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I have a boyhood friend, Norm, with whom I have shared music since we were old enough to know what we were hearing. I'm 55, and he is a couple of years older. A little while ago, I asked him what was his favorite decade of music, and then, what was his next favorite decade.
We both agreed that 1965 to 1975 was our favorite decade. We were young, but the culture started to light us on fire for music right around '65. Once we started, we kept going after everything--Stones, Beatles, Dylan, Jimi, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Joni Mihchell, etc, etc. I graduated from high school in '75, and as I went out on my own, I kinda withdrew from music for awhile, relying on that previous decade and not really investing myself in the newer music of the time. I came back as a dedicated member of the audience in the early 80's. Norm never rested.
Surprisingly, when we asked each other about our second favorite 10-year span, we both agreed that it was 2000 to 2009. I loved music in that decade!! Iron and Wine, Eels, Beck, The Decemberists, Bright Eyes, Wilco, The Shins, Drive-by-Truckers, Kathleen Edwards were all new names I found and loved during that span.
And old-timers like Steve Earle, Richard Thompson, Lucinda Williams, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Mark Knopfler and the like continued to make meaningful music. My tastes kept expanding and I still feel very excited about what is being done in popular music.
All this is quite aside from my love of hard-and-post bop jazz, and my excursions into classical music, both of which has been fulfilling.
My brother is 8 years older than me, and I will be forever grateful to him for accelerating my love of music at a critical time in my childhood. But I've noticed he shows no interest in current music, saying that it is all crap now, etc. He has entered what I call the "Museum Period" of his life. Everything he needed from music was met when he was young, or so he thinks, so he just keeps going back to those classic pieces of popular music, and the present just doesn't work for him at all.
I want to avoid that, so I keep trying out new things. Of course, like all eras, much crap is made now in all genres, but that has always been true, and will always be true. Again, I think this is a great time to be a popular music lover.
So, if you had to rate your favorite decades of popular music (as in 10-year spans), what would they be?
David
Follow Ups:
This might be cheating but, many of the bands that were great in the early 70's were still going strong in the late 70's... The Who, Stones, Steely Dan, Led, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, Pink Floyd, Springsteen, Bowie, Stevie Wonder,Fleetwood Mac etc...
In the mid 70's R&B faded into disco land but there were lots of good new bands like:
Dire Straits, Talking Heads, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Rush, Queen, ACDC, Elvis Costello, Michael Jackson, Ramones.
Thank you for sharing your favorite decades! I realize that they would be different for the different genres, for example, while my favorite in Rock/Pop music is '65 to '75, in Jazz, it would be '55 to '65, though again, I am finding may things I am enjoying that are being made and released right now.
Since we were kids, Norm and I have a top ten list of Rock/Pop albums of the year, with up to ten honorable mentions.We usually share this around New Years. Recently, we decided to make a best of the decade (2000 to 2009), and this is what I came up with, except being a decade and not a year, we had 20 honorable mentions. Number 1 represents my favorite. For those of you for whom this would be torture, I understand. However you get your fix seems good to me.
David’s Favorites, 2000 – 2009
30. Antony and the Johnsons—I am a Bird Now.
29. Mark Knopfler/Emmylou Harris –All the Roadrunning
28. The Shins—Chutes Too Narrow
27. Johnny Cash – American Recordings IV
26. Dar Williams – This Green World
25. Kathleen Edwards – Failer
24. Roseanne Cash – Rules of Travel
23. Bruce Springsteen – The Rising
22. Drive-By-Truckers – Southern Rock Opera
21. Richard Thompson – The Old Kit Bag
21. Beth Orton – Daybreaker
20. Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat
19. Josh Ritter – Hello Starling
18. Allison Kraus – New Favorite
17. The Back Keys – Magic Potion
16. Lucinda Williams – Essence
15. Ray Lamontaigne – ‘Till the Sun Turns Black
14. Jayhawks – Rainy Day Music
13. M. Ward – Hold Time
12. Christy McWilson –The Lucky One
11. Mary Gauthier – Mercy Now
10. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
9. Steve Earle – Transcendental Blues
8. Eels – Shootenany!
7. R.E.M. -- Accelerate
6. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
5. Bob Dylan – Love and Theft
4. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
3. Iron and Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days
2. Beck – Sea Change
1. Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake it’s Morning
I'd have to chime in with quite a few of you by picking 1965-75 as my favorite decade for rock. My next preference would be the 1990s......i loved...loved...loved what the Grunge movement did for those god-awful spandex/hair bands of the 80s!
