# Standing the Test of Time: Your mentions of Musical hits from the '50s through the '80s of any genre **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312 "2018-02-06T16:46:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312/21 "2018-02-06T20:57:59Z")
> [@Euphrosyne](#): > > And going back even further, Ragtime, and Scott Joplin! Anything he wrote is The Tops even today. [Art Tatum,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaPeks0H3_s) dude. This is just superhuman. The purest, most precise mind-to-music transmission - it’s like he’s a shaman channeling some supernatural force. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312/22 "2018-02-06T21:10:43Z")
Thread relocated from IMHO to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312/23 "2018-02-06T22:38:19Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Too much danger that “standing the test of time” means “I still really like it, decades later”. > > As regards 50s rock, I’d pick Chuck Berry’s performances as still holding up strongly - compared to, say, Elvis songs with those treacly Lawrence Welkoid choruses in the background, or Bill Haley & The Comets hits. The latter sound badly dated, Chuck still rocks. In defense of Elvis, his early recordings with Sun and first RCA releases do stand up but you’re right about his later stuff getting too slick. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312/24 "2018-02-06T22:46:32Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > [Art Tatum,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaPeks0H3_s) dude. This is just superhuman. The purest, most precise mind-to-music transmission - it’s like he’s a shaman channeling some supernatural force. You’re not wrong. The man was unreal. Didn’t Bird work as a busboy just so he could hear Art Tatum play? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312/25 "2018-02-06T22:54:44Z")
Ooh child - the five stairsteps Hey Jude - Paul McCartney Doors - light my fire Harry Chapin - cats in the cradle Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312/26 "2018-02-06T23:43:17Z")
What the OP is asking for is the New American Standards - I Wanna Be Sedated - Highway to Hell - Life in the Fastlane - Venus - Shocking Blue, Bananarama ---
**Author:** ![proudfootz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@proudfootz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/proudfootz)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312/27 "2018-02-06T23:57:01Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > - That’s What I Like About You - The Romantics > - Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran, Blue Cheer, The Who > - La Bamba - Richie Valens, Los Lobos > - Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum Blue Cheer! 😃 If ‘House of the Rising Sun’ is a classic, we should include Frijid Pink’s take on it (1970). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312/28 "2018-02-07T04:14:07Z")
Ray Charles’ [I Can’t Stop Loving You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_7iRVtxui8). How many other pop/blues/country ballads can you name? For that matter, I’ll put just about any Ray Charles song on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312/29 "2018-02-07T05:38:40Z")
> [@Daddypants](#): > > Can you define “stand the test of time?” I think it was Van Hagar that profited the Immortal Line\* “Only time will tell if we stand the test of time”. \* Indeed! That’s why they call it that. And Loverboy gave us this: _“You’ve got to start from the start…”_ Impossible to argue this point. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312/30 "2018-02-07T06:50:51Z")
Bobbie Gentry is kind of underrated. I know “The Ballad of Billie Joe” has worn out its welcome with a lot of people, but how about “Fancy” and her cover of “Nikki Hoeky”? Linda Ronstadt’s 70s work is due for a critical re-evaluation. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312/31 "2018-02-07T07:14:09Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > [Art Tatum,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaPeks0H3_s) dude. This is just superhuman. The purest, most precise mind-to-music transmission - it’s like he’s a shaman channeling some supernatural force. I don’t think he has. Bud Powell and Bill Evans eclipsed him and evolved the music. But he is a legend. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312/32 "2018-02-07T10:56:37Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I think it was Van Hagar that profited the Immortal Line\* “Only time will tell if we stand the test of time”. > \* > Indeed! That’s why they call it that. > > And Loverboy gave us this: _“You’ve got to start from the start…”_ > > Impossible to argue this point. Pilgrims. If you’re gonna go deep, always go Ringo: “Time takes time.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standing-the-test-of-time-your-mentions-of-musical-hits-from-the-50s-through-the-80s-of-any-genre/808312.md?page=1)