Random Acts of Mind by Dones

You know, I got to thinking on the ride home that there are just some songs that don’t seem like they belong in the 2000s. You know, the era of flying cars, hoverboards, laser ovens, and other cool retro-futuristic ideas. Well, I’m still waiting for my flying car, but I wanted to point out (in no particular order) some cool songs that actually *deserve* to be in the 2000s, by their Jetson-age sounds:

(Warning, not all of these songs were actually released in this century. That doesn’t stop them from belonging in this century.)

Amazing Life – Jem
Jem is truly outrageous. This song can be found on Volume 2 of the Six Feet Under soundtrack, and on a car commercial. Pretty much all of Jem’s repertoire deserves to be in the 2000s, due to her funky beats and multi-layered sound streams. Amazing Life, however, is the most futuristic of the bunch, in my opinion. (PS – Sorry for the ‘truly outrageous’ line)

Crazy – Gnarls Barkley
Maybe I’m crazy, but this song, with its minor-key old-school R&B flavor, is just futuristic enough to be in this millennium. The strings playing behind the chorus don’t make it futuristic, but the choral voices behind the verses create a haunting feel. (PS – The band’s name sucks)

Mama’s Room – Under the Influence of Giants
I heard this song on the radio for the first time tonight, and it’s the inspiration for this blog post.
A caller to the radio station said it was ‘Hall & Oates meets the Bee Gees’. That’s not too far off, I suppose, but they add enough cool futuristic keyboard counter-melody in the disco-esque chorus to deserve to be listened to in 2006. (PS – The band’s name sucks. Is this a pattern?)

Special – Garbage
Yeah, it came out in 1998. And this driving tune has a much more modern, solid sound than most releases in the past 6 years. The bass line, the harmonies…yeah. (PS – The band name doesn’t suck, but it is misleading)

Get Him Back – Fiona Apple
Listen for the organ in the chorus, as well as the weird echos. As usual, Fiona’s weird. But didn’t you expect music to be weird in the 2000s??

I’m Alive – Electric Light Orchestra
Not the oldest song on the list, it’s easily the most futuristic-sounding. A lot of ELO songs have this feel, but the intro on this one (from the opening of the film ‘Xanadu’) and the closing aircraft-like noises make it about as futuristic as you can get. (PS – The band name is awesome, and fittingly retro-futuristic.)

Reflections – Diana Ross & the Supremes
The weird electronic alien hiccups in this 1967 hit qualify it for the 21st century. The first time I heard this song, I thought someone on the oldies station was screwing with me.

Tomorrow Never Knows – The Beatles
Sure, it’s psychadelic, but to me, this song has always evoked the kind of nightmare one of those Morlocks from “The Time Machine” would have. That’s why this song made the list, beating out the intentionally retro-futuristic In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus) by Zager and Evans, which is more evocative of H.G. Wells writing a song about a Morlock’s nightmare. (PS – In case you didn’t catch it, the band’s name is a play on words. Just thought I’d point that out.)

7 – Prince & the New Power Generation
Layered, ethnic instruments accompany Prince’s weirdo neo-postmodern prophetic lyrics. If this had been released yesterday, it’d be a hit. Or it should be.

Desert Rose – Sting
Another multi-layered song with a world-music coloring and driving beat rounds out this list. There are more, and this is by no means a top ten list (a couple would fall off in that instance, and there’d be a lot of ties). Sting just rocks, and this song shows him at his catchy, universal appeal-seeking best. This song also helped usher in the current millennium, and for better or worse, likely indicates what the music of the future will sound like.

Feel free to dispute, but I’d prefer if you would add your own songs that belong on this list. And props to cade for getting me in the song list mindset that brought this to fruition.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 28th, 2006 at 5:43 pm and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.