What is the best decade in terms of music?

Gotta be the 80s for pop and my genre of choice, showtunes. I may not have been there, but I think I should have been. Synthpop and the age of the rock opera, sounds like happiness in a cassette tape.

My favorite decade for music was the 1970’s. I think a lot of good classic rock came out in that time frame and a lot of popular supergroups really got a start back then (Journey, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Styx, and many more). There was also a lot of good easy listening and pop music from many good artists during that decade also.

After the 1970’s, I’d say my next favorite decades for music would be the 1960’s and then the 1980’s.

1930s.
Honestly, I enjoy music from every decade. But songs from the 30s move me in a way, emotionally, that most music does not.

Definitely the 90s! Alternative, grunge, rap, hip-hop, rock and metal, dance, house….it was all great.

I love music from all decades. I do love music from the 1930s but I think my favourites are the 60s and 70s.

In modern times the 1960’s hands down. The 60’s brought us had brilliant innovations in everything; pop, rock, soul, R&B, jazz, you name it there were amazing practitioners taking the music to new and innovative heights. Sgt. Pepper, Pet Sounds, Who’s Next, Blonde on Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited, Going to a Go Go, Where Did our Love Go. There are just too many ground breaking albums to list even a quarter.

So what is some of the unmissable music from these eras. What should we not miss from the 90s for instance?

Great songs, bands and vocalists have come out of every decade—it’s really a matter of when you were both that determines your favorite. Personally, I love the 40s best.

The 90’s. I loved the Wu-Tang, Sonic Youth, Biggie Smalls, Slayer, Smashing Pumpkins, 90’s punk rock, janes addiction, porno for pyros, Mojo Nixon

@buster you make a great argument for the 90’s, I will call it a close second!

This is a subjective question it all depends on when you were born.

@basstrom188 I think it might be more dependent upon when one came of age than when on was born, you know like the music that provided a sound track for the “wonder years”. That being said, my era musically would have been the 80’s and while there was some pretty bouncy music produced then, for the most part it is pretty plain vanilla and nothing too earth shattering. In terms of quality give me the music of the 60’s any day.

The 1970’s is by far my favorite decade of music. Not only the music but sound quality and recoding abilities went through a major transformation and the best part is what musicians sang and played is what you heard nothing was yet digitized. Real rock and roll baby!

My fav. 1970’s song

So hard, but if I had to filter, I’d pick the decade of 1978–1987. I hope fiscal decades count.

I love the 30’s and 40’s, 70’s and 80’s, but I gotta say the 60’s.
The Beatles, the Stones, The Kinks, The Who, Donovan, Traffic, Cream, Jimi, Janis, Bob Dylan, The Doors…
The music had variety, and artists didn’t always sound the same.

Although it’s not the standard numerical concept of a decade, my favorite is probably 1967–1977, although I guess it could be said that rounds up to the 70’s. ;-)

1967 is when the Cream and Jimi Hendrix released their first albums.
Their arrival signified the emergence of comparatively advanced musicianship, the most notable of which for me was the guitar work of Clapton and Hendrix.

In 1968, another English-bred guitar great, Alvin Lee of Ten Years After, arrived and Hendrix released his third excellent album, “Electric Ladyland”.
I think it was in that year two other legends, Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck, released their first album together: “Truth”.

In 1969, Led Zeppelin and Santana released their first albums, and Zep also released their second album.

In summation, I’d say the primary factor in the excellence of 60’s music was the massive influx of English artists.

It could be that in turn inspired the emergence of more intelligent, creatively advanced, and aspiring American music in the 70’s.

In the early 1970’s, America’s best rock guitarist, Johnny Winter, released my favorite rock album, “Johnny Winter And Live”.

IMO, it was in the 70’s that Santana released his best music.

It was also in the 70’s that I was introduced to the artistry of Steely Dan; the Eagles; Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young; and Fleetwood Mac.

I think my favorite has to be the 90’s when grunge rock began, like Nirvana and Green Day and so on… I still love all the music from then; I often tune my TV (I think it’s XM radio?) to the 90’s channel while I’m folding laundry.

Every decade from the 1600–1700s. Suckers don’t know ‘bout my Baroque.

As you can tell by everyones answers, they had their own generation of music. This is because they grew up in thier musicial generation. I liked the 60s music, since I was younger and can associate the good times with the good songs of the 60s. The 70s music was also great. So many excellent love songs came out of the 70s.

The music was pretty good, until the mid 80s, when I think all the good song writers died.

Everything out there today is just….............there. Nothing special, at all.

