Is there any such thing as music that doesn't date?

[Barking Spiders]

I only mean music made to be consumed rather than ethnic folk music that's passed down from generation to generation.  Listening to some Planet Rock recently it dawned on me that the rock of my generation, X, is now lumped together with the rock of the boomers that some of us GenXers used to be a bit sniffy about, especially hair metal, prog and stadium AOR. In the ears of Millennials there's no distinction between boomers and GenXers. And TBH the big rock sounds of the 90s do sound of their time as does most of the music I like, even hip hop (aka dad rap) and dance (house, trance, techno etc). There's a big difference between the styles and sound of the second wave of the 90s (Public Enemy, NWA etc) and contemporary rap.  90s rock was typified by chunky riffing in drop D and limited soloing while 80s stuff was pretty much all about high speed widdling. These sounds don't seem to register with most Millennials, judging from stats from Spotify, Billboard etc. As for electronica/dance, yeah much of it does sound dated thanks to changes in tech although the more experimental acts were always way out there or ahead of the game and never part of any scene so don't sound they belong to any era. Other than these guys, from The Young Gods to the likes of Autechre and Aphex Twin I can't really think of anyone who doesn't sound dated. So, being OBJECTIVE can anyone think of anyone who's never sounded like they belong to the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s or noughties?

[neepheid]

Maybe a bit too song specific but I don't think that "Tomorrow Never Knows" by the Beatles has dated.  I am of the belief that they basically invented The Chemical Brothers.  I don't think that "Tomorrow Never Knows" would have sounded out of place on the "Dig Your Own Hole" album, save for the slightly low-fi production values (particularly in the percussion) compared to the shiny, precise nature of today's sound sensibilities.

 

If things go round in predictable cycles, then 60s > 90s > 20s so it's time for this sound again this decade.

[chris_b]

Everything in a culture evolves. If it doesn't something is seriously wrong.

[tegs07]

As you have mentioned music that leant too heavily on tech or techniques of the time age badly IMO. I love Prince but his stuff sounds old. The Stooges on the other hand don’t sound like they were around 50 odd years ago. Some artists just continue to attract new audiences even after they are long dead. 

Edited October 18, 2021 by tegs07

[super al]

Bruno Mars...what era is he from? I'll hear a tune of his for the 1st time on the radio and in my mind I'm saying "it's 80s/70s/ a Police tune but I've not heard it before" 

Throws me every time. Hate him 🤣

 

 

[Paul S]

Difficult to be objective about something that is purely subjective, I'd say.  For me the AWB 'Pick Up The Pieces' sounds as fresh now as it did 37 years ago.  Black Sabbath's first album still sends shivers down my spine.  But quite possibly Young People would find them terribly dated.  I don't know, I don't consort with any.

[tegs07]

22 minutes ago, Paul S said:

Difficult to be objective about something that is purely subjective, I'd say.  For me the AWB 'Pick Up The Pieces' sounds as fresh now as it did 37 years ago.  Black Sabbath's first album still sends shivers down my spine.  But quite possibly Young People would find them terribly dated.  I don't know, I don't consort with any.

My teenage kids are getting into Sabbath and loads of other stuff I was discovering at their age. Great music is like a fine wine. It just matures with age!

[Soledad]

Three chords and the truth. Never fades, never fails.

[SteveXFR]

Black Sabbath still sound current, mostly because there are so many doom bands still trying to sound like them.

[thodrik]

8 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

Black Sabbath still sound current, mostly because there are so many doom bands still trying to sound like them.

Pretty much word for word exactly what I was going to say!

[Nail Soup]

Not exactly 'aging', but there is an effect that changes the perception of old music that cannot easily be avoided.

Take "Tomorrow Never Knows" for example. When I first heard it I thought it was brilliant. But I'd already heard a lot of later music that followed on from it.

So I could not appreciate how much better TKN it would have sounded had I heard it first.

In this vein people say something like "you can't imagine how Elvis sounded the first time we heard it"

[WinterMute]

I don't think songs date, per se, I think production techniques date massively, to the point that you can nail a production down by a snare drum sample sometimes.

 

Songs get endlessly covered, some poorly, some extremely well, but music can be adapted into almost any other style, and so can be presented in a "modern" idiom fairly easily.

 

There are some timeless productions, Sgt. Pepper, some of Joni's work, particularly Shadows and Light, Kate Bush's Hounds of Love and Sensual World era, some of the iconic metal bands best work maybe.

 

I'm sure there are timeless jazz recordings too, but I don't listen to much Jazz. B*tch*s Brew sounds like it was recorded yesterday.

