Were the mid-to-late 90s and early 2000s the greatest era in music?

[FedericoScquizzato]

From mid 90's till 2010-2011 the music was FIRE, it was everything

Is the music that i like the most and i listen to everyday

If wasn't for The King of Pop , Whitney Houston and Celine prior to Let's Talk About Love, I would say that they were the very best year of music

Bring me back to those years 

[ShatteredBoy]

Deffo agree. All the 90s babies are so lucky to have lived that era. I feel like music peaked around that time, it was iconic hit after iconic hit

[Jordan Miller]

Nostalgia is super powerful isn't it

I don't see Ashanti's name in the OP 

[Jordan Miller]

Also0o0o main paged 

[Mattyj7883]

[Blackout2006]

I definitely agree however.... I think the era was a little more longer

Spoiler

So here is my opinion

Greatest era for music-

Mid 70s-Mid 200s

(1975-2006)

In analysis-

Mid-70s (1975-1979) - The Beginning EraJohn Travolta released two of one of the greatest and best-selling soundtracks and eras of all time, Grease and Saturday Night Fever and disco, even tho huge in the early 70s, became far more successful, huge and was the defining genre of the 1970s, with Disco singers like Donna Summer (AKA-Queen of Disco)  peaking during these decade. Rock was also in very huge rise in this era, ALSO peaking its best in this decade.

 80s (1980-1989)- The rise and critical acclaim era even tho, disco had a horrible downfall and death because of rock fanatics, disco immaediately fell of the trends by 1980 and rock managed to take the cake for the early 80s reigning in success. However, this was also the era where pop music became “the” thing, Michael Jackson released “The best-selling album of all time” and one of his greatest and most critically acclaimed albums of pop, “Thriller” which catapulted him into mega-stardom. Madonnas sophomore effort “Like a virgin” and lead-single “like a virgin” and “matierial girl” also had the same effects for her which made her a mega-star like MJ. We got the meme song “never gonna give you up” and Cyndi Laupers female empowering anthem “Girls just wanna have fun”. Music at this time, was also highly critically acclaimed.

90s (1990-1999)- The cult and peak era Everything during this time was at its best...fashion, technology, cinema, books and most importantly books. I guess I don’t have to explain this era, since you explained it, but it was the era where pop music reached its peak, and became the biggest genre of the decade. Britney released the best-selling teenage debut, Mariah Carey released the best-selling and timeless holiday album, Shania Twain peaked, Tupac released the best-selling hip hop album, Whitney Houston released the best-selling soundtrack and everything was huge during this time.

Early 00s and millennium (2000-2002)-The continuation of pop reign era  Pop still reigned and was still in its peak during the early 2000s, with many iconic hits and memorable performances, coming off this era. Britney had the highest first-week sales by a female with OIDIA, Madonna continued her reign of success after her massive comeback era, Ray of light, Christina Aguilera had the 1st no.1 hit of the millennium (what a girl wants), Justin Timberlake releases his debut 2002 record “Justified” and controversial hit “cry me a river”,Michael Jackson released one of his most creative efforts, Invincible (which was a moderate success). Since MTV and its award shows reached its peak in the early 00s, Many memorable performances came off this era like (most famously) Britney’s Slave 4 u mtv performance.

Mid-early 00s-Late 2004(2003-2004)- The competition era during this time, there was a HUGE competition in that period, many new singers entered the game, there was sudden change in mainstream and pop music, hip-hop was slowly rising up again after 2001-2002 decline (which was not its death era, but a slight decline in its popularity), and urban and mid-tempo music was trending sooner than later. Eminem was aging one of his hugest eras and years, Britney released toxic and in the zone in which the album was the 6th or 5th best selling album of 2004, selling 8 mil. Copies already, “American life” by Madonna flopped, 50-cent had the best selling album of 2003, Nelly furtado entered the industry with very moderate success besides her huge hit “I’m like a bird”,  Ashlee Simpson released her debut 5-million selling record, “Autobiography”, Beyoncé releases her debut era and record “dangerously in love” and has one of the hugest hits in her career, and 2003.

Mid-00s-Mid-Late 00s (2005-2007)- The tabloid era Madonna was having her second comeback era with confessions on the dance floor, having the best-selling album of 2005, Pop was facing a sudden change, but pop stars who were huge, were all over the tabloids. Justin Timberlake was reigning with furthermore success, after “Lovesounds” album and his hit single “Sexyback”., Nelly Furtado reached mega-commercial success after the success of the mid-00s defining hit “Promiscous” and her album of the same name, meanwhile, Lindsay Lohan was in the tabloids for her personal issues and problems, Paris Hilton become a media-fixture during this era, Britney faced her controversial chaotic era and was pregnant with Jayden and Sean, and divorced Kevin, and would later appear in tabloids a lot more for her personal issues, the Lindsay-Paris-Britney group was the biggest tabloid thing of the mid-00s. Rihanna debuted in 2005 with her no.2 hit single “Pon de replay” and released her moderately successful album “Music of the sun”, and would go on to release her break-out single, SOS (umbrella was her MAJOR and huge breakthrough, but this song helped people introduce who Rihanna was) and also moderately-successful sophomore album, girl like me, Beyoncé would continue her slow and steady rise to huge stardom with B’day era and “Irreplacable” and “Beautiful liar”. Fergie was facing huge success with her debut record “The dutchess” and Fergalicous, glamorous and London bridge, it was arguably one of the hugest eras of the mid 00s.Then in 2007, Rihanna released the biggest album of 2007, Good Girl gone bad and the biggest hit single of 2007 “Umbrella” which was no.1 for 10 weeks, which would make her an international superstar, Nelly released Say it right,Britney had a very controversial year and VMA performance but during these hard times, would release blackout which would go on to be featured in the rock and hall fame.

