Songs That Define a Generation...Or the World

I remember Jean Luc Ponty and William Orbit through the 80's and 90's, which only reminds me that I seem to exist in a parallel cultural reality from the people around me.

I am not familiar with those. Can you elaborate? Maybe a video or sound byte? Just curious.

The song and band the kicked off Gen X

I was standing on the sidewalk, had a noise in my head.
There were loudspeakers babbling, but nothing was said.
There were twenty-seven companies of female Marines.
There were presidential candidates in new Levis jeans.
It was the red, white and blue planning how to endure.
The fife, drum and bugle marching down on the poor.
God bless America, without any doubt.
And I figured it was time to get out.

Well I have to b'lieve that in between scenes, good people.
Went and got em done in the sun, good people.
Tourist information said to get on the stick.
You ain't moving 'til you're grooving with a Cubana chick.
So I hopped on a plane, I took a pill for my brain,
and I discovered I was feeling all right.
When I strolled down the Prado, people looked at me weird.
Who's that hippy, hoppy character without any beard?
Drinking juice from papayas, singing songs to the trees.
Dancing mambo on the beaches, spreading social disease.

Now the Castro convertible was changing the style,
a whole lot of action on a blockaded isle.
When along come a summons in the middle of night,
saying, "Buddy, we're about to indict."
When I went up on the stand with my hand, good people.
You've got to tell the truth in the booth, good people.
I started out with information kind of remote.
When a patriotic mother dragged me down by the throat.
"If they ask you a question, they expect a reply!"
Doesn't matter if you're fixin' to die.

Well I was lying there unconscious feeling kind of exempt.
When the judge said that silence was a sign of contempt.
He took out his gavel, banged me hard on the head.
He fined me ten years in prison, and a whole lot of bread.
It was the red, white and blue making war on the poor.
Blind mother justice, on a pile of manure.
Say your prayers and the Pledge of Allegiance every night.
And tomorrow, you'll be feeling all right.

Clearly you weren't in my parallel cultural world But that's ok. Here ya go.
Jean Luc Ponty performing Cosmic Messenger which is probably one of his first hits from the 70's (when he was big):


William Orbit is a musical arranger who created songs for a number of artists (like Madonna's Ray of Light Album), but several of them were also produced for his own albums (The Strange Cargo Series). This is Water From a Vine Leaf, probably one of his best:

There's certainly something wrong but why do I just now think of The Merry Pranksters ...

for my chunk of Gen X it would be this



born in 62, the punk movement hit in my teenage years

I was sad that Punk died after the Pixies

Great idea for a thread.

Hope it's OK for an American to list a Brit band: Wishbone Ash. (Oh boy, is my age showing!) I've listed the two videos in the wrong order here -- "Warrior" naturally bleeds into "Throw Down the Sword", but since "Sword" was the more popular song, I've put it first. Ash supposedly had twin guitars before the Allman Bros, and when the bass kicks in as a third lead... Whoa!

"There were times when I stood at death's own door,
Only hoping for an answer."





rebecca

Im 14, Modern song. Im not sure if i understand but I think the song
"Mona Lisa" By the all-american rejects suits it well
Here's another pity
And there's another chance
Try to learn a lesson
But you can't.
If we can burn a city
In futures and in past,
Without a change our lives will never last.
Cause we're going fast.

You can sit beside me when the world comes down,
If it doesn't matter then just turn around.
We don't need our bags and we can just leave town.
You can sit beside me when the world comes down.

What can we do better,
When will we know how?
A man says from a sidewalk to a crowd.
If we can change the weather,
If you wanted to yourself.
And if you can't I guess we all need help, yeah,
I need help.

You can sit beside me when the world comes down,
If it doesn't matter then just turn around.
We don't need our bags and we can just leave town.
You can sit beside me when the world comes down.

We say
And we do
All the lies
The truth
And all I need is next to me.

Yeah, we're going fast.

You can sit beside me when the world comes down,
If it doesn't matter then just turn around.
Will you be the queen? And I'll be your clown
You can sit beside me when the world comes down.
You can sit beside me when the world comes
You can sit beside me when the world comes down.