10 songs that changed everything about a genre
When Linda Ronstadt was talking about the singer she learnt the most from, she surprised many people by referencing a classical musician rather than someone within her own genre. “There’s no one in her league. That’s it. Period,” she said when talking about the operatic style of Maria Callas. “I learn more… about singing rock ‘n’ roll from listening to Maria Callas records than I would from listening to pop music for a month of Sundays… She’s the greatest chick singer ever.”
Ronstadt is a great example of why it’s important for musicians to be open-minded when it comes to listening to their favourite artists. If artists simply stay within their own genre, they won’t do anything bold and will instead merely become carbon copies of those who already occupy the sound they embody.
By listening outside your genre, you will indirectly take influence from other styles and sounds and inject them into an established genre. It’s these kinds of minds that give us the unique sound that allows artists to look at music differently. Whether we are talking about hip-hop, prog rock or the indie boom, there have had to have been creative minds willing to look outside of a specific style, and implement this new view within great songs.
When we look through music history, there are plenty of great, innovative songs that changed everything about a genre. They altered how people looked at it and how they approached operating within it. These are ten great songs that completely changed the way the rest of the musical world looked at genres.
10 songs that changed everything about a genre:
Cream – ‘Sunshine of Your Love’
Frank Zappa once described prog rock as any kind of rock music which doesn’t specifically fit within the mainstream version of rock. Essentially, when music was clearly in the lane of rock, but introduced elements that made it expand beyond what was popular, it fit within the category of prog. There are a number of bands that helped develop this unique and exciting sound, but one of the very first was Cream.
It’s hard to choose a single song that Cream used to help change the way people thought about the genre of rock, as their entire sound was pretty iconic. ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ was the most popular, and it’s the song that people still seem to recognise today, so it’s worth highlighting it as a classic from this period. However, we could have chosen a number of great Cream songs.
The Beatles – ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’
Where do we even start with how much The Beatles were able to change the way people looked at music? They didn’t just make innovations within sound, but also within the way that people approached recording, releasing and embodying the music they made. However, despite a career of achievements, the way they opened up the public’s perception of psychedelic rock remains one of their greatest.
This track was arguably one of John Lennon’s crowning achievements, as it combined his experimental approach to songwriting (which he didn’t get to use enough in The Beatles) with his devotion to finding the truth and memories within his music. It showed people how psychedelic elements of music, with clear direction, could create a layered sound with atmosphere. Many bands owe a great deal to how the Beatles changed people’s perceptions of psychedelic music with this song.
Nirvana – ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’
‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ certainly wasn’t the first grunge song ever written, as grunge music had been a twinkle in the eye of many a Seattle-born musician for a while now. However, while ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ might not have been the first grunge song, it was certainly the one which skyrocketed the genre to being one of the most exciting in the mainstream.
We celebrate grunge these days as a movement that shone bright and fast. While its time in the mainstream was short-lived, you still hear elements of that iconic sound in what a lot of rock bands are making to this day. This likely wouldn’t be the case if it were not for Nirvana acting as many people’s gateway into the genre.
Bikini Kill – ‘Rebel Girl’
You’ll notice that this list is male-heavy. As is always the case when we look back at history within the music industry, we are reminded of the inequality that has always been present, as female voices, up until recently, were heavily suppressed. The truth is, women have always had a great deal to offer the music industry, but often struggled to get their work in front of the right people.
One musical movement which deviated from this unfair norm while also criticising it was the riot grrrl movement. ‘Rebel Girl’ wasn’t the first song released as a part of this movement, but it is the one that truly set the foundation for the sound. It had powerful lyrics, was packed with energy and rejected the idea of heteronormativity that was a plague on the music industry at the time.
The Beach Boys – ‘Good Vibrations’
Talk about perfectionism in music. When Brian Wilson decided to stop touring with his band and instead focus on staying in the studio and nailing the songwriting process, he gave himself permission to obsess over his craft so much that he produced pieces of work like ‘Good Vibrations’. This song didn’t just alter how people perceived psychedelic pop music, but it also changed how people perceived recording music as a whole.
This song was the first insight that people got into how much of a perfectionist Brian Wilson truly was. He referred to the track as a “pocket symphony,” and at the time, it was the most expensive pop song to record of all time. 90 hours of studio time went into the production of the song, 70 hours’ worth of tape was used for the recording, and 12 different musicians worked on the song. The song paved the way to a new style of music, but also showed how exciting it could be to be innovative within the studio as well as just with your writing.
Sugarhill Gang – ‘Rapper’s Delight’
Hip-hop was always a live experience. DJ Kool Herc, often dubbed the founder of the genre, helped develop it by looping drum breaks in songs and playing them repetitively, hence we got the term breakdancing. You would have MCs talk over this beat, who occasionally would throw rhymes together, and then the role of the MC changed so that they became the focal point of the performance.
With ‘Rapper’s Delight’, the Sugarhill Gang took this predominantly live experience and pressed it onto wax. While the song itself is often viewed as controversial in hip-hop, as some lyrics may or may not have been stolen from other MCs, the single took rap to the masses, helping to grow the genre and introduce it to people who might not have stumbled across those now-legendary live shows.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 – ‘The Message’
Staying on the topic of rap, it took a while before people realised that having music where you could say a lot in a little amount of time could be put to good use. It was Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 who were the first to use this aspect of hip-hop, as their song ‘The Message’ had a profound meaning behind it, as it highlighted societal inequality in a way that had never been done before.
Rappers heard this song and realised how impactful hip-hop could actually be. It wasn’t just party music, but it could also convey an important message. The conscious rap that we love today from the likes of Kendrick Lamar, NWA and Public Enemy wouldn’t have been created had it not been for ‘The Message’.
Black Sabbath – ‘Paranoid’
Before Black Sabbath, no music existed that was a better reflection of the time and place where the band lived. Ozzy Osbourne and Co were growing up in a post-war Birmingham. There were very few prospects, and people everywhere were struggling to get by. Both frustration, anger and depression were injected into Black Sabbath’s sound, and the creation was something incredibly special.
While ‘Paranoid’ featured on their second album, it was the most popular song the band released and remains one of their most recognisable. The world was opened up to this gloomy sound, and heavy metal was born as a result. It’s no accident that ‘Paranoid’ was the last song the band played at their farewell show, as it’s the one that remains the most important to them and fans.
Madonna – ‘Like a Prayer’
When you talk about pop music in the modern age, you are talking about a real variety of artists. Compare some of the most famous in the world, such as Charli XCX, Lady Gaga and Chappell Roan, and you have three distinct sounds that very rarely (if at all) overlap with one another.
This wasn’t always the case. The reason why genres like rock were the most popular previously was that pop was filled with one-hit wonders who had similar styles. In walks Madonna, who not only broke out of the one-hit wonder curse but also introduced a versatility to pop that made people look at it differently. The gospel and soul elements present on ‘Like a Prayer’ are a great example of this, and pop is a much more varied landscape now because of it.
Arctic Monkeys – ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’
The foundation for a band like Arctic Monkeys had been set during the Britpop movement. Acts like Oasis and Pulp showed that working-class stories and the voices of working-class people were engaging, interesting, and relatable. What Arctic Monkeys did was take these stories and make them poetic. Never before has a night out in Sheffield sounded so beautiful, and everyone got behind this new movement in music.
After that, the indie genre became one that was filled with artists trying to take something relatable and make it sound otherworldly. There were a lot of success stories, but none like Arctic Monkeys and their debut. ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’ was the breakout single from this period, which opened people’s minds to this new style of music.
