{"id":553840,"date":"2026-03-22T19:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T19:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/553840\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T19:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T19:43:09","slug":"5-songs-that-marked-the-end-of-an-era-for-20th-century-rock-artists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/553840\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Songs That Marked the End of an Era for 20th-Century Rock Artists"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a new era to begin, an old one has to end. Whether on purpose or as a byproduct of innovation, the five artists below closed out a chapter with an iconic song. These tracks said goodbye to one sound and paved the way for another. These songs were both era-defining and ending for iconic rock<\/a> artists.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: 3 Folk Rock Artists From the 70s That You Need on Your Playlist]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLet It Be\u201d by The Beatles<\/p>\n

Although it was written and recorded before their breakup, this song became the final word for The Beatles. Acting as the title track to the band\u2019s final record, \u201cLet It Be\u201d was an apt ending for the band. While The Beatles weren\u2019t entering into a new leg after \u201cLet It Be,\u201d this song did help close out their tenure as a band, effectively ending that era.<\/p>\n

\u201cDreams\u201d by Fleetwood Mac<\/p>\n

Fleetwood Mac\u2019s \u201cDreams\u201d\u2014as well as Rumours as a whole\u2014defined the height of Fleetwood Mac\u2019s commercial appeal. This song acts as the backbone of this record, launching Stevie Nicks into international notoriety. After this song and the accompanying album, the band steadily became less interested in big hits and more interested in weird, innovative songwriting. This song marked the end of one mindset and opened the door for another.<\/p>\n

\u201cFake Plastic Trees\u201d by Radiohead<\/p>\n

As Radiohead\u2019s career has gone on, their music has become harder and harder to pin down. No one could accuse them of being \u201cnormal\u201d rock artists. But there was a time when the group\u2019s music had a little more commercial appeal than it grew to have. \u201cFake Plastic Trees\u201d is emblematic of a time when Radiohead was thinking of listener-friendly melodies and basic song structure.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlackstar\u201d by David Bowie<\/p>\n

David Bowie\u2019s \u201cBlackstar\u201d marked the end of an era of rock as a whole. This was Bowie\u2019s \u201cgoodbye\u201d song, released shortly before he lost his battle to cancer. With this haunting song, Bowie helped close out his final chapter. It has the perfect amount of gravitas for a message of this weight. This song marked the end of a world with Bowie and left the door open for a world without him.<\/p>\n

\u201cOhio\u201d by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young<\/p>\n

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young closed the door on hippie idealism with \u201cOhio.\u201d While they themselves were once part of the optimism of the 60s, this early 70s release laughed in the face of what they once stood for.<\/p>\n

\u201cTin soldiers and Nixon coming \/ We\u2019re finally on our own,\u201d the band sings in this song, entering a new era for not only their music but for the nation as a whole.<\/p>\n

Photo by CBS via Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a new era to begin, an old one has to end. Whether on purpose or as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341,5475],"class_list":{"0":"post-553840","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-rock-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}