For me;
7. 2010s
Purely because the mainstream scene in this decade is absolute trash, filled with virtue signalling rap-ballady pop hits which way too commonly use the gimmick of substituting a "hook" with either electronic beats or an auto-tuned repetition of certain words or phrases, plus the abundance of "trap" rap artists whom only have a flash-in-the-pan amount of success before being forgotten about.
The underground music scene in this decade was great, and there are still great bands one can find on the internet, but unfortunately, it's now a lot harder for these artists to gain a following, thanks to shit like VEVO, as well as the internet becoming more corporate and advertiser-friendly, and they're promoting what is radio-friendly, leaving these underground artists out of luck.
6. 1950s
Granted, this decade is at an unfair disadvantage due to being 60-70 years ago and the standards of the music industry being a lot different back then, but the fact that its rated over the 2010s on this list is worth noting. This was truly a revolutionary decade in the music world, thanks to the advent of teen culture, which saw the music industry becoming more vibrant and youthful, as opposed to the more uniform sound of previous decades. But even the more adult-oriented music such as from the likes of Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darrin I feel were higher quality than what came out in previous decades, the advent of the LP record in the late 1940s was a significant milestone in music quality, and it shows.
5. 1980s
I'll admit, this decade is actually quite overrated, regarding music. The advent of MTV led to the commercialization of the entire music industry, as musical quality began to take a backseat to musicians having a "cool and hip" look and attitude, and out of this came a large abundance of preppy bubbly dance hits from the likes of Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Paula Abdul, and Rick Astley, as well as an overabundance of loud "sex & party" anthems in the rock music scene, most notoriously from glam metal artists.
But I would be lying if I were to say that this was at all a bad decade for music. This was, in my opinion, the best decade for reggae music, as it was the tail end of Bob Marley's career, the peak for UB40's career, and arguably the peak for Peter Tosh's career. Plus, songs such as "Careless Whisper", "These Dreams", "Kokomo", and "One (Metallica)", plus "Red Red Wine" from the aforementioned UB40, are all in my Top 15 songs of all time, and I even enjoy a few glam metal songs, despite not finding the genre as a whole appealing. A good decade for music, but overrated.
4. 2000s
Yes, I said it, I think that the 2000s were a better decade for the music industry than the 1980s.
The biggest plus in my opinion for the 2000s is the underground music scene in this decade, which exploded thanks to the advent of MySpace and YouTube, until the former became irrelevant and the latter brought about that VEVO shit. Thanks to these sites, it became easier for underground musicians to gain a following, Emo music hit its prime in this decade, large in part thanks to the internet, and honestly, for as much flack emo gets, there are quite a few emo songs, or alt-rock songs with an emo edge, which I feel are lyrically creative and well constructed, and the raw emotion put into these songs is great. Plus, this was the decade when Eminem, whom reintroduced the hip hop genre to a suburban white audience, hit his prime, and it also featured the tail end of No Doubt before Gwen Stefani went solo, plus this was the last decade when rock music was mainstream, before going underground.
3. 1960s
Hands down the most revolutionary decade in music. The British Invasion and the Hippie Movement saw the maturation of rock music, from being a high school dance fad to being a sophisticated and well developed musical genre, and the Motown Sound featured a similar result for soul and R&B music, the musical artistry in this decade arguably began to rival the likes of Beethoven and Mozart. The liberalization of the music industry allowed for musicians to present their art in ways which were otherwise unheard of, with key examples of this including albums such as Pet Sounds, Revolver, Freak Out!, The Cowsills, Disraeli Gears, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Abbey Road are prime examples of this, plus I would even include softer, more