11 Songs That Were Sonically Ahead of Their Time
It has become a norm these days to hear a lot of new music that contains some form of a throwback to the bygone era. Lately, we have been witnessing the resurgence of the 80s in pop music through echoing snares, loud synths, and saxophones. Many electronic music artists have also resurrected 80s synthwave back from the dead. Moreover, in the indie scene, various new artists decide to go retro for their sound, incorporating psychedelic or funky tones from the 70s. Considering how easily achievable it is for technologies these days to capture a certain era’s magic, chances are you will often encounter songs that feature a signature sound from the past in it. However, instead of hearing the sound from the past, how many times have you encounter an old song that sounds futuristic at its time? Probably not that often. Although one cannot simply predict the future, few musicians have made a song that sounds like it was made ahead of its time as if they were a musical Nostradamus.
Pigmeat Markham — Here Comes The Judge + The Trial
When we think about the origin of Hip Hop music, our mind might point to old skool Hip hop DJ and rappers from the early 80s such as Grandmaster Flash, The Sugarhill Gang, or maybe Afrika Bambaataa. It turns out, these old skool artists were not the first unit who pioneered the practice of rapping over rhythmic beats. In 1968, Pigmeat Markham; an American soul and comedy singer, recorded a satirical song that features him rapping over a funky beat, preceding the emergence of Hip hop in the early 80s through old skool artists.
The Beatles — Revolution 9
These four lads have been undergoing quite a sea changes, from playing a bar room rock ’n’ roll to turning into a folk rock band, to tripping so hard from LSD they sang about spiritual transcendence to the pluck of sitar and tambura. In 1968, The Beatles would continue their musical journey by further exploring the boundaries of musical experimentation. Their self-titled ninth record (also known widely as “The White Album”) features a bunch of songs with various genres ranging from pop to avant-garde. The 29th track titled Revolution 9 is composed of sound collages which include samples of sound effects, speeches, and musical performances fiddled around with certain audio techniques. In an era where music was dominated by either guitars or piano, Revolution 9 was an unusual musical piece that predates the rise of ambient music, drone music, and noise music.
Black Sabbath — Black Sabbath
Blues rock and psychedelic rock were the latest musical craze of the late 60s, however, there was one band who incidentally opened the gate to heavy metal music thanks to their guitarist Tony Iommi having an accident where his fingertips on right middle fingers were severed. The accident forced him to substitute his severed fingertips with plastic and downtuning his guitar strings to make them easier to be played, which in turn, generates a deeper and heavier sounding guitar. In 1970, on the first track Black Sabbath from their debut album Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath introduces the world to darker-sounding rock music and the rest is history.
Kraftwerk — Ruckzuck
Obsessed with the local experimental music and art, Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter would form an experimental rock outfit called Kraftwerk. In 1970, the band would release their first album. Being experimental in nature, the album features songs with uncommon arrangements and tones. One particular song titled Ruckzuck sounds almost like synthpop music that would eventually be booming in the 80s. The instrumentations used for the album were also atypical. Other than using guitars, drums, flute, violins, and Hammond organ, the band also used a hefty-looking proto-keytar called the “Tubon”.
The Stooges— Search and Destroy
After the lack of success from their second album Funhouse added with the band’s worsening drug problems, The Stooges would announce their breakup in 1971. However, their frontman Iggy Pop would still perform under no label in small clubs with few new members. While performing at Max’s Kansas City in New York, Iggy would eventually be approached by David Bowie. Impressed with Iggy’s stage presence, both of them became friends. In 1972, Bowie decided to produce an album with Iggy and his guitarist James Williamson. Not being able to find the desired drum and bass player, they decided to reunite The Stooges with Ron Asheton moving to bass and his brother Scott Asheton returning to drums. A year later, they finally released the album under the title Raw Power. The album features a stripped-down and grittier sound compared to The Stooges previous works. The sound of Raw Power laid the foundation of Punk rock. The first track Search and Destroy, for example, features lyrics alluding to Vietnam War accompanied by repetitive distorted riffs and fast-paced drumming in the background.
