Better Decade for Music: 80s or 90s?

[Pitt1975]

This board is a bunch of old guys who like dad rock, so I'm guessing 80's will win. But the 90's were a much better decade for music if you look at music outside of rock. The 90's was arguably the best decade for hip hop and R&B, and it was certainly the best decade for alternative rock.

Dad rock…LOL. Granddad rock…..Beatles ,Stones, The Who, Deep Purple, and so on, and so on.
Not many 80’s and 90’s band that I can name.
Oh, Doobies Brothers , Led Zepplin, Spirit, Chicago, Grand Funk, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Alman Bros, Queen,
David Bowie,
I don’t get the 80’s. Sorry.

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

What are the rules for bands and/or artists that performed in the 80’s and 90’s?

 

[PatMac59]

Dad rock…LOL. Granddad rock…..Beatles ,Stones, The Who, Deep Purple, and so on, and so on.
Not many 80’s and 90’s band that I can name.
Oh, Doobies Brothers , Led Zepplin, Spirit, Chicago, Grand Funk, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Alman Bros, Queen,
David Bowie,
I don’t get the 80’s. Sorry.

I like many of the bands you mentioned here. I don’t have an issues with dad (or granddad) rock. But, from my experience, a lot of old guys only include rock when they’re judging music from a decade.

 

[Pitt1975]

Dad rock…LOL. Granddad rock…..Beatles ,Stones, The Who, Deep Purple, and so on, and so on.
Not many 80’s and 90’s band that I can name.
Oh, Doobies Brothers , Led Zepplin, Spirit, Chicago, Grand Funk, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Alman Bros, Queen,
David Bowie,
I don’t get the 80’s. Sorry.

I like many of the bands you mentioned here. I don’t have an issues with dad (or granddad) rock. But, from my experience, a lot of old guys only include rock when they’re judging music from a decade.

Funny. My wife and kids laugh at me and my music repertoire. I only listen to Sirius 26, 27. Classic stuff.
But then my saved phone music has Dave Brubeck, Violent Femmes, Herb Alpert, Hocus Pocus, Velvet Underground, Burt Bacharach.
I’m all over the board. But I’m not a fan of 80’s and 90’s stuff.

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

i don’t think it’s possible to definitely anoint which era is “better”, honestly. If you appreciate good music there is something you’ll probably like in nearly every era. I like 50s, 60s, 70’s music and on up to some today. But I voted for “my” era because that was the music of my formative years. Most here seem to be voting according to that… the guys with 70s in their handles seem to be pitching the 70s music (unsolicited 😄), those who seem to be 90s kids are voting 90s. Etc. etc.

But if trying to quantify “better” beyond one’s own experience, everyone likely will differ, but I set my own criteria to be iconic acts/staying power/most recognizable by current youth. I have no scientific evidence other than a 20 something kid and her friends, and generally, to them the more enjoyable and recognizable seem more to be 80s acts

(and FWIW I identify those as reaching initial fame in the 80s as 80s acts, even if they lasted into the 90s and beyond…such as REM, Janet Jackson etc)

Given this criteria 90s music (much of it legit) still seemed less iconic, more disposable, as I mentioned before. My daughter is much less familiar with 90s pop Vs 80’s pop… she and her friends know Michael Jackson, Prince, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Journey, Lionel Richie, songs from Footloose, Flashdance etc much more than 90s.

 

[OH Pete]

Yeah, the specific years definitely aren't the greatest depictions, but it's too difficult to do otherwise. Certainly not any one song or album began or ended an era. And there's no way in hell Nickelback broke through as early as '96, haha. The first song of theirs I heard was Leader of Men, which actually isn't terrible, and that had to be in the 2000's, I would guess. But bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit... even Creed, I believe, really started to blow up in the late 90s.

Yeah. I think I was thinking about Creed. Not Nicklel Back. Creed was around 96 I think. Although I do like My Sacrifice. Great song. The rest kind of suck.

 

[Jeffburgh]

What "ruined" a lot of 80's music and film, to me, was the use of things so specific to the era that it looks and sounds dated. Synthesizers in music, for instance, that upon hearing you know had to have been released in the 80's even if you've never heard the song before. Now, I hold the 80's near and dear in spite of its flaws, similarly to how one takes a liking to a B horror movie or something. And 80's pop is phenomenal. I'm usually not a pop fan, but 80's pop I listen to all the time.

