What Was The Best Decade For Music In History?

[iamwhatiseem]

But I think we can all agree that the current crop of popular music is the worst of all.

I disagree. Yes the poppy stuff for sure, but there are some good bands out there like Alabama Shakes (well until the singer got a fat head with ego and went on her own, and hasn't done a damn thing since) Nathaniel Rateliff, even AWOL Nation. Some pretty good stuff here. We all probably agree that especially the 90s and 2000s - music stopped coming out of garages and came out of corporate board rooms... that is when music nearly died.
But in the past 10 years, there has been a small resurgence of garage bands, and they are making some good stuff..

Example...

 

[QuickHitCurepon]

For instance... The Rolling Stones. In my opinion one one of the most over-rated bands in history, virtually every song you hear today by them, and the songs people think of when thinking of the Rolling Stones - is from the 60s and 70s. After that, they produced drivel for the most part.

Voodoo Lounge from 1994 by the Stones is pretty good.

 

[mudwhistle]

These are some of the groups that gained popularity in the late 70s thru the 80s:

1. ACDC
2. Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
3. Van Halen
4. Prince
5. The Police
6. Phil Collins
7. Talking Heads
8. The Cure
9. Huey Lewis And The News
10. Hall & Oats
11. Stevie Ray Vaughan
12. Aerosmith
13. The Cars
14. David Bowie
15. Bob Seiger
16. Fleetwood Mac
17. Thompson Twins
18. Kenny Loggins
19. Tears For Fears

That's not a bad list.
Nevermind Michael Jackson.....

 

[Indeependent]

1960s For melodies and great solos.
Also the 1970s. you limited it to 1 decade.
The 1980s died by late 1985 with the Rap invasion.
I prefer melodies over slashers.

I think the greatest change was during the 80s.
Music went from something you listened to on the radio to something you watched on Friday night until Saturday morning.
Music videos was essentially the hay-day for musicians.
Now that is all gone.

I remember in the late 80s that many artists were upset that DJs were not announcing the names of the songs or the groups because they didn't want people to listen to records or DVDs instead of radio.
I used to go to The Record Hunter in MidTown NYC where they sold DVDs for $6.99.

That's a bizarre claim, I was literally playing music on the radio at that time and I would NEVER have failed to announce what it was. Nobody else I knew would either. If they did they'd get corrected pretty quickly.

I can even remember an automated station in the daze of "underground FM" that would play strings of psychedelic music, but even then the bot would back-announce what it just played. It's pretty much standard procedure in radio.

I worked in Downtown NYC (Wall Street) and it was a horror finding a single; I had to hum the song to the person at the counter.
It could have been a NY phenomena; some of these DJs thought they were solely responsible for the musician's success.
These were the Top 100 radio stations.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

AWOL Nation... matbe a little electronic for our generations... but they are good...

 

[Indeependent]

These are some of the groups that gained popularity in the late 70s thru the 80s:

1. ACDC
2. Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
3. Van Halen
4. Prince
5. The Police
6. Phil Collins
7. Talking Heads
8. The Cure
9. Huey Lewis And The News
10. Hall & Oats
11. Stevie Ray Vaughan
12. Aerosmith
13. The Cars
14. David Bowie
15. Bob Seiger
16. Fleetwood Mac
17. Thompson Twins
18. Kenny Loggins
19. Tears For Fears

That's not a bad list.
Nevermind Michael Jackson.....

R.E.M.?
U2?

Most of the music became too "pop" for me to bear.

 

[Pogo]

1960s For melodies and great solos.
Also the 1970s. you limited it to 1 decade.
The 1980s died by late 1985 with the Rap invasion.
I prefer melodies over slashers.

I think the greatest change was during the 80s.
Music went from something you listened to on the radio to something you watched on Friday night until Saturday morning.
Music videos was essentially the hay-day for musicians.
Now that is all gone.

I remember in the late 80s that many artists were upset that DJs were not announcing the names of the songs or the groups because they didn't want people to listen to records or DVDs instead of radio.
I used to go to The Record Hunter in MidTown NYC where they sold DVDs for $6.99.

That's a bizarre claim, I was literally playing music on the radio at that time and I would NEVER have failed to announce what it was. Nobody else I knew would either. If they did they'd get corrected pretty quickly.

I can even remember an automated station in the daze of "underground FM" that would play strings of psychedelic music, but even then the bot would back-announce what it just played. It's pretty much standard procedure in radio.

I worked in Downtown NYC (Wall Street) and it was a horror finding a single; I had to hum the song to the person at the counter.
It could have been a NY phenomena; some of these DJs thought they were solely responsible for the musician's success.
These were the Top 100 radio stations.

A DJ who thinks the show is about him is doing everybody a disservice. The way I see it my job is to bring the music, provide the info about what it was, and get the hell out of the way. Whether you liked or didn't like my show depended on how well I chose and set up that music.