For Jazz however, it's the 1950s all the way....Charlie Parker, Monk, Miles, Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Clifford Brown......all in glorious MONO....the only way that I listen to Jazz.
For classical, it would have to be the years in which the likes of Klemperer, Walter, Furtwangler, Fricsay, Schuricht, Scherchen, Bernstein with the NYPO were recording. The only exceptions would be pianists.....Sviatoslav Richter, Glenn Gould, and Martha Argerich are among my very favorites....all of whom recorded into the 1970s and beyond.
Ciao, Tom B.
The Music Museum. That's funny. I know plenty of folks who live in one. I like your open mindedness. We need more of that in this world. When I get a chance I mention NPR Tiny Desktop Concerts to the "music today sucks" crowd. Maybe they'll see/hear something that clicks. As much as it hurts some to hear it - the ten years from '65 to '75 was not the end all to be all in music.
More expensive doesn't necessarily mean better.
Edits: 07/10/12 07/10/12
"My brother is 8 years older than me, and I will be forever grateful to him for accelerating my love of music at a critical time in my childhood. But I've noticed he shows no interest in current music, saying that it is all crap now, etc. He has entered what I call the "Museum Period" of his life. Everything he needed from music was met when he was young, or so he thinks, so he just keeps going back to those classic pieces of popular music, and the present just doesn't work for him at all. "
That makes him 63. Do you think that it's "normal", or "abnormal", for the average person of that age range to feel more comfortable, and be more relaxed and happier listening to, music that he's familiar with, rather than "exploring"?
It's unbelieveably wrong for you to use the term "Museum Period" with regard to your older brother's musical tastes. That was completely disrespectful and unnecessary. Clearly, you have no respect for your brother's insight and thoughts.
I think it's important to remember that from the 60's, through the first half of the 90's, the internet was not a factor in bringing music into the public domain. What you heard was (mostly) filtered through radio DJ's and publishers. So a lot of the 'crap', as well as some very worthy material, never made it into the public eye.
Today of course, it's all right there in front of us. The baby AND the bathwater; which means sometimes wading through a lot more bathwater! There's an upside to this (IMO) which is that a lot of great music from previous decades, that at the time got overlooked for one reason or another, can now be found on the internet, along with 'new' music.
Everything after '71 is derivative garbage including most of what's done by the stars of '62-'71.
LIBERTY ONCE LOST,
IS LOST FOREVER
-JOHN ADAMS
" Exile On Main Street " is derviative garbage? OK...
But, the Decemberists and The Shins. Hmm.... I know it's just me being me. 8^)
.
.
The South Park jingle is so f*ing cool - and it evolves. How about the three popular hits from REM?
Obviously, these are some of my fvorites.
-reub
1) 1900-1910
2) 1820-1830
Recent decades pale before these two.
:-)
Note that a post in response is preferred.
Warmest
Timothy Bailey
The Skyptical Mensurer and Audio Scrounger
And gladly would he learn and gladly teach - Chaucer. ;-)!
'Still not saluting.'
nt
1965 to 1975 is my favorite decade as this was when most of my favorite rock recordings were made. Gasoline was 23 cents a gallon, cigarettes were 35 cents a pack, wacky-backy was $10 an ounce and one could rent a studio apartment for $100 or less.
I pick 1955 to 1965 as my second favorite decade as that is when most of my favorite jazz recordings were released.
In the mid 1970's things turned bad starting with disco. Then in the late 1970's the idiots in charge decided that it would be better to run music though a ADC (analog to digital converter) and then through a DAC (digital to analog converter) prior to pressing an LP. LPs went from a pure analog format to a Analog-Digital-Analog format. And they used "Digital" as a selling point for either "Digitally recorded" or "Digitally mastered" LPs and people bought them as they were advertised as sounding better, when in reality they sounded much worse.
If I could live in a "time bubble" I would like it to begin in 1955 and live through to 1975 and then reset back to 1955. I think digital is the biggest mistake mankind has ever made. Just MHO.
"Happy Listening,
Teresa."
"In the mid 1970's things turned bad starting with disco."
Why did you have to remind me? I had pleasant images of my youthful high school years (1974 - 1977) until I read "disco" in your post! ;-)
My 3 favorite music decades would have to be mid 60's to mid 70's, mid 70's to mid 80's, and mid 80's to mid 90's. Didn't care for the whole "Seattle" sound and grunge scene. MTV was fun for a while and then they went 99% rap crap. The horror!