So here you go. Thx for coming to my ted-useless talk

 

[Blackout2006]

1 minute ago, Blackout2006 said:

most importantly music

Edit**

[Mattyj7883]

Sidenote:

Could we take a moment to appreciate this moment captured?!  That effin’ smile!!
 

 

[jennyj]

Yes it's true.  It was a time where artists were actually talented and didn't rely on autotune.  Lyrics were so meaningful and deep, even in the corniest of songs.  Music production was more unique, whereas now a lot of music even from big names use pre-made soundbites/instruments.  Even with low budgets, they all had amazing music videos.  The music industry was so naturally diverse with little discrimination, whereas now they have to make race/*** orient./etc. or some sort of theatrics a call-out instead of letting their music/talent speak for itself...  a time when singles were carefully thought out and planned, whereas now they release multiple tracks per week leading up to albums.....  and a lot of it is simply to grab people's attention now in a social media, on-demand streaming, content-overload world. 

I miss it.

[PokemonSpears]

On 3/31/2020 at 2:19 AM, DignifiedLove said:

90s also spawned greats like Mariah, Madonna's artistic peak

I think that's also very important. Many artists from the 80's were still going strong in this era of music. Even Michael Jackson released that album and was still current in the music scene, Janet, Madonna, Bon Jovi, etc. It wasn't like nowadays that an artist gets into their 30's and is considered out of fashion, outdated because kids these days consider them too old and don't like them. 

 

I think something that is missing today is someone bringing it all together. MTV used to be this place that showed us the catalog of artists and music we could choose from, not only by playing the music videos (which also set some sort of standard for all the artists to reach) but there was also TRL (or los 10 + Pedidos in Latin America), Making the Video, all these MTV specials where they would interview the artists, or spend time with them, let them spend time with the fans, etc. So MTV was a huge force to create this "music scene" and after they let the channel go to hell with their reality shows and stuff, all of it was gone. 

Someone commented that today is very different because we don't have someone telling us what to listen to anymore, or "shoving it down our throats" and with the internet we have access to an infinity of musicians and artists around the world, and that is true. But I don't know if it's necessarily better. I mean, it should be, but at the end of they day, awards shows, social media, etc, they're not welcoming all these millions of indie artists and stuff. And at the end of they day, even if MTV is not telling us what to listen to anymore, that just changed to kids and teenagers or whatever sector of the public that rules the streaming services, deciding what the rest of the population has to listen and taking away the space in the music scene to those artists that don't fit their taste, without even matter if they have a long career or more talent than the current artists.

A picture like the one in the OP could not be possible today even if MTV wanted to reunite a bunch of current artists, because it wouldn't feel genuine. That doesn't exist anymore. It's like everyone just consumes the artist they like, and the artists just work for their fans, but there isn't this sort of music scene or sphere where artists get together, something like the Hollywood scene, and I think that was part of the magic.

Same happened in Mexico. Televisa, which is a television company, used to have singers as well, and they launched and promoted the careers of hundreds of singers and groups, and yeah, it was all a mafia, it was all very controlled by a small group of people, and they shoved the artists down our throats, and they banned whatever person didn't follow their rules, and stuff,  and people always criticized this, but it's undeniable that they created this platform for the music that influenced the lives of millions for decades, and even international artists landed there first, before making it in the States or other parts of the world, like Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, etc. All of that is gone now. There are just a very few tv shows that have musical guests every now and then, but there isn't a current "music scene" in Mexico anymore. Other genres have taken over, like reaggeton and all those urban things, but they're mostly people from other countries. Mexico has no leading star anymore, even less a group of stars that are making some kind of impact internationally, and that is really sad. 

I think both MTV and Televisa in Mexico didn't know how to adapt to the internet era. With TV losing force every day that goes by, they should've transitioned to the digital era earlier, and stronger. If MTV didn't have that exclusivity of the music videos due to YouTube, they should've had a stronger presence in the social media, and even on youtube, by engaging with the artists, and keep doing their shows and interviews and specials on the digital platforms, and give the fans that extra something that a music video can't give them. They started doing a bit, by uploading all shows and performances a few years ago, but I think it's too late. They already disconnected to the public for too long. They're not leaders of opinion anymore, they don't have any kind of authority to say anything about current music anymore, and that's why the VMA's suck more every year. 

[DignifiedLove]

On 3/30/2020 at 6:39 PM, GODNA IS A QUEEN said:

I also forgot nu-metal/rapcore hello  that era of korn, linkin park, limp bizkit, 311, soad, papa roach, etc. was everything!!!! i'm sure @nerdygeekgrlappreciates. 

My brief friendship with nerdygeek omg @Rik I miss 2020

[bitbitboi]

I agree with the OP! This needed to be said, school the children!

[rik]

14 hours ago, GODNA IS A QUEEN said:

My brief friendship with nerdygeek omg @Rik I miss 2020

🍇

[Alexanda]

I miss the dance-music era, but everything was really good, even the other genres, earworm after earworm! 

So much diversity in the 90's 

 

[jordeezy river red]

no tbh.. I think the 80s were the best and most aesthetic and late 90s, early 2000s were a rehash of 80s

[bas che]

2001 - 2005 top tier.

[princessmimi]

I totally agree.

The late 90s and early 00s were the peak of music variety and quality.

Seriously like 99% of my Spotify playlist is filled with music from that era.

 

Its my childhood, I'll always love it.

[kdub87]

Mhm

[FullyDattAndDatt3full]

2000s did it to me

and i especially loved the R'n'B

so i say yes