What Was The Best Decade For Music In History?

[Indeependent]

1. The 50s
2. The 60s
3. The 70s
4. The 80s
5. The 90s
6. 2000-2010
7. 2010-2020
8. Classical Music

Which one of the above was the best decade/period in history for Rock & Roll, Pop Music, or just music in general.
Take into consideration innovation....originality....artistry...or ingenuity.

I believe the 80s was the greatest when it came to popular culture. The Classical period was the most influential....but the 80s changed America.

If you vote....please post at least a short comment.

I think Angelo hit it on the head the seventies creativity and original sounds separate it from the other decades. I can remember just being blown away by Fly like an eagle. I had never heard such a dramatically different sound. The eighties the record companies had to much control and limited the sound to much.

All the previous decades up until Woodstock in 1969 really set a perfect foundation for the inventiveness of the 70's . 1970 in the UK and the US was like a perfect storm with all the right ingredients that culminated in 'the gravy train' as Pink Floyd described it. Up until the end of the 60's - music was almost a passing fad until the Woodstock awakening, the British hard rock/ metal invasion - radio stations started getting flooded with requests for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf and Jefferson Airplane....the antiwar movement was huge after over a decade of the Vietnam War-- I grew up 20 minutes from KSU where the Guard shot 4 students during protests and saw it unfolding first hand, as many of us did. Then you had jazz and blues expanding after Hendrix, developing with Al Dimeola and Robin Trower all those guys. I could ramble on and on . Heart, Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan - the list goes on forever.

One of the things that helped the industry, not necessarily the artists, was the lousy contracts that forced the artists to tour and record until they collapsed.
Every suit running a record company thought they had the next "Beatles".

 

[Pogo]

Is Ray Mazarek ripping off Blood Sweat and Tears here? Manzarek at 2:56

​

I wouldn't call that a ripoff, that's just a quick "quote", if it's even intentional.

These songs are prime examples of what most people call muzak.
I have no problem with album fillers sounding alike because nobody thinks they're going to be singles.
When a composer sites at a piano for 10 hours until a catchy melody emerges, that composer should well know whether or not the melody line is original.
I have the feeling that BJ was listening to so many different types of music that he didn't realize it wasn't original.
BJ also drank like a fish.

"Muzak"?
Muzak is a copyrighted trade name. Do you know what it is? Because NONE of this sounds anything like Muzak. I suppose I could post some but would be both a waste of time and offensive. Muzak is sanitized Mantovani music beaten to a pulp until all of its edges and thus all of its felling, are obliterated. I don't hear that in ANYTHING quoted here.

That's my Top 100 curse.
I was never an album fan of either group.
I prefer less organ and horns in music.

Wasn't asking for an evaluation of either group, and I agree about the horns.... I'm saying there's a musical quote in the first video (2:56) which exactly matches the melody of the second one, and I'm asking if that's a "ripoff". The first time I ever heard "L.A. Woman" I recognized it immediately.

Ray Mazarek is considered a genius and I think he might have been mocking BS&T.
There's no way he didn't know what he was playing.
I cant stand L. A. Woman or the Doors so I never made it that far into the song; I never heard it before but it's a lovely lick, so for that lick alone I thank you.

Hm. You're reading more intention into it than I would. I hear it as a natural place to go from where he was coming from. Sarcasm is always possible in a musical quote but that usually involves some relationship between references in the two songs, which isn't present here, so I don't follow the mocking. But really anyone playing a solo needs some place to "go next" and that often lands in familiar territory, which you either stay with if the reference is intentional, or veer off from if it isn't.

Anyway what I was going for here is whether a two-bar quote could be considered a "ripoff". I wouldn't call it that, even if I do recognize the riff.

Here's another at least stylistic one-led-to-the-next series of recordings, which the reacting group has acknowledged. In 1973 the hugely talented Roy Wood (another '70s emergent not mentioned here) put this out, emulating the Spector "Wall of Sound":

​

A year later a band from Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest and put themselves on the pop map with this tune directly fashioned out of that one:

​

The melodies are not the same but the structure, very much.