The disco flashbacks are killing me!!! I was part of the 'disco sucks' movement.
But Dittos and Tube Tops were cool ;-)
And what 70's guy didn't love Farrah, RIP
Guys wearing them weren't interested in turning on 'the ladies'. Not that there's anything wrong with that....
...and nothing wrong with that either I suppose.
That photo of Farrah Fawcett will always be an icon of Hollywood "sexiness", and I'm happy for that. It epitomizes what Hollywood is all about, and, unfortunately, what many Americans are all about.
I feel bad for her inability to establish a normal relationship with a man, although she apparently had a good relationship with Ryan, and I especially feel bad that she died in such a terrible way. Also, it's an injustice that the media decided to focus on MJ dying just a couple days later, and subsequently ignored Farrah's passing. Who cares about MJ? Farrah's battle with cancer was much more important.
Well, It was certainly an interesting one in my life...
"I think digital is the biggest mistake mankind has ever made. "
And yet you use a computer? Speak to me only with thine Smith-Corona!
Digital good...
Rick
using a typewriter, if the closed record and high-end audio stores magically reopened tomorrow, and mail order companies once again included Order Forms with their catalogs.
A while back I answered a post by middleground "I miss the old days of audio equipment and music. My response was.
"I miss going to Muntz Stereo tape stores to find new prerecorded reel to reel tapes. I miss getting the Barclay-Crocker reel to reel tape catalogs which I was constantly ordering from. I miss going to my local stereo store to see if they had any new prerecorded Advent Process CR/70 cassettes.
Finally I miss stereo stores, record/tape stores and the "old" analog world.
If I could do it all over again starting from 1971 here is what I would do.
1) Keep my prerecorded 8-tracks from my teenage years.
2) Keep all my prerecorded 7˝ ips reel to reel tapes.
3) Keep all my audiophile prerecorded cassettes.
4) Keep my Beta Hi-Fi Stereo videocassettes.
5) Keep my electric typewriter.
6) Never buy a turntable or LPs.
7) Never buy a LaserDisc player.
8) Never buy a CD player.
9) Never buy an HDCD DAC.
10) Never buy a DVD player.
11) Never buy an SACD player.
12) Never buy a DVD-Audio player.
13) Never buy a word processor.
14) Never buy a computer.
So in short I would now be listening to analog tape formats derived from analog master tapes. Barclay-Crocker did release a couple of reel to reels derived from then brand new digital master tapes however I will not buy those.
While I love the sound of LPs, back in the day I always liked tape better and I hate the maintenance issues of the LPs, styli, constant alignment, etc. When I sold my 8-Track player I bought a AR-XB turntable, instead I wish I had waited until I have enough money to buy the reel to reel deck I eventually bought, as once I started enjoying prerecorded 7˝ ips reel to reel tapes the LPs just didn't sound good enough. The bass of reel to reel was warmer and fuller. It seemed every time I broke down and bought the LP version, just six months or so later the reel to reel version would be released. I taped the best of my LPs and sold the turntable, eventually I replaced all of those recorded LPs with prerecorded reel to reels.
Another mistake I made is when I replaced my Beta Hi-Fi Stereo VCR when it broke with a VHS Hi-Fi Stereo VCR which looked and sounded worse, I should have got another another Beta Hi-Fi Stereo VCR instead.
I at first liked LaserDiscs back when they were 100% analog, Pioneer Artists had some killer LaserDiscs. Then they added a digital soundtrack which was still fine as long as the stereo analog soundtrack was not derived from the digital soundtrack. But what killed it for me was when they used the "left channel" of the analog soundtrack to add "Dolby Digital" when it came out thus making the analog soundtrack MONO. I was pissed royally and sold my LaserDisc player. If LaserDisc has stayed pure analog I would have kept it.
Anyway if I could go back and built up a large enough analog collection I could totally ignore the digital world completely. Since I didn't do that I have to settle for the next best thing, high resolution digital."
Back in February I canceled my DSL internet service, I am only able to respond to you via wi-fi. I've had financial trouble since 2008 and have no disposable income, filed bankruptcy and have no credit cards or bank account so shopping online is impossible unless I buy Amazon Gift Cards at WalMart. However no way to buy on eBay and that is where the best chance of rebuilding a prerecorded reel to reel collection lives.
I just wish the world had stayed analog, and for that I would gladly give up the internet and trade out my computer for a typewriter, go back to writing personal letters and letters to the editors of magazines.
