Which era do you prefer?
 

Well you have:

The 50's: Elvis, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Jerry Lee Lewis, Everly Brothers, Muddy Waters, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Righteous Brothers, Ronnie Spector, Jay and the Americans, etc.

The 60's: Beach Boys (bleh), Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, Bob Dylan, Richie Havens, Joanie Mitchell, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Carlos Santana, Grateful Dead, Cream, Otis Redding, Jefferson Airplane, Jackie Wilson, etc.

The 70's: Bruce Springsteen (bleh), Alice Cooper, Blondie, KISS (bleh), Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard, Grand Funk Railroad, Peter Frampton, ACDC, Barry White, ELO, Pink Floyd, Thin Lizzy, The Doobie Brothers, etc.

The 80's: Bad Religion, Misfits, Beastie Boys, Guns N' Roses, The Cure, Van Halen, Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, Phish, Ministry, Michael Jackson, Stray Cats, etc.

The 90's: Mostly Shit, etc.

Or an era of your choice. I'd have to go with the 60's or the 50's

I just cant choose 1 era i have different favorite bands from different era's.

like....Tool,Black Sabbath,Rolling Stones,so on and so forth

50's, 80's runner up.

Every Era has great albums. You'd be surpised how many good albums came out in the 90's.

But the 60's had the best albums. All the beatles, The Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, and I'm leaving out alot others.

there is absolutely no way i could chose.
there is something special about each era.

the 50's might be my least favorite - just because there was less music to choose from ...
the 2000's is my next least favorite ..because i dont have the time to search out the one or 2 decent groups that i'm sure must exist.

but between the 60's, 70's and 80's ... they each have their own charms.

I grew up listening to 70's and 80's.

I'd say the 70's, due to the fact that it was the height of good guitar work.

I like a little from the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's. The 90's and 2000's totally BLOW!!!!

50's 60's 70's 80's, mid 90's was ok for the most part

I'm mostly in the 80's....I <3 hair bands, and Misfits

you prefer every era?

I'm a universal kinda gal

I'm goin' against the grain and sayin I love the new millenium. There's a lot of nice blended genres that are creating some sweet music, like mixing keyboard and hip-hop with punk music. It's fun stuff.

I voted the 90s because of the whole grunge & death metal era, some great underground music came out of that period plus I grew up around then so it's what shaped me the most musically. I really like the early 80s also for the great punk scene that came out of the US (Circle Jerks, Misfits, The Fartz, Minor Threat, Angry Samoans, Husker Du, Necros......)
Mid to late sixities had some great garage bands too particulary The Stooges (just sneaked in at 1969), The Sonics and The Wailers (Sundazed has released some great compilations featuring bands in this vein + awesome 180g re-issues of the Stooges first two albums and the Nuggets series by Rhino has heaps of great shit also).
But yeh there's brilliance every decade its just a matter of sifting thru the shit to find it.

I like everything, but especially the 70's.

Tough...but I picked 80's

The 70s:ABBA, Deuter, Jean Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Neil Diamond, Tangerine Dreams, Vangelis

I THINK 70 -- 80 -- 90 ......LIKE ........ SEX PISTOLS DEAD KENNEDYS, BLAG FLAG DAVID BOWIE, NICK CAVE ,BAUHAUS, SIOUXSIE, TUXEDO MOON, JOY DIVISION, CLAN OF XYMOX, SKELETON FAMILY,VIRGIN PRUNS,DEPECHE MODE

KRAFTWAR,SKINNY PUPPIS, WUMPSCUT , SUICIDE COMMANDO ,
DEAD CAN DANCE , HOCICO,DAIMANDA KALAS
MONOLITH

WHAT ELSE DO YOU LIKE? HOW ABOUT THE BAND "CAPS LOCK!"

heh

Any era that gave us The Allman Bros, Grand Funk, Alice Cooper, Led Zep, [although their first album came out in 69 ]
and so on and so forth....gimme the 70s anyday.
<---don't fear the reaper, baby

the 70's got a bad name because of the horrible fashion sense ..
but there is a ton of great music there.

The 60s definately win. That was the last time that so much great American and British music came out it was unbelievable. Nothing compares.

Some examples of the greatness....

The Doors, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jefferon Airplane, The Who, The Byrds, Moby Grape, Ottis Redding, Richie Havens, Country Joe and the Fish, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, Sly and the Family Stone, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Led Zeppelin, The Faces, Mamas and the Papas, The Yardbirds, Canned Heat, Love, Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Donovan, The Holy Modal Rounders, and so on.

Yeah thats just a short list man. No doubts. Not to discredit the 70s or 80s or 90s or 50s, but the 60s were the renniasiance man.

the 80's by far. definetly the 80's. Al that is good came out in the late 70's and all through the 8-0's and some came from the 60's. but not much. mostly just the Stones from the 60's.

But I would have done anything to have grown up in the 80's. what a bummer. I grew up in the 90's....shit. the 90's is where everything just went downhill rapidly.

many of those bands were far more prolific in the 70's than the 60's

Not really. The only ones I can think of are Led Zeppelin, Curtis Mayfield, Pink Floyd, and maybe CCR. The rest all started and kicked ass in the 60s (not to say the previous four didn't).

Oh and jesus how could I have forgot to mention these names in that list

Janis Joplin
The Beach Boys
Big Brother & the Holding Company
Joan Baez
Phil Ochs

the stones, sly and the family stone, marvin gaye, santana ..

i cant consider them 60's bands.

i think of a 60's band as one that came and went in the 60's ..
the byrds, the turtles, blues magoos, electric prunes, paul revere and the raiders ... etc ...

