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2013, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531 "2013-11-09T23:31:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/1 "2013-11-09T23:31:53Z")
In the thread about the song that epitomizes 80s music, **Lemur866** and I asked about other decades. No one else answered, so I’ll start this new thread. Here’s what we wrote in that thread: > [@Song that epitomizes the 80s](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/3): > > We could have a whole genre of “Most Xish song of the X’s”. > > Obviously for the 90s it is “Smells like Teen Spirit”. So don’t bother with anything else. > > My nomination for the 70s is “Heart of Glass” by Blondie. > [@Song that epitomizes the 80s](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-that-epitomizes-the-80s/673465/13): > > How about other decades? > > I would say for the 90s, it’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. In the 70s, it would be “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees. The 60s were Jimi Hendrix’s version of “All Along the Watchtower.” The 50s would be “[Sleep Walk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogxTQXAgY3Q).” “[In the Mood](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPXwkWVEIIw)” by the Glenn Miller Orchestra epitomizes the 1940s (even though it’s from 1939). I don’t really have one for the 2000s. For the 2010s, I have to go with “TiK ToK” by Ke$ha, even though I may be a little bit biased. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/2 "2013-11-09T23:54:30Z")
For the 2000’s I nominate [“Float On”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTAud5O7Qqk) by Modest Mouse. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/3 "2013-11-10T00:18:46Z")
And for the 60’s I’d pick [“Somebody to Love”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIkoSPqjaU4) by Jefferson Airplane over Hendrix. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/4 "2013-11-10T00:41:10Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > And for the 60’s I’d pick [“Somebody to Love”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIkoSPqjaU4) by Jefferson Airplane over Hendrix. The 60s had an absolute explosion of music, including blues, pop, folk, Motown, psychedelic, surf, etc. The 1960s is probably _the_ defining decade for music. To name one song that epitomizes this decade is impossible and absurd. Not that I don’t appreciate “Somebody to Love” but there are at least 100 other songs from the 60s that could just as easily be recognized. The Beatles owned the 1960s. To not have a Beatles’ song as the defining song would be ridiculous. “A Day in the Life” must have serious considerations, but there’s just way too much absolutely phenomenal music from that decade to choose one song, or even one song from a style of music. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/5 "2013-11-10T01:07:16Z")
How about the 1950’s? I’ll nominate: [Rock Around the Clock](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdufzXvjqw) - Bill Haley and His Comets [Johnny B. Goode](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFo8-JqzSCM) - Chuck Berry Personally, I’d pick the latter. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/6 "2013-11-10T01:12:06Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > And for the 60’s I’d pick [“Somebody to Love”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIkoSPqjaU4) by Jefferson Airplane over Hendrix. That one certainly gets played whenever I’m watching a documentary about the 60s. Usually while showing some skinny hippy chick dancing in a crowd of hippies. I don’t know if it was very popular enough in its time, but “Time Has Come Today” by The Chamber Brothers epitomizes that era to me. It’s a damn good song. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/7 "2013-11-10T01:12:44Z")
1900s: [Meet Me in St. Louis](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJYS-acTE9M) 1910s: [Alexander’s Ragtime Band](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x17i6r_2003-scott-show-cast-alexander-s-ra_music) 1920s: [The Charleston](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JOdbFvb3xs) 1930s: [Happy Days Are Here Again](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL0Qt7IF8Q4) 1940s: [Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qafnJ6mRbgk) 1950s: [Rock Around the Clock](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdufzXvjqw) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/8 "2013-11-10T01:14:47Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > How about the 1950’s? > > I’ll nominate: > > [Rock Around the Clock](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdufzXvjqw) - Bill Haley and His Comets > [Johnny B. Goode](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFo8-JqzSCM) - Chuck Berry > > Personally, I’d pick the latter. **Hound Dog** and **Love Me Tender** , by Elvis, but my favorite 50s music was by groups like The Platters and The Drifters, and single artists like Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins. For the 60s, it’s almost impossible. The Hendrix rendition of **All Along The Watchtower** was a monster, and then there was Dylan’s **Blowin In The Wind** and Buffalo Springfield’s **For What It’s Worth**. