What's The Best Decade For Good Music?

[Dream Sphere]

So, what's your personal favourite music decade, and why? Was it because certain styles you like were at their creative peaks in your opinion? Was it due to just a sheer volume of great releases, either innovative, or for just being so solid and refined? What are your favourite genres, artists, albums, and songs from this decade you choose? How do other decades compare?

For myself, it actually has to be the 2010's as my favourite, though the 00's and 90's are very close. I like a fair amount of 80's and 70's too, but my favourite genre was still forming in those years as a juvenile. I like 60's to Baroque era stuff too, but I rarely listen to music from these eras as there's so much else I prefer.

Now the 90's were a deluge of creativity and experimentation for metal, but the subsequent decades despite not being as original afaik do hold that they've retained the styles developed in the 90's but also bring some new ideas and refinements here and there. The 10's in metal is the decade with the most variety in sounds, imo. It also has the benefit of seeing past releases and refining those styles to even more potent formulas of what the pioneer bands were going for. Technical instrumentation is great this decade, yet there are many bands who make songs without technical solos because they feel the song sounds better without one. There is just so much variety, and quality + quantity in metal today that it being my fav genre makes this choice quite easy.

So, yeah, I'll get to posting some examples of why I think music has been the best this decade once I'm on my PC and not on a phone. I would be interested in seeing others' examples of great music from their fav decades, and sharing music from my fav decade so we can possibly discover more we like together, or at least challenge our preconceptions of other decades if we think it's not as good as others do.

[cornivore]

This song makes me want to slow dance in bell bottoms, just saying...

[Jebus]

80s was the decade of the great albums. The 70s was the decade of great rock. Music has gone downhill big time since the early 90s.

I would rate them as follows:

1. 80s
2. 70s
3. 60s
4. 90s
5. tie between the 50s, 00s and 10s
6. everything else

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

My favourite type of music is from before the 20th century, in particular classical music, however, I don't listen to it very often and when I do it is usually when I am feeling agitated, angry or upset. It has a very calming effect on me in that it makes me forget about my frustrations and (metaphorically speaking) it transports me to another place entirely. My favourite composers are Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, Chopin, Bach and Mozart (in that order).

My favourite type of music which I listen to regularly would be music from the 1930s and 1940s, however I would say a good 90% of the music I listen to from this period is from Dame Vera Lynn.

I enjoy all sorts of music from the 1950s to 2000s, mostly rock music and music with a political message.

The music from the current decade I do not particularly care for due to the fact that it appears very synthetic to me and I feel as if I am just listening to noise. This, I believe, is because it is largely made electronically neglecting any creativity, and I think that Orwell showed a great foresight in Nineteen Eighty-Four when he predicted the rise of synthetic music made by "speakwrites" which would be popular with the proles (downtrodden masses oppressed under the totalitarian rule of The Party). However, I will confess that I don't know enough about the creative process behind today's music and this is largely just personal opinion. I don't like modern pop music, some people do. To each their own I guess.

Nevertheless I do like some of the music from this decade. Most of it is novelty/joke music and I believe I irked Dream Sphere greatly when I posted this sort of music on the "Rate the Song Above You" thread.

@Dream Sphere Sorry

[Dream Sphere]

80s was the decade of the great albums. The 70s was the decade of great rock. Music has gone downhill big time since the early 90s.

I would rate them as follows:

1. 80s
2. 70s
3. 60s
4. 90s
5. tie between the 50s, 00s and 10s
6. everything else

What do you see as the cause of music going downhill, or what things are lacking in recent decades which were good, and what bad things are abundant?

You're into progressive rock, right? A band called Porcupine Tree which is from the 90's released a very well received prog rock album called Fear of a Blank Planet in the late 00's. They have a bunch of other albums too, but idk how well received those are.

One of my favourite bands Amorphis had a more progressive rock period in the early 00's. I would recommend checking out their album Am Universum.

