Songs with dated references

[hitmouse]

For instance:


A shower and scrub, still smell like the smoking bit in a Wetherspoon's pub



I would hate me too, if I had the same MySpace views as you

What are your favourite dated references in songs? And what's the most specifically dated reference anyone's ever made, do you reckon anyone found the time to write, record and release a song called "I am unimpressed by the performance of our current Prime Minister, Liz Truss" or similar?

 

[maomao]

 

[A380]

Back in the USSR.

 

[JimW]

Videos and radio stars

 

[brogdale]

 

[Joe Chi Min]

Anything by KRS-One cos he was seemingly obsessed with dates and telling us the year

 

[Pickman's model]

We're going to party like it's 1999

 

[Pickman's model]

1959

1969

1977

1981

 

[Yossarian]

"I'm in the phone booth, it's the one across the hall"

 

[Spandex]

Beyoncé:

Got me looking so crazy right now (your touch)
Got me hoping you'll page me right now

 

[Pickman's model]

 

[mojo pixy]

Literally anything by George Formby

 

[Spandex]

Pocket calculators are still around. They're such a mundane commonplace thing it'd be weird to write a song about one in 2023, but ask any schoolkid today and they'd know what it is and how to use it (apart from the sin, cos and tan buttons, only pro-mathematicians know what they're for).

 

[DaveCinzano]

Literally anything by George Formby

Last time I checked lamp posts were still a thing

 

[mojo pixy]

I'm leaning on a lamp-post at the corner of the street
In case a certain little lady comes by
Oh me, oh my, I hope the little lady comes by
I don't know if she'll get away
She doesn't always get away
But anyhow I know that she'll try
Oh me, oh my, I hope the little lady comes by

 

[DotCommunist]

 

[maomao]

I'm leaning on a lamp-post at the corner of the street
In case a certain little lady comes by
Oh me, oh my, I hope the little lady comes by
I don't know if she'll get away
She doesn't always get away
But anyhow I know that she'll try
Oh me, oh my, I hope the little lady comes by

We still have lampposts. And ladies.

 

[maomao]

 

[Yossarian]

We still have lampposts. And ladies.

The anti-stalking laws might be a little stronger though

At eight o'clock a girl she wakes, at five past eight a bath she takes
At ten past eight my ladder breaks, when I'm cleaning windows

 

[maomao]

The anti-stalking laws might be a little stronger though

Hadn't read that far

 

[skyscraper101]

For instance:


A shower and scrub, still smell like the smoking bit in a Wetherspoon's pub

The Rakes have form for dated references. Even back in 2005 I thought "22 grand job, In the city it's alright..." sounded like a fairly duff deal. Given current inflationary pressures, it seems laughable.

 

[Yossarian]

Hadn't read that far

Those lines were from a different song - apparently there was no escape from George Formby in those troubled times, women who managed to dodge his vigil at the lamppost at the end of the street would find him leering through their windows later on.

 

[mojo pixy]

Yes it isn't the continuing existence of lampposts, window cleaners or women that dates the songs, it's more the loitering, sex pesting and blatant sexism. Fanlight Fanny the old lush who looks 16 but gives you your money's worth, accidentally ending up in a young lady's bedroom looking for Auntie Maggie's Remedy, not to mention using a tin hat as a toilet up the maginot line. And the less said about the Hindoo Howdoo Hoodoo Yoodoo Man the better tbh

 

[Pickman's model]

Yes it isn't the continuing existence of lampposts, window cleaners or women that dates the songs, it's more the loitering, sex pesting and blatant sexism. Fanlight Fanny the old lush who looks 16 but gives you your money's worth, accidentally ending up in a young lady's bedroom looking for Auntie Maggie's Remedy, not to mention using a tin hat as a toilet up the maginot line. And the less said about the Hindoo Howdoo Hoodoo Yoodoo Man the better tbh

What about running round the fountains in trafalgar square - altho that references now long dead crims. But you're wrong about the blatant sexism dating it, it's not like there's no longer any sexism or misogyny in music, or sex pesting tho loitering may no longer be as common as once it was. The notion that now we're in the c21 these things should no longer be with us is one of the great fallacies of our time.

 

[Elpenor]

“Looking at your pager”

 

[mojo pixy]

What about running round the fountains in trafalgar square - altho that references now long dead crims. But you're wrong about the blatant sexism dating it, it's not like there's no longer any sexism or misogyny in music, or sex pesting tho loitering may no longer be as common as once it was. The notion that now we're in the c21 these things should no longer be with us is one of the great fallacies of our time.

I agree but that's not the thread, it's dated songs, and those lyrics make those songs sound dated because whether or not men still harass women in the street, it would be a surprise to hear a performer being applauded for singing humorously about it.

 

[RedRedRose]

Opening line...
"The year is 1991, seems that freedom's dead and gone"

 

[Mattym]

You won't find us on Alta Vista...
Let's..push...things...forward....

 

[mojo pixy]

I think 'Winds of Change' by Scorpions rings weirdly hollow given the way those winds have blown and are blowing .. and 'Right Here, Right Now' by Jesus Jones sounds all kinds of wrong now. A lot of 90's triumphalism sounds really cringe these days, 'Things Can Only Get Better" lol

 

[Pickman's model]

The clash's Spanish Bombs with it's I'm flying in on a dc10 tonight.