I'm a 35-year old. No matter how young I feel, and no matter how open-minded I feel I am, I'm already locked into a time slot with regard to modern music appreciation. And yet...!
I grew up in a musically-oriented family, and I feel my tastes reflect it. I still feel a thirst for new favorite tunes--I feel that happy times are deeply associated with music, and I want a never-ending supply of great new tunes to associate with future happy times!
I have opportunities to speak with a variey of young people on a regular basis. I often bring up the subject of music with them in terms of quality output over the decades since rock-n-roll came into being. I'm no longer surprised at what I hear.
In my day--the 80s and the early 90s--I would have expected any young person to shout out: "MY decade is FULL of the best music!" Today, I don't hear this from young people very often at all. They freely admit that the 60s and 70s were the best, or that they like the 80s more than anything else.
Are they just paying lip service to someone they view as an old man (me)? Or is it true that music today is but a fraction of what it once was?
My personal belief is that it IS true...and I feel I know part of the reason why. Today, it's harder for young people to become valid musicians because they have far more distractions than they once had. Video game consoles, the Internet, and cable television (in the U.S.) all conspire to take the spare time of young people...so much so that personal persuits like playing the guitar become just another pastime and not a lifelong passion.
I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with spending time doing these other things...but the end result seems to be that we are losing ground in cultural areas we all still value.
Am I missing something? Or, is it a paradigm shift?
What's really going on here? And while we're at it...which decade of the last six (including this one) offered us the best music?
My vote goes with the 80s. ;-)
I would rank the decades as follows:
80s
60s
70s
90s
50s
00s
Ha! ;-)
--Fingerly
Originally posted by FingerlyYou rank the music in the 80's higher than the music from the 60's???
I'm a 35-year old. No matter how young I feel, and no matter how open-minded I feel I am, I'm already locked into a time slot with regard to modern music appreciation. And yet...!
I grew up in a musically-oriented family, and I feel my tastes reflect it. I still feel a thirst for new favorite tunes--I feel that happy times are deeply associated wi ...[text shortened]...
I would rank the decades as follows:
80s
60s
70s
90s
50s
00s
Ha! ;-)
--Fingerly
Let's see:
The velvet underground
The Beatles
The Stones
Bob Dylan
Creedence
Jimi Hendrix
Pink Floyd
versus
Duran Duran
Culture club
Wham!
Run DMC
The stones (but not 20% as good as they used to be)
The happy mondays
The cure
See...the 60's win hands down!
Originally posted by wucky3Yeah. Right. That's what they all say.
but shavi...i'm too young to remember the 60's
The manchester scene was way over-rated in my honest opinion.
The first album by the Stone roses was good and the tunes and lyrics of Carter USM were good. But the average band had crappy lyrics and monotonous tunes.
Not to mention their stage presence...or lack thereof.
I quite liked the Smiths, Joy Division, The cure and such. and I used to love Springsteen like I was a fan (!), but...
Tom Waits is probably the only artist in the 80's to make anything comparable in style and uniqueness to 60's bands like Floyd, the Who and the later stages of the Beatles.
Originally posted by wucky3Live at Pompei.
😲...
okay...of course lots of bands jumped the manchester bandwagon..but the atmosphere around at the time if you were into music was superb...
the beatles, tom waites (80's) the who, hendrix..etc..i agree...but pink floyd?...
Well worth watching...just make sure you have enough wine and marijuana...
Their album: Piper at the gates of dawn is tremendous too.
Providing Tom Waits as the best example of 80s worth in music is a bit too simplistic for my taste. ;-)
On a critical level, the 60s have to rank at the top because of the
mere presence of the Beatles...and yet, this is not enough for me.
I was *more* than happy to tell my elders that the 80s were great for music while I was growing up, whether I was thinking of late British entries in the Punk and New Wave movements, or of early American alternative acts, or what have you.
If you were to sit down and create a timeline of musical styles based in rock over the last 50 years, you would likely find that the 80s were the decade in which most overlapped. They were the most diverse by far.
Please, don't foist bands like Wham! on the 80s as an example of the best the 80s had to offer...you are bypassing great bands like the Smiths, The Replacements, and Echo and the Bunnymen in the process. I had better not fail to mention the last supergroup on the planet...U2! ;-)
--Fingerly
Originally posted by FingerlyEcho and the Bunnymen?
Providing Tom Waits as the best example of 80s worth in music is a bit too simplistic for my taste. ;-)
On a critical level, the 60s have to rank at the top because of the
mere presence of the Beatles...and yet, this is not enough for me.
I was *more* than happy to tell my elders that the 80s were great for music while I was growing up, whether I wa ...[text shortened]... ss. I had better not fail to mention the last supergroup on the planet...U2! ;-)
--Fingerly
You may as well mention Wham! then.
Originally posted by shavixmirHmm, Pink Floyd was one of the first bands I ever got into, and I used to like all of their stuff.
Live at Pompei.
Well worth watching...just make sure you have enough wine and marijuana...
Their album: Piper at the gates of dawn is tremendous too.
I know it's fashionable in certain circles to claim that Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the only decent album they have ever done, but for me this just hasn't stood the test of time.
It's virtually a different band, different sound, etc.
I still like Astronime Domine and Interstellar Overdrive but the others are, well, too 60's for me (I only have a few Zappa and Beefheart stuff from the 60's and not much else).
PS. The song Bike proves my point.
Originally posted by VargIf we were talking 70's I'd have to mention 'wish you were here' and 'animals' too.
Hmm, Pink Floyd was one of the first bands I ever got into, and I used to like all of their stuff.
I know it's fashionable in certain circles to claim that Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the only decent album they have ever done, but for me this just hasn't stood the test of time.
It's virtually a different band, different sound, etc.
I still like Astronim ...[text shortened]... Zappa and Beefheart stuff from the 60's and not much else).
PS. The song Bike proves my point.
But we're not, so I didn't!
😉
Originally posted by shavixmirOK OK.
If we were talking 70's I'd have to mention 'wish you were here' and 'animals' too.
But we're not, so I didn't!
😉
60's:
The Mothers of Invention
Captain Beefheart
Hendrix
Led Zeppelin
These alone make it a good decade, but do we deduct the effect of Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Tich, Cliff Richard, the Beatles, etc?
Heh, only kidding about the last one. Personally I prefer the Monkees to the Beatles but I understand the latter are more popular.