But I do give the nod the the 90's on the rock front. It's basically grunge vs hair bands if we're talking about the most decade-specific denominations of rock, and I'd take Alice in Chains over Motley Crue (as just one example, obviously).

Ditto.
I have a fondness for most of the 80s music and some of the hair bands were solid and had some truly good rock music.
But the 90s rock was next level, on part w the 70s classic rock. Not sweeping and epic like the 70s, but more refined.
Though, personally, while I have a different appreciation for Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum, their first four albums are the gold standard

 

[OH Pete]

Dad rock…LOL. Granddad rock…..Beatles ,Stones, The Who, Deep Purple, and so on, and so on.
Not many 80’s and 90’s band that I can name.
Oh, Doobies Brothers , Led Zepplin, Spirit, Chicago, Grand Funk, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Alman Bros, Queen,
David Bowie,
I don’t get the 80’s. Sorry.

Many of those bands are way overrated. Doobie Brothers, Chicago, Grand Funk...sounds like a ribfest line up.

 

[Dan1911]

All I know is that from 2000 onward is the Dark Ages of music. Boy bands, K pop, awful rap and hip hop, the erosion or rock. This music sucks.

 

[thom67]

The 50’s and 60’s were the best!

 

[PittLaw85]

Dad rock…LOL. Granddad rock…..Beatles ,Stones, The Who, Deep Purple, and so on, and so on.
Not many 80’s and 90’s band that I can name.
Oh, Doobies Brothers , Led Zepplin, Spirit, Chicago, Grand Funk, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Alman Bros, Queen,
David Bowie,
I don’t get the 80’s. Sorry.

Having graduated from HS in 1976, I'm in this granddad rock category as well, and I've seen a lot of different musical styles. For me, the musicianship of the mid to late 1970s is unsurpassed - Yes, ELP, Renaissance, Kansas, Styx and many more (including the Southern guitar bands like Skynyrd). My son, who played trombone in the band and graduated in 2009 learned about Chicago in high school, and that became his favorite band, and is still is in his top three.

The music of the 1980s was a response to the "other" side of the coin in the 1970s - disco. It fused punk rock with strong melodies and danceable beats. A lot of talented musicians came to the fore in early 1980s (The Police, Rush, and many more). The songs were repetitious, but I found the New Wave movement fun and music memorable. All that changed when Guns 'n Roses came along in 1987. Incredible talent, terrific songwriting, strong melodies, and great playing. While the 1970s had great keyboardists (Wakeman, Emerson, Corea), and many good guitarists, the guitar players of the 1980s were absolutely incredible, led (for me) by Eddie Van Halen and Slash.

I found the 90s to include some of the best rock songwriting. Depressing or not, Cobain wrote some great songs, as did a number of other folks from that era. Wisely, bands and producers from that era focused less on production, and allowed the emotion and writing to shine through.

Each decade was distinct and known for different musical styles. Thankfully, we've had them all and I'm grateful to have had the chance to live through all of it, and to have experienced some great concerts first-hand. And, thankfully, I have Sirius XM and can bounce from one era to the next by pushing a button and reliving some of the best times of my life.

 

[Pitt2009]

All I know is that from 2000 onward is the Dark Ages of music. Boy bands, K pop, awful rap and hip hop, the erosion or rock. This music sucks.

I agree for the most part but post-2000 had some of the best rappers ever. JayZ, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Lil Wayne, Kayne, 50 Cent.

 

[Jeffburgh]

All I know is that from 2000 onward is the Dark Ages of music. Boy bands, K pop, awful rap and hip hop, the erosion or rock. This music sucks.

I do enjoy a lot of the pop music, particularly some of the extraorinary female artists.

But, I am a big rock music guy and it is like the early to mid / late 2000s there were some small echos of the 90s bands and then absolutely nothing over the last decade plus.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

I assume the way I feel about most modern music is the same way most older people felt about the music I grew up listening to, but I fins most of it to be trash. I have found a few newish artists I like, but I had to look a lot harder. A lot of the new artists seem to be classically trained, talented instrumentalists and whatnot... but they're sorely lacking in substance and what makes music great (in my opinion).

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

I agree for the most part but post-2000 had some of the best rappers ever. JayZ, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Lil Wayne, Kayne, 50 Cent.

I remember when Little Wayne could go down to Kanye's Corner Store and get a bag of M&M's for 50 cents. Nowadays, his son, Kendrick, has to settle for Jay'z Convenience Mart where they're like two bucks. Thinking I'm joking? Nas, I ain't.

