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Remember when these tunes dominated the airwaves? Join us as we rewind to musical genres that once had their moment in the spotlight but have since faded into obscurity. From synthesized beats to soulful harmonies, we're diving into soundscapes that shaped entire generations before mysteriously disappearing from mainstream popularity.
Transcript
00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the musical genres or fads
00:10that have seen their public profile dampened over the years.
00:13Some may still have their fair share of fans, unlike 70s disco,
00:17but artists from these genres aren't as commonly found nowadays.
00:30Number 10. Jazz Fusion
00:33It was seen by some jazz purists as heresy, the combination of rock rhythms with electrified instrumentation and an eye for complexity.
00:52The roots of jazz fusion can be traced back to the late 60s, particularly with artists like Miles Davis and his LP's Bitches Brew,
00:59and in a silent way, Herbie Hancock and Weather Report were there too,
01:02as well as a slew of other artists that rode the jazz rock fusion train to chart success.
01:15The bubble essentially burst upon Jazz Fusion's reputation for forward-thinking progression, however,
01:20as the genre became more slick and evolved into what's now known as smooth jazz.
01:25Still, that didn't stop artists like Chuck Mangione from achieving massive crossover popularity,
01:30with fusion hits like Feel So Good.
01:43Number 9. Doo-Wop and Motown
01:45The 1950s, 60s, and 70s were halcyon periods for soulful vocal music to permeate cultural landscapes around the world.
02:06Doo-Wop was there at the beginning too, gaining early popularity in the 40s,
02:10and progressing with full band arrangements through the subsequent decades.
02:13Meanwhile, the sound of Motown advertised itself as the sound of Young America, and they weren't wrong.
02:30Doo-Wop and Motown's soul music would go on to influence countless artists,
02:34including modern chart-toppers like Bruno Mars and the much-missed Amy Winehouse.
02:38I cheated myself
02:40I cheated myself
02:40Like I knew
02:43I would
02:46However, the warm and analog sound of 60s and 70s soul doesn't show up with much authenticity these days,
02:53and this might just mean that the traditional sound made popular by artists like James Brown is ripe for a pop chart comeback.
02:59Baby, baby, baby! Baby, baby! Baby, baby baby! Baby baby...
03:03Baby, baby I got the feelin' baby
03:06I got the feelin' not
03:07I got the feelin' not
03:09I got the feelin' not
03:09I, I get the feelin' not
03:10Number 8. Shoe-Gaze
03:12Where's the hero?
03:16Oh, hi Ryan
03:22Oh, hi Ryan
03:25Shoegaze is difficult to pin down, but music fans know it when they hear it.
03:30The genre gained prominence as part of the early alternative rock music movement near
03:34the tail end of the 1980s.
03:36Shoegaze pioneers like Slow Dive, The Chameleons, and My Bloody Valentine popularized the loud,
03:42soft dynamic of the genre's volume attack.
03:55This was a genre that could be simultaneously hypnotic, beautiful, and boisterous, and
04:02shoegaze stuck out for much of the pop, metal, and rock styles of its heyday.
04:06Today, however, you're more likely to see shoegaze influence artists like Francis Alsest
04:10than the real thing.
04:11That said, The Chameleons were touring North America as recently as 2024, so maybe don't
04:16close the book on traditional shoegaze just yet.
04:18Number 7, Skiffle.
04:34Music archaeologists in the modern day are probably most familiar with the genre of skiffle via
04:38its connections to the Beatles.
04:40The Fab Four famously started out performing this type of rhythm and blues influenced folk
04:44music prior to their emergence as international pop icons.
04:48Elsewhere, the UK blues boom of the 1960s and 70s saw artists like Ireland's Roy Gallagher
05:04claiming skiffle roots prior to adopting their heavier sound.
05:07It doesn't feel unfair to label skiffle as the DNA from which classic rock and roll was
05:12born, only tempered with more traditional, vintage instrumentation.
05:15That said, contemporary skiffle artists are scarce, although die-hard fans still exist
05:20to this day.
05:21In the misty crystal glitter that wild and wind would spray, when it falls down in waters
05:27and let the water pray.
05:29Number 6, Psychedelic Folk.
05:31The term psychedelic is a huge musical umbrella that encompasses scores of interesting subgenres.
05:44Variants of psych still exist today, as do contemporary folk artists, but true psychedelic folk saw its
05:50biggest crossover successes in the 1960s and 70s.
06:04This, too, was a genre full of different sounds, from the heady progressive sounds of Comus to Donovan's pop icon status.
06:11The freak folk subgenre did rise up out of the 1990s to remind music fans of psych folk's musical heyday.
06:25While those longing for those hippie days of yore can easily find reissues today of vintage classics.
06:29That said, the Billboard hit charts don't necessarily find themselves saddled with many takes on Mellow Yellow these days.
06:36They call me Mellow Yellow, oh yeah!
