As Bob Dylan once said, the times they are a-changing. Indeed, every year culture shifts and changes. Every decade, the sounds people love evolve and become something entirely new. And that’s just what we wanted to dive into below.
We wanted to highlight three songs from back in the day that would shock music fans from the decade before. Sometimes people just aren’t prepared for what’s new. These are three one-hit wonders from the 1970s that 1960s kids weren’t ready for.
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“Autobahn” by Kraftwerk from ‘Autobahn’ (1974)
Sonically, the 1960s weren’t ready for an electronic band from Germany. But even if somehow music fans’ ears were open to such new offerings, the technology in the 1960s wasn’t up to par. The decade literally couldn’t handle Kraftwerk’s extraordinary power. But that’s what makes the German group so fun. They broke the mold. They pushed things forward. And even though the electronic group is still touring today, it’s what they did in the 1970s that made them iconic.
“The Hustle” by Van McCoy from ‘Disco Baby‘ (1975)
Oh, boy. We would love to know what the Flower Power generation would have thought about disco. Would they have been like peanut butter and jelly or more like oil and water? Can you imagine Bob Dylan doing the hustle? Can you imagine Joan Baez singing the Y.M.C.A.? What a sight! What would San Francisco have thought about this new era of sounds? Would disco dancers have flowers in their hair? We’ll never know. But either way, it’s a fun image to think about.
“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by Santa Esmeralda from ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ (1977)
When legendary songwriter Nina Simone released her version of this song on piano in the 1960s, it was met with proper dignified appreciation. The era understood the blues poet. But do we think they would have immediately taken to the over-the-top, disco-infused rendition by Santa Esmeralda? Um, well. Who knows? But it’s funny to think about. When cultures clash, it can be like two weather systems encountering each other. It can be like rain on a sunny day or a hurricane in December.
Photo by Maurice Seymour/Kraftwerk/Getty Images