 

[OH Pete]

I assume the way I feel about most modern music is the same way most older people felt about the music I grew up listening to, but I fins most of it to be trash. I have found a few newish artists I like, but I had to look a lot harder. A lot of the new artists seem to be classically trained, talented instrumentalists and whatnot... but they're sorely lacking in substance and what makes music great (in my opinion).

I think they are lacking in edge and soul. But slick production seems to sell these days.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

I think they are lacking in edge and soul. But slick production seems to sell these days.

Almost feels like being a musical artist has become more of a rich kid hobby, rather than a means of pulling oneself out of poverty. I know that's not entirely true (many past artists came from money, and many current artists didn't), but it just feels like way more artists in the past have "lived it" or something.

I mean, I guess it makes sense to a large degree. There isn't as much money to be made in the industry anymore, unless you're big enough to command top dollar on tour. Freaking Napster, man.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

I used to love 104.7 The Revolution, I was always surprised that the X survived over it.

I remember that! Only around a short time, and came out the same time as 105.9 the X. Was pretty obvious that only one station would survive with that format, but the X had the backing/money of DVE and I believe 104.7 was always somewhat independent. They had a decent morning show from what I remember but I can't think of their names.

Also speaking of old morning shows, anyone remember when Dr. Don Carpenter (?) was on 96.9 in the early 90's. Used to listen to him and he was pretty funny. I'll never forget after the Pirates lost the NLCS in 1992 to the Braves, I tuned in the next morning to get some cheering up but they had a substitute on who said the good doctor had left town and wished him well.

I think that was the worse I felt after any Pittsburgh sports team loss. Worse than 48-14 or Cincinnati in 2009.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

80 to 84, you had the second British Invasion and punk leftovers and even the top 40 groups like Toto and stuff can actually play and write their own songs. Though as the decade wore on...the music was insipid I mean We Built this City and crap like that plus hair metal which I could not stand. The early 90's got the Grunge and some of the better Hip Hop pioneers then it went off the cliff.

True, I love the 80's but the hair metal bands of the later part of the decade were pretty bad. Cinderella, Warrant, etc, all pretty bad.

Although I remember the lead singer of Warrant telling the story of how he went in to the office of the president of Geffen (or some studio, can't remember the specifics) in the early 90's and saw posters of Nirvanna hanging up everywhere and realized the hair metal gig was going away very soon.

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

I remember that! Only around a short time, and came out the same time as 105.9 the X. Was pretty obvious that only one station would survive with that format, but the X had the backing/money of DVE and I believe 104.7 was always somewhat independent. They had a decent morning show from what I remember but I can't think of their names.

Also speaking of old morning shows, anyone remember when Dr. Don Carpenter (?) was on 96.9 in the early 90's. Used to listen to him and he was pretty funny. I'll never forget after the Pirates lost the NLCS in 1992 to the Braves, I tuned in the next morning to get some cheering up but they had a substitute on who said the good doctor had left town and wished him well.

I think that was the worse I felt after any Pittsburgh sports team loss. Worse than 48-14 or Cincinnati in 2009.

Agreed. I think everyone knew it permanently slammed the door on any chance for a World Series champ in our lifetimes. So far that has proven painfully true.

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

True, I love the 80's but the hair metal bands of the later part of the decade were pretty bad. Cinderella, Warrant, etc, all pretty bad.

Although I remember the lead singer of Warrant telling the story of how he went in to the office of the president of Geffen (or some studio, can't remember the specifics) in the early 90's and saw posters of Nirvanna hanging up everywhere and realized the hair metal gig was going away very soon.

Agree. For whatever reason I liked and still like Poison, probably the rather remote Bret Michaels connection to the region, but it was just whacky fun party music. But we certainly didn’t need 20 other acts much like them at the same time.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

Agree. For whatever reason I liked and still like Poison, probably the rather remote Bret Michaels connection to the region, but it was just whacky fun party music. But we certainly didn’t need 20 other acts much like them at the same time.

yeah, Poison at least had some good pop songs, wouldn't put them in the hair bands like cinderella, white lion and some of those other ones.

 

[OH Pete]

True, I love the 80's but the hair metal bands of the later part of the decade were pretty bad. Cinderella, Warrant, etc, all pretty bad.

