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Songs you might have heard but don't actually know


Arcana
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So here's something that a lot of people don't really realise about me: I don't really know a lot of music.

There are a lot of songs out there that people take for granted, I think - for example there are songs out there by The Who for example that are referenced in movies and other pop culture, but I don't know about - why? Because I don't consciously know what music is done by The Who.

However - if you play back the song for me there's a pretty high chance that I've heard it before and just didn't know who did it.

So I kind of wanted to ask you guys - what might these songs be? Those songs that I've heard, but don't know by name?

I've got a few to start you guys off with:

"The Dragon: Bruce Lee Story" soundtrack, heard in many movie trailers

"Rule, Britannia!", classic patriotic song for Britain:

"Hail to the Chief", the song that is played for the President of the USA.

Educate me, especially in the ways of pop music, since I am woefully ignorant of many "famous" rock songs from the 60s and 70s.

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These are songs that come up fairly frequently on classic hits/80's sorts of radio stations.

The Who:

Pinball Wizard

Blondie:

Peter Gabriel:

Solsbury Hill

The Police:

Synchronicity II

U2:

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Cyndi Lauper:

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Queen:

Lynyrd Skynyrd:

Sweet Home Alabama

Heart:

Eurhythmics:

Sweet Dreams

Pat Benatar:

The Eagles:

Hotel California

Life in the Fast Lane

Don Henley:

Boys of Summer

Derek and the Dominos:

Bruce Springsteen:

Don McLean:

Tom Petty:

John Mellencamp:

Electric Light Orchestra:

Carly Simon:

You're So Vain

Genesis:

Misunderstanding

Berlin:

(used in Top Gun)
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You should fix "Hail to the Chief" too ;)

Sorry, fixed. Obviously I don't know these titles well, this was quite new information to me. Moseph's post was really informative, I didn't know who wrote half of those songs or when they were made until I went through his post.

A lot of people say, "WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW THE WHO??!?!!" but I'm like, "Why should I have?" Everyone plays the song, but no one tells you who it's by or when it was made. You simply hear it and everyone assumes it is common knowledge.

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Everyone plays the song, but no one tells you who it's by or when it was made. You simply hear it and everyone assumes it is common knowledge.

Yep, this is me with pretty much every song. There are a ton of famous bands where I have no idea what they sound like, until I learn that they've made some song that I've heard 100 times before, and then suddenly I can recognize them in all their other songs.

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Instrumentals can be hard to track down for the casual listener. However, for songs, I highly recommend googling the lyrics to discover the band and see if any of the rest of their stuff is good. I've found a trove of highly enjoyable music that way, some of which was from bands labeled one-hit wonders or otherwise neglected by modern radio.

I understand that a lot of adults - adults who dig "classic" rock, no less - haven't heard albums like Who's Next, Aqualung, or Led Zeppelin (IV), but it still makes me sigh. At the FM radio format more than anything, I suppose.

Don McLean:

Aw, Moseph...

(It's also known as Teenage Wasteland, by the way)

By those ignorant of its title.

A few without lyrics. [Does yodeling preclude the title of instrumental?]

The Alan Parsons Project - Sirius

(the first four minutes)

Focus - Hocus Pocus

Rush - YYZ

The Ventures - Walk, Don't Run

Dick Dale And The Del-Tones - Miserlou

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