 

[mudwhistle]

1960s For melodies and great solos.
Also the 1970s. you limited it to 1 decade.
The 1980s died by late 1985 with the Rap invasion.
I prefer melodies over slashers.

I think the greatest change was during the 80s.
Music went from something you listened to on the radio to something you watched on Friday night until Saturday morning.
Music videos was essentially the hay-day for musicians.
Now that is all gone.

I remember in the late 80s that many artists were upset that DJs were not announcing the names of the songs or the groups because they didn't want people to listen to records or DVDs instead of radio.
I used to go to The Record Hunter in MidTown NYC where they sold DVDs for $6.99.

That's a bizarre claim, I was literally playing music on the radio at that time and I would NEVER have failed to announce what it was. Nobody else I knew would either. If they did they'd get corrected pretty quickly.

I can even remember an automated station in the daze of "underground FM" that would play strings of psychedelic music, but even then the bot would back-announce what it just played. It's pretty much standard procedure in radio.

I worked in Downtown NYC (Wall Street) and it was a horror finding a single; I had to hum the song to the person at the counter.
It could have been a NY phenomena; some of these DJs thought they were solely responsible for the musician's success.
These were the Top 100 radio stations.

Now with YouTube you can figure out a song just by remembering some of the words.
Back then....good luck.

 

[Indeependent]

1960s For melodies and great solos.
Also the 1970s. you limited it to 1 decade.
The 1980s died by late 1985 with the Rap invasion.
I prefer melodies over slashers.

I think the greatest change was during the 80s.
Music went from something you listened to on the radio to something you watched on Friday night until Saturday morning.
Music videos was essentially the hay-day for musicians.
Now that is all gone.

I remember in the late 80s that many artists were upset that DJs were not announcing the names of the songs or the groups because they didn't want people to listen to records or DVDs instead of radio.
I used to go to The Record Hunter in MidTown NYC where they sold DVDs for $6.99.

That's a bizarre claim, I was literally playing music on the radio at that time and I would NEVER have failed to announce what it was. Nobody else I knew would either. If they did they'd get corrected pretty quickly.

I can even remember an automated station in the daze of "underground FM" that would play strings of psychedelic music, but even then the bot would back-announce what it just played. It's pretty much standard procedure in radio.

I worked in Downtown NYC (Wall Street) and it was a horror finding a single; I had to hum the song to the person at the counter.
It could have been a NY phenomena; some of these DJs thought they were solely responsible for the musician's success.
These were the Top 100 radio stations.

A DJ who thinks the show is about him is doing everybody a disservice. The way I see it my job is to bring the music, provide the info about what it was, and get the hell out of the way. Whether you liked or didn't like my show depended on how well I chose and set up that music.

I believe you are shocked about the egos of some of the big city DJs; I met a DJ once and he said his contract with a NYS station ruled almost every minute of his day.

 

[Pogo]

These are some of the groups that gained popularity in the late 70s thru the 80s:

1. ACDC
2. Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
3. Van Halen
4. Prince
5. The Police
6. Phil Collins
7. Talking Heads
8. The Cure
9. Huey Lewis And The News
10. Hall & Oats
11. Stevie Ray Vaughan
12. Aerosmith
13. The Cars
14. David Bowie
15. Bob Seiger
16. Fleetwood Mac
17. Thompson Twins
18. Kenny Loggins
19. Tears For Fears

That's not a bad list.
Nevermind Michael Jackson.....

That's a very NARROW list.
I'm not seeing Pat Metheny there. I'm not seeing Fela Kuti. Bob Marley. Weather Report.
Not even seeing Kate Bush.

And by the way by the late '70s Fleetwood Mac was already a decade old. And Bowie, I saw him on a tour in 1972, he was already "big" then.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

For instance... The Rolling Stones. In my opinion one one of the most over-rated bands in history, virtually every song you hear today by them, and the songs people think of when thinking of the Rolling Stones - is from the 60s and 70s. After that, they produced drivel for the most part.

Voodoo Lounge from 1994 by the Stones is pretty good.

Nothing they did compares to Some Girls. Super original, nothing liked it existed then. Every song was good. Tattoo You is a distant second I think, but Voodoo Lounge is not original. And what the hell was up with "The Worst"... wanted to do a Hank Williams song??

 

[Pogo]

1960s For melodies and great solos.
Also the 1970s. you limited it to 1 decade.
The 1980s died by late 1985 with the Rap invasion.
I prefer melodies over slashers.

I think the greatest change was during the 80s.
Music went from something you listened to on the radio to something you watched on Friday night until Saturday morning.
Music videos was essentially the hay-day for musicians.
Now that is all gone.

I remember in the late 80s that many artists were upset that DJs were not announcing the names of the songs or the groups because they didn't want people to listen to records or DVDs instead of radio.
I used to go to The Record Hunter in MidTown NYC where they sold DVDs for $6.99.

That's a bizarre claim, I was literally playing music on the radio at that time and I would NEVER have failed to announce what it was. Nobody else I knew would either. If they did they'd get corrected pretty quickly.

