OT: Singers or Bands That Define a Decade
Happy Sunday everyone. Kinda of a slow morning what with Harbaugh not able to land any new commitments in the past several hours (slacker) and no new developments on the completely idiotic VERY IMPORTANT subject of air pressure in footballs so I thought I'd pose a question to the board.
If I was to play word association with you on which singer or band immediately comes to mind for a particular decade what would you say? For me the 50's - 80's is pretty easy but then in the 90's and beyond it becomes a bit harder to just pick one. Here is my list - what's yours look like?
1950's - Elvis
1960's - The Beatles
1970's - The Bee Gees
1980s - Michael Jackson
1990's - Nirvana (small portfolio-big impact)
2000's - Eminem
2010's - Kanye West, Rihanna, Katy Perry? (This decade has me stumped)
January 25th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
Was perhaps the one rock group that very successfully spanned the entire decade of the 1980s.
January 25th, 2015 at 2:13 PM ^
I went with pop for the 80's up the thread, ZZ Top had a long run of hits in the 80's. Motley Crue was right at the top, as well. 90's Green Day and RHCP were huge.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:08 AM ^
^ This. 49 replies before GNR gets a mention? 1987-1993 there was nobody bigger. The dual release of the Use Your Illusion albums was pure insanity.
January 25th, 2015 at 1:37 PM ^
See, I always hear people talk about Nirvana in the 90's but I guess I was a Pearl Jam/Sound Garden guy when it came to that sound. Nirvana had two good-to-great albums (Nevermind and In Utero), Bleach was fine as a first-release, and then that MTV special that was very hit-and-miss. The fact he committed suicide after In Utero gave it extra depth, but I always wonder if they'd been remembered as fondly if they had stuck around and kept making music after 1994. There was a 3-year window of greatness for them, but it also feels like they would have been thought less of had they pushed out 3-4 more albums that decade and inevitably one or more were sub-optimal.
January 25th, 2015 at 10:49 AM ^
70s: the ramones
80s: the smiths
90s: pavement
00s: radiohead
10s: still not sure, give me five more years
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January 25th, 2015 at 1:07 PM ^
The Ramones their due. While they were far, far from being the biggest thing commercially in the 70s, they HAVE to be considered one of the most influential and ground-breaking groups of that decade. Punk, Grunge, Garage, etc., whatever the label, so much that followed them, followed them.
January 25th, 2015 at 10:49 AM ^
50s - Elvis
60s - Beatles
70s - Led Zeppelin
80s - Michael Jackson
90s - Nirvana
00s - Beyonce
10s - None Yet (sorry but the Katy Perry, Rhianna, Kanye groups had just as many or more popular hits in the 00s than they've had so far this decade)
January 25th, 2015 at 10:53 AM ^
January 25th, 2015 at 10:54 AM ^
January 25th, 2015 at 10:54 AM ^
How can you leave Limp Biskit of this list
January 25th, 2015 at 11:09 AM ^
January 25th, 2015 at 10:59 AM ^
To the OP - before opening thread I had the same thoughts as many others thru 90s - Elvis, Beatles, Zep, MJ, Nirvana - the latter not so much volume but as a cultural music change. Late 80s were hair metal bands and some British invasion and a lot of "happy happy" music; and then it got dark in a hurry with the grunge era.
But even the 90s you'd have to split in half; late 90s were different then first half.
Also I think the 80s (and I am biased because that was my childhood) was the best and most diverse era - on 1 radio station you'd hear Madonna, then Prince, then Guns n Roses, then George Michael, then Pet Shop Boys, then John Mellencamp, then Bryan Adams, then Motley Crue, then Whitney Houston, then Hall & Oates, then Depeche Mode, then Run DMC, then INXS, then Phil Collins. Rap started to become a big thing late in the decade - but really took off in the 90s.
Now it is sorta stratified out there - R&B/Beyonce/Rihanna vs Taylor Swift/Katy Perry/Maroon 5 pop. You have to go sort of off the radio dial to get any more diverse than that.
