Best Decade(s) For Music…?

Which decade(s) had the best music…?


  • Total voters
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[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHWcvHYDmkY&feature=related]Andy Williams - Can't Take My Eyes Off You (Singing, Live! Year 1967) - YouTube[/ame]
 
The jazz, blues, rag and swing music of the 20s 30s and 40s are the building blocks for virtually all the music that has been written and sold since.

yep...


eta... 'cept that Jimi Hendrix musta come from another planet...

Almost all of Hendrix's work is based upon the blues scale.

But I def. agree he came from another planet-he just took everything already done-and completely flipped it on it's head. Nobody's revolutionized how the guitar played since Hendrix, and since Eddie Van Halen-I don't think anybody's really changed the game at all on a significant level.
Hendrix seen Guitar Slim perform and was impressed with his antics on stage....for a 50's guy Slim was pretty radical.....he had a 350 ft guitar chord and would go into the crowd and sometimes out into the street.....:lol:.....had his hair dyed different colors too....

 
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I was gonna' just vote for the 60's (A no brainer right?) but since it's multiple choice, I voted for the 20's thru the 60's!

Popular music really turned to shit in the 90's.
 
The jazz, blues, rag and swing music of the 20s 30s and 40s are the building blocks for virtually all the music that has been written and sold since.

That was true for the music in subsequent decades through the 80's. But we started getting the ear splitting heavy metal in the 80's that escalated through the 90's and even invaded the purity of country music--the melody was drowned out in the noise of electric guitar, lots of drum, and major mega amps. Then we started losing melody lines altogether by the turn of the century and now it is mostly just a beat.

I wonder if musicians still hear those amazing melodies in their heads anymore? Songs like Moon River, Poor People of Paris, Autumn Leaves, Piano Man, Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White?
 
The jazz, blues, rag and swing music of the 20s 30s and 40s are the building blocks for virtually all the music that has been written and sold since.

That was true for the music in subsequent decades through the 80's. But we started getting the ear splitting heavy metal in the 80's that escalated through the 90's and even invaded the purity of country music--the melody was drowned out in the noise of electric guitar, lots of drum, and major mega amps. Then we started losing melody lines altogether by the turn of the century and now it is mostly just a beat.

I wonder if musicians still hear those amazing melodies in their heads anymore? Songs like Moon River, Poor People of Paris, Autumn Leaves, Piano Man, Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White?

-metal started in the 70's (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest being the most well known examples)

-there's a lot of melody in a lot of metal music. you may not like how loud it is, and be off-put by a lot of it's aggression, but that doesn't mean that melodies don't exist within it

-a lot of metal is derived from the blues scale, and a lot of classical influences too (yes classical music-Bach's influence is very prevalent over a lot of metal music), not to mention a lot of progressive rock influence too (King Crimson is borderline metal in itself). It's easy to see The Beatles influence upon metal if you actually listen to metal for example. Listen to The Beatles I Want You (She's So Heavy)-there's even a riff in there that wouldn't be out of place on a metal album. In fact if you were to trace metal back you'd eventually end up in the jazz/blues/swing music. You may not like metal-and hey that's fine. And I'm not saying you have to, or you're dumb if you don't like it.

But you obviously don't know that much about the genre. It's ok to be ignorant about a subject (everybody's ignorant about somethings)-but on your assessment, quite frankly-you're just wrong.
 
Best? Probably 60's, but I'd vote 60's-2000's, there's some great modern music if you know where to look.
 
The 80s, no doubt about it!
I have a great CD in my car that a dear friend made for me, with all my favorite songs from the 80s on it :)
Pat Benatar.
Heart.
ToTo.
Air Supply--so what, they are girlie girl, wth do you think I am??- ~LoL~
Def Lepperd.
Loverboy.
Survivor.
Fleetwood Mac.
I even enjoy KISS-- even tho they aren't always labeled as 80s.
Bon Jovi.
The Tubes.
GoGos.

And the one hit wonders, my fave being Don Johnson's "Heartbeat"................

But, I really like Nickelback a helluva lot right now, so they would be my second choice. About the only group I like that is called music these days~
 
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i have a feeling a lot of this is going to depend on what decade you grew up in....im sure if one of our posters is like 18 years old they will think of 60's and 70's bands like kids in my era thought of the stuff from the 30's and 40's.....
 
