3 Guitar-Led Rock Songs That Sounded Nothing Like Their Era (And Changed Everything)

You can tell one era of rock from another largely by its guitar tone. How is the integral instrument being used? Is it soft background instrumentation or flashy, in-your-face? Because the guitar is so important to rock music, it is often the tool people use to change the genre. The three guitar-led rock songs below were deeply important to the genre’s history. They all changed the course of rock, redirecting it towards new eras. Without these three tracks, key moments in rock history would have never come to fruition.

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“Purple Rain” — Prince

Prince’s “Purple Rain” is at the cross-section of many different sub-genres and rock eras. It’s very synthy, which leans 80s, but there is also some distortion that calls to mind the 90s. A large part of the guitar work’s timelessness stems from its lack of a firm foothold in either era. This song took what worked in the 80s and built a bridge to what was to come in the forthcoming decade.

While much of the 80s was characterized by clippy, melody-driven guitar work, the solo in “Purple Rain” is extended and languorous in some aspects. It wasn’t the norm for the time, which makes sense given Prince’s track record of innovating.

[RELATED: The Psychedelic Meaning Behind “Raspberry Beret” by Prince and The Revolution]

“Black Hole Sun” — Soundgarden

Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” was 90s grunge, but with a psychedelic twist. This song evoked the rock music of decades past. With that throwback feel, the band was able to give rock a lift out of the largely one-note grunge rock scene and into an alt-rock era with a little more variety.

No one else was doing anything like this Soundgarden offering back in 1994. This was more closely linked to the rock of the late 90s than to the middle of the decade. The band’s forward-thinking musicality proved not only beneficial to the group but also to rock as a whole.

“Beat It” — Michael Jackson

Eddie Van Halen famously lent his talents to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” His inclusion on this song broke genre barriers, paving the way for a rock scene that would become muddied with pop influences.

This development didn’t make every rock fan happy, but it was paramount to 80s music culture. While many (perhaps most) rockers blended pop ideas with rock tones during this era, “Beat It” was a massively influential force in this movement.

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