There's inevitably some good stuff you have to cut out, but I think I'd pick 1982-1991. Between that era you get pretty much everything from old school heavy, punk and disco funk to industrial, funk fusion metal and electronic. Goth rock. Rap. House.
From Breaking the Law to Safe from Harm, from White Wedding to Personal Jesus, from Plastic Surgery Disasters to Nevermind... From Talk Talk to Tom Waits, from Rick James to Beastie Boys, from Cyndi Lauper to Mr. Bungle, from Leonard Cohen to KMFDM. Queen. Zappa. Talking Heads. The good Metallica. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Relax. Sweet Dreams (are made of this). The Sun Always Shines on TV.
I really could go on. Since my teenage years were in the early nineties, I guess that would qualify me as a hipster.
But I have to say I'm pretty sure I was happier to be a teenager in the nineties than I would have been in the eighties.
The best decade of music is unquestionably happening RIGHT NOW. We have never, ever, in human history, had as much easy access to as vast and diverse a catalogue of recorded music as we have right now. From Amazon and iTunes to YouTube, to Rdio and Spotify, specialty stations like jazzradio.com and XM/Sirius, artist websites, forums, etc, you can be exposed to and sample more artists, and more music, from more genres than you probably have lifespan remaining.
I'm not buying it. This might be the best decade in terms of access to music, but part of the magic of the music experience is discovering new bands and completely new sounds....and doing it in a contemporary setting makes it all the better. As awesome it might be for someone to discover Dylan now, imagine how cool it must've been back then when the songs actually meant something and the sound was new? Context is king.
This decade is also pretty terrible when it comes to sound quality. Most of the time we listen to crappy compressed music on crappy earbuds or computer speakers. And last time I checked, satellite radio still sounded like you were listening to a canned AM station.
KISS changed music as we know it? They did write the most unintentionally funny lyrics of all time.
She's a dancer, a romancer.
I'm a Capricorn and she's a Cancer
She saw my picture in a music magazine
And you watch me playin' guitar
And you feel what my fingers can do
And you wish you were the one I was doing it to
KISS was legendary not for music, but for what they did for live shows. Their music is clearly mediocre.
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Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale
Um, last I checked, "Metal" just keeps getting better and better. This very site has an excellent "Metal" thread I definitely endorse checking out.
Ugh, the grunting crap destroyed metal. The guitars sound great, but the "vocals" ruin it for me. I don't need everyone to sound like Joey Belladonna, but having most vocalists sound like Satan from some bad horror movie sucks.
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I'm not buying it. This might be the best decade in terms of access to music, but part of the magic of the music experience is discovering new bands and completely new sounds....and doing it in a contemporary setting makes it all the better. As awesome it might be for someone to discover Dylan now, imagine how cool it must've been back then when the songs actually meant something and the sound was new? Context is king.
I disagree with this _personally_ - the really good stuff is timeless. I didn't need to live in the 50's to have Wes Montgomery's guitar playing knock me on my butt the first time I heard it. And thanks to modern streaming, I was able to explore his influence and impact forwards and backwards amongst his peers, successors, and research his influences.
I can see your point though about enjoying listening to the "hot new thing" in its proper context; a lot of people enjoy that aspect of music. I've found as I've gotten older it's mattered less and less to me personally (and perversely, the older I get, the older the music I listen to is..I'm gradually and unstoppably listening to earlier and earlier stuff - Charley Patton is on heavy rotation these days, and that's from the 30's...and even some of his stuff is knocking me on my butt when I hear it, because its so fundamental to the sound of blues that would develop years later)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Table 5
This decade is also pretty terrible when it comes to sound quality. Most of the time we listen to crappy compressed music on crappy earbuds or computer speakers. And last time I checked, satellite radio still sounded like you were listening to a canned AM station.
Just like people listening to Dylan at the time eh? The 60's were hardly a paragon of high fidelity home audio for the average person.
__________________
-Scott
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Not really on topic, but LOVE the shout out to Bon Scott.
One of my all-time favourite rock and roll voices. My two biggest musical peeves are Metallica fans who have never listened to anything prior to the Black album, and people who think Brian Johnson "sounds just like Bon Scott."
