The New Wave of Music Reminds Me of the Old

I'm not sure if listening to music for so many years has given me a very broad music reference library in my head. Why do 4 out of 5 songs I hear on Record of the Day sound exactly like something that could have been recorded more than 20 years ago? Is it a younger group of musicians discovering music I grew up with and having it seep into their subconscious psyche?
Here are a few examples. These references came to mind within a few seconds of hearing the song:

Maybe I'm Crazy is a demo by two musicians called Mike. This could be a Nick Gilder song. He recorded Hot Child In The City. Surprised no one had a hit with that again. There was something pleasantly pop and sleazy going on in that song.

Avenue is a pop band out of the UK. They are being touted as the next boy band. Their song Last Goodbye is Rick Springfield without the 80's production and keyboards. It's actually a good song if you don't watch the video, which drags the track down. Rick Springfield had tons of energy in his live show. From the video I've seen, they do not share that same energy. The track is full of it, but the lads aren't translating that. They do pogo though.

VV Brown another Brit, wants to be the modern Ruth Brown. You can hear the influence in Crying Blood. The R&B/pop revival coming from the UK, initiated by Amy Winehouse is in full swing. This is one from left field, but even with the remixes, this song reminds me of Freddy Cannon: He of Palisades Park and Action fame. View his performance of Action on YouTube. Avenue must have been studying his moves. Action was the theme song to Where the Action Is, penned by Boyce and Hart. The show's hosts were Paul Revere and the Raiders and it took musicians to a different location each week. It's not that Crying Blood specifically sounds like one of Freddy's songs, it reminds me of all of his songs.

Both Avenue and VV are on Island Records.

A Musican can be an Actor, but An Actor Cannot be a Musician

If there is a successful actor who has made the transition to successful musician, I'd like to know who it is. I'm talking about the actor whose first career is acting. This eliminates Rick Springfield who I know a lot of people think started on General Hospital. Long before he was a doctor on that show, he had a top 40 hit with Speak To The Sky. Sure John Travolta and David Soul had hits, (Can you name them?*) so did Shelley Fabares and Leif Garrett. But did they ever have a follow up hit? Remember Eddie Murphy's My Girl Like To Party All The Time? Most people don't.

It is with great interest, that I wanted to hear Scarlet Johansson's new album which is mostly Tom Waits covers. Yesterday they previewed a few tracks on the Howard Stern show. While I only heard about a minute each of a few songs, I am stumped by it. It is over, over produced by TV On The Radio's David Andrew Sitek. Was that done to mask her vocals? The vocals sound like they were recorded at 45 and played back at 331/3, backwards.

There are many musician who have had successful film careers, but never the other way around and it looks like that spell won't be broken with Scarlet's latest.

* Let Her In and Don't Give Up On Us