What were the best decades for music?

[princessmimi]

In my opinion I think the 80's and 90's were the best decades in music cause they had musicians with SO much talent,

charisma and larger than life persona.

And in the 80s we got legends like:

 

While with the 90s, we got:

I'd say both decades were the last decades of QUALITY music!
Although I got to admit the early 2000s were good but thats cause of Britney.

 

So yeah what do you guys think are the best decades of music?

[Adriannn]

I love the 80s, it's always fun to imagine my parents bopping to those amazing songs. 

 

[DignifiedLove]

The best decade of music was 1995-2004, hands down. It was the only time in the music industry where every major genre was developing and continued to thrive — whether it was on Top 40 radio, MTV, Billboard charts and so forth. You had top-tier pop, peak r&b/soul/neo-soul, hip-hop, rap, country, French house, adult contemporary, nu-metal, post-grunge, garage rock, the birth and rise of edm, electronica, indie, alternative, California ska/pop/skate punk, punk rock, folk, Britpop, UK garage, new age and so much more thriving at once. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime musical renaissance.

The late 60s and 70s were also an incredible time for music, hands down. Not as diverse but so many classics were being churned out then. 

I also really liked the 2010s but mainly because that was an incredible time for EDM, tropical house, downtempo, hip-hop and indie pop/rock. 

By far the worst years of music have been 2008-09, 2018, and 2020-21. I’m not too keen on the mid-to-late 80s and early 90s music either. Aside from some pop bangers and the grunge-rock boom, there was a lot of generic, boring and unoriginal music being released then.

If I had to rank each decade in terms of music overall:

1. 1990s
2. 1970s
3. 2010s
4. 2000s
5. 1980s
6. 1960s

[Spicechinodiva]

Last great pure pop and full camp fun in Music was the 80s. 

 

MTV was hella fun, and not afraid to piss people off. 

It seems somehow after 9/11 and the super bowk that they produced MTv started respecting cultures and stuff abd refuse videos like alejandro and videos they felt were sensitive to cultures. 

 

Ironically that's happening to Music now. 

 

It's to sensitize that they don't push envelopes anymore or are afraid to ruffle feathers. 

[Moscow]

My love for Bruce cannot be described in words, his music is so good! Though I am not a fan of pop madonna like LAV or her debut or even True Blue not my style but in my opinion 90s was truly ruled by Shakira and Mariah somehow Shakira is never mentioned idk why is that being such a global superstar I feel she's very underrated. 

To me 90s was the most fun decade 

[Blackout2006]

14 hours ago, GODNA IS A QUEEN said:

70s were also an incredible time for music, hands down. Not as diverse but so many classics were being churned out then. 

The rattiness  If there were no 70s, you wouldn't see half of genres that thrived in the 1990s, and especially all Dance genres  We had music from the Carpenters to Led Zeppelin to Diana Ross to David Bowie to John Lennon to ABBA to Queen to Bee Gees to Donna Summer. In facT, it was the first time since decades that a genre besides Rock or it's other forms were ruling the charts, as Disco was the definitive genre of that decade   It was one of the most versatile decades of the 20th Century, and changed the whole sphere of the pop universe. 

OT: The 1970s, 1980's, 1990s, and 2000's was the best time for music

[Blackout2006]

14 hours ago, GODNA IS A QUEEN said:

1980s

2010'S OVER THE 1980'S?

That's it.

 

[DignifiedLove]

14 hours ago, Blackout2006 said:

2010'S OVER THE 1980'S?

That's it.

 

Sis the 80s has some of the most disposable, overproduced, substanceless and saccharine music known to mankind. 

Sure, you had your classics but the 80s also had a LOOOOOT of one-hit wonder garbage with the same old generic digital synthesizers being churned out and mass produced like fast food. People seem to always forget that.  Literally name me a better album than “Norman ******* Rockwell”, “Yeezus” or “good kid maad city” that was released in the 80s  That’s what I thought A lot of 80s music also aged bad but none of you are ready for that conversation it seems 

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE some 80s music but the 2010s as a whole were superior. It was a great time for electronic, edm, hip-hop, downtempo, house, indie and folk music. And that’s on periodTTTT.

 

[stanLOONA]

I'd say 80s, the fun started 

90s because serious joined the party but fun was still there 

2000s because fun in pink is the best 

 

[Blackout2006]

On 2/22/2022 at 11:11 AM, GODNA IS A QUEEN said:

Sis the 80s has some of the most disposable, overproduced, substanceless and saccharine music known to mankind. 