The jazz, blues, rag and swing music of the 20s 30s and 40s are the building blocks for virtually all the music that has been written and sold since.

That was true for the music in subsequent decades through the 80's. But we started getting the ear splitting heavy metal in the 80's that escalated through the 90's and even invaded the purity of country music--the melody was drowned out in the noise of electric guitar, lots of drum, and major mega amps. Then we started losing melody lines altogether by the turn of the century and now it is mostly just a beat.

I wonder if musicians still hear those amazing melodies in their heads anymore? Songs like Moon River, Poor People of Paris, Autumn Leaves, Piano Man, Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White?

-metal started in the 70's (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest being the most well known examples)

-there's a lot of melody in a lot of metal music. you may not like how loud it is, and be off-put by a lot of it's aggression, but that doesn't mean that melodies don't exist within it

-a lot of metal is derived from the blues scale, and a lot of classical influences too (yes classical music-Bach's influence is very prevalent over a lot of metal music), not to mention a lot of progressive rock influence too (King Crimson is borderline metal in itself). It's easy to see The Beatles influence upon metal if you actually listen to metal for example. Listen to The Beatles I Want You (She's So Heavy)-there's even a riff in there that wouldn't be out of place on a metal album. In fact if you were to trace metal back you'd eventually end up in the jazz/blues/swing music. You may not like metal-and hey that's fine. And I'm not saying you have to, or you're dumb if you don't like it.

But you obviously don't know that much about the genre. It's ok to be ignorant about a subject (everybody's ignorant about somethings)-but on your assessment, quite frankly-you're just wrong.

You're arguing points that I didn't make, so I think you are either didn't read what I wrote or just used it to express opinions that are something quite different from what I said. Whether or not a melody exists, or whatever underlying influences produced it, it is irrelevant if you can't hear it over the instrumentation. And the four to six note range in most hip hop and rap music is not conducive to much melody. Look at the poll results on this thread. Do you see many votes for the heavy metal era that became the norm instead of the exception into the 80's, 90's and beyond? Do you see many of us enamored with modern era music?

Actually it is possible that the pendulum is slowly but surely swinging back though. Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" has already achieved near classical status, and Lady Gaga's "Blaze of Glory" has also become a popular choice to be performed by many other artists. Both have strong melodies discernable above the instrumentation and they move us. That is true for all the true melodies that have been written lately and I am hoping musicians and music producers will take notice and come around.

The 60's and 70's are winning hands down in our straw poll here. Why? Because those were the decades of some of the strongest, most pleasing, most moving melodies with beautiful instrumentation that our generation has seen.
 
That was true for the music in subsequent decades through the 80's. But we started getting the ear splitting heavy metal in the 80's that escalated through the 90's and even invaded the purity of country music--the melody was drowned out in the noise of electric guitar, lots of drum, and major mega amps. Then we started losing melody lines altogether by the turn of the century and now it is mostly just a beat.

I wonder if musicians still hear those amazing melodies in their heads anymore? Songs like Moon River, Poor People of Paris, Autumn Leaves, Piano Man, Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White?

-metal started in the 70's (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest being the most well known examples)

-there's a lot of melody in a lot of metal music. you may not like how loud it is, and be off-put by a lot of it's aggression, but that doesn't mean that melodies don't exist within it

-a lot of metal is derived from the blues scale, and a lot of classical influences too (yes classical music-Bach's influence is very prevalent over a lot of metal music), not to mention a lot of progressive rock influence too (King Crimson is borderline metal in itself). It's easy to see The Beatles influence upon metal if you actually listen to metal for example. Listen to The Beatles I Want You (She's So Heavy)-there's even a riff in there that wouldn't be out of place on a metal album. In fact if you were to trace metal back you'd eventually end up in the jazz/blues/swing music. You may not like metal-and hey that's fine. And I'm not saying you have to, or you're dumb if you don't like it.

But you obviously don't know that much about the genre. It's ok to be ignorant about a subject (everybody's ignorant about somethings)-but on your assessment, quite frankly-you're just wrong.

You're arguing points that I didn't make, so I think you are either didn't read what I wrote or just used it to express opinions that are something quite different from what I said.

Whether or not a melody exists, or whatever underlying influences produced it, it is irrelevant if you can't hear it over the instrumentation. And the four to six note range in most hip hop and rap music is not conducive to much melody. Look at the poll results on this thread. Do you see many votes for the heavy metal era that became the norm instead of the exception into the 80's, 90's and beyond? Do you see many of us enamored with modern era music?

