If you had to set the last 50 something years to music...

[Zoots]

...what would your list look like?

I was listening to Sting's Russians and that song really captures the uncertainty of the Cold War era in the 80s, with lyrics like "How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy" and "There's no such thing as a winnable war, it's a lie we don't believe anymore". What a great song! A real protest against the Reagan/Krushchev battles! So it got me thinking. I have always been a huge fan of World History and reading up about especially 20th century history fascinates me. I was wondering... what if you set the historical & cultural events and milestones of the 20th century and beyond to music of the time? Doesn't have to be all protest songs. For example, U2's The Fly would capture the cultural zeitgeist of a liberated East Germany very well. But I imagine the list would mostly consist of political/protest songs. It would be nice if the list is in fairly chronological order to see how world events unfolded thru the years. I love this stuff! I'm not gonna make a list just yet because I'm interested in seeing other people's lists.

 

[UberBeaver]

I have no opinion on the 50s. I think it was mixture of illusion and hope. I guess some Elvis.
Paint it Black would be late 60s early 70s, also Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner. Imagine, mid 70s, along with Bron Yr Aur.
Late 70s - some weird prog shit. Any will do.
Early 80s...I dunno, shit sucked in the early 80s. Maybe some Journey or something cheesy like that - no - Eddie Money "Take Me Home Tonight."
Three Days by Jane's Addiction would be the late 80s. Also Rocket Queen.
Early 90s, I guess Teen Spirit is the obvious choice, but there really wasn't much "revolution" going on back them. Mostly boredom from what i remember. Sublime, maybe?
Exit Music into Let Down for the late 90s.

I don't know.....I'd like to think on this more sometime.

 

[Zoots]

Somebody replied to my thread finally?

Beav, you rock!

 

[LemonMelon]

Early 80s...I dunno, shit sucked in the early 80s. Maybe some Journey or something cheesy like that - no - Eddie Money "Take Me Home Tonight."

Yeah, the early 80's were rather dire for popular music.

 

[Zoots]

Okay I guess the premise of this thread went over everybody's head so lemme explain... What I was really looking for was I guess really a list of protest songs or songs of the time sorted chronologically. For example...

Kent State Massacre - Ohio - CSNY
Vietnam War - Fortunate Son - CCR
Cold War - Russians - Sting, Land Of Confusion - Genesis
Present Iraq War - World Wide Suicide - Pearl Jam
........
and so on, something like that.

 

[If you shout...]

I would listen to this (and I have, more than a few times):

http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/index.php?blog=6&p=722&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#more722

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

nothing says the late 80s/early 90s like david hasselhoff's freedom

 

[beegee]

Three Days by Jane's Addiction would be the late 80s.

Except for the fact that it was released in August of 1990