I'm curious. There are more than a few people on this forum who are into music in a big way. So which is it for you? I know that some bands overlap across decades. But the question is really when were they at their peak in such instances. For instance, the Rolling Stones has forty years of music. IMO, they did their best work in the 60s. The same for Van Halen - the 70s or 80s? For me it's the 80s. But the Beatles were strictly a 60s band. So which is it for you?
BTW, even though 00 is not over yet, I wanted to include it to fair to those who think that the best music is being made right now (there may be some who think so).

Poll Information
This poll contains 1 question(s). 46 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: Which Decade had the Best Music? (46 votes.)

Which Decade had the Best Music? (Choose 1)
* 50s - Elvis Lives! - 0% (0)
* 60s - The Beatles Forever. - 17% (8)
* 70s - Boston Still Burning. - 20% (9)
* 80s - I Want My MTV. - 37% (17)
* 90s - Rappin' in Yo Face! - 20% (9)
* 00s - Mick Jagger Should be on Social Security. - 7% (3)

I didn't vote because there was no option for "other" but my choice would be the 1870s. A number of excellent operas were first performed in that decade.

Well, I started getting into music in the late '80's so I'd pick that because I have such good memories of late 80's music. And there was no MC Hammer or Take That (even though Take That gave us the fun that is now Robbie Williams) but the 00's are quickly catching up and will most likely soon surpass.

JSBB - You are right. I should have added an option for those who listen to something other than rock or pop music. But this thread is really for those who wanted to compare different styles of rock music and how rock has developed over the last 50 years, and discuss individual songs and CDs, without resorting to a "my favorite band" thread.

It would be interesting to see how many on SP listen to, or have a preference for other genres of music. I suspect there are quite a few. Classical music is so broad in scope that it would demand a thead all to itself, as would Jazz. But it would be hard to combine all genres onto one thread. BTW, I agree with your comment that the 1870s was a fine decade for opera.

I have a feeling the 80s will prevail. It's a generational thing.

70's for my innocence, but the 80's beat out my teenage anger :) Van Halen for me, not Van Hagar :p

The best music came from the late 1960s into the whole 1970s in my opinion. The music from that era just has a sort of appeal to me, that songs from other era's have less.

Tricky question, even trickier since I hardly know any 80's music (apart from, perhaps, late Abba :confused: )...
Anyway, like JSBB, I would have voted for the 19th century (I love operas).

I can't vote because as a hard rock/heavy metal fan I can't choose between '70s and '80s, since both periods have many important bands. Also, '60s are important because the foundations of hard rock and heavy metal were build this era. As a historical analogy, I could say that for me '60s are the minoan/mycenean age, '70s are the classical age and '80s are the hellenistic age.

I would think that many, if not most, would choose muic from the era thay grew up in. For me, that would be early 70's (which is when I started listening seriously to music) to the mid-80's.

I think it depends heavily on the music genre. In the time a genre had a high and was very mainstream and trendy, the more people made this kind of music and the more "classic" stuff for that genre got created. This means, it depends on what I want to hear, then I pick the decade that suits my momentary tastes the best. As for the rest, every generation is equally blessed with talent and a whole lotta crap. So I think that each decade was equally crappy/good.

But there's a huge difference, as the quantity of produced music has risen steadily through all decades. So the 60ies seem be ruled by kings, yet there were kings of a neerly unpopulated steppe. While right now, I think there are huge talents around in bigger quantity. Yet those talents are hard to spot, as the quantity has risen generally, so there is at the same time more crap around, making gems hard to spot.

Equally, the kings of the 60ies had a lot of freedom because of lacking competion and had as a result the freedom to experiment with their sound, texts and a lot of drugs, which I think now would mean commercial death and the need to work hard for a comeback. Imagine someone singing today, yeah, I know that your fifteen years old, I don't want your ID. The 60ies are for the nasty stuff. Now is the time of poetic vulgarity.