Actually it is possible that the pendulum is slowly but surely swinging back though. Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" has already achieved near classical status, and Lady Gaga's "Blaze of Glory" has also become a popular choice to be performed by many other artists. Both have strong melodies discernable above the instrumentation and they move us. That is true for all the true melodies that have been written lately and I am hoping musicians and music producers will take notice and come around.

The 60's and 70's are winning hands down in our straw poll here. Why? Because those were the decades of some of the strongest, most pleasing, most moving melodies with beautiful instrumentation that our generation has seen.

:clap2: (highlighted portion)

I believe those decades will continue to hold sway long after I am gone. Ebb and flow. The sixties and seventies were a time of angst and when angst drives a culture, the artistic results can be phenomenal.
 
-metal started in the 70's (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest being the most well known examples)

-there's a lot of melody in a lot of metal music. you may not like how loud it is, and be off-put by a lot of it's aggression, but that doesn't mean that melodies don't exist within it

-a lot of metal is derived from the blues scale, and a lot of classical influences too (yes classical music-Bach's influence is very prevalent over a lot of metal music), not to mention a lot of progressive rock influence too (King Crimson is borderline metal in itself). It's easy to see The Beatles influence upon metal if you actually listen to metal for example. Listen to The Beatles I Want You (She's So Heavy)-there's even a riff in there that wouldn't be out of place on a metal album. In fact if you were to trace metal back you'd eventually end up in the jazz/blues/swing music. You may not like metal-and hey that's fine. And I'm not saying you have to, or you're dumb if you don't like it.

But you obviously don't know that much about the genre. It's ok to be ignorant about a subject (everybody's ignorant about somethings)-but on your assessment, quite frankly-you're just wrong.

You're arguing points that I didn't make, so I think you are either didn't read what I wrote or just used it to express opinions that are something quite different from what I said.

Whether or not a melody exists, or whatever underlying influences produced it, it is irrelevant if you can't hear it over the instrumentation. And the four to six note range in most hip hop and rap music is not conducive to much melody. Look at the poll results on this thread. Do you see many votes for the heavy metal era that became the norm instead of the exception into the 80's, 90's and beyond? Do you see many of us enamored with modern era music?

Actually it is possible that the pendulum is slowly but surely swinging back though. Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" has already achieved near classical status, and Lady Gaga's "Blaze of Glory" has also become a popular choice to be performed by many other artists. Both have strong melodies discernable above the instrumentation and they move us. That is true for all the true melodies that have been written lately and I am hoping musicians and music producers will take notice and come around.

The 60's and 70's are winning hands down in our straw poll here. Why? Because those were the decades of some of the strongest, most pleasing, most moving melodies with beautiful instrumentation that our generation has seen.

:clap2: (highlighted portion)

I believe those decades will continue to hold sway long after I am gone. Ebb and flow. The sixties and seventies were a time of angst and when angst drives a culture, the artistic results can be phenomenal.

I marked the 40's and 50's as favorite decades too, though, as both produced some phenomenal melody lines, great jazz, great dance music, even if the majority of those eras were sort of one-note in the sameness of the 'feel' of it. And then there were those who stepped outside the box too such as Glenn Miller and the guitar stylings of Mason Williams. The music then had great 'personality'. I have large CD collections from both.

I am pondering, however, whether it was 'angst' that drove the music of the 60's and 70's or we just had one of those eras of creative genius that produced the timeless melodies that will stand the test of time?
 
I am pondering, however, whether it was 'angst' that drove the music of the 60's and 70's or we just had one of those eras of creative genius that produced the timeless melodies that will stand the test of time?

I know that my best work comes when I am under highly considered emotions, angst being one of them and the sixties/seventies were certainly angst driven.

Have you heard of Bert Jansch? (may he rest in peace)

Bert Jansch: a modest man with an immodest talent

He was the poster boy of the 60s folk-guitar scene whose virtuosity influenced everybody from Jimmy Page to Johnny Marr. Pete Paphides pays tribute to Bert Jansch

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkX7Q2J7k48]Bert Jansch "Black Waterside" - YouTube[/ame]

Bert Jansch: a modest man with an immodest talent | Music | The Guardian

I think it was a fair contributing factor. The modest folk musicians are the ones who seem to show this factor I can relate to but I agree with you that there are far more contributing factors as variables.