Analog was and is better IMHO,
"Happy Listening,
Teresa."
Wow, you've got me all nostalgic.. That's quite a list. Looks like we are of a similar age but I probably have a few years on you.
Like you my favorite medium was tape and the first thing big thing I bought after college was an Ampex. In addition to pre-recorded tapes I recorded almost every LP I bought since I didn't want to flip 'em. More than doubled the cost but... Although I used fairly expensive 3M tape in the long haul it turned out that the binder was bad and my music fell off! By then cassettes weren't too bad so I got a good deck and used them for years, the tapes are probably still OK, at least I have them but the deck died. And so on.
Having gone through 78's, 45's, 33's, mono and stereo, open reel, cassettes, CD's and downloads along with AM, FM, FM stereo and now computer audio and streaming audio, I too am fed up. But to me this is a good time to be in that state. I'm sure that exciting new things will still arise but I anticipate that the root will be digital, nothing else makes sense so it now becomes just a matter of maintaining the data in a readable form. As far as decoding it, that's just SMOP so I feel I've arrived.
Don't despair about the sound quality, every new medium goes through the same curve and it's already now not the limiting factor. The depressing thing to me is now that high quality sources are within the reach of everyone, the "content providers" and purveyors are deprecating the quality of the sources, I guess good sound is "too rich a benefit" for commoners. My local classical FM station which used to have excellent SQ now sucks. They now have a compressed, distorted, signal even on their web stream. I talked to them about it and they said that everyone but me likes the new sound and finds it bright and lively. So I switched to MPR for the Saturday opera, but over a couple of years they are now compressed too, yet they also still manage to clip the peaks especially on their announcers. So while digital isn't bad (IMHO) how it's being used may be.
But on the bright side there has never been access to so much material, old and new before. And we can now store our collections so compactly that we can take it with us. At least as far as the old folks home...
Best, Rick
'55 through '65 for jazz. One only needs to know Miles' catalog to realize that. Per Fred Kaplan, '59 was the pinacle year for jazz, with KOB, The Shape of Jazz to Come and Take Five leading the way. Sorry cooler guys, as jazz turned electric it kind of lost me. Rock really got going in '65 and died when John Travolta's music came to town. '69 was the peak year with C,S,N&Y, Hendrix, Morrison and others doing their thing. And of course there's Woodstock. Album rock of the early 70s was a fine finish. Sorry Cobain and Sex Pistols, you guys were merely blimps of a dying music. You guys had something to say, but I was already stuck in the past. Coffee Shop music is nice to listen to in the car, but none of it will ever be bought in 5 or 6 different releases as KOB or DSDOTM were.
Some of the other movements were interestiing, but not really a leap forward. When New Wave hit the scene, it rejuvenated Rock.
This is just my opinion, and in no way reflects reality.
It was the 1980's New Wave, Madonna, the rise of MTv...
THAT was the second coming...
It was mid - 70s punk rock that changed everything, not New Wave bands like Duran Duran, Flock Of Seagulls, and The B-52s. Punk challenged mainstream rock's increasing emphasis on virtuosity and disconnect from the lives of its fans. By the time the Ramones formed, mainstream rock was rapidly becoming all about worshiping 20 minute guitar solos wrapped in stupid lyrics about starships while sitting on butt - numbing folding chairs in a hockey arena. Punk smashed all that by insisting that anybody could make great music, that feel and sincerity counted as much as skill, and that lyrics had to mean something again. Punk was also an argument for the primacy of songs over albums. Even the biggest bands on the planet like Led Zeppelin suddenly looked irrelevant and more than a little silly compared to the Sex Pistols, whose songs were so provocative that the band members were attacked in the streets and whose concerts were prohibited by town councils all over Britain.
One aspect of punk's legacy can be heard every day in the most mainstream music: punk made music fast . In 1976 I couldn't have imagined that a song that was faster than anything on the first Ramones album would one day be the theme song for a Disney (!) cartoon series called "Phineas and Ferb."
It was about all sorts of issues, with not much real music involved.
hah
What were the Sex Pistols, Clash, Adverts, Ramones, Dead Boys, Damned, Suicide Commandos, Buzzcocks, Undertones? They were all bands. They were all started by kids who were sick of bloated corporate rock and wanted some music that reflected their reality and gave a voice to their feelings.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by "not much real music involved." Punk was an explosion of music! For a while it seemed like every other kid who heard the Sex Pistols or Ramones started a band. There were hundreds of albums and thousands of singles released all over the world. There was even a punk band in Red China.
