Top Ten Best Decades for Music

In the 90's we had a resurgence of 70's music back in the clubs. I was in my 20's and I remember saying to my mum " The 70's was the best music ever".
My mum said "Really?, well I think you missed it then!".
Now I know what she meant, it took a while growing through my teens in the 80's to realise what we had.
Never again will I see such talent in my life.
God bless the 80's nostalgia.

I think there's one reason why I like the 80s musicwise. It's all those hidden gems that were forgotten by the sands of time and then dug back up again by hardcore popular music enthusiasts. Many artists like Kim Wilde, Animotion, Level 42, Spandau Ballet and the like are some great hidden gem artists from the 80s. However, I am more intrigued by the more popular artists of the time. It's no wonder these music artists were mostly forgotten, that's mostly because of people that chose to ignore all those underrated musicians and go with something else instead. But that's just my opinion. In the end, the 80s had so many underrated songs and musicians that were almost completely overshadowed by the more popular artists of the time.

Musicians were unique. Every band had their own style (even the one hit wonders). Thirty years later music from the 80s still gets goosebumps

This decade was the best for both pop and metal. This decade was ruled by the pop king, and the best pop musician Michael Jackson. As well as by Madonna and Prince. But these are only the most famous artists of this decade. If we dig deeper, we'll see synthpop ( the best pop subgenre along with indie-pop, art-pop and dance-pop). Magical sounds. If we speak about rock, I consider it the best decade for metal. NWOBHM bands were pretty cool both lyrically and musically, it was really new for rock, and very different from traditional hard-rock. It also spawned Metallica the most popular metal band, and probably my favourite one, as well as spawning thrash metal to a full potential, although proto-thrash songs like Stone cold crazy by Queen were released in 70s. There is much more to say about 80s music, but I think these explanations would be enough.

Absolutely fantastic Decade for music. You have such a broad list of different musical genres. It was such transformative decade for music. I would say that the only time period to have such diverse music would only be the early eighties. Rock split into many new genres from popular progressive rock to the far reaching enthusiasm of classic and hard rock. Furthermore, though disco gets a lot of hate due to its repetitive nature, disco music not only kick-started the now disturbingly simplistic electronic and rap music industry, it was one of the most inclusive genre of music since Jazz. Many people honestly forget this decade due to its lack of music videos which the eighties had. It had True music you could dance to. It really was spectacular. Does that mean I would want to live in those times, maybe not. But I pray more artists pay tribute to this decade of music, as did Daft Punk and some others...

Honestly, I like 70s music more than 80s music. Even if Classic-jack radio stations are slowly letting them go now, they're the most timeless songs that I've listened to. Music through the 70s really progressed and grew into a bigger inspiration among many throughout what came, and even for what's there to come. The Eagles, Steve Miller, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Cars, Elton John, Boston, Isley Brothers, Bob Marley, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, Commoders, and so many more influential artists became famous since the 1970s. Even if the decade had an unfortunate beginning with the Beatles splitting up in 1970, it really shows that music shows growth from inspiration, and the best of what we can all enjoy.

70s was best. I listed all the best songs I ever heard and grouped them by decade of release. 70s was by far the best. 80s and 60s were next. I think many people who say the 80s don't realize most of those great 80s songs were released in the 70s.
And it doesn't matter what year the band started. I think it should be the year the songs were released when you categorize music by year or decade. For example, Led Zeppelin started in 60s but most of their songs/great songs were release in 70s, so I thing they contributed more to the decade of the 70s. Same with a lot of other great bands.

Pink Floyd Dark side of the moon, Led Zeppelin's physical graffiti, Queen's a night at the Opera, John Lennon's imagine. Deep Purple's machine head, Meat Loaf's bat out of hell, Clash's London Calling, Black Sabbath's paranoid, Joy Division's unknown pleasures, never mind the bollocks here's the sex pistols, the who's who's next, Elton John's goodbye yellow brick road, rolling stone's sticky fingers, Bob Dylan's blood on the tracks, eagles hotel California, Rush's 2112, ramones' rocket to Russia, AC⚡DC's highway to hell, wire's Pink flag, beatles' let it be, Fleetwood Mac's rumours, Blondie's parallel lines, Saturday night fever, and so much more.

Music wasn't as good as the 70s or 80s.

There is a nice feel to a lot of it, and there was a lot of good stuff. But a lot more bad genres came into mainstream.