 

[Indeependent]

Is Ray Mazarek ripping off Blood Sweat and Tears here? Manzarek at 2:56

​

I wouldn't call that a ripoff, that's just a quick "quote", if it's even intentional.

These songs are prime examples of what most people call muzak.
I have no problem with album fillers sounding alike because nobody thinks they're going to be singles.
When a composer sites at a piano for 10 hours until a catchy melody emerges, that composer should well know whether or not the melody line is original.
I have the feeling that BJ was listening to so many different types of music that he didn't realize it wasn't original.
BJ also drank like a fish.

"Muzak"?
Muzak is a copyrighted trade name. Do you know what it is? Because NONE of this sounds anything like Muzak. I suppose I could post some but would be both a waste of time and offensive. Muzak is sanitized Mantovani music beaten to a pulp until all of its edges and thus all of its felling, are obliterated. I don't hear that in ANYTHING quoted here.

That's my Top 100 curse.
I was never an album fan of either group.
I prefer less organ and horns in music.

Wasn't asking for an evaluation of either group, and I agree about the horns.... I'm saying there's a musical quote in the first video (2:56) which exactly matches the melody of the second one, and I'm asking if that's a "ripoff". The first time I ever heard "L.A. Woman" I recognized it immediately.

Ray Mazarek is considered a genius and I think he might have been mocking BS&T.
There's no way he didn't know what he was playing.
I cant stand L. A. Woman or the Doors so I never made it that far into the song; I never heard it before but it's a lovely lick, so for that lick alone I thank you.

Hm. You're reading more intention into it than I would. I hear it as a natural place to go from where he was coming from. Sarcasm is always possible in a musical quote but that usually involves some relationship between references in the two songs, which isn't present here, so I don't follow the mocking. But really anyone playing a solo needs some place to "go next" and that often lands in familiar territory, which you either stay with if the reference is intentional, or veer off from if it isn't.

Anyway what I was going for here is whether a two-bar quote could be considered a "ripoff". I wouldn't call it that, even if I do recognize the riff.

Here's another at least stylistic one-led-to-the-next series of recordings, which the reacting group has acknowledged. In 1973 the hugely talented Roy Wood (another '70s emergent not mentioned here) put this out, emulating the Spector "Wall of Sound":

​

A year later a band from Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest and put themselves on the pop map with this tune directly fashioned out of that one:

​

The melodies are not the same but the structure, very much.

My problem is that after 40 years of Top 100, Beatles, Stones, Monkees, Zep, KISS, Simon and Garfunkel and many others hearing perhaps 2 or 3 duplicates of a melody line, I have become spoiled.

 

[the other mike]

One of the things that helped the industry, not necessarily the artists, was the lousy contracts that forced the artists to tour and record until they collapsed.
Every suit running a record company thought they had the next "Beatles".

I bet Rush is in the Guiness book for something like most concerts performed
....I'll try to find the archive - it's online somewhere.

 

[Desperado]

Two of the most over-rated rock bands are Queen and Aerosmith
What killed radio is "I Heart Radio" took all the local bands off the radio

 

[Indeependent]

One of the things that helped the industry, not necessarily the artists, was the lousy contracts that forced the artists to tour and record until they collapsed.
Every suit running a record company thought they had the next "Beatles".

I bet Rush is in the Guiness book for something like most concerts performed
....I'll try to find the archive - it's online somewhere.

Rush...I have a few friends who are hooked on their concert performances.

 

[the other mike]

I saw a lot of concerts in the 70s and 80s...... The two I missed the most that I didn't get to see were Pink Floyd and Emerson Lake and Palmer

 

[LA RAM FAN]

1. The 50s
2. The 60s
3. The 70s
4. The 80s
5. The 90s
6. 2000-2010
7. 2010-2020
8. Classical Music

Which one of the above was the best decade/period in history for Rock & Roll, Pop Music, or just music in general.
Take into consideration innovation....originality....artistry...or ingenuity.