One discussion we can do another day is why did mainstream rock music wither in the 2000s? One could argue it was the MOST popular genre from mid 60s to mid 90s, and now it's an underground thing except for a few major bands. Most of the "rock" music touring nowadays is guys in their 50s to 70s in age. (Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith). Listen to WRIF nowadays and 80% of the content is mid 90s or earlier.... pretty amazing to see the genre become so marginalized.
January 25th, 2015 at 10:59 AM ^
Due to iTunes and the Napster era, singles got more emphasized. Thus music that could be played in bars/clubs got more emphasized instead of complete albums. This pretty much made every genre into Pop-rock, Pop-rap etc...
Just so happens Rap translates over better into nightlife than Rock...
Unfortunate, that the industry honchos killed mainstream music like that. But then again singles just sound good to most people.
January 25th, 2015 at 12:35 PM ^
Music tastes change, they just do.
Singles got more emphasized? Never heard of the 45 have you? Back in the day full albums weren't the major sellers, two sided 45s were. And as for night life, all music translates into the nightlife depending on the listeners choice in music. Industry honchos didn't kill anything, taste in music changed.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:13 AM ^
January 25th, 2015 at 12:09 PM ^
January 25th, 2015 at 10:57 AM ^
I also thought of Michael Jackson first when it came to the '80s, even though I'm not one of his bigger fans. Some people also bring up Prince, but I have to admit, I can't stand him.
Just wondering, am I alone in my severe dislike of Prince? I was listening to a TV talk show and they were making him out to be a living legend. So is it just me or something more common.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:00 AM ^
January 25th, 2015 at 1:13 PM ^
January 25th, 2015 at 11:46 AM ^
50s- Chuck Berry, Little Richard
60s- Motown Sound
70s- Parliament/Funkadelic, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Jackson 5
80s- Michael Jackson, Prince, Run DMC, Public Enemy, NWA
90s- Dr. Dre, Notorious BIG, Tupac
January 25th, 2015 at 10:59 AM ^
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Beatles sort of transcended any decade - they're timeless. Plus, it seems like each decade changes so much from start to finish that it's impossible to name just one band that encapsulates the happenings of those ten years. The 1960's started out one way but ended 180 degrees from where it began. Therefore, here's my list:
1950's - Elvis (and Frank Sinatra)
1960's - The Beach Boys (and Jefferson Airplane)
1970's - America (and Blondie)
1980's - Springsteen (and Flock of Seagulls)
1990's - Nirvana (and Madonna)
2000's - Eminem (and U2)
2010's - Mumford and Sons (and Lady Gaga)
January 25th, 2015 at 11:21 AM ^
Uh... America? A two-hit lesser version of the Eagles?
January 25th, 2015 at 11:42 AM ^
I was trying to think of a band with that easy listening soft rock sound. That's what I remember coming out of the radio of our Buick Skylark. Bread comes to mind. So does the Atlanta Rhythym Section, Boz Scaggs, Gerry Rafferty, etc....The Eagles were almost too unique of a sound - they were in a category of their own. I think Elton John was like that. He did some ballad-y songs, but he was much bigger than just "Our Song" or "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word.".
January 25th, 2015 at 11:49 AM ^
Steely Dan is the obvious choice for that. Alongside the Doobie Brothers. Basically the same awesome dad-rock collective.
January 25th, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^
Aw, I don't think you can lump America and Steely Dan together. Steely Dan was progressive jazz rock and American was straight ahead soft pop-y long hair barefoot rock. Steely Dan's songs are way more lyrically interesting and complex than America's. America was like the Black Eyed Peas of that decade - totally popular, captured the fashion and feel of its time, and played music that was neither challenging nor ambitious.
January 25th, 2015 at 1:57 PM ^
Chicago could certainly fit that bill. They rocked more in the late 60's then turned 'pop-y' in the 70's/80's.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:02 AM ^
Didn't Cobain die in 92 or 93? Late 80's and early 90's had some really great bands: Metallica, Guns and Roses, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc. Then all of sudden it just ended around 1994. Adult contemporary rock took over the rest of the decade.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:07 AM ^
Cobain died in 1994
January 25th, 2015 at 11:14 AM ^
January 25th, 2015 at 12:24 PM ^
January 25th, 2015 at 11:08 AM ^
Trying to think of 2000s (before 2010) I don't know if there is 1 artist but you can pick from Eminem, Beyonce, Britney Spears, Nelly, JayZ, Usher, Black Eyed Peas, Justin Timberlake - it became a lot more R&B oriented out there and "poppy".