Sure, you had your classics but the 80s also had a LOOOOOT of one-hit wonder garbage with the same old generic digital synthesizers being churned out and mass produced like fast food. People seem to always forget that.  Literally name me a better album than “Norman Rockwell”, “Yeezus” or “good kid maad city” that was released in the 80s  That’s what I thought A lot of 80s music also aged bad but none of you are ready for that conversation it seems 

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE some 80s music but the 2010s as a whole were superior. It was a great time for electronic, edm, hip-hop, downtempo, house, indie and folk music. And that’s on periodTTTT.

 

See? And you were so surprised when your new era received only a 54% rating on Exhalecritic. Nobody is going to take you seriously with this clownery Literally EVERY decade has housed a "LOOOOOT" of one-hit wonders and had their fair share of fast food music, so what is special about the 1980s sharing that, huh? Sweets, there are a PLENTY of albums that are better than any of the albums u suggested. You can't tell me that the 1980s, the very decade that brought us masterpieces such as Thriller, Like a Prayer, Purple Rain, 1999, Legends, Graceland, and so much more, must be kept aside just because the 80s had its share of synth-pop  Not to mention, having much superior artists to ones of the 2010s who were great, but don't match to the excellence of the 80s artist and are also very influenced by the 80s acts And not you getting so brave when it comes to dragging synth-pop, considering it is some of the most influential genres in shaping today's music that u hold to such a delusional and high regard  I understanding ranking the 60s, 70s and even 90s over the 80s but the 2010s? It's the clownery for me, your honor 

[ExhaleSpamBot]

80's I liked the music.

90's was a great decade for pop, rap and r&b! I actually miss the 90s rap and r&b the most

2000- loved it!

2010- is when main stream music got boring to me.

 

[RadicalOptimism]

On 2/21/2022 at 11:11 PM, GODNA IS A QUEEN said:

Sis the 80s has some of the most disposable, overproduced, substanceless and saccharine music known to mankind. 

Sure, you had your classics but the 80s also had a LOOOOOT of one-hit wonder garbage with the same old generic digital synthesizers being churned out and mass produced like fast food. People seem to always forget that.  Literally name me a better album than “Norman ******* Rockwell”, “Yeezus” or “good kid maad city” that was released in the 80s  That’s what I thought A lot of 80s music also aged bad but none of you are ready for that conversation it seems 

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE some 80s music but the 2010s as a whole were superior. It was a great time for electronic, edm, hip-hop, downtempo, house, indie and folk music. And that’s on periodTTTT.

 

Not a Lana Del Rey album making your list of impactful albums  I’ve never heard a single person outside of Exhale Stan ha 

[RadicalOptimism]

Late 90s-00’s will always be the most memorable to me because it’s what I lived through. However, each decade has a few bops that remain timeless 

[Stefani]

The 80s is the only correct answer.   

[Broccoli Spears]

On 2/21/2022 at 12:46 PM, GODNA IS A QUEEN said:

The best decade of music was 1995-2004, hands down.

This!

[DignifiedLove]

On 2/21/2022 at 8:30 AM, Blackout2006 said:

The rattiness  If there were no 70s, you wouldn't see half of genres that thrived in the 1990s, and especially all Dance genres  We had music from the Carpenters to Led Zeppelin to Diana Ross to David Bowie to John Lennon to ABBA to Queen to Bee Gees to Donna Summer. In facT, it was the first time since decades that a genre besides Rock or it's other forms were ruling the charts, as Disco was the definitive genre of that decade   It was one of the most versatile decades of the 20th Century, and changed the whole sphere of the pop universe. 

OT: The 1970s, 1980's, 1990s, and 2000's was the best time for music

I don’t know why I didn’t see this post NNNN  ANYWAY sweets if you READ my post, you would have noticed that I was in fact OBJECTIVELY praising the 70s for being one of the greatest decades of music and being far better than the musty 80s  In facT, I agree with everything you have to say here so why are you trying to argue?

70s-90s-10s >>> 80s-00s-20s

Funny how history goes through that cyclic trends and repeats itself 

[Whyshouldibsad21]

On 2/20/2022 at 5:46 PM, GODNA IS A QUEEN said:

The best decade of music was 1995-2004, hands down. It was the only time in the music industry where every major genre was developing and continued to thrive — whether it was on Top 40 radio, MTV, Billboard charts and so forth. You had top-tier pop, peak r&b/soul/neo-soul, hip-hop, rap, country, French house, adult contemporary, nu-metal, post-grunge, garage rock, the birth and rise of edm, electronica, indie, alternative, California ska/pop/skate punk, punk rock, folk, Britpop, UK garage, new age and so much more thriving at once. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime musical renaissance.

The late 60s and 70s were also an incredible time for music, hands down. Not as diverse but so many classics were being churned out then. 