Hands down the best era for rock and alternative rock. We had grunge - Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and STP for example. We had awesome heavy metal - Metallica, Tool, RATM, Nine Inch Nails, and Pantera to name a few. We had ska, ska punk, punk and other alt bands like Sublime, No Doubt, Offspring, Pixies, The Flaming Lips, and Weezer. Finally, some great rap from artists such as NWA, Tupac, Beastie Boys, Lauren Hill, Wu Tang Clan, and Snoop Dogg. And emerged some great female artists such as Tori Amos, Bjork, Ani Difranco, PJ Harvey, Liz Phair, Sinead O'Connor, Veruca Salt, and the Chicks.

The 1990s is the decade when music most diversified. This is when hip hop was first becoming mainstream and rock was splitting into many different genres including grunge with nirvana and metal with Metallica. This was by far the best decade.

In my opinion, 90s pop is horrible, Barbie Girl, Macarrena and I don't like the Spice Girls and Britney Spears that much. For rock, this was one of the best decades, Nirvana, Blink 182, and Green Day. For rap, this was a decent decade, but I am not really a rap fan.

I love music from across the decades and even back to the 1800s, but 1965-75 produced the most memorable pop songs. Early 60s was too doo-wap, unsophisticated and teen idol based - although there were exceptions...especially Johnny Mathis Christmas songs and Andy Williams' Moon River. Neil Diamond was a juggernaut singer/songwriter, the best. The mid to late 60s pop music evolved quickly into various styles. Numerous hit songs were very memorable because they were singable, fresh and unique to those who made them hits. There were crooners who could actually sing well, like Englebert, Tom Jones, Andy Williams and Gary Puckett. The early 70s saw a new genre with soft, mature rock. The Carpenters and Bread had many hits. By the mid 70s, disco and heavy rock began to dominate. The wide diversity evaporated and mainstream pop became dull and unmemorable. The 80s introduced many techno hits...gone were the real instruments. Elton John actually got better and U2 produced the most memorable ...more

The sixties is the best decade by far. There is no competition. The only other decade you could make an arguement for is the 70s because some of the bands started in the 60s stayed together through the 70s. The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, Jackson 5, The Doors, Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Simon and Garfunkel, Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Byrds, Cream, The Grateful Dead, The Animals, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fleetwood Mac, Marvin Gaye, Black Sabbath, Steppenwolf, The Bee Gees, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and The Temptations. And that is barely scraping the surface of this amazing period for music.

The sixties are one of the most flourishing decades of revolutionary music, which broke with traditional and patriarchal society.

The Beatles is the most influencial band in the history of popular music, no question. Bob Dylan is the best songwriter in history. So althought 70s was more open in genres and the records sales were bigger in the 70s-80s. 90s has the international rise of Rap, I think 1960s is the best decade hands down. 60s also were a decade when young people took the word in the world. The first pacific movement against wars, the first ecologist movement and so on. That was an inspiration for songwites. In music the 60s have not only Beatles and Dylan, Stones, Hendrix, Motown, Aretha, Stax artist, Sly and Family Stone, Pink Floyd, Led Zep also some great recordings from Coltrane, Miles Davis and so on, The very first recordings of electronic music, The first use of the recording studio as an instrument, The very first big Festivals. 60s is the best decade hands down.

This Decade is great because of the variety In popular music you would not go to school And be judged for liking Hip-Hop like You would In 80s or for liking rock like you do now

Everything from Shakira To System Of A Down To Blink 182 To 50 Cent where all appreciated In the mainstream And radio. No other Decade bad that. 60s And most of the 80s And 70s were rock dominated if not then disco was. 90s was Pure Grunge until 1996-1999 were people like Green Day, Britney Spears And Eminem And they were all so different. But still were Massively Popular And variety continued until around 2009-2012 were pop just Got more And More popular Rock, Punk, Metal, Alternative And Even Country started to Get less popular With HUGE names Like Taylor Swift Switching To Pop. And here we are 2019 no one Seems To appreciate artists who actually Put Work In their Material And the only genres that people Seems to care About is EDM(Electronic Pop), Mumble/Trap rap, And to an extent Bro Country which is ...more

In the first couple of years the quality was so high as genres from the 90's still dragged on, with that I mean post-rock, abstract hip-hop, IDM and more. After that there are still alternative masterpicies like Madvillany, In Rainbows, Deathconsciousness and so on. By the late 00's things just abrupetely stopped in exchange for mainstream one hit wonders and wannabe celebrities, but dare I forget all the excellence before.