I get what you're saying but I don't really understand the logic in it. Many a band that is considered a 60s band went on to more music in following decades. Hell the Beach Boys are STILL around, though not with all the original members.

And I consider The Stones, Sly and the fAmily Stone, Marvin Gaye, and Santana all 60s band because they grew and came to success in the 60s. Marvin Gaye came out with a slew of hits in the 60s including one of my favorites of his, Can I Get a Witness? Sly and the Family Stone because they came out with their biggest of hits, I Want to Take You Higher, in the 60s. Santana because they was when they really honed their skills and became a sucessful band( you should see their performance at Woodstock) and finally I can't understand how you can't consider The Stones a 60s band. Most of their big hits came out in the 60s, lest we forget about I Can't Get No Satisfaction? It was considering the defining song of the generation in the 60s, so I consider them a 60s band.

Basically to me any band that played at Woodstock can safely be considered a 60s band (Sly and the Family Stone, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, Richie Havens, Country Joe & the Fish, Arlo Guthrie, Canned Heat, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez from my previous list)

surfnazi is 100% correct

most of them came very late in the 60's and their 'sound' didnt define the 60's sound (to me.) Maybe moreso the stones but i still think they were much more influential in the 70's .. when their music was reaching a broader audience.

maybe it's a personal catalogue thing with me ...
its how i seperated my vinyl at home ... (and i have a lot so i had to give it some thought so i could find what i was looking for)

i guess you can say there were a number of different sounds in the 60's but the defining one to me is that 'hip groovy' sound of Jefferson Airplane - strawberry alarmclock ... and number of others you and i already listed ...

in the same way that when i think of the 70's i think of the bad hair and bell bottoms a la Grand Funk Railroad ..etc ..


there is a sound and look that becomes the strongest most recognized universal definition of the era .. and those bands eye deep in that sound and look are the ones that i consider the 60's or 70's bands ... i guess its a personal thing ..

i dont even consider the Beatles (we both avoided mentioning them) a 60's band because they are timeless ... as valid and non-topical today as they were 40 years ago ..

True, very true man. The Beatles are and forever will be completely timeless.

Honestly, even if I do prefer the 60's music. I sometimes feel like there is a lot of Hacks that came from the 60's and some 70's. Bands that couldn't play for a shit but yet still became popular.

Yeah, I know you could say "That happens in all era's" there is no doubt about that. but, the grateful dead wouldn't have became popular if they're music didn't apply to that group of burn-out/hippies in that time.

If the grateful dead came out in the 2000? would they be even half the size they were? I don't know. I guess they're is a lot of poser hippies around now a days. I know music has to appeal to groups, but when it feels forced applied like Weezer or the teenage anger bands like Slipknot. It seems like a selling product.

i hate to break it to you but in 2010 these 'cutting edge' bands that are popular now are going to seem pretty lame.

when i look back on the things i liked 10 - 20 - 30 years ago - some of it is still solid - but a lot of it is pathetic - even though i have a nostalgic affection for it ..

the shit i listened to was always progressive - but now most of it seems so silly ...

certain bands will always be valid .. they dont follow trends or sounds and they will always be classic ...

believe it or not ACDC is one of those bands .. rock and roll in its purest form - never swaying or changing with the times ..
i'd hate to think that every band would sound like ACDC ... or that no one would try anything new but most of these changes are topical and timely for a certain era - sensibilities ... and they will lose their credibility as social sensibilities change with time ..

The 80's were just a great time time for music. Late 70's to early 80's was the best by far; punk, post-punk, new wave, hardcore, goth, industrial... that was the time to live...

The punk scene was only in some citys. So if you were lucky you could goto a lot of shows and see up and coming bands.

Not all new wave is good.

I hate bands that use the word "progressive rock" or progressive this or that. Progressive is up to the listener who hears the music as unique. You can't label that you're self .

I was talking about music that appeals to a targeted group just for selling albums and making money. Cutting edge... not even close.

80's! ozzy!!

progressive rock was a wide focus genre - called that by the fans - not the band.

it started with music that went beyond the 'chorus verse chorus verse' that was the standard in popular rock since the 50's.

in the late 60's early 70's there was a number of bands that were defined by 'progressive rock - or art rock - like yes, genesis, strawbs, 10cc, rennessance, a pile of others - largely from the UK (actually there was even one called UK.

hate it till your bag falls off .. thats what people called it back then.

as far as the bands you mentioned not being cutting edge - i dont think so either ... but the 1st one to come along was .. then it sold - the record companies saw there was a dollar to be made so they started to package as many bands as they could with the flavour of the month sound. happens all the time and its the shit i avoid like the plague ..

Well... I wasn't really referring to old progressive rock more than the modern. Mars Volta? Ever heard of them, they labelled themselves as progressive.

They're is a lot of music that doesn't follow music formula and their not called progressive. I would think the Talking head's are progressive rock, but they are more labelled as new wave. go figure.

never heard of Mars Volta ...
i think when a band is so self aware of their sound that they have to label themslelves - that cant be a good thing.
sounds a little too contrived.

Maybe they like the genre.... its no different than calling yourself metal, punk or whatever. There's been some cutting edge bands latley particularly Queens of the Stone Age aswell as countless metal and punk bands from their respective underground scenes. When you think about it throughout every era there's only been a handfull of bands that really mattered anyway the rest were generic bullshit. Good music is out there you've just got to delve thru a lot of shit to find it.