Although I remember the lead singer of Warrant telling the story of how he went in to the office of the president of Geffen (or some studio, can't remember the specifics) in the early 90's and saw posters of Nirvanna hanging up everywhere and realized the hair metal gig was going away very soon.

I'm not sure if the bands were bad or if the record company guidance was bad. I tend to think the latter. Cinderella had some solid stuff on Long Cold Winter. I think the record company kind of pushed them into trying to be a slicker commercialized Motley Crue, which wasn't really needed because Motley Crue was already morphing into a slicker commercialized version of themselves.

Warrant totally sucked. Maybe they could've been good, but the way they were packaged up by the record company probably sucked the life out of them. Silly choreography in the Down Boys video. Shameful.

Skid Row - record company tried to make them a more commercial, friendlier Guns & Roses with a much prettier lead singer. Fail.

Winger....not even worth talking about. Stuart wore a winger t-shirt and Beavis and Butt-Head got to wear AC/DC and Metallica. Enough said.

Extreme - they had a solid second album. Talented guys. More Than Words was ubiquitous in the spring & summer of '91 and still a guilty pleasure for 90% of Generation X. But the album was actually ok overall. But then grunge hit and their second album was just a total cash grab of garbage. I think the record company tried to Goo Goo Doll them (turn a solid and edgy rock band into REO Speedwagon for mini-van driving soccer Mom's everywhere). Total Fail.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

Extreme - they had a solid second album. Talented guys. More Than Words was ubiquitous in the spring & summer of '91 and still a guilty pleasure for 90% of Generation X. But the album was actually ok overall. But then grunge hit and their second album was just a total cash grab of garbage. I think the record company tried to Goo Goo Doll them (turn a solid and edgy rock band into REO Speedwagon for mini-van driving soccer Mom's everywhere). Total Fail.

nice synopsis. Didn't the lead singer of Extreme have a failed run with Van Halen after Hagar left?

 

[Dan1911]

Cinderella had some. Classically trained musicians. I respected their work. Some other hair bands, not so much. But I'll take a bad hair band any day over what is out there today. Hip hop and sampling other people's sound and unintelligible lyrics or misogynistic ones soured me on the genre. Classic and hair rock are all fine by me.

 

[OH Pete]

Cinderella had some. Classically trained musicians. I respected their work. Some other hair bands, not so much. But I'll take a bad hair band any day over what is out there today. Hip hop and sampling other people's sound and unintelligible lyrics or misogynistic ones soured me on the genre. Classic and hair rock are all fine by me.

Yeah. Classic rock and hair bands never had unintelligible or misogynistic lyrics.

 

[mike 301]

Many of those bands are way overrated. Doobie Brothers, Chicago, Grand Funk...sounds like a ribfest line up.

You youngsters kill me sometimes . 😁
This is overrated ? Hardly .. Hendrix once said Terry Kath was much better than he was . Granted I think Jimi was being modest but still ..
Would love that ribfest BTW .

 

[Parkview57]

Well, 80's was closer to my "Glory Days" so I like it better...late 60's-70's-80's will work.. get to the 90's I would be like "Hey, like this song" in a kind of surprised way...

 

[BPKY]

The 50’s and 60’s were the best!

I view the transition of the 50s to 60s as a parallel to the 80s to 90s transition.

Mainly I compare the novelty songss of the 50s like Purple People Eater, Boney Maroney and Tutti Frutti, etc. to the 80s' Weird Science, People Who Died, Pop Muzik tunes in the new wave genre. 50s music departed from the standard fare of the prior decade, i.e. pop/easy listening in the 40s. The 80s new wave and pop/rock left 70s hard rock behind.

50s pop and Surf music were replaced by the harder rock 60s and the British Invasion whereas 80s New Wave and hair metal passed the baton to 90s Grunge.

The 50s morphed from Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathis to the Motown Sound which lead to hip hop and rap in the later 80s and 90s

Just my take.

 

[mike 301]

I view the transition of the 50s to 60s as a parallel to the 80s to 90s transition.

Mainly I compare the novelty songss of the 50s like Purple People Eater, Boney Maroney and Tutti Frutti, etc. to the 80s' Weird Science, People Who Died, Pop Muzik tunes in the new wave genre. 50s music departed from the standard fare of the prior decade, i.e. pop/easy listening in the 40s. The 80s new wave and pop/rock left 70s hard rock behind.