Bluefreedom, I could not agree with you more. great answer. jp

I agree with @SuperMouse in that it is about the decade in which you come of age (usually!). I was 10 in 1980 and 20 in 1990. I love both the 80’s and 90’s because I have so many good memories associated with the music.

I like everything but I’m especially partial to the 60s and the 90s.

Neffie’s my girl. I have to agree with her there. Some of that stuff blows me away.

Close second? 70’s.

90’s! It’s the time where some of the greatest musicians came out. My second choice would most likely be the 70’s though.

For me it’s the 1780’s. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven were all writing miraculous music.

for me, the greatest decade would be the doo-wop and rock n roll era. I’m 19 but lovin’ rock n roll. that would be in the 50’s and 60’s

they got beautiful melodies and lyrics too!

1900–1910.

90’s for me, most of the bands which laid the foundation for my current musical tastes were around during this decade. My second choice would be the 70’s, then the 80’s as a distant third. I do like alot of music from 2000–2010, but overall it was lacking inspiration I felt.

The 70s.

Led Zeppelin
Creedance Clearwater Revival
Crosby Stills Nash & Young
Queen

The list is endless.

1320’s. Ah, the swinging ‘20’s.

1976–1986, and birth has nothing to do with it for me, because I was born in 1985.

‘76 was the breakout year for punk. Punk (The Clash, the Buzzcocks, the Jam) spawned post-punk (Joy Division, Magazine) and new wave (Depeche Mode, New Order, Adam and the Ants). New wave started to go overly commercial and MTV-oriented (Duran Duran) around ‘82 or ‘83, but by then there was goth (Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees—though their sound is broader than goth alone). As much as I generally dislike ska, most good ska (The Specials, Madness) came out around this time. In the mid-80’s Echo and the Bunnymen, Siouxsie and the Banshees, New Order (nee Joy Division), The Chameleons UK, Depeche Mode, and a whole crapload of others were all releasing albums.

The ‘90s were abysmal. Grunge is one of the most grating forms of rock music ever to exist, and the influence of grunge music took over a decade to die out. I hated all the grunge-influenced rock and crappy Third Wave Ska that was on the radio when I was in high school, 1999–2003. And let’s not forget the proliferation of terrible pop music from that period.

Thank you for all the great responses. I think there is fantastic music from every decade but certainly some of the specific mentions here have been standouts in their era.

The 1960’s: The Beatles, Crosby Stills Nash @ Young, The Byrds, The Kingston Trio, Peter Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, The Doors, Miles Davis, Johnny Cash, Julie Andrews, The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, Dick Dale, The Animals, The Mamas’ and the Papas, Sam Cooke, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Brazil 66, Glen Campbell, The Velvet Underground, Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass, Badfinger, The Swingle Singers, Carole King, The Grassroots, The Dave Clark Five, The Monkees, The Surfaris, The Yardbirds, Shirley Bassey, The Kinks, Petula Clark, Linda Ronstadt, The Bee Gees, The Buffalo Springfield, Judy Collins, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Supremes, The Rolling Stones, Scott MacKenzie, Herman’s Hermits, Astrud Gilberto, Dionne Warwick, Lulu, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Jimmie Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Tom Jones.

@Kardamom

IMO, Jim Morrison and Mark Lindsay were the best rock singers of the 60’s.

1700s, 10’s, 20’s, and 30’s

For me, it’s the 1960s, if only because of The Beatles, but they had so many other different styles of music that were just exploding in those days, from Brazilian pop and psychedelia to R&B and Stax soul. And jazz. And pop. And musicals. And country. And folk. So much from, say, 1964 forward.

Then the 80s, then the 70s, then the 90s, and then music before 1950. I notice that I don’t care for much popular music from the 1950s, other than be-bop jazz and some Elvis. This past decade had music I liked pretty much only in the indie rock category (Grizzly Bear is one of the best bands of the last 20 years, IMO), where the other decades had something I liked in most every other category as well as rock.

You kids better step it up this decade. C’mon, dammit! Crazy Auntie April wants to dance!

Any decade which includes 1824, the year that Beethoven completed his 9th Symphony. So 1814 – 1824 or 1824 – 1834 or any other ten-year period between 1814 and 1834.

The 80’s for me, probably because I was a 80’s kid. The best event of our school year was the schoolwide lip-sync contest- none of the kids pulled punches. Awesome!! Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Madonna, Paula Abdul, The Smiths, ABC, Spandau Ballet, Prince, Cyndi Lauper, Culture Club, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Howard Jones, Journey, ZZTop, The Bangles, The Go-Gos, WHAM!/George Michael, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, REM, Michael Jackson… So many were fun, quirky, and full of life (and hair).