Why is everyone hating this era? I get it, the late 00s sound similar to the 2010s however, the genres are quite diverse and they use these genres like how it's supposed to! Songs are quite memorable too!

While the early and mid 2000s were good, once 2008 came, there was so much variety is music coming out. Sadly, around 2015 or so, pop and rap took over as the more popular genres and with it the variety.

The 50s is my least favorite decade for music, but there's some good in this decade. You know, you got your Elvises, Richie Valenses, Pat Booneses, (No! We don't talk about this guy! He may be a good singer, but he is such a religious nutjob and ruins black music!) Yeah, it's a dull era for music, but I liked the rock n' roll and doo wop. And they continued to pave the way for modern rock and R&B. Good.

Best era for music! It had rock n' roll legends like Elvis Presley and Ray Charles and soul and jazz still flourished this decade like they did in previous years! Most diverse decade for music!

Often thought of a just the era of elvis and diner music, the 50s were instrumental in the change of music from big band jazz to pop and rock. With artists like Chuck Berry and Ray Charles, both Rock n Roll and Soul Music were invented in the 50s

A really romantic and calming era for music.

This decade was the best time of my life it was my teenage days. I'm now 23, and I can't believe how different music now is, even though the 2010s was like 3 years ago. Back then, the music was all about feeling good, women empowerment, living your life, and feeling good in your own skin. Plus, this decade had some of the best artists around like Rihanna, Lady GaGa, Ariana Grande, Adele, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber I could go on. I just love this decade so much.

For the first half of the decade, the music wasn't that bad. Since 2015 I have heard way too many slow ballads, it's starting to get depressing. Where is all the colorful, fun stuff they did back in the day? It didn't matter how an artist dressed, looked or sang, as long as it fit with the song. I feel like artist are more interested in the money, not the for artistic value that will keep their songs around for decades. Maybe the next decade will get better.

Easily the best decade for music. So much experimentation and creativity in nearly every genre. Access to music from any decade has never been easier. Although the 90s and 70s were more groundbreaking and influential in today's current music landscape, new artists are using sounds in ways far more experimental and creative than any decade prior.

I don't care what a music artist looks like, if he/she has meaningless, auto tuned songs! The music today is just simply boring! No one really plays instruments anymore, it's all about dancing and running around half naked on stage. I wish MTV never existed, because everything has gradually become superficial since!

Some of the greatest big bands and jazz standards originated from this decade!

The jazzy romantic serenades of the 40's helped soldiers get through World War 2.

Listen to Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, etc. Best time overall for music.

I love Big Band music. Some of the best dancing music!

Jazz Age! Harlem Renaissance! Blues! Also the decade of Jimmie Rodgers, the "Singing Brakeman" who is considered a pioneer in country music. This decade also saw the debut of Dorothy Fields, who partnered with Jimmy McHugh to write "I Can't Give You Anything but Love" and went on to a long, stellar career.

It just has that classic old-times feel when cities like Chicago and New Orleans were exploding with jazz and crazy parties. Overall, the Classic Years 1920-1960 were the best years for music.

I like the music in the shining!

So are Baby Boomer aged Generation, goes well with this old times music of the century

This was the rise of Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, etc. some amazing romantic composers. I believe Ballade no. 1 (Chopin) was written this decade.

Best year of all time for music, especially electronica.

I just love the Romantic era!

Why is this even on the list?

I'm betting 2020s music would be even more experimental than previous decades. There's more accessibility to technology which means there would be different ways of how we listen to music. There's quite a bit of a surge in genres I.e phonk, hyperpop and emo rap. Lo-fi would also be the next big thing as it is right now. Rock and metal has gradually declined but is still as big in the present with some albums reaching up the billboard. Not saying everything that's new is bad - practically any genre is ought to change. Every decade has its good qualities if you exclude the mainstream. People only hate new music because they are either resistant to change or they're not willing to dive in to more underground music in which they might like.

I hate everything about the 2020s, including the dumb contemporary music. Wake me up when it's the 2030s.

Probably better than the 2010s music,expect the technological advances in the notes as well as electronic and rock took over rap, K pop and hip hop around 2021