I had a project recently for school (I'm studying music history) in which I was to pretend that I was making an anthology of music by decade since WWII that reflected the culture and tastes of the times. As I expected, it was a painful process, because the assignment allowed for only three songs per decade, which is woefully inadequate. So I chose the following, I'm curious what people think and what they would choose:

50s
Bill Haley and the Comets - Rock Around The Clock
Elvis - Jailhouse Rock
Chuck Berry - Maybellene
60s
Bob Dylan - Blowin in the Wind
Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come
Beatles - A Hard Day's Night
70s
Marvin Gaye - What's Goin On?
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young - Ohio
KISS - Rock and Roll All Night
80s
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
Run DMC & Aerosmith - Walk This Way
Madonna - Like a Prayer
90s
Nirvana - All Apologies
Lauryn Hill - Everything is Everything
Santana and Rob Thomas - Smooth
00s
Eminem - Stan
Linkin Park - One Step Closer
Kelly Clarkson - Miss Independent



and before you mock my taste, these aren't necessarily my favorite songs, but songs with social and musical significance

Looks like you hit some typical songs from some big artist of the decade. Which is what i would have done. I especially like the choice of Walk this way with Run DMC and Aerosmith. Intersting to see that for the 80's 90's and 00's it's basicly one rock, one hiphop and one pop song.

yeah 3 is so not enough. Maybe if you do 5 you'll get extra credit?

So what do we do? List our 3 favourite songs to reflect each decade?

I actually would have been marked down for doing more than 3 per decade.

I'm interested in hearing what people think of my choices, and what three songs you would choose. Remember though, it isn't your favorite songs necessarily, but the ones that reflect the time.

hmmm interesting project...

i would have chosen johnny b. goode instead of maybellene for chuck berry's contribution in the 50s...

i'd add 'somebody to love' by the jefferson airplane in the 60s in place of sam cooke...

for the 70s i'd replace marvin gaye with 'easy' by the commodores aside from the fact taht it was released in 81... hmmm so instead i'll say 'stayin alive' by the bee gees... NOTHING screams 70s like the bee gees...... and i'd replace crosby stills nash and young with led zeppelin... probably stairway to heaven as much as i dislike the song...

80s hurt my brain... to truly reflect the poo that decade gave us i'd drop everything but springsteen... the 80s aren't 80s without synthpop... like 'shout' by tears for fears... and hair metal... i'm tempted to say something by twisted sister... but i'll go for 'smoking in the boys room' by motley crue instead...

90s need grunge... but i'd take 'smells like teen spirit' over all apologies... all apologies is a better song but teen spirit was far more significant to 90s music... i'd drop rob thomas and santana... add the spice girls 'wannabe'... i'd replace the fugees with snoop doggy dogg's 'gin and juice' showing the whole commercial takeover of image over substance within rap

00s - really tough call so early in the decade... i pretty much gave up on popular music in the late 90s i can't really comment on what i would consider to be the most representative tracks of this decade...

Those are good choices too, but I'll debate them with you

I went with Maybellene because it was more country-ish than johnny b goode and (slightly) more reflects the raunchier side of rock music that everyone was afraid of.

Jefferson Airplane would be a good one, but then there's absolutely no mention of r&b music during the heyday of r&b music, and Change was the anthem of the Civil Rights movement.

I agree that with the 70s, disco (and punk, and singer-songwriters) not being in there is a huge problem, but Marvin Gaye not only reflects the protest culture but is also the only Motown artist, so I felt that it would have to stay. CSNY was the only reflection of hippie culture on the list, so I felt I had to keep that too.

In the 80s, you HAVE to have hip hop somewhere, because rap started in the 80s. And I think you have to have something that reflects the advent of MTV, thus Madonna (Michael Jackson woulda worked too).

The 90s were tough cause there aren't really specific types of music having an impact. Grunge was the only obvious one, but I went with Lauryn Hill as reflective of the hiphop culture (at the time, The Score was the best selling rap album ever) and of the whole "women in the mainstream" thing (Lilith Fair). Santana was kinda silly, but I thought the Latin music craze was pretty big.

00s I really had no idea either, but I figured that Eminem has been the biggest story and that Kelly Clarkson reflects the reality TV craze and the manufactured-pop craze.

good points... i choose johnny b goode just because it's INSTANTLY recognizable...

the 60s are though due to the amount of styles and cultural changes that occurred in such a short period of time... i chose to show the psychedlia which is predomiantely associated with the 60s...

i added my r&b influence in the 70s with the bee gees as an extension of what r&b became... rhythm / blues / soul / funk / disco... then again i never really got into old r&b so i'm probably missing out on significant elements of that culture...

and you're right on the 80s... i totally spaced on rap... in retrospect i'd replace motley crue with the beastie boys' 'fight for your right'

i agree that santana is kinda silly... especially with the way he sold out after being in the business for 30 years... he should have been getting that kind of fame since the 70s... but whatever... we're a fickle culture... i chose to add the spice girls instead due to them being the reason for the resurgance of girl/boy bands...

and good calls on eminem and kelly clarkson... i can also see why linkin park is listed to represent the nu-metal this decade is giving us... i can't really chose any other 'metal' song to replace it with...

90's should include Massive Attack
and its followers in trip-hop
beside Nirvana, and the grunge stuff..