The only rock bands with any lasting power I can think of in that decade were Green Day and Linkin Park.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:25 AM ^
A lot of the alt, pop punk, grunge bands of the 90s including Nirvana owe The Replacements a big thank you.
<>Funny thing about Nirvana is that when I have played their first album BLEACH for many who are big Nirvana fans, no one could identify what they were listening to as NIRVANA.
For anyone who was into the punk scene, the mid to late 80's was heaven with a beavy of great bands not just punk but hardcore bands from DC, NY, Boston and Orange County and even Detroit with Negative Approach. Also can't forget many great punk/hardcore bands coming out of Europe as well.
There was a lot of great music out there but you had to be listening to college radio stations to hear them because the music industry as it exists with major labels and their incestuous relationship with radio stations/mtv only pushed what they wanted you to hear.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:28 AM ^
And Pixies. Cobain copped a lot from them, and freely admitted it.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:08 AM ^
January 25th, 2015 at 11:16 AM ^
What we define as "Motown" was done by 1973 when the label left Detroit for good. Everything after that for the most part is a scatter of Stevie Wonder's last strong period, Marvin Gaye's lesser work, and a whole pile of west coast crap. Hell, Michael Jackson didn't hit his stride as a solo artist until he went to Epic.
Also, EWF was not on Motown.
January 25th, 2015 at 1:20 PM ^
Earth Wind and Fire?
So much good music from the Motown era is underrated and underappreciated, whether it came from Motown itself or any other artist doing that style of music back then. Aretha, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, thru Marvin Gaye (and many many other R&B-influenced works from the 60's thru the mid 70's)---so very good!
January 25th, 2015 at 1:45 PM ^
January 25th, 2015 at 11:16 AM ^
2000s is the Foo Fighters and Dave Grohl and its not even close.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:19 AM ^
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January 25th, 2015 at 11:35 AM ^
Can I hear some Led Zep for the 40 millionth goddamn time?
January 25th, 2015 at 1:48 PM ^
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January 25th, 2015 at 4:59 PM ^
and Hendrix were the best guitarists of rock's golden era.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:20 AM ^
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January 26th, 2015 at 12:48 AM ^
That's because most of the mainstream music made in the 2000's wasn't actually made by any of the faces. Most of the mainstream artists in the 2000's was less real than Milli Vanilli. Between crews of upwards of 20 people actually creating the lyrics/music, auto-tune, almost everything being lip sync'd, etc, its not surprising that faces were discarded left and right. A face had to be massively popular in order to justify being paid. Unless the face alone could guarentee a platnum alblum, they were generally discarded for a new fresh face that could be paid almost nothing. Why pay money for an expensive face who isn't going to bring anything to the table when there are thousand's of equally attractive faces out there will to work for peanuts? The 2000's were a lot like the 50s in that regard.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:31 AM ^
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January 25th, 2015 at 11:36 AM ^
January 25th, 2015 at 11:56 AM ^
the most epic ICP show ever: The prom night massacre took place in the spring of 96 (or 97)... but 2000 (the Cobo Show) they had peaked... or I had grown up enough to stop worrying about jokers cards.
love you,
jdon
January 25th, 2015 at 11:59 AM ^
ICP. Yeesh.
I'll never forget the night the Juggalos and the Eminem fans brawled and tore apart a Wendy's outside the Novi Expo Center (IIRC) ~1999.
January 25th, 2015 at 11:37 AM ^
My generation (and yours) has always had shit for taste in music. In a parallel universe, they get the Minutemen out at 5 o'clock.
VU
Stooges
Talking Heads
Sex Pistols
Clash
R.E.M.
Replacements
Beastie Boys
No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones. Thus spake Joe Strummer. (Joe doesn't know about my complete set of Stones recordings through Steel Wheels.)