We have all done this at some point,but I am curious how my fellow orgers would would rank the decades in music(including Prince's) (from the 50's to the 2000's). I have a feeling that most people here are going to have a similar ranking for the top 3..

1. 80's
2. 90's
3. 70's
4. 2000's
5. 50's
6. 60's

1) 70s
2) 80s
3) 90s
4) 60s
5) 40s

PurpleColossus said:

1) 70s (R&B, Soul, never cared much for disco but it was pretty good)
2) 80s (Everything was just awesome)
3) 90s (Only R&B, Pop, and Rap was good)
4) 60s (Some of it is good despite LSD influences)
5) 50s (I never really listened to a lot of it.)
6) 00s (a lot of it was crap, the early 00s wasn't so bad)


90% of the music in the 2000s sucked anyway. As for Rap, there were only like three rappers that I liked that came out in that decade, Kanye, Luda, and Lupe. That's it.
[Edited 4/4/10 12:36pm]

Oh sorry, I put the 40s and didn't see that the range starts at the 50s, lol.

1. 1970's
2. 1960's
3. 1980's
4. 1990's
5. 1950's
6. 2000's


[Edited 4/4/10 12:35pm]

the top tier:
1)60s (the perfect storm of talent, experimentation, personalities)
2a)80s (the genesis of the video age (for better/worse); my childhood)
2b)70's (Good stuff)

the bottom half:
4)90's (my high school/college years...nothing too memorable musically but the marriage of hip hop and R&B distorted the quality of both genres (IMO)

5)50's (the heart of the rock era, but the true architects of the era never got/get their just due. The annointed one who is credited as the innovator is merely an extension of works already done by other artists)

6)00's (ugh...plastic, rehashed,singing Ken and Barbie dolls. Talent exists, but technology is masking the lack of talent of many artists in this era (IMO))
[Edited 4/4/10 13:16pm]

1) 70s
2) 60s
3) 80s
4) 90s
5)00s...

Basically, so far, the majority of us think the 1970s was the best period and... the 2000s the worst?? No surprise here !

COMPUTERBLUE1984 said:

FrenchGuy said:

Yeah pretty much!!!! 90s music was cool but its's pretty bland compared to 70s and 80s music.

'60s
'70s
'80s

- best

'50s
'90s
'00s

- from decent to worst

Timmy84 said:

I like your list a lot.

00s (the album is dead but there are more good singles than ever...sorry nostalgia folks...and yes, I'm 38)
80s
90s

60s
70s
50s
[Edited 4/4/10 15:18pm]

NastradumasKid said:

The testament to the quality of the 60's and 70's is evident in the songs of these eras. The weakest works of the greats is still better than 90% of the crap now.

In the 1960s,between Motown, The British Invasion, Surf Music, Folk Music, and Psychadelic Rock, the sounds produced took what was done in the 1950s and raised the bar in most cases.

In the 70s, if Stevie Wonder had a masterpiece, then Elton John would release one a couple months later. It was a friendly artistic rivalry that created excellent music more often than not. Heck, David Bowie changed seemingly every album but never failed to provide great stuff. Disco was fun, but in itself was a glossy form of funk, but still produced classic music.

Well tough to rate era's that i didnt live through first hand (which is why i never put the Beatles at the top of my BAND list, i was born on the breakup)

So for i have lived through

80's- For its diversity and originality that is stolen today
70's- Best era for Production IMO, and artists
00's- the only reason i put this here is because of the likes of Norah Jones and Ryan Adams and the output of my longtime fave artists, all have done their best work in this decade (example a-ha's 2000-2010 output is the best of any artist)
90's- Not much to say about it, some great bands like Pearl Jam, and great records from older bands like REM

'80s
'70s
'90s
'60s
'00s

can't be objective on the '50s won't judge them

COMPUTERBLUE1984 said:

That's very true, I'll take that over the mess from 00s any day!!!!!

lastdecember said:

1) They been trying to bring back the 80s since 2006, I wish they would stop.

2) Very true. People also had more heart and soul put in their music than nowadays.

1980s
1970s
2000s

Big drop off:

1990s
1960s
1950s

80s
70s
90s
60s
00s

1. 80's
2. 70's
It was hard to choose between the two. I was born in '72 and alot of the music that I love from that decade was in the latter half (disco, funk, R&B, pop). I'd have to give it to the 80's, the decade of my preteen and teen years (New wave, pop, freestyle, R&B, hip-hop, and all its cheesiness galore).

3. 60's (even though it was before my time, I love alot of this decade for the political and social message songs, Motown, the girl groups, British Invasion, short songs that got to the point and long songs that put you in a trance).

4. 90's (still have ambivalence about this decade, but I'm starting to come around and remember some personal highlights 90-92, 96-98).
5. 00's (new ambivalence over the decade, altho I liked quite a few artists and bought tons of music, but it was mostly from other decades).
6. 50's (it doesn't speak to me as much as the other decades, but it was still good especially with the girl groups).

Hmmmm I'm a bit surprised 90's isn't as that high for many of you..I guess you gotta be a HUGE Grunge lover like myself to be into it I guess:D .

PurpleColossus said:

I only like the hip hop, R&B, and pop music of the 90s, but as I stated before, that not saying much. As for Grunge, never cared for that genre, not saying it's bad.

Every decade has had its share of bad music...

With a few exceptions, during the late 70s disco sucked, during the late 80s dance/pop and hair metal sucked, during the late 60s hippie bands sucked, during the late 90s alternative bands sucked and during the late 00s shit-hop acts sucked...

In fact, it's surprising how many of the bad artists/bands appear during the late years of each decade...

PurpleColossus said:

That's right. The 90s should have been my favorite decade, as I was born in 1980, but I felt pretty alienated from all of the depressed, druggy grunge music and hardcore rap.

This would have to be broken down into different catgories for each genre.

for example

the 80s is my favorite decade when it comes to funk while the 90s are my favorite when it comes to hiphop.

60's
50's
70's
40's
90's
00's
80's

Stax said:

You're just about my polar opposite.

Moonbeam said:

I'm giving a lot of weight to jazz. soul, motown and jazz dominate my list.

1. The 1970s (by a long shot)
2. The 1960's
3. The 1980's (the first three years or so)


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4. The rest.

(NOTE: Ranking based on popular music. Classical music not included. There would have to be a separate list for it )
[Edited 4/5/10 0:39am]