That's what I've been saying to myself lately whenever I switch around Sirius channels. Unlike radio stations throughout the years, the DJ would rarely say who the artist was or the name of the song. It's good to always have a name and identification of a song these days. And I've had some revelations recently:

Bruce Springsteen
"Hungry Heart"
(Does Bruce have the same thing going on with his voice ala Al Pacino?)

ZZ Top
"Tush" (I'm an 80's child and always thought Nugent performed this)
plus
"I'm bad, I'm nationwide"

Dire Straits
"Sultans of Swing"
(I'm sure I'm not alone thinking all along that this was a Dylan song)

You're not one of the people who thought Bohemian Rhapsody was recorded especially for Wayne's World, were you?

Like I said, "80's child"

I've always hated Bob Dylan's cover of All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix...

I never knew Heart did the songs:

"What about love"
"These Dreams"
"All i wanna do is make love to you"

I just figured it was some random 80's female rock band (but i don't think i'm far off as that is essentially what Heart became).

Their 70's stuff is way better.

No particular songs, but I was surprised all the songs David Bowie wrote when I got his greatest hits. ALso Hall&Oates seems to write the soundtrack of the 80s.

mh4268... Same thing here. I had no idea Bowie wrote "Changes"...

Upon digging into The Beatles catalog, I was surprised to learn how many songs I'd liked but never known were by them.

Gloria.

I never knew that was Them.

Yes you are. There's never been that level of guitar playing in a Dylan song, plus the lyrics are not intelligible and mumbled.

Being a child of the 80's is a strange reason to give for a lack of musical comprehension. Besides, if that were true, you wouldn't display the tastes that you do (instead clinging for dear life onto your Thomas Dolby LPs).

Very Superstitious - Stevie Wonder

Just found out when I went to download I Just Called...

Have you seen this version of "Superstition"? It actually aired on...gasp...MTV back when they played music other than just the latest Pop or Hip hop like they do today. This is live but I think they also shot a video with just Stevie W, Stevie Ray, and Salt 'n Pepa, but I'm not sure.


Anyway, in this youtube vid you'll see:

Stevie Wonder
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Jodi Watley
Salt 'n Pepa


<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kxAaCtv8MOY" ></embed>

That clip just made my morning! I didn't even know Stevie and Stevie Ray ever performed this song together. Very....very.....cool.

When I was a kid in the eighties, I didn't know that all of the bands that were releasing their "comeback" albums had long histories and that some of the work they were doing was totally crap compared to their early stuff. David Bowie and Mick Jagger doing "Dancing in the Streets", Stevie Wonder with "I Just Called...", Lionel Richey, The Firm, Yes (although "Owner of a Lonely Heart" doesn't really suck), Springsteen's "Born in the USA (which, don't get me wrong, is great) etc, etc, etc. Discovering all of these bands' back catalogues was a revelation

A recent example: when I first heard Mars Volta's "Francis the Mute" it sounded an awful lot like Red Hot Chilli Peppers in some stretches. Finding out that Flea and Frusciante are all over that album wasn't really a surprise.

I will include "Miracles" by Jefferson Starship, one of those ubiquitous songs of the '70s.

You didn't mention the bassist. That's Brown Mark, from Prince's former band, The Revolution.

Yeah I know. I didn't know who the bassist was when I posted that but now that you mention his name I kinda remember him. I'll be honest, his bass sounds too muddy and his playing in that vid is "meh". That's probably why I didn't remember him.

That muddy sound is probably how he got his name. Every band he ever played with always commented on the "brown mark" he left on their music.

oh I thought that was Jamiroquai

I always think The Zombie's "Tall Cool Woman" is CCR.

That's a song by The Hollies.

Well crap. But it proves my point

What did The Zombies do that's famous?

"Time Of The Season" is probably their most famous song, followed by "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No".

I always think "Eye In The Sky" by the Alan Parsons Project is Pink Floyd.

I continually confuse Creed with Pearl Jam. Then again, I think everyone does.

I always thought that that hit that Third Eye Blind had was Oasis.

No offense to anyone here, but I don't think there's ever been a time I confused one band with another. Being a big music fan/collector, and working in the music business for the last 20 odd years - I am the guy most people I know go to, to find out who does do what song and that type of thing. I can always tell when someone is more what I would term a "casual music listener" because they often do confuse one artist's sound with another - where as I tend to hear all the differences, instead of the similarities. To me, there is just no way I would confuse sub genres of music (say Brit Pop and Alt Rock for instance), while the average guy would say "sounds all the same to me".

And because of this, I would likely get a barrage of crap from my friends if I was wrong about something, too - as they always expect me to know everything. One of those "You, don't know?!" kind of deals.

But in my years of working in a music store, I've heard some good one's now and then. Two that come to mind as examples...
4 Non Blondes - "What's Up?" mistaken for Heart (Ann Wilson) or Rush (Geddy Lee).
Spin Doctors - "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" mistaken for Steve Miller Band.