A song’s production that was ahead of its time

[neel]

Songs’ production or quality that sounds like it was released years ahead rather than the year it was released.

[Au$tin]

"Making Out" by No Doubt always springs to mind when this topic comes up. It was released in 2001 as part of their Rock Steady album, and it definitely fits into the album perfectly fine, but it always felt a little quirky at the same time. Fast forward to 2009 when Lady Gaga and The Black Eyed Peas were ruling the charts with their heavily dance influenced pop tracks and suddenly "Making Out" no longer sounded so quirky, at least chorus wise. Then Ke$ha came along taking that style and doing the talk-singing thing and boom, there's the verses from "Making Out" covered.

[Daenerys]

I'm always unsure with posts like this because I always feel there was some sort of precursor which was popularized before it hit the mainstream. For instance, dubstep, and those whistle sound effects that came into popularity in the early 2010's were probably used in clubs well before pop songs incorporated them into their song structures. So, it doesn't seem that new, and also there are different countries who are popularizing sounds at different times but eventually crossover. For instance, there was a big middle eastern inspiration to music in the early 2000's in the r & b, and Hip-Hop sphere that furthered many sounds on Top 40, and the U.K. was doing dance music way before the big electronic wave really hit the US. All of those actions surely inspired what eventually came to the US.

[mkarns]

"I Feel Love" by Donna Summer was released in 1977, but many say it pioneered the electronic/synth pop and dance music of the 1980s and later.

[salt]

Jordan Knight- Give It To You

It was released in 1999, but if you told me it was a Timbaland song from the mid to late 2000s, I'd believe you.

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

Aaliyah's  last two albums

[Ling-Ling]

Sept 19, 2023 0:43:57 GMT -5 salt said:

Jordan Knight- Give It To You

It was released in 1999, but if you told me it was a Timbaland song from the mid to late 2000s, I'd believe you.

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have openly admitted they were inspired by Timbaland on that production. Not really ahead of it's time when Timbaland was making those exact sounds in the 90's and he was credited with being the inspiration.

But since we're on the topic of Timbaland, his 90's work with Aaliyah, Missy, Ginuwine, etc. sounded like nothing at the time. "One In A Million" and "Are You That Somebody?" are two standouts. They spun off a lot of imitations.

[Glass Joe]

Speaking of Ginuwine, someone said this in another thread (and it’s totally true), but Ginuwine’s “Pony” from 1996 or 1997 sounds like it’s from 2002 or 2003 or so.

[lazer]

Sept 20, 2023 8:54:10 GMT -5 Glass Joe said:

Speaking of Ginuwine, someone said this in another thread (and it’s totally true), but Ginuwine’s “Pony” from 1996 or 1997 sounds like it’s from 2002 or 2003 or so.

I would say it’s 1999-2000 at the latest.

[B-Boy]

Timbaland's productions for Aaliyah's "One In A Million" and Ginuwine's "I'll Do Anything/I'm Sorry" sound like proto-trap & B records. They still sound advanced compared to the trap & B from the last 7 -10 years.