50s pop and Surf music were replaced by the harder rock 60s and the British Invasion whereas 80s New Wave and hair metal passed the baton to 90s Grunge.

The 50s morphed from Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathis to the Motown Sound which lead to hip hop and rap in the later 80s and 90s

Just my take.

Yeah I mean I respect all music . It all just evolves over time .
All good when you get right down to it .. All good ...

 

[steelcurtain55.]

I think the 80's had more diversity then the 90's....

I really like(d) grunge but I think there was more to offer in the 80's as a whole.

 

[OH Pete]

You youngsters kill me sometimes . 😁
This is overrated ? Hardly .. Hendrix once said Terry Kath was much better than he was . Granted I think Jimi was being modest but still ..
Would love that ribfest BTW .

View embedded media

Jimi was stoned out of his gourd when he said that.

 

[mike 301]

I think the 80's had more diversity then the 90's....

I really like(d) grunge but I think there was more to offer in the 80's as a whole.

Yeah . I think the 80's were more geared towards the Mtv thing .
And the 90's . But 90's had a better sound more than visual . IMO .

 

[Dan1911]

Yeah. Classic rock and hair bands never had unintelligible or misogynistic lyrics.

Yes compare gangster rap to Cinderella. Obviously not skilled in nuanced evaluation. Also thankful for the ignore button. You just got promoted.

 

[NTOP]

I view the transition of the 50s to 60s as a parallel to the 80s to 90s transition.

Mainly I compare the novelty songss of the 50s like Purple People Eater, Boney Maroney and Tutti Frutti, etc. to the 80s' Weird Science, People Who Died, Pop Muzik tunes in the new wave genre. 50s music departed from the standard fare of the prior decade, i.e. pop/easy listening in the 40s. The 80s new wave and pop/rock left 70s hard rock behind.

50s pop and Surf music were replaced by the harder rock 60s and the British Invasion whereas 80s New Wave and hair metal passed the baton to 90s Grunge.

The 50s morphed from Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathis to the Motown Sound which lead to hip hop and rap in the later 80s and 90s

Just my take.

No surf stuff in the 50's. That decade saw the acceptance of black talent. Radio DJs helped a lot/

 

[OH Pete]

Yes compare gangster rap to Cinderella. Obviously not skilled in nuanced evaluation. Also thankful for the ignore button. You just got promoted.

😢 😂

 

[Panther Parrothead]

I’ve got a huge number of songs stored in my computer and various other storage devices, and believe me when I say that my collection includes great songs from every decade beginning in the 1950’s.

Deciding which decade has the best music is as futile as deciding which restaurant has the best wings/pizza, or choosing the best beer, wine, scotch, bourbon, or tequila.

Appreciate every decade for the music that you liked from it.

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

I’ve got a huge number of songs stored in my computer and various other storage devices, and believe me when I say that my collection includes great songs from every decade beginning in the 1950’s.

Deciding which decade has the best music is as futile as deciding which restaurant has the best wings/pizza, or choosing the best beer, wine, scotch, bourbon, or tequila.

Appreciate every decade for the music that you liked from it.

Agreed, it’s crazy to try to definitively anoint ‘superiority’ or ‘inferiority’ of the actual music from one’s ‘era’ over another. For one, as others mentioned, many acts cross over from one to two or even more. As much as we all might have WANTED Madonna to shut herself down in 1989 … 😄

As I mentioned earlier I tried to approach it by comparing who and how many ended up being more ‘iconic’ out of a given decade. It just seems like there are more mainstream acts from the 80s, from Jackson, Prince, Madonna, GnR etc that still resonate with all gens today.

That said some of the further posts reminded me that I probably am giving hip hop / rap short shrift. That is definitely the most influential genre(s) of the last 20 years of music, with a lot of fusion into mainstream pop and rock. It began to blow up in late 80s but the 90s were huge for it.

Flip side, all of us here seem to give ZERO consideration (other than perhaps you hate it and hate what it ‘represents’) to country music … and it def ain’t my favorite genre either … but as painful as it might be for some, Country actually is the highest (or close to it) grossing genre, and at just as much as hip hop influences one side of pop now, country/pop fusion (look no further than the beloved Taylor Swift!) is at least equally as big. And the 90s were when Country had a massive resurgence of new artists that got huge. Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Reba McIntire, Travis Tritt, Brooks and Dunn et al.

So based on my original criteria maybe the 90s deserve more consideration than I originally gave.