I think it's fair to say that the 70ies just sucked. Except for the Rock-genre. But the birth of Diso can not be forgiven. Yet, rock, driving, Sweet Home Alabama, Rock 'N' Roll Damnation, yeah.

The 80ies sound is, in my mind, all about soundtrack for cocktail sipping. Hanging around in bar, and having some 80ies tape in the background, that's were this kind of music belongs and, surprisingly for me, shines.

The 90ies where a techno nightmare. As I dislike Techno and I grew up in the Bum-Bum-Bum-Bum heartland. But there was some good stuff around, it just wasn't often played, as it would interfere with the Bum-Bum-Bum, and who would want that ? That's when I started to glorify the past, but only because the future dried up. Yet, now, it all looks different. 95% of the 90ies crap has gone into oblivion and I'm quit happy with what the play now from the 90ies. The 90ies look way better in retrospect, now that they are cleaned.

But as I have moved from teenager to radio station targeted twenty-something, the best music decade is right here, right now. There never has been better music around.

As for the Stones, I think they defintley had their peak 68-73. Beggars Banquet, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers and jumping Jack Flash somewhere in between. That's pretty their stage-show today, except for some additions in the 70's and of course some jewels of their learning time in the middle of the sixties.

Sorvo - I've heard that it will be Van Hagar again for 00. Can't wait.

I run into the same problem that Lady
Luthien runs into. I was only alive for half of the eighties, and really don't know much about music before that. I chose 90's, because that is the only full decade I have lived through.

It doesn't really matter when you were born, just how much interest you have in music.

I personally vote for the 60's, because so much innovation, revolution and rule-breaking took place in music. Though, I do agree with Chandos, that the music of the 80's did have an immense impact on not only music but pop culture in general. Also, MTV did change everything (even though I try to ignore the fact that MTV is complete and total sh*t today.

It's either the '60s or the '80s for me although it's hard to pick between them. The thing to consider is that as a decade gets older, only the 'good' music from that era survives so it always seems better than it really was. At the moment, the radios will be playing loads of '00' stuff, most of which will turn out to be rubbish and never heard of again, whilst we remember The Beatles from the '60s but we forget all the cheesy one-hit wonders that littered that decade.

Good thread. Easily the 70s of course, don’t get me wrong I mean the 80s was great to but a lot of very special things happened in music in the 70s.

Chandos, You are correct. Van Hagar will be touring this summer and they will be at two locations near me (Philadelphia and Hershey Park) Maybe I'll go if I get drunk enough :p

Earth, Wind and Fire... Kool & the Gang... B.B.King's 'The thrill has gone'... The Doors...

I guess I'll stick with Splunge. 70's till mid 80's seem nice.

I went with the 80'ssimply because I prefer the rock going about at the time. Whilst many of the bands I really liked spanned several decades, e.g pink floyd, I prefer the stuff they did during the 80's. Plus there was the new romantic scene, dire straights and R.E.M.

60s-70s Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Cream, The Who, Led Zep, and much much more!

My pick would be 1968 - 1975...An awesome time for music...

80's for me, the golden period for New Wave. Groups like Duran Duran, Simple Minds, The Cure, Depeche Mode, and The Talking Heads had their highlights in the 80's.

The 80s - Queen.

60's - 70's for me. For some reason, I really hate the 80's in general.

Really hard question, actually... I really liked some music from the 80's, ie. The Cure and Bauhaus. The nineties metal scene was great as well, so that's what I voted... Of course there's great music from every decade, Except perhaps for the 50's (at least IMO)...

I tried to let my iPod decide for me. Looked at the auto lists to see which decade had the most songs in it and was about to be forced to vote for the 90's when I started looking at some of the songs in there, and discovered that a lot of greatest hits and compilations I have were created in the 90's, but the music was originally from the 70's and 80's.

Decided that I would make up my own mind and decided on the 70's, even though I have more 80's music on the iPod.

Late eighties and early nineties do it for me, but I am too eclectic in my musical tastes to make a definite answer.

late 70's-89..they were just better

The 80's. New Wave!!!