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/9 "2013-11-10T01:21:51Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > 1940s: [Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qafnJ6mRbgk) [In the Mood](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPXwkWVEIIw) Though technically it was released in 1939, it became a hit in 1940. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/10 "2013-11-10T01:58:34Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > That one certainly gets played whenever I’m watching a documentary about the 60s. Usually while showing some skinny hippy chick dancing in a crowd of hippies. “Incense And Peppermints,” surely. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/11 "2013-11-10T01:58:43Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > And for the 60’s I’d pick [“Somebody to Love”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIkoSPqjaU4) by Jefferson Airplane over Hendrix. Psychedelia/Acid Rock isn’t “The '60s”, it is about the last 3 years (and first couple of the '70s). If it has to be one song, I’d choose the one from the middle of the decade that explicitly applies to the whole era, and being young in those times: **My Generation**. It typifies '60s rock pretty well too. Straight down the middle between the simplicity and naïvete of early '60s rock’n’roll and the baroque elaborations and complexities of late '60s psychedelia. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/12 "2013-11-10T03:32:38Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > The 60s had an absolute explosion of music, including blues, pop, folk, Motown, psychedelic, surf, etc. > > The 1960s is probably _the_ defining decade for music. To name one song that epitomizes this decade is impossible and absurd. Not that I don’t appreciate “Somebody to Love” but there are at least 100 other songs from the 60s that could just as easily be recognized. > > The Beatles owned the 1960s. To not have a Beatles’ song as the defining song would be ridiculous. “A Day in the Life” must have serious considerations, but there’s just way too much absolutely phenomenal music from that decade to choose one song, or even one song from a style of music. That’s why I stopped with the 50s. Even narrowing the 60s down to the Beatles, there are still too many. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/13 "2013-11-10T23:43:59Z")
60s - The Hills are Alive (The Sound of Music) 70s - Vincent 80s - That’s what friends are for ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/14 "2013-11-11T02:55:19Z")
For the 1970s I’d nominate [Why Can’t We Be Friends](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DmYLrxR0Y8). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/15 "2013-11-11T02:58:20Z")
The 60s are easy – just pick something by the Beatles. “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” may be the best candidate, since it fits the stereotype so well. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/16 "2013-11-11T04:18:04Z")
Another vote for Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.” Or The Byrds’ “Turn! Turn! Turn!” Any documentary, film about the 1960s has either of these songs in it. The 1970s? Nick Gilder’s “Hot Child in the City” or ELO’s “Don’t Bring Me Down.” Or TSOP-themed songs like the O’Jays’ “Love Train.” ---
**Author:** ![Fishybreath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ec9cab/32.png) [@Fishybreath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fishybreath)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/17 "2013-11-11T17:54:48Z")
60s Rolling Stones _Gimme Shelter_ ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/18 "2013-11-11T18:25:22Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > For the 2000’s I nominate [“Float On”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTAud5O7Qqk) by Modest Mouse. I don’t know what the iconic 2000s song is, but I know it’s not some indie song that few people heard in the grand scheme of things. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/19 "2013-11-11T19:17:59Z")
Yep. When you’re showing Forrest Gump or whoever navigating through the 60s, and he hits Vietnam or wherever you’ve got to play a song. That song has to be one of the 60s-est songs of the 60s. Or when your protagonist hits New York or LA in the 70s, you’ve got to fire up one of the 70s-est songs of the 70s. Except how is that going to work for period pieces set in 2007? I guess the answer is that the iconic songs of the 60s weren’t universally popular and generationally defining during the 60s. It was only after that we picked through the rubble and decided that when someone steps off the plane in Vietnam you’ve got to play “Gimme Shelter” or “All Along the Watchtower”. So in 2048 when people are making a period piece set in 2007 there are going to be musical cliches that define 2007 to the people of 2048, but we don’t know what those things are going to be. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531/20 "2013-11-11T19:33:34Z")
I vote for Float On for the 2000s. Its guitar hook mirrors a lot of what the Big 3 emo bands were doing in the mid-2000s, and its general breeziness reminds me of the piano rock of Coldplay, Keane, and Snow Patrol. Between those two categories (not to mention the song itself), thats around half the popular rock of the 2000s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-epitomize-decades-besides-the-80s/673531.md?page=2)