I believe the 80s was the greatest when it came to popular culture. The Classical period was the most influential....but the 80s changed America.

If you vote....please post at least a short comment.

I agree the 80s was the best.although the 70's gves it a run for its money and comes in a very very close second.

 

[Pogo]

I saw a lot of concerts in the 70s and 80s...... The two I missed the most that I didn't get to see were Pink Floyd and Emerson Lake and Palmer

Hate to tell you this but I saw both of those.

Pink Floyd, 1974 I believe. Dark Side had come out and suddenly hordes had "discovered" what had been there for seven years. What impressed me is that with all that, the band took the stage completely unpretentiously, simple street clothes like the audience, not at all full of themselves like, not to mention any names but imagine there's a band named after the transit system in Chicago.....

ELP was, at least once, right around the time of BS Surgery. The CD of that album was responsible for blowing the right side speaker in my car.

 

[Pogo]

One of the things that helped the industry, not necessarily the artists, was the lousy contracts that forced the artists to tour and record until they collapsed.
Every suit running a record company thought they had the next "Beatles".

I bet Rush is in the Guiness book for something like most concerts performed
....I'll try to find the archive - it's online somewhere.

Hm, I wonder. Depends on what one means by 'concert' but I once added up all the live shows the Beatles did, including Hamburg, the Cavern, everything. Whatever I came up with was in the thousands.

 

[Pogo]

Harry Dresden should be in this thread....

 

[mudwhistle]

Two of the most over-rated rock bands are Queen and Aerosmith
What killed radio is "I Heart Radio" took all the local bands off the radio

Queen wasn't overrated.
They had the best lead-guitarist in the business and Freddy Mercury was a tremendous song writer and performer.
I saw Aerosmith in Hawaii back in 77' and blew the walls off of the place.
The shit they played on the radio didn't give justice to their sound. They were better than The Stones.
The best sounding bands I ever heard in person were The Eagles, Pink Floyd, Chicago, and Neil Diamond.

 

[the other mike]

I agree the 80s was the best.although the 70's gives it a run for its money and comes in a very very close second.

Probably half of my favorite songs are from the 80's too, but
just growing up in the 70's and experiencing the music as it exploded out of nowhere...like hearing Rush on the radio in 1974 and going "What the fuck was that ?" And that was before Neil Peart came along. ..I give the edge to the 70's.

 

[evenflow1969]

1. The 50s
2. The 60s
3. The 70s
4. The 80s
5. The 90s
6. 2000-2010
7. 2010-2020
8. Classical Music

Which one of the above was the best decade/period in history for Rock & Roll, Pop Music, or just music in general.
Take into consideration innovation....originality....artistry...or ingenuity.

I believe the 80s was the greatest when it came to popular culture. The Classical period was the most influential....but the 80s changed America.

If you vote....please post at least a short comment.

I think Angelo hit it on the head the seventies creativity and original sounds separate it from the other decades. I can remember just being blown away by Fly like an eagle. I had never heard such a dramatically different sound. The eighties the record companies had to much control and limited the sound to much.

All the previous decades up until Woodstock in 1969 really set a perfect foundation for the inventiveness of the 70's . 1970 in the UK and the US was like a perfect storm with all the right ingredients that culminated in 'the gravy train' as Pink Floyd described it. Up until the end of the 60's - music was almost a passing fad until the Woodstock awakening, the British hard rock/ metal invasion - radio stations started getting flooded with requests for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf and Jefferson Airplane....the antiwar movement was huge after over a decade of the Vietnam War-- I grew up 20 minutes from KSU where the Guard shot 4 students during protests and saw it unfolding first hand, as many of us did. Then you had jazz and blues expanding after Hendrix, developing with Al Dimeola and Robin Trower all those guys. I could ramble on and on . Heart, Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan - the list goes on forever.

One of the things that helped the industry, not necessarily the artists, was the lousy contracts that forced the artists to tour and record until they collapsed.
Every suit running a record company thought they had the next "Beatles".