Edited October 18, 2021 by WinterMute
profanity filter woes

[SteveXFR]

As a huge metal fan I'd disagree about iconic metal bands not aging (Sabbath excepted).

Metal has changed massively over its half a century life. 

There are bands like Airborne and Steel Panther who are still making that 80's metal but there's a good amount of nostalgia involved in what they do.

Even comparing 80's Metallica to modern Metallica or 80's Slayer to modern Slayer, the old stuff is better in my opinion but it does sound dated.

[WinterMute]

Production sounds dated, yes, but the songs? Some of those early metal albums were just godly, even if they sound a bit weedy by comparison with modern recordings.

 

Take a listen to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours on a good system, or Dire Straits first 2 albums, properly brilliant production and recording.

 

I think the more original an artist is the slower they date, Jeff Buckley's Grace is timeless.

Edited October 18, 2021 by WinterMute

[SteveXFR]

Definitely agree on originality dating slower. 

Albums like Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Angel Dust, Songs For The Deaf, Pretty Hate Machine and maybe Fat of The Land still sound fresh because they don't have a sound associated with a specific era. They have their own sound.

I'm sure there are similar examples in most genres.

[Doctor J]

25 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

As a huge metal fan I'd disagree about iconic metal bands not aging (Sabbath excepted).

Metal has changed massively over its half a century life. 

There are bands like Airborne and Steel Panther who are still making that 80's metal but there's a good amount of nostalgia involved in what they do.

Even comparing 80's Metallica to modern Metallica or 80's Slayer to modern Slayer, the old stuff is better in my opinion but it does sound dated.

There are more than just Sabbath. It's more the production than the songs as so much in contemporary Metal is regurgitated and rehashed. Anything with a gated snare sounds trapped in the 80's, along with the mid scooped guitars and digital chorus but the songs can seem timeless despite this. For me, Reign In Blood doesn't sound dated at all. It could come out today as it sounded in 86 and still sound fresh. Focus by Cynic is still in a spot untouched by time or other bands. Jerusalem/Dopesmoker by Sleep, massively imitated but still stands alone and sounds current. The production goes a long way to trapping something in time.
 

Mahavishu Orchestra, Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire don't sound dated to me. Aja by Steely Dan, same. Where the young 'uns are still copying, sampling, imitating or still trying to catch up, it adds life to that which they are trying to sound like.

[Dan Dare]

No such thing as "music that doesn't date". Everything is of its time. However, that and whether or not it continues to be liked are separate issues. I like Bach, but I certainly can't and wouldn't claim his music hasn't "dated".

Edited October 18, 2021 by Dan Dare

[4000]

Jon Anderson told a story that was, IIRC, essentially about some kids coming up with Yes records asking for autographs. He asked why they were listening to “this old music”. The reply was “it’s not old to us”. 
 

Ive been listening to loads of stuff over the past 18 months that’s from the late 60s and 70s and much of it doesn’t sound dated to me, because I’ve never heard it before and the production still sounds pretty fresh. Of course that may not have been the case say in the ‘80s. I struggled with early Yes production when I first heard it, early ‘80s, because then everything was all delays and reverbs and it was so dry. Now everything (well maybe not everything) that’s all delays and reverbs sounds dated, and early Yes sounds completely contemporary to me. It all goes round and round.

 

I remember hearing a live ‘60s version of My Generation in a club maybe a decade or so ago and it sounded like it could have come out the day before.  

[TheGreek]

Can I propose Bob Marley??

 

Some of the tunes still feel current/ timeless

[BreadBin]

Depeche Mode - People are People. 

As relevant now as its ever been, still sounds fresh too as does a lot of their stuff.

[SumOne]

Couldn't put a date on Brian Eno's 'music for airports'. 

 

 

[4000]

I also think one person’s “timeless” is another person’s dated. I’d have said Tangerine Dream, speaking as a fan, but my partner thinks they sound like someone playing a stylophone, so I suspect I may not be completely objective. 

[Downunderwonder]

I lament the lost art of the paragraph.

 

Pop music changes styles over the decades. Yup.

[SteveXFR]

1 hour ago, Downunderwonder said:

I lament the lost art of the paragraph.

 

Pop music changes styles over the decades. Yup.

 

Does pop music really have a definition beyond being music to appeal to the masses?

Most other genres have a specific sound but pop doesn't really have that. It can use any instruments, have lyrics about any subject, could be major or minor and could take influence from any other genre.

[Downunderwonder]

4 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

Does pop music really have a definition beyond being music to appeal to the masses?

Exactly. Milly Cyrus isn't so different to Mick Jagger.