I also really liked the 2010s but mainly because that was an incredible time for EDM, tropical house, downtempo, hip-hop and indie pop/rock. 

By far the worst years of music have been 2008-09, 2018, and 2020-21. I’m not too keen on the mid-to-late 80s and early 90s music either. Aside from some pop bangers and the grunge-rock boom, there was a lot of generic, boring and unoriginal music being released then.

If I had to rank each decade in terms of music overall:

1. 1990s
2. 1970s
3. 2010s
4. 2000s
5. 1980s
6. 1960s

No lies were told, very thoughtful post. 2010’s are iconic to me personally but I wouldn’t say they were really incredible. 

[DignifiedLove]

13 hours ago, Blackout2006 said:

See? And you were so surprised when your new era received only a 54% rating on Exhalecritic. Nobody is going to take you seriously with this clownery 

Where? I just shattered a new record of having one of the most VIEWED locked threads of all-time.   I also just won 3 awards and my GODNA era is less than a month old.  This is shaping up to be my most successful ERA yet.  And you? How’s that FLOPCUS II Tour going? 
 

13 hours ago, Blackout2006 said:

Literally EVERY decade has housed a "LOOOOOT" of one-hit wonders and had their fair share of fast food music, so what is special about the 1980s sharing that, huh?

Sis the 80s were notorious for their one hit wonders. In fact, it was so bad they even made a VH1 special about it years ago. 

13 hours ago, Blackout2006 said:

Sweets, there are a PLENTY of albums that are better than any of the albums u suggested. You can't tell me that the 1980s, the very decade that brought us masterpieces such as Thriller, Like a Prayer, Purple Rain, 1999, Legends, Graceland, and so much more, must be kept aside just because the 80s had its share of synth-pop 

“Thriller” and “Like a Prayer”?  Those aren’t even amongst MJ and Madonna’s best work. IRONIC enough, MJ’s best album was released in the 70s and Madonna’s in the 90s.   Again, we’re not discussing success here.  And okay fine, I’ll give you Prince’s albums, “Legend” by Bob Marley and “Graceland”. “Legends” and “Purple Rain” >>>>> especially, but also “good kid maad city”, “Yeezus” and “Norman ******* Rockwell” cannoT be ignored.  Let’s also not forget the masterpieces “MBDTF”,  “Blonde”, “AM”, “NWTS”, “Ultraviolence”, “Watch the Throne”, “BTD” and so many other timeless bodies of work that were released in the 2010s.

13 hours ago, Blackout2006 said:

And not you getting so brave when it comes to dragging synth-pop, considering it is some of the most influential genres in shaping today's music that u hold to such a delusional and high regard 

Doesn’t change the fact that 80s synths aged like milk and were overdone 

13 hours ago, Blackout2006 said:

 I understanding ranking the 60s, 70s and even 90s over the 80s but the 2010s? It's the clownery for me, your honor 

YES sweets. Not my fault the 80s and 00s reeked of horrible and unoriginal Top 40 music. At least the 2000s had 2000-2004 but music after that was a hot mess. Let’s not be delusional here and rely on nostalgia as an indicator of quality. 

[DignifiedLove]

2 hours ago, CrazyButItFeelsAllright said:

Not a Lana Del Rey album making your list of impactful albums  I’ve never heard a single person outside of Exhale Stan ha 

I didn’t say impactful sweets. Besides that, I don’t even consider NFR by Lana an “impactful” album. BTD? Absolutely. But again, I’m discussing quality here. UV and NFR are better albums than BTD despite BTD being the more impactful album. 

Moving along, the late 90s and early 00s were a memorable time in music. At least we can agree on that. 

[DignifiedLove]

1 hour ago, Broccoli Spears said:

This!

❤️
 

42 minutes ago, Whyshouldibsad21 said:

No lies were told, very thoughtful post. 2010’s are iconic to me personally but I wouldn’t say they were really incredible. 

Thank you. ❤️ And maybe I’m slightly biased towards the 10s but there’s no denying that decade had a lot of musical treasures, especially in electronic, folk, indie and hip-hop music like I had mentioned earlier. Then again every decade since the 80s has had its fair share of good and bad music. I think people sometimes forget that the 80s and 00s were also infiltrated with horrible pop music. 00s also had post-grunge, crunk rap and that whole Nickelback wave which was just plain awful. The 10s also had a lot of bad pop music but not as infiltrated as the 80s and 00s. In terms of 00s music especially, I see a lot of people rely on their own personal nostalgia as an indicator of what they deem as quality when the reality is that the music (especially from 2005-09) was not all that. Ofc you had some great songs but again, it was infiltrated with some horrible ones.