There're these other two bands which produced some prog rock sort of stuff. They're In the Woods... and Green Carnation. I would rec the ItW albums Strange in Stereo and Pure, and the Green Carnation album A Blessing in Disguise.

Besides those some other good prog rock-like sort of stuff from the 90's to present are Nightingale's album I, Opeth's Pale Communion, and Code's Mut.

I feel like metal has done very well these past few decades, but iirc. you aren't into much extreme metal. Even so there's been a good amount of metal without harsh vocals made recently too. Two of my favourite recent releases in power metal are Judicator's The Last Emperor, and Orden Ogan's Gunmen. If you can accept some harsh vocals, then Unleash the Archers' album Apex is also really good, as well as is Amorphis' Queen of Time.

Also, if I had to name what the past three decades are to metal I would say the 90's are metal's peak of innovation, the 00's are a mix of innovation and refinement, and the 10's are metal's peak of refinement with some innovation so far. I'm unsure what decade I have the most albums in, all of the past three decades are pretty equal in that afaik.

I also find it surprising you put everything else below the 10's and 00's. Do you not like classical music, or is it a case of lower output of music in the past making the quantity of decent to you 10's and 00's music being better than the far past music for you?

[Dream Sphere]

Nevertheless I do like some of the music from this decade. Most of it is novelty/joke music and I believe I irked Dream Sphere greatly when I posted this sort of music on the "Rate the Song Above You" thread.

@Dream Sphere Sorry

No hard feelings, Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Do you like any metal? The metal of this decade is as good as ever. I could recommend stuff to you if you want. It might be worth checking out some of the recs I gave Jebus since you're into rock from decades past.

[Jebus]

What do you see as the cause of music going downhill

1. The music industry's focus on dance, look, and image rather than musical talent.
2. Less psychedelic drug use
3. The difficulty in being creative without plagiarizing (most good melodies have already been discovered).

You're into progressive rock, right? A band called Porcupine Tree which is from the 90's released a very well received prog rock album called Fear of a Blank Planet in the late 00's. They have a bunch of other albums too, but idk how well received those are.

They might be the best band over the last quarter decade and one of the few who made concept albums in an era where this seemed like a forgotten art.

One of my favourite bands Amorphis had a more progressive rock period in the early 00's. I would recommend checking out their album Am Universum.

There're these other two bands which produced some prog rock sort of stuff. They're In the Woods... and Green Carnation. I would rec the ItW albums Strange in Stereo and Pure, and the Green Carnation album A Blessing in Disguise
Besides those some other good prog rock-like sort of stuff from the 90's to present are Nightingale's album I, Opeth's Pale Communion, and Code's Mut.

Thanks, I'll check it out and let you know. I already listened through a lot of Opeth and found a couple of decent songs alongside a lot of shit.

I also find it surprising you put everything else below the 10's and 00's. Do you not like classical music, or is it a case of lower output of music in the past making the quantity of decent to you 10's and 00's music being better than the far past music for you?

Yes, definitely lower output. Classical music doesn't annoy me like some truly awful music styles, like Bollywood music, but with so much else I can listen to I never really got into it.

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

Nevertheless I do like some of the music from this decade. Most of it is novelty/joke music and I believe I irked Dream Sphere greatly when I posted this sort of music on the "Rate the Song Above You" thread.

@Dream Sphere Sorry

No hard feelings, Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Do you like any metal? The metal of this decade is as good as ever. I could recommend stuff to you if you want. It might be worth checking out some of the recs I gave Jebus since you're into rock from decades past.

I like metal although I do not listen to it often. I have not heard of any of the bands you recommended but I will check them out. I also welcome any recommendations for good metal.

[Dream Sphere]

@Jebus have you had a chance to check out any of my recommendations? If so, what do you think?

[Jebus]

@Jebus have you had a chance to check out any of my recommendations? If so, what do you think?

Yes, I listened to Amorphis probably about 15 times. I thought it was a pretty solid album and I liked their sound. However, I did not find any stand out songs so it ended up in the trash bin.