Ya, old interviews with the Beatles and Tommy James that was a common theme . Especially old interviews with Tommy James he spoke about not only did he not make alot of money but the head of his label was a mob boss. He did say his boss pretty much gave him full creative control.

 

[MisterBeale]

Measuring the Evolution of Contemporary Western Popular Music

Measuring the Evolution of Contemporary Western Popular Music - Scientific Reports

Popular music is a key cultural expression that has captured listeners' attention for ages. Many of the structural regularities underlying musical discourse are yet to be discovered and, accordingly, their historical evolution remains formally unknown. Here we unveil a number of patterns and...

www.nature.com

 

[the other mike]

The best sounding bands I ever heard in person were The Eagles, Pink Floyd, Chicago, and Neil Diamond.

I agree with the Eagles - saw them in 1977 with Joe Walsh.
Paul McCartney sounded great live, and Jethro Tull was amazing .....Santana also.

 

[the other mike]

Hm, I wonder. Depends on what one means by 'concert' but I once added up all the live shows the Beatles did, including Hamburg, the Cavern, everything. Whatever I came up with was in the thousands.

Playing at school dances and Toronto area church gatherings don't count ?

 

[Pogo]

1. The 50s
2. The 60s
3. The 70s
4. The 80s
5. The 90s
6. 2000-2010
7. 2010-2020
8. Classical Music

Which one of the above was the best decade/period in history for Rock & Roll, Pop Music, or just music in general.
Take into consideration innovation....originality....artistry...or ingenuity.

I believe the 80s was the greatest when it came to popular culture. The Classical period was the most influential....but the 80s changed America.

If you vote....please post at least a short comment.

I think Angelo hit it on the head the seventies creativity and original sounds separate it from the other decades. I can remember just being blown away by Fly like an eagle. I had never heard such a dramatically different sound. The eighties the record companies had to much control and limited the sound to much.

All the previous decades up until Woodstock in 1969 really set a perfect foundation for the inventiveness of the 70's . 1970 in the UK and the US was like a perfect storm with all the right ingredients that culminated in 'the gravy train' as Pink Floyd described it. Up until the end of the 60's - music was almost a passing fad until the Woodstock awakening, the British hard rock/ metal invasion - radio stations started getting flooded with requests for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf and Jefferson Airplane....the antiwar movement was huge after over a decade of the Vietnam War-- I grew up 20 minutes from KSU where the Guard shot 4 students during protests and saw it unfolding first hand, as many of us did. Then you had jazz and blues expanding after Hendrix, developing with Al Dimeola and Robin Trower all those guys. I could ramble on and on . Heart, Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan - the list goes on forever.

One of the things that helped the industry, not necessarily the artists, was the lousy contracts that forced the artists to tour and record until they collapsed.
Every suit running a record company thought they had the next "Beatles".

Ya, old interviews with the Beatles and Tommy James that was a common theme . Especially old interviews with Tommy James he spoke about not only did he not make alot of money but the head of his label was a mob boss. He did say his boss pretty much gave him full creative control.

Morris Levy?
Guess it's not coincidence that the label was called "Roulette"....

 

[Pogo]

Hm, I wonder. Depends on what one means by 'concert' but I once added up all the live shows the Beatles did, including Hamburg, the Cavern, everything. Whatever I came up with was in the thousands.

Playing at school dances and Toronto area church gatherings don't count ?

Why wouldn't they count? They're all shows.

I wanted to say the number was ten thousand. I shied away as that seems like a ton. But it might be. Have any idea how many shows the Beatles played in Hamburg, working 12-16 hours a day?

 

[MisterBeale]

Hm, I wonder. Depends on what one means by 'concert' but I once added up all the live shows the Beatles did, including Hamburg, the Cavern, everything. Whatever I came up with was in the thousands.

Playing at school dances and Toronto area church gatherings don't count ?

Why wouldn't they count? They're all shows.

I wanted to say the number was ten thousand. I shied away as that seems like a ton. But it might be. Have any idea how many shows the Beatles played in Hamburg, working 12-16 hours a day?

They weren't called the Beatles then, and Ringo wasn't with them. Doesn't count.