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

[ILikeChillinWithYou]

I would say the 14th century was a really great era in music 

[DignifiedLove]

1 minute ago, Roxxy said:

Yes. She and Xtina beat Britney for her only two nominations at the Grammys that year.

And where are they now? that's right, forgotten  

Knee prevails once again 

1 minute ago, Roxxy said:

Dido was a new artist then so Mom's couldn't have been listening to her. I think she was more for teens and young adults, than the moms. 

Tea I guess. When she joined forces with Eminem and merged the hook of Thank You into Stan, a MOMENT most pleasing in HA career  

4 hours ago, Roxxy said:

Ok I wanna hear this. Spill it. 

I'd rather not derail this thread and go off topic  

[DignifiedLove]

4 hours ago, PokemonSpears said:

we used to have our own Lilith Fair in here

In Mexico?  

[DignifiedLove]

4 hours ago, Urbanney said:

Then what was? 

I mean, in terms of musical diversity and visuals, the 90s and early 2000s were it  

[DignifiedLove]

4 hours ago, Roxxy said:

She actually released a new album last year called Still On My Mind which to me is her Ray of Light meets Biophilia. 

The only reason I know is that is because Barnes & Noble would play select tracks from her album on repeat 

[DignifiedLove]

3 hours ago, Dark.Knight said:

I remember ripping this page from my sibling's teen magazine for my collection back when they bought it at the store lol

Name a prettier teen star...I'll wait  

[DignifiedLove]

3 hours ago, iAlwaysSingLive said:

Can't comment on the 90s as I wasn't born yet. I really do miss the 00s, though, and look back on that period of time fondly. It was my childhood after all.  However, I just can't look past the accessibility part of it all. Streaming has truly changed the game. Indie artists are on the rise because the internet lets people self-promote and self-release, and people can listen to whatever the hell the way want without having to listen to what the radio and the charts shove down their throats. I can create a library of 10 000 songs in a few hours for a measly cost of 7 euros a month. That's ridiculous. You can't even buy one CD for 7 euros. I've discovered so many amazing artists thanks to streaming services and the internet in general that I would otherwise never get to hear about.  As for quality. It's hard to say. You can definitely compare mainstream music, but as for music overall - I don't think it's possible to objectively say if one decade was better than another.  Also, as I said in another thread - pop music is actually the best it's ever been in terms of critical acclaim, and most artists are heavily involved in their work. Much more than before, I'd say. 

 

3 hours ago, iAlwaysSingLive said:

90s and 00s for performances / showmanship and celebrity factor

10s for accessibility, freedom and artistic integrity

imo at least 

I agree with some of what you say. I guess it's comparing apples to oranges. In many ways, I actually prefer the 2010s music over the mid-to-late 2000s in the sense that it feels more accessible. While the 2000s hold a strong nostalgia value for me as well, I find that by 2005 and all the way through 2009, mainstream music was lacking an identity or it was all about *** and a lot of what was on the radio wasn't as exciting. Pop music definitely feels a lot more 'independent', 'diverse' and 'broad' nowadays, but I'd also argue and say that pop is basically dead when you compare it to what it was then. I do think artists definitely now have more artistic freedom thanks to pioneers like Madonna, Britney, Avril, Xtina, Pink, Miley, and Lana paving the way. 

[DignifiedLove]

3 hours ago, MidnightCarlisy said:

I do feel that many of the albums released those years would tend to have a lot of filler tracks though as opposed to more recent times. I love Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory its a masterpiece from beginning to end but it's the only album I like by them.  

I actually feel like it was the opposite then. More filler tracks now. Many even argue nowadays that artists are just releasing quick singles without a complete body of acclaimed work. In fact, I feel like back in the 90s and early 2000s, they tried to make every song count since people actually went out to buy albums hence the reason why album sales peaked around 2000. 

[GMFlop]

The 80s had mega stars like MJ, Prince, George Michael, Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran etc., battling the charts along with their songwriting songs that they produced. 80s all the way. 

[DignifiedLove]

49 minutes ago, GMFlop said:

The 80s had mega stars like MJ, Prince, George Michael, Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran etc., battling the charts along with their songwriting songs that they produced. 80s all the way. 

80s had great music and classics for days; powerballads, arena anthems, etc. but the 90s/early 2000s were a far more diverse, artistically free and experimental time, let's not kid ourselves  90s also spawned greats like Mariah, Madonna's artistic peak, Britney, Nirvana's peak, Whitney's greatest hit, Alanis' Jagged Little Pill, Shania's Come On Over, BSB, Pearl Jam, The Smashing Pumpkins, TLC, Spice Girls, blink-182, No Doubt, Aaliyah, 2Pac, B.I.G., Lauryn Hill, Eminem, Radiohead, Celine's greatest work, Shakira, Bjork, 3EB and so many others. Many 80s megastars (not necessarily the ones you listed) either failed to evolve or lasted only a decade before the general public lost complete interest. Not discrediting their impact but it's true.  

