Most Unique Songs in the last 50 years

[CuriousMonkey]

Not feeling "Ode to Billy Joe" ... seems like another twangy story/song to me, along the lines of "Harper valley PTA" and "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia"

I'll assume that you're criteria include 'english language' and 'hit/popular' ... becuase there is a lot of obscure stuff out there that's quite unique.

My list would definitly require a nod to Devo ... probably "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA" if the requirement is "unique".

Something from The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper if we were talking about unique albums, but "Elanor Rigby" always struck me as a surprisingly unique song. Consider that the artists were HUGE at the time it was recorded & released, yet none of the fab 4 played any of the instruments on this song. Pretty unique for a successful band of accomplsihed musicians to cut a song with no members playing.

Loving You by Minnie Ripperton - c'mon, when else has a song that ... um ... special ... charted?

Stone Love by the Supremes - recorded by the Supremes after Diana left the group. pretty unique for a group to have a #1 hit after the star/diva has exited.

Last pick - War w/ Eric Burden .. spill the wine.

 

[gaz1978]

"Paradise by the Dashboard Light" is pretty unique, especially with the baseball commentary (ie. sex) in the middle...

I've also not heard many songs like "Thunder Road"...

 

[PreTTy PeTe]

God Save The Queen......... by The Sex Pistols

can't you get more unique?

 

[Ontariobear]

Probably best to limit it songs that were hits on the radio.

In no particular order:

MacArthur Park - Richard Harris
My Ding a Ling - Chuck Berry
Chick a Boom - Daddy Dewdrop
The Chipmunk Song - Dave Seville
They're Coming to Take me Away (HeHe) - Napoleon XIV

 

[wgtnstud]

"O Superman" by Laurie Anderson

"Worey Wrappinghood" by Tom Tom Club

"Walking on Thin Ice" by Yoko Ono

"Paranoimia" by The Art Of Noise

"Timber" by Cold Cut

 

[slobone]

You -- you got what I neeeed -- but you say he's just a friend --

 

[UnderUrVoodoo]

happiness is a warm gunn/the beatles

 

[okiedokie]

san franciscian nights --- eric burton & the animals. a song of the 'summer of love' 1967. a sound of that era that i can't get out of my head as a young hippie kid back then.

 

[shakeupme]

Sadeness (Part 1) - Enigma. Such a groundbreaking combination of sounds for its time.
Walk This Way - Run DMC + Aerosmith. Broke down so many barriers for rap music.
Fade to Grey - Visage. What was all that French stuff about?
The Lord's Prayer - Sister Janet Mead
Stairway to Heaven - Rolf Harris...Lep Zep on wobbleboard anyone?

 

[gaz1978]

I absolutely love Meatloaf and I can't wait to seize the chance to maybe see him live someday.

I've seen him 4 times - 1996, 1999, 2002 and 2003

The best was here in Liverpool in July 2002. I was 15ft from the stage and the atmosphere was electric.

 

[Crashdown]

Alanis Morissette - Ironic


Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence


Stevie Nicks - Edge Of Seventeen


Guns N' Roses - Don't Cry


Bon Jovi - If I Was Your Mother


Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls


Meat Loaf - I'd Do Anything For Love


Aerosmith - Living On The Edge


Snow Patrol - Set The Fire To The Third Bar


Cher - Save up All Your Tears


Rolling Stones - Love Is Strong


Billy Joel - I Go To Extremes


Bruce Springsteen - Tougher Than The Rest


Wallflowers - One Headlight


Uriah Heep - Lady In Black

 

[Jadin32]

I remember It clearly..... summer 1977, swimming in our pool and listening to the radio, I hear this thumping bass then this powerhouse voice comes bursting through the heat waves.......by a...... FEMALE!!!!!
To me 'personally' Ann Wilson (Heart)was the first chick I heard that sounded like she had balls!
I felt the same way a couple of years later when I heard Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker!
More to come........GREAT thread by the way!!!!!!

Gotta give props ALSO to Patti Smith's "Gloria" and of course Janis Joplin but i considered her more bluesy than rock!!!!!!!!

 

[Ontariobear]

Mickey - as in Toni Basil - if only I could forget it.

 

[Jadin32]

I always thought Benatar's music ordinary 70s rock, as it were, except for the uncharted "We Live For Love" which was....well, pop-opera? Her operatic roots really showed through on that one.

Heart was 70s pop-rock; very well done, but not unique, in my humble opinion, except for the song Magic Man. Magic Man was unusual, to be sure, both in vocal projection and musical arrangement.

On an unrelated note, it sometimes marvels me to realize just how little 70s rock has dated; high quality stuff doesn't date, they say. People are still listening to it...

Here's another contender--does anybody remember Micky, written and sung by that choreographer, with a cheerleader motif? It was absolutely unique.

I wasn't talking about Heart's whole music catalog but the song "Barracuda"
I can't think of any other true rock song by a female artist or artists before that tune so "to me" it makes "Barracuda" unique!
Also Nancy Wilson was playing guitar on the tune! Although you can't see that knowing it is a female rockin that guitar makes the song even more unique!

 

[Jadin32]

A couple of more unique songs are.....
Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall"
Very different song to hit the radio! The children's chorus put a unique spin on it and the man saying "If you don't eat your meat how can you have any puddin" made it symbolic!

ALSO Blondie's "Rapture"
Although the Sugarhill Gang's 'Rapper's Delight" came out in '79 It was "Rapture" in 1980 that became the first HipHop song to ever hit #1 and bring rap out of the inner-city and into suburbia.

 

[PreTTy PeTe]

Tom Robinson ------- Glad To Be Gay