Maybe to some folks it was the next big thing. yeah it was different. i will give it that. But it also was half crap at the same time.
Once it's influence was used in other music, it became more of a legend. As it actually was back then, it was just noisey crap.
Gansta' rap reminds me of punk, and not in a good way. It is just angry noise.
... dismissing entire genres of music as "just noise."
Your parents said the same thing about the music you liked as a kid.
Seriously, the argument that punk was reacting to bloated corporate rock is just anachronistic. Punk needs to stand on its own merits as music, not as a reaction to something or the other or as some youth lifestyle decision.
Punk's celebration of musical incompetence makes that a difficult sell.
I mean the Stooges are interesting for the reality of the emotions. as far as 'music' it is not so great... (though the genuiness makes it listenable.. Where some Punk was just out and out noise and crap for noise and crap sake.
Yup.
.
...incredible I can't choose a second best ...at least not one that matters to me.
Maybe '66 to '76.
;-)
Dean.
reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.
I'm just a little older than you at 61. IMHO, I believe the best decade was 1965 to 1975, as some have mentioned, we were young and music was exploding all around us...rock, folk, jazz, etc. And we were just begining to listen critically. For me the second best decade was 1995 to 2005 with the birth of indie-rock, more jazz and the rebirth of various kinds of country (I'm not a big country fan, but it has it's fans). My children (all in their twenties) have introduced me to their music, some I like, much I don't, but there is a creativity that was missing in earlier decades. YMMV, Andy
Edits: 07/09/12
"So, if you had to rate your favorite decades of popular music (as in 10-year spans), what would they be?"
For mainstream popular music only, I'd rate the 1960s a "9", the 1970s and 1980s a "6", the 1990s a "2", and this past decade a big, fat zero.
My favorite 10-year span was 1965 to 1975, only because I only started following music around 1965...... Nothing afterwards has come close. (A distant second is 1975 to 1985.)
...as a musical decade.
Disco.
I'll take "disco" over the pop dreck that's being put out today...............
Back during the time, when disco was being bashed, I warned some of the so-called anti-disco zealots, "Careful what you wish for. If disco dies, whatever replaces it will likely be a lot worse."
Wow! I'm 52, when I first started reading your thread my initial thought was also 65-75. However, I can't say that I agree with your next best of 00-09.
At first thought the next best is so far removed from 65-75 that it takes a LOT of thought. For my second best I'd go 85-95 with Metallica, Guns and Roses, and the Seattle grunge explosion of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, etc. I could also say the 55-65 era for jazz with Miles, Coltrane, Monk, Pepper, Brubeck, Evans, Armstrong, Mingus, etc.
Depends on what kind of mood I'm in.
...best musical decade was 1965 to 1975 - the birth of classic rock, great R&B, evrn some great jazz.I was in college till 1972.
Next best was 1955 to 1965 - the birth of rock and pre-psychadelia.
After 1975, music slowly went downhill.
Edits: 07/08/12
Every genre of "popular" music just exploded in a creative burst of incredible energy, experimentation and inspiration that still influences and resonates.I'd list some examples, but it would be superfluous if you think about it for more than 30 seconds.
(Next favorite decade after that really doesn't exist for me - great bits and pieces of music through all of them right up to now)
Great topic for a thread!
"One this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" - Michael McClure
Edits: 07/08/12
Agreed. Lots of fresh sounding music was made during this time - even jazz was still going pretty strong...
"He was one of those men who live in poverty so that their lines of questioning may continue." - John Steinbeck
Jazz was at the forefront of my thinking in answering even though ALL genres were... expanding...
Jazz reached new heights and branched out on many different avenues of expression in this period.
From stretching to the outer boundaries of Avant-Garde (Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor,
the AACM gang, etc.) to adding soul and funk grooves to the rhythms along with electronic(s) (Miles Davis,
Lou Donaldson, Lee Morgan, Cannonball,etc.) people were searching for new words to define what jazz was.
Some people STILL haven't gotten over it!
"One this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" - Michael McClure
I feel the way your brother does. I don't find any of the current groups that you mention interesting at all. Indie-Rock is boring to me and just doesn't keep my interest. I feel the greatest decade to be from 1970 to 1980 and the next best from 1960 to 1970. I'm 63 and I grew up with the music from the 60's, but a little trip to New York in 1969 for a music festival changed my whole appreciation of music.
I'm 61 and work at a university. I am amazed at how much of the '65-'75 period the students listen to. 'nuff said.
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