I've Never Heard Of This Song Before

[chrislc]

So which 45s of the 1970-1988 Era would we now - in 2024 - be LEAST likely to receive this response from someone - and this includes kids.

I'm thinking...

First - multiple Christmas songs - Wonderful Christmastime, Happy Xmas, Feliz Navidad, Last Christmas, maybe Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer...

then...

Y.M.C.A.
Stayin' Alive
Dancing Queen

there are a bunch that were seemingly timeless but have faded, I think examples might be Bridge Over Troubled Water, Joy to the World, Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree, The Way We Were, We Are The World, Every Breath You Take...

I think Take On Me now might be more recognized now than any of those. Magic by Pilot certainly spiked but that's fading now. Same for multiple songs by Queen, who really had the knack for this.

Ghostbusters, is that still a thing with kids? Same for Thriller? Star Wars Main Title had a great 40+ year run but it must have faded.

Time marches on. My prediction is that when the dust clears, Y.M.C.A. will be the last one standing.

[michaelcasselman]

Most songs that get people on the dancefloor for weddings/anniversaries are pretty bulletproof as of now.
Between TiK Tok and commercial usage, there'll always be that random 'oldies' hit that bobs to the surface for a while. There's a chance that someone could take any random song and make it a 'thing' with the right influencer.
With a few exceptions, ballads and essentially non-descript mid-tempo songs tend to be most likely to fade from the public.

[djjoe1960]

Interesting note--I work at the Atlanta Symphony most weekends and this weekend, the Symphony is playing live to the 1984 version of Ghostbusters. By the way, a version of the movie is provided that removes the instrumental (orchestral) music and the Symphony plays live the incidental music heard in most movies. It is quite amazing.

[chrislc]

Nov 1, 2024 4:51:33 GMT -5 djjoe1960 said:

Interesting note--I work at the Atlanta Symphony most weekends and this weekend, the Symphony is playing live to the 1984 version of Ghostbusters. By the way, a version of the movie is provided that removes the instrumental (orchestral) music and the Symphony plays live the incidental music heard in most movies. It is quite amazing.

What a cool idea!