Groundbreaking pieces of music (in your opinion)

[Mr No Name]

What music would you describe as "groundbreaking" music you heard and thought "wow this really breaks new ground"

I'll start with this one, I heard a piece of music on the radio a while back called - Symphony of sorrowful songs -  Gorecki

number 2 in particular, beautiful piece of music.

I then looked into more Gorecki music (he was around in the mid 20th century era) and found not much, a lot of religious hymnal music.

then I happened across this -  Henryk Górecki - Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra Op. 40

amazing, nothing like hearing something like that for the first time, struggled to get my head around it tbh

but you knew it was something special.  threw the rule book out of the window.

anyway, here is the track, feel free to post your own examples.

 

 

[mettelus]

Barring obvious ones like Bohemian Rhapsody, this one doesn't fall into "groundbreaking" as much as it does "memorable." I was in a discussion a few weeks ago and commented, "'Simple' doesn't necessarily imply 'simplistic'," and the first example that came to mind was a song I haven't heard in over  45 years!! Not sure "why" that came to mind, but it did. I had no clue who even sang it (I was 8 at the time), but it was easy to find and I remembered it verbatim... Red Sovine's "Teddy Bear." Definitely not traditional in format, and terrible background "music," but will make you stop and listen to the words, even if you only hear it one time in your life. Reminded me that years ago @garybrun had commented about retaking the vocal from "One More Day" because his voice showed the emotion of it... I think "Teddy Bear" was the reason I had strongly agreed with leaving that in.

This is not the recorded version, but I like the performance aspect and it is "close enough."

 

[Mr No Name]

12 hours ago, mettelus said:

Barring obvious ones like Bohemian Rhapsody, this one doesn't fall into "groundbreaking" as much as it does "memorable." I was in a discussion a few weeks ago and commented, "'Simple' doesn't necessarily imply 'simplistic'," and the first example that came to mind was a song I haven't heard in over  45 years!! Not sure "why" that came to mind, but it did. I had no clue who even sang it (I was 8 at the time), but it was easy to find and I remembered it verbatim... Red Sovine's "Teddy Bear." Definitely not traditional in format, and terrible background "music," but will make you stop and listen to the words, even if you only hear it one time in your life. Reminded me that years ago @garybrun had commented about retaking the vocal from "One More Day" because his voice showed the emotion of it... I think "Teddy Bear" was the reason I had strongly agreed with leaving that in.

This is not the recorded version, but I like the performance aspect and it is "close enough."

 

What a sad tale that was, I almost had to get a box of tissues to wipe my eyes.

[lɐʍdlɐʍd]

blimey where to start?

[Pragi]

Cream live- NSU

Because up to this recording of a concert there has never been a Rock bass player improvising in that way, plus a guitplayer like Clapton on fire.

Edited April 29 by Pragi

[lɐʍdlɐʍd]

ok, that's not where i would've started but fair play

[lɐʍdlɐʍd]

 

[lɐʍdlɐʍd]

 

[Notes_Norton]

“Like A Rolling Stone” - Bob Dylan. Not because of the musical content, but it broke the 3-minute limit on top 40 radio station play.

Beethoven's 3rd symphony, “Eroica” because it initiated the change from the classical era to the romantic era in symphonic music.

 

[lɐʍdlɐʍd]

6 minutes ago, Notes_Norton said:

“Like A Rolling Stone” - Bob Dylan

 

[lɐʍdlɐʍd]

28 minutes ago, Notes_Norton said:

it broke the 3-minute limit on top 40 radio station play

here's the orb "blue room" the longest chart song in the uk, ""Blue Room" is the longest single to ever appear on the UK Singles Chart, at 39 minutes and 58 seconds. It entered the listing at position 12 and peaked at number eight the next week. In Ireland, the song reached number 28, and in the United States, it peaked at number 46 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart."

 

[Leizer]

22 hours ago, Mr No Name said:

What music would you describe as "groundbreaking" music you heard and thought "wow this really breaks new ground"

I'll start with this one, I heard a piece of music on the radio a while back called - Symphony of sorrowful songs -  Gorecki

number 2 in particular, beautiful piece of music.

I then looked into more Gorecki music (he was around in the mid 20th century era) and found not much, a lot of religious hymnal music.

then I happened across this -  Henryk Górecki - Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra Op. 40

amazing, nothing like hearing something like that for the first time, struggled to get my head around it tbh

but you knew it was something special.  threw the rule book out of the window.

anyway, here is the track, feel free to post your own examples.

 

 

I have a CD of Goreckis 3rd symphony somewhere, ut haven't listened to it for a long time. Lovely piece of music! I hear inspiration from Stravinskij in the 3rd part (The Firebird - listen to it, at least the finale if you don't have much time). And the big choir composers of this century - Morten Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre - have a lot of the same timbre and soundscape as Gorecki.

[Mr No Name]

1 hour ago, Leizer said:

I have a CD of Goreckis 3rd symphony somewhere, ut haven't listened to it for a long time. Lovely piece of music! I hear inspiration from Stravinskij in the 3rd part (The Firebird - listen to it, at least the finale if you don't have much time). And the big choir composers of this century - Morten Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre - have a lot of the same timbre and soundscape as Gorecki.

Thanks for the tips, I'm not familiar with those composers, I will have a listen to them.

There is a small article I found about the Concerto for Harpsichord, apparently it was a prank. good prank.

https://culture.pl/en/work/concerto-for-harpsichord-henryk-mikolaj-gorecki

 

Yes, I believe they call "symphony of sorrowful songs" symphony number 3, it's the second movement which I am a fan of, reminded me a bit of Ralph Vaughn Williams when I heard it.

 

[Mr No Name]

and part 3

 

[JoeGBradford]

8 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

“Like A Rolling Stone” - Bob Dylan. Not because of the musical content, but it broke the 3-minute limit on top 40 radio station play.

Beethoven's 3rd symphony, “Eroica” because it initiated the change from the classical era to the romantic era in symphonic music.

 

You beat me to mentioning Beethoven's 3rd! Probably the most significant piece of music in history - certainly in the orchestral genre

One artist who I was astounded by was, the now sadly departed, Martyn Bennett. His album Grit is astonishing mixing sampling, synths and Scottish traditional music to great effect.   http://www.martynbennett.com/Album_Grit.html

[craigb]

John Cage's 4'33"!!! 😁

[Bapu]

I Want To Hold Your Hand - The Lads From Liverpool

This was the groundbreaker that setup all rock groundbreakers to come:

Hendrix - Purle Haze
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Yes - Roundabout
Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
Beck - all of Blow By Blow
et. al.

[Kurre]

I discovered this song at my cousins, probably 1963.

First time i heard a lead synth with backing guitars and uptempo style.

For me that was groundbreaking.

 

[Mr No Name]

On 4/27/2025 at 2:54 PM, pwalpwal said:

 

Great Song, definately groundbreaking.  Went to see the film recently, so good I watched it twice.

[T Boog]

William Hung, She Bangs

I believe this is the first recording that successfully combined quantized midi music with VERY pitchy vocals. 

It broke new ground by showing that you dont need talent to achieve 15 minutes of fame.  👍