[none]

12 hours ago, Roxxy said:

Oh... so like, you put the "poster" on top of the notebook and you cover it?  

yup! i think this was one of the pictures

[Shadow.]

considering most of this forum grew up during this era of music I feel like the overall consensus is slightly bias. every era has its highs and lows and laid the foundation for the next generation of artists.

[Roxxy]

1 hour ago, Dark.Knight said:

yup! i think this was one of the pictures

Did you have all your school notebooks covered with Britney? Omg I'm so jealous. 

[none]

30 minutes ago, Roxxy said:

Did you have all your school notebooks covered with Britney? Omg I'm so jealous. 

I did for that semester 

[Roxxy]

11 minutes ago, Dark.Knight said:

I did for that semester 

Ok why did you stop? Were you teased? 

[Midnight]

On 3/31/2020 at 1:50 AM, DignifiedLove said:

I actually feel like it was the opposite then. More filler tracks now. Many even argue nowadays that artists are just releasing quick singles without a complete body of acclaimed work. In fact, I feel like back in the 90s and early 2000s, they tried to make every song count since people actually went out to buy albums hence the reason why album sales peaked around 2000. 

In my opinion albums that are full of filler are No Strings Attached by Nsync, Sweet Kisses by Jessica Simpson, Christina debut album even Baby one more time actually but that's just my taste.

[none]

1 hour ago, Roxxy said:

Ok why did you stop? Were you teased? 

i don't remember honestly lol - for either question

I probably went to the next grade and the covers weren't available anymore

[Roxxy]

5 minutes ago, Dark.Knight said:

i don't remember honestly lol - for either question

I probably went to the next grade and the covers weren't available anymore

Oh. That actually makes sense as well. 

[NormaJeanSpears]

On 3/30/2020 at 9:13 PM, DignifiedLove said:

 

• We saw the rise of genres like pop, electronica, neo-soul, techno, house, trance, country-pop, teen-oriented music, sampling in hip-hop, chipmunk soul, latin pop, pop-punk, post-grunge, britpop and SO much more. EDM was literally birthed in the 90s.

techno and house first came into play in the early 80s & i don't think techno was very popular in the late 90's-early 2000's at all. house was probably more popular in the early 90s and eventually re-emerged in the 2010s. trance was definitely more popular than techno or house i think in the 97-03 time period for example

idk what people ever mean when they say EDM cause various electronic genres are dance-oriented outside of downtempo genres. what is electronica supposed to mean? i've heard a lot of people that are very into electronic music express hatred for that term (and EDM too, but especially electronica). it's a really vague term.

i dunno how pop rose in the 90s/2000s either considering it was insanely popular in the late 60s, didn't go away at all in the 70's (ABBA was (euro)pop more than they ever were disco and they were everywhere in the decade), hit a stride in the 80s (i mean, madonna and michael are the poster children of the decade), unless you mean it re-emerged then yes i agree cause it was not very popular in the early 90's.

teen oriented music first became popular in the 60s, that's why bubblegum pop and sunshine pop amongst others were popular. the whole psychedelic movement was driven by teens and young adults too. the late 90's teen pop wave was the biggest in the timeline but the 60's as well as a period in the 80's had very popular teen oriented music

country pop first got popular in the 80s also, look at dolly parton's output in the early 80's when she also started to get more and more successful. it was pop-country vs earlier straight country styles.

anyway, tho i strongly disagree with like half of those you listed i would say there were other genres and subgenres that really got popular then: breakbeat styles like big beat got HUGE in the mid to late 90s ala chemical brothers, prodigy, fatboy slim, like it was ubiquitous; trip hop and other downtempo styles were quite popular in the mid and later part of the 90's, so i would argue that trance, breakbeat and downtempo outpaced house and 100% techno for sure in that time period; reggae pop styles got popular, such as shaggy; southern hip hop started to replace both west coast and east coast styles by the end of the 90s; nu metal got super super popular (sadly because i hate that style lmfao) for a couple years alongside post grunge (they sound pretty different though); emo also kicked off at the new millennium with it's first emergences and successes and is a bit different from pop-punk .

[Barmy86]

Thank goodness I’m not the only one bored with today’s music. I would actually say from late 90’s to 2012 was a golden era. The production, buildup of singles/-albums, marketing was what music should be. Everyone is so lazy now dropping singles like dropping kids off at the pool and no thought into release process. Nothing is exciting.