I can even remember an automated station in the daze of "underground FM" that would play strings of psychedelic music, but even then the bot would back-announce what it just played. It's pretty much standard procedure in radio.

I worked in Downtown NYC (Wall Street) and it was a horror finding a single; I had to hum the song to the person at the counter.
It could have been a NY phenomena; some of these DJs thought they were solely responsible for the musician's success.
These were the Top 100 radio stations.

A DJ who thinks the show is about him is doing everybody a disservice. The way I see it my job is to bring the music, provide the info about what it was, and get the hell out of the way. Whether you liked or didn't like my show depended on how well I chose and set up that music.

I believe you are shocked about the egos of some of the big city DJs; I met a DJ once and he said his contract with a NYS station ruled almost every minute of his day.

I am routinely shocked by the big egos of anybody.

 

[Indeependent]

1960s For melodies and great solos.
Also the 1970s. you limited it to 1 decade.
The 1980s died by late 1985 with the Rap invasion.
I prefer melodies over slashers.

I think the greatest change was during the 80s.
Music went from something you listened to on the radio to something you watched on Friday night until Saturday morning.
Music videos was essentially the hay-day for musicians.
Now that is all gone.

I remember in the late 80s that many artists were upset that DJs were not announcing the names of the songs or the groups because they didn't want people to listen to records or DVDs instead of radio.
I used to go to The Record Hunter in MidTown NYC where they sold DVDs for $6.99.

That's a bizarre claim, I was literally playing music on the radio at that time and I would NEVER have failed to announce what it was. Nobody else I knew would either. If they did they'd get corrected pretty quickly.

I can even remember an automated station in the daze of "underground FM" that would play strings of psychedelic music, but even then the bot would back-announce what it just played. It's pretty much standard procedure in radio.

I worked in Downtown NYC (Wall Street) and it was a horror finding a single; I had to hum the song to the person at the counter.
It could have been a NY phenomena; some of these DJs thought they were solely responsible for the musician's success.
These were the Top 100 radio stations.

A DJ who thinks the show is about him is doing everybody a disservice. The way I see it my job is to bring the music, provide the info about what it was, and get the hell out of the way. Whether you liked or didn't like my show depended on how well I chose and set up that music.

I believe you are shocked about the egos of some of the big city DJs; I met a DJ once and he said his contract with a NYS station ruled almost every minute of his day.

I am routinely shocked by the big egos of anybody.

I'm married so I don't have an ego.

 

[toobfreak]

....but the 80s changed America.

All the best bands peaked in the latter 60s to earlier part of the 1970s.

You owuld be surprised. I was born in 1965, and I am fully aware of bands that began in the 60s somewhere... and continued to even to the 2000s - there best stuff, and what radio stations play - is what they did back then, not after.

Well, that's great, I'm glad you understand that. But still not the same as having actually SEEN and been there for and during:

• The Beatles
• The Doors
• Janis Joplin
• Jimi Hendrix
• King Crimson
• The Who
• Led Zeppelin
• Mahavishnu Orchestra
• Pink Floyd
• Iron Butterfly
• Woodstock
• Rush
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer
• Yes
• Black Sabbath

and many others.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

And BTW - this just might have been the greatest thing for music in the 20th century.... it changed everything. And opened the world to music no one knew existed, and smashed the shackles of corporate music.

 

[Indeependent]

And BTW - this just might have been the greatest thing for music in the 20th century.... it changed everything. And opened the world to music no one knew existed, and smashed the shackles of corporate music.


View attachment 462709

You just gave away your age!
200?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

....but the 80s changed America.

All the best bands peaked in the latter 60s to earlier part of the 1970s.

You owuld be surprised. I was born in 1965, and I am fully aware of bands that began in the 60s somewhere... and continued to even to the 2000s - there best stuff, and what radio stations play - is what they did back then, not after.

Well, that's great, I'm glad you understand that. But still not the same as having actually SEEN and been there for and during:

• The Beatles
• The Doors
• Janis Joplin
• Jimi Hendrix
• King Crimson
• The Who
• Led Zeppelin
• Mahavishnu Orchestra
• Pink Floyd
• Iron Butterfly
• Woodstock
• Rush
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer
• Yes

and many others.

Nevertheless... I grew up listening to them.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

And BTW - this just might have been the greatest thing for music in the 20th century.... it changed everything. And opened the world to music no one knew existed, and smashed the shackles of corporate music.


View attachment 462709

You just gave away your age!
200?

eh?

 

[Pogo]

And BTW - this just might have been the greatest thing for music in the 20th century.... it changed everything. And opened the world to music no one knew existed, and smashed the shackles of corporate music.


View attachment 462709

What even IS that?

 

[rightwinger]

40s

Just think. No TV. No videos. Just a giant radio. World in the middle of a great war.

Glenn Miller had more Number One Hits than the Beatles
Died too young