So, agree to agree ...

:)
 
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I like, or at least appreciate, most kinds of music...

never got into what folks call "metal", though...

bought the first Black Sabbath album when it first came out back in 1970...

gave it away a coupla days latter...

pretty much ignored the genre after that...

too much gratuitous guitar shredding and shrieking vocals to suit me...


I do like this, though...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1td4sgFQRgQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1td4sgFQRgQ[/ame]
 
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That was true for the music in subsequent decades through the 80's. But we started getting the ear splitting heavy metal in the 80's that escalated through the 90's and even invaded the purity of country music--the melody was drowned out in the noise of electric guitar, lots of drum, and major mega amps. Then we started losing melody lines altogether by the turn of the century and now it is mostly just a beat.

I wonder if musicians still hear those amazing melodies in their heads anymore? Songs like Moon River, Poor People of Paris, Autumn Leaves, Piano Man, Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White?

-metal started in the 70's (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest being the most well known examples)

-there's a lot of melody in a lot of metal music. you may not like how loud it is, and be off-put by a lot of it's aggression, but that doesn't mean that melodies don't exist within it

-a lot of metal is derived from the blues scale, and a lot of classical influences too (yes classical music-Bach's influence is very prevalent over a lot of metal music), not to mention a lot of progressive rock influence too (King Crimson is borderline metal in itself). It's easy to see The Beatles influence upon metal if you actually listen to metal for example. Listen to The Beatles I Want You (She's So Heavy)-there's even a riff in there that wouldn't be out of place on a metal album. In fact if you were to trace metal back you'd eventually end up in the jazz/blues/swing music. You may not like metal-and hey that's fine. And I'm not saying you have to, or you're dumb if you don't like it.

But you obviously don't know that much about the genre. It's ok to be ignorant about a subject (everybody's ignorant about somethings)-but on your assessment, quite frankly-you're just wrong.

You're arguing points that I didn't make, so I think you are either didn't read what I wrote or just used it to express opinions that are something quite different from what I said. Whether or not a melody exists, or whatever underlying influences produced it, it is irrelevant if you can't hear it over the instrumentation. And the four to six note range in most hip hop and rap music is not conducive to much melody. Look at the poll results on this thread. Do you see many votes for the heavy metal era that became the norm instead of the exception into the 80's, 90's and beyond? Do you see many of us enamored with modern era music?

Actually it is possible that the pendulum is slowly but surely swinging back though. Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" has already achieved near classical status, and Lady Gaga's "Blaze of Glory" has also become a popular choice to be performed by many other artists. Both have strong melodies discernable above the instrumentation and they move us. That is true for all the true melodies that have been written lately and I am hoping musicians and music producers will take notice and come around.

The 60's and 70's are winning hands down in our straw poll here. Why? Because those were the decades of some of the strongest, most pleasing, most moving melodies with beautiful instrumentation that our generation has seen.

I did bring up arguments you made. You claimed there was no melody in metal. I disputed that. You claimed that the 20-40's music influenced music up until the 80's, but specifically excluded metal from that. But metal is influenced by those decades as well.

Finally maybe YOU can't hear the influences-not because of the instrumentation-but maybe because, to be blunt, you're not trained to. You probably couldn't hear a song and say what key it's in- or what scale is used at different points, or figure out the time signature, etc. There's nothing wrong listening to music through ears of a non-musician, but that doesn't mean they're not there, or don't exist.

And Lady GaGa really? You really think Lady GaGa is what music should be? Sure it's catchy-but is that what music should solely be about? It's manufactured in a music studio, chopped by machines, pro-tools, studio musicians, and any hint of humans actually playing (ex: slightly being off time at random times, or any minor mistakes in music). She hires producers/professional songwriters to help her write songs, uses hundreds of tracks per song, pro-tools her voice A LOT (everyone does it somewhat-but Lady Gaga is really bad at that). In short: there's very little musical integrity in what she does.

PS-I think the 70s was the best decade. I agree that the 90's onward suck for music-with a very few exceptions.

edit: I want to make it clear I'm not saying metal is the end all/be all to music, or even modern music. I love the blues, jazz, classical music, classic rock, country etc.


But there is one thing I think we can agree on-the state of music over the last few decades is awful.
 