06:41Number 5, Seapunk.
06:43So all these Tumblr kids and all these whatever, they'll, like, argue.
06:46They'll be like, Azealia Banks didn't invent Seapunk, she didn't invent Seapunk.
06:49And, you know, while I may not have invented it, I definitely, like, am kind of the face of Seapunk.
06:56This Tumblr-generated subculture proves that not every forgotten music trend necessarily needs to reside within the 20th century.
07:02Seapunk took off thanks to the accessibility of the internet, as well as its intrinsically electronic nature.
07:08This made it easy for homegrown, bedroom Seapunk artists to create this sort of R&B-influenced electronic dance music.
07:15Unfortunately, the internet's notoriously short attention span also meant that a new trend was almost certainly destined to rise up and take Seapunk's place.
07:31This occurred after the genre's peak years of popularity, around 2011, although Seapunk-adjacent genres like Vaporwave keep this intriguing style of music alive within the hearts of fans.
07:41Number 4, Ragtime slash Vaudeville.
07:55The ragtime years began with one dance fad and ended with another. It came in when the whole country was dancing the cakewalk.
08:04It's interesting to see how certain styles of music become phased out as the generation ages.
08:08For every seemingly evergreen artist such as the Beatles or Pink Floyd, there's genres such as ragtime and entertainment styles like vaudeville.
08:15The latter's association with problematic makeup and cultural insensitivity has severely diminished its impact with younger generations.
08:22But with African Americans segregated in the balcony, or excluded entirely from the audience, there was no such thing in mainstream vaudeville as a theater full of them.
08:32And it was that way for almost a century.
08:35Meanwhile, Ragtime's music's jaunty nature did see something of a retro appreciation back in the 1970s, but is largely ignored today.
08:42The latter can lend its thanks to the 1973 Robert Redford hit, The Sting, and its usage of Scott Joplin's The Entertainer.
08:49That said, it's been a long time since The Sting, and there doesn't seem to be much modern clamor for a ragtime renaissance.
08:56Or is there?
09:06Number 3. Italo Disco
09:08It all depends on where you look when it comes to our next musical genre, Italo Disco.
09:21This synthesized and heavily processed style of electronic dance music never really went away in Europe.
09:27That said, areas like North America saw their Italo Disco fascination pinpointed within the 1980s, which was almost certainly the genre's creative peak.
09:35This producer-driven style was fashion-focused and gaudy, performed without a shred of irony and tons of fun.
09:42Italo Disco also enjoyed a number of international smash hits, including Tarzan Boy by Baltimore or Ryan Paris' Dolce Vita.
09:49Another life before we draw in darkness. Say you never live with now. Say you gonna love me.
10:00Even members of prog rock groups like Italy's Goblin would craft Italo Disco songs to make a little cash,
10:06although stateside interest in the genre would largely wane by the 1990s.
10:10Number 2. Dubstep slash Brostep
10:27Electronic music is a fluid genre, able to be molded by any number of creative musicians into something new and exciting.
10:33And Dubstep definitely brought that excitement to its drum and bass origins, a more aggressive attack that fueled dance parties during the 2000s and beyond.
10:41Brostep would take this approach even further, with artists like Skrillex pushing boundaries with regards to intensity and rhythm.
10:47It's difficult to say whether or not these genres truly ever went away, because they've been largely internalized by modern synthwave and dark synth groups like Ghost, Carpenter Brut, and Perturbator.
11:04That said, the success of Dubstep remains a curious anomaly within the pop music sphere of influence.
11:10Number 1. Swing and Big Band
11:38It's unclear at the time of this writing whether or not we'll see another swing revival similar to the one that rode away from popularity back in the 90s.
11:53One thing's for sure, traditional swing and big band music exist within our aforementioned musical generation gap.
11:59Old school swing was hugely important to dance culture within the 1930s and 40s, and this has helped keep swing alive in schools and on the stage.
12:07Meanwhile, big band jazz evolved from this world and progressed along with jazz rock and fusion artists as the 50s gave way to the 60s and 70s.
12:25So, will we see new groups start name checking artists like Glenn Miller or Duke Ellington, preferably while doing the Lindy Hop?
12:31Perhaps we should.
12:32Are you still holding on to your pure mood CD and Gregorian chants cassettes? Do you still bust out the forbidden dance? Let us know in the comments.
12:39Are you still holding on to your pure mood CD and Gregorian chants cassettes? Do you still bust out the forbidden dance? Let us know in the comments.
12:46Are you still holding on to your pure mood CD and Gregorian chants cassettes? Do you still bust out the forbidden dance? Let us know in the comments.
12:53Are you still holding on to your pure mood CD and Gregorian chants cassettes? Do you still bust out the forbidden dance? Let us know in the comments.
13:00Let us know in the comments.
13:01Let us know in the comments.
13:07Go ahead, David and Glennlan.
13:10Let us know in the comments.