I know, I’m always complaining about the quality of modern pop music, so you’re thinking, who does Debuchelon listen to when he’s not writing songs of his own?

Well here’s the answer. One song from each year of music history between 1960 and 1989. In each of these songs there’s some combination of words, music and beat that ticks the necessary boxes. Where it’s available, I’ve linked through to a better version than the original studio release (usually a strong live performance with a more sophisticated arrangement) otherwise click the Spotify link below. If you’re not into some of these genres just skip to the next one. You’re in the company of geniuses here.

What about 1990 and onwards you ask? It’s coming, but I’m having to reach into less well charted waters to get stuff that meets my criteria. Something fundamentally bad began to happen in the music industry in the 1980’s and by the 1990’s the symptoms were too obvious to ignore. Posers with large marketing budgets were everywhere, singing cliched lyrics to ten-a-penny tunes. And often not very well. Can’t mention names of course. I’d get trolled to death.

Click this link for the Spotify playlist and listen to the way music used to be: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/20JEv8OsEFmg9NhZHTzc2O?si=8EF7SQd3QumVs0VG5LMECQ