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-metal started in the 70's (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest being the most well known examples)

-there's a lot of melody in a lot of metal music. you may not like how loud it is, and be off-put by a lot of it's aggression, but that doesn't mean that melodies don't exist within it

-a lot of metal is derived from the blues scale, and a lot of classical influences too (yes classical music-Bach's influence is very prevalent over a lot of metal music), not to mention a lot of progressive rock influence too (King Crimson is borderline metal in itself). It's easy to see The Beatles influence upon metal if you actually listen to metal for example. Listen to The Beatles I Want You (She's So Heavy)-there's even a riff in there that wouldn't be out of place on a metal album. In fact if you were to trace metal back you'd eventually end up in the jazz/blues/swing music. You may not like metal-and hey that's fine. And I'm not saying you have to, or you're dumb if you don't like it.

But you obviously don't know that much about the genre. It's ok to be ignorant about a subject (everybody's ignorant about somethings)-but on your assessment, quite frankly-you're just wrong.

You're arguing points that I didn't make, so I think you are either didn't read what I wrote or just used it to express opinions that are something quite different from what I said. Whether or not a melody exists, or whatever underlying influences produced it, it is irrelevant if you can't hear it over the instrumentation. And the four to six note range in most hip hop and rap music is not conducive to much melody. Look at the poll results on this thread. Do you see many votes for the heavy metal era that became the norm instead of the exception into the 80's, 90's and beyond? Do you see many of us enamored with modern era music?

Actually it is possible that the pendulum is slowly but surely swinging back though. Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" has already achieved near classical status, and Lady Gaga's "Blaze of Glory" has also become a popular choice to be performed by many other artists. Both have strong melodies discernable above the instrumentation and they move us. That is true for all the true melodies that have been written lately and I am hoping musicians and music producers will take notice and come around.

The 60's and 70's are winning hands down in our straw poll here. Why? Because those were the decades of some of the strongest, most pleasing, most moving melodies with beautiful instrumentation that our generation has seen.

I did bring up arguments you made. You claimed there was no melody in metal. I disputed that. You claimed that the 20-40's music influenced music up until the 80's, but specifically excluded metal from that. But metal is influenced by those decades as well.

Finally maybe YOU can't hear the influences-not because of the instrumentation-but maybe because, to be blunt, you're not trained to. You probably couldn't hear a song and say what key it's in- or what scale is used at different points, or figure out the time signature, etc. There's nothing wrong listening to music through ears of a non-musician, but that doesn't mean they're not there, or don't exist.

And Lady GaGa really? You really think Lady GaGa is what music should be? Sure it's catchy-but is that what music should solely be about? It's manufactured in a music studio, chopped by machines, pro-tools, studio musicians, and any hint of humans actually playing (ex: slightly being off time at random times, or any minor mistakes in music). She hires producers/professional songwriters to help her write songs, uses hundreds of tracks per song, pro-tools her voice A LOT (everyone does it somewhat-but Lady Gaga is really bad at that). In short: there's very little musical integrity in what she does.

PS-I think the 70s was the best decade. I agree that the 90's onward suck for music-with a very few exceptions.

edit: I want to make it clear I'm not saying metal is the end all/be all to music, or even modern music. I love the blues, jazz, classical music, classic rock, country etc.


But there is one thing I think we can agree on-the state of music over the last few decades is awful.

Good, because I didn't subscribe to this thread to be argumentative but to discuss good music with people who appreciate it. I did NOT say, however, that the earlier 20th century music did not influence the heavy metal genre. All I said is that the heavy metal genre first obscured and then largely obliterated the melody in music, or what melody there was could not be heard and enjoyed over the instrumentation. And since the melody and vocals were made less important than the noise, that led to the modern era in which even attempt at melody is a minimalist afterthought at best in most of the stuff they're putting out there.
 
I marked the 40's and 50's as favorite decades too, though, as both produced some phenomenal melody lines, great jazz, great dance music, even if the majority of those eras were sort of one-note in the sameness of the 'feel' of it. And then there were those who stepped outside the box too such as Glenn Miller and the guitar stylings of Mason Williams. The music then had great 'personality'. I have large CD collections from both.

I am pondering, however, whether it was 'angst' that drove the music of the 60's and 70's or we just had one of those eras of creative genius that produced the timeless melodies that will stand the test of time?

well one of the things that definitely helped the development of Rock and Roll was in 1949 these 3 guys went Electric....T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters .....now the whole sound was different.....some what heavier.....
 

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