3 Rock Songs That Defied the Sound of Their Era

When we look back on an era of music, it’s easy to put a blanket over it. The 80s were only upbeat, glittering pop anthems. The 70s were only hazy, rootsy rock. So forth and so on. But that obviously obscures some of the color these musical eras provided. The three rock songs below defied the expectations of their era. Revisit them for a greater notion of what these decades sounded like.

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“Black Sabbath” — Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath are largely considered the forefathers of metal music. We might not have had the language yet, but their title track is metal all day. This track introduced the heaviness of that sub-genre long before anyone else thought it to be quite as dark.

“Big black shape with eyes of fire / Tellin’ people their desire / Satan’s sittin’ there, he’s smilin’ / Watches those flames get higher and higher,” the lyrics to this proto-metal track read. It’s easy to see how subsequent bands followed Black Sabbath’s lead. A few years later, and this song would be commonplace, but when it was released, it stood singular among the sounds of rock.

“All Tomorrow’s Parties” — The Velvet Underground

Late-60s rockers were mostly into upbeat psychedelia, but The Velvet Underground were doing what they did best: innovating. “All Tomorrow’s Parties” is a post-punk vignette about Andy Warhol’s famous parties, released a decade before post-punk would come into the mainstream.

“And what costume shall the poor girl wear / To all tomorrow’s parties? / A hand-me-down dress from who knows where / To all tomorrow’s parties,” they sing in this avant-garde track. This song was nothing like anything else their fellow rockers were releasing at the time. The Velvet Underground basically saw into the future with “All Tomorrow’s Parties.”

“The Man Who Sold The World” — David Bowie

Long before fans had the language to be able to define “glam rock,” David Bowie was teasing the subgenre with “The Man Who Sold The World”. Mixing psychedelia with theatricalism, Bowie helped lay the groundwork for glam, which would pop up at the end of the 70s.

“You’re face to face / With the man who sold the world / Who knows? Not me / We never lost control,” the lyrics read. Bowie says something weighty here with an added layer of surrealism. This song had elements of its era, but it blew past any conventions put on rockers at the time.

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