Songs that sound older or newer than they actually are.

George White

Sparks' This Town Aint Big Enough for the Both of Us - sounds later than its 1974 date
Raymond Scott's electronica - from the 1950s/1960s - sounds thirty to fifty years ahead.
New York New York - originated in the 1977 Scorsese film, the Sinatra cover from 1979.
Oh, and Sophisticated Boom Boom by the Shangri-Las, released in 1966. Yes, 1966. And yet it's clearly hip hop.
All that nouveau Ronson/Daft Punk stuff where they team up with Nile Rodgers to mimic his sound..

Steve King

A lot of Amy Winehouse's material sounds wonderfully Motown-esque. "Back To Black" and "Valerie" in particular.

Anesthetize

Steve King wrote: »

A lot of Amy Winehouse's material sounds wonderfully Motown-esque. "Back To Black" and "Valerie" in particular.

Valerie sounds very Zutons-esque to me.

Steve King

Anesthetize wrote: »

Valerie sounds very Zutons-esque to me.

Well of course, it's a cover of their track But the feel of it is pure Motown.

Anesthetize

'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer could have been an early-90's dance tune. Incredible to think that this was released in 1977.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06a_Xi1AU9s

paddylonglegs

I'v been waiting for someone to start a thread like this.

I'v had a bit of a bee in my bonnet for a while about tracks that have been using nostalgia the last couple of years. Unfortunately while the songs themselves sound good, creatively they have been plucked from the past.

Disclosure - Reguritated 90s dance (however I like their album to be fair)
The Strypes - 50s/60s Rock n Roll
The Heavy, what makes a good man - 70s rock
Haim - 80s pop
Mark Ronson, Uptown Funk - 70s/80s funk

Don't get me wrong, alot of these tunes are decent, its just a shame that artists can't muster up some new creativity

Turquoise Hexagon Sun

Dunno buy Yes's Heart of The Sunrise always sounded about 20 years ahead of it's time for me. It's 1971.

Anesthetize

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Don't get me wrong, alot of these tunes are decent, its just a shame that artists can't muster up some new creativity

You've been listening to the wrong artists.

Kettleson

When I heard this in Nov '14. I could have sworn it was from the early/mid 70's.

Si Cranstoun: Caught In The Moonlight. Busked for years. Best soul type song I've heard in years.

George White

It's very Northern soul but at moments it sounds too new.

reap-a-rat

I always thought Bette Davis Eyes (Kim Carnes version) sounded like it could have been a 1990s tune but it's from 1981.

Blisterman

This is from 1969, and sounds like a 90's trip-hop track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nurl0YewBA

wendell borton

From 1974.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNKSs1J38EA

JohnFalstaff

Tomorrow Never Knows - The Beatles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd61M256RfM

So much of modern dance music and electronica can be traced back to this song.

Distorted guitars, Lennon's vocals, endless overdubs and the backwards drum loops all prefigure in some way the idea of sampling technology.

The Chemical Brothers refer to the song as their 'manifesto' (and paid tribute to it with their track Setting Sun).

And all this way back in 1966.

Turquoise Hexagon Sun

I have to agree with Tomorrow Never Knows. This why I feel uneasy when people say The Beatles were overrated. Mostly from people that don't know how they made the studio an "instrument" before a a lot of influential modern artists.

Songs ahead of their time? Computer Love By Kraftwerk. Can't embed the song cause I'm a newbie. 1981

Or most Kraftwerk stuff. A testament to this is most people thinking The Model is an 80's track. No, it was released in 1978. It's just that they influenced or created a whole generation of synth music after them

bigar

Anesthetize wrote: »

'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer could have been an early-90's dance tune. Incredible to think that this was released in 1977.

I actually still sounds very contemporary to me even now.

Yamanoto

This was written & recorded for Blade Runner in 1982.

Wonderfully evocative sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzcHJAONSSo

Fitz*

reap-a-rat wrote: »

I always thought Bette Davis Eyes (Kim Carnes version) sounded like it could have been a 1990s tune but it's from 1981.

Brilliant song.

Parts of this song remind me of it, and also think it sounds very 80s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyFUwam0Lx0

Irish Guitarist

Anything with a 'Bo Diddley beat' will inevitably sound like it was recorded decades ago.

That's Not My Name by The Ting Tings is a less musical version of Mickey by Tony Basil. Mickey was already a cover version of a song which sounded like dozens, maybe even hundreds, of other songs.

Out of these songs That's Not My Name is the newest but in my opinion it sounds more primitive with less melody and instrumentation. It sounds like the others improved on it.