Suicide — Ghost Rider
“It was out of necessity, it was purposeful necessity, there’s no choice.” said Martin Rev in 2012 during Suicide’s interview with Noisey. Formed in New York in 1970, Suicide was composed of vocalist Alan Vega and instrumentalist Martin Rev. Unlike their proto-punk peers in the 70s, the duo favored playing with effect-plugged organ (which was eventually replaced with synthesizers) and drum machines over traditional instruments. After spending few years playing in underground clubs, the band would release their self-titled debut album in 1977. Although the reception was mixed, the album was considered to be the earliest instance of electronic-based rock music. One of the songs from the album Ghost Rider features repeating synths and soft drums played along with jittery vocals delivered yours truly by Alan Vega.
Siouxsie and the Banshees — Monitor
At the time when Post-punk music was thriving in the UK, there was an artist who managed to record an album that would inspire many 90s alternative rock artists such as Radiohead, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Departing from the electronic sound of their previous album Kaleidoscope, Siouxsie and the Banshees decided to return to guitar-driven sound in their fourth album Juju released in 1981. The album brought a spotlight to the band’s guitarist John McGeoch, whose work was praised by many musicians and critics alike. One particular track in the album Monitor would probably pass off in the airwaves of the 90s rock radio just fine.
Björk — Army of Me
Coming from the Iceland-born singer back in 1995, Björk envisioned futuristic pop music through the album Post. Evolved from her first artistic pop output on the aptly titled Debut released two years before, Post features a blend of multiple genres such as trip-hop, techno, house, IDM, and even jazz, industrial music, as well as experimental music. The lead single Army of Me is one of the most standout tracks from the album. The rumbling bassline combined with the spacey effects coming back and forth made the song feels like it could belong to any nightclub within the Cyberpunk 2077 video game.
Cher — Believe
“So sad that you’re living, takes time to believe it” Sings Cher quite robotically in her 1998 pop hit Believe. The instrumentals of the song may not sound too far from what Madonna has churned out in the same year. However, many people noticed in Believe that there was something strange with Cher’s vocals. Somehow Cher managed to hit out pitch-perfect notes throughout the song. Turns out this amusing feat was achieved with the help of a new tech called the Auto-Tune released a year before Believe was released. Before the song was about to be released, Cher’s record label initially did not green-light the usage of Auto-Tune, but she insisted them to keep it. The pitch-correcting software was shunned by many producers for years. However, a decade later many pop and even Hip Hop producers would unashamedly pick up the Auto-Tune from the shelf, making it a common occurrence in mainstream music.
M.I.A. — Sunshowers
With the help of her trusty Roland MC-505 sequencer given by Justine Frischmann of Elastica, in 2005 M.I.A. released an album that fuses pop music, EDM, and Hip hop under the title Arular. Considering that in the early 2000s, pop music was still associated with teen pop or contemporary R&B, Hip hop was just starting to diverge from gangsta and bling bling stereotype, while EDM still mostly belongs inside nightclubs. However, M.I.A. managed to take these genres to the next level. In Sunshowers, M.I.A. showcases her ability to mix EDM and world music, while adding sprinkles of sociopolitical rap verse and pop chorus on top of it.
Kanye West — Heartless
Distraught by the recent breakup with his then-fiancé, the loss of his mother, as well as distress from his meteoric stardom, in 2008 Kanye West decided to go into an unfamiliar route that would eventually be traversed by many rappers in the future to record his fourth album. The album came to fruition in November with the title 808s & Heartbreak. Reflective to its title, the album features a melancholic atmosphere and minimalist 808 focused beats with occasional synths appearing here and there. The album also saw Kanye trying his hands on singing melodic vocals through Auto-Tune, branching off from his usual rapping. The third track Heartless encapsulates all these breakthroughs. As he pours his heart out through Auto-Tune in the song, Kanye successfully merged Hip hop with melancholic pop music.
We may never know exactly what crossed these artists mind when they were recording these songs, but as long as an artist keep an open mind and try their best to be innovative, there will always be a chance for their music to inspire others in the coming years to do the same or something even more inventive.
