At what point does a song begin to lose its moderness?

[drummerdude25]

I think it’s super hard to pin down... sometimes production and sound quality are a big factor. And a lot of times genres that caught on in certain moments in time, it’s like they kind of reach their limit and everything kind of just “peaks” and then there are no new ideas left...

But sometimes it’s just down to a song being that good to where, no matter what it sounds like, it’s timeless... like I don’t care who you are, “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC is an immense tune. The Cure’s “Pictures of You”... incredible! I first heard that song in 2012 actually, and was blown away, despite the song being from before my time, and even in the early 2010’s, seeing how modern music now was starting to take shape... the impact was still there.

When there’s a strong, unique and recognizable voice, an emotive delivery or atmosphere, a strong tune... or, in my opinion, when an artist is doing something different that might be considered progressive, or even odd, or experimental, that sort of takes the music beyond the confines of “genre” it sort of just puts the music in a league of its own. The Police... still very interesting to listen to today. There’s lots of stuff going on with their sound that makes it hard to attribute to a genre... and they’ve got plenty of strong, emotive tunes as well.

But when you can be easily mistaken as someone else and sound like countless other bands or artists from your time and before, it’s like you aren’t really on a path where you can make a genuine, widespread impact. It can be pretty nuanced, I feel...

[Jjpayne]

Well uptown funk is not dated per say and that is funk.

I believe music much like fashion gets recycled in different ways. It disappears then comes back as either the same thing or something slightly different.

Either way, I think some music and fashions lose their meaning after getting changed up so many times. But thankfully we do have the indie scene that preserves and honors all genres of music

[pingiluv]

Depends, if it’s a popular song, might get tired of all the radio play, but regular songs? Maybe about 20 years is when they are outdated. However I think there is some songs that never age no matter what and that depends on the artist and song, maybe some agree some songs by queen or Johnny cash who are generational classics.

[hellionthesagereborn]

I don't know, its hard to say. I mean if you look at classical, that spans hundreds of years, yet disco was half a decade. So I think it depends on several factors, I think some music relies on certain sounds more then others which will make it sound dated (synthesizers for the 80s for example). I think also certain feelings occur that define a genre and also a era (80s was very up beat party anthems, as a result the nineties with grunge and goth music was a direct response and refutation of that mentality of the 80s).

So I would say certain themes are going to make something dated faster or slower then others i. e. if you keep the theme general then they tend to have more staying power as they are relatable regardless of the era. Same goes with certain musicl tropes, i. e. things that are new that get obsorbed into pop early on tend to not have staying power i. e. synthesizers pretty much defined 80s music, I'd say the current generation has "mumble rap", prior to that it was autotune. These things are more of a trend that is jumped on but will soon fade, again, they are not relatable in the long term.

Then you have those who are so out there with their music that they will probably never lose their modernness because they are just outside of that wheel house all together. So I don't think their is a specific point so much as a point where you stop relating to the music or the "gimmick" wears off and saturates the market.

[monkeynutts]

Often instrumentation, depeche mode is definitely 80’s Sythn pop, but it was very modern in its day, some of the lyrical phrasing in songs written by Combichrist is very much inspired by the old synth pop bands but the sequencers and instruments are much more technologically advanced, as a result it’s heavier, darker, the production values definitely are indicative of modern industrial electronica, so age can be shown threw the instruments that are used to record the music, also style you can get Cannibal corpse to cover girls just want have fun, it ain’t going to sound like the original, because they are a death metal band. Death metal also is quite modern.

[WindAtMyBack]

After newer songs take their place and the old ones aren't listened to as much. After the style of music changes, and the old style just sounds old. It's easy to hear old styles even if you've never heard the song before.

That's true in some types of music more than others. Like a lot of folk music has a similar sound even after decades. A lot of modern folk music would have fit right in 50 years ago and vice versa.

[TeeBar]

Usually it is the instrumentation that identifies the time period of music, like the use of organs in the 70's. When everything clicks, the music is timeless, like the sounds from the mid 60's to the mid 80's.

[DrunkAss]

I guess a simple definition is when you lose the young generation as a demographic. Myabe that's all there is to it, but I don't see "modern" as a compliment.

[SandandWaves]

Never, as long as you like it

[LukeMerchant]

Real songs are timeless and ocassionless.

[Iron_Man]

The good ones never lose it

[SlightlyEccentric]

Usually 10 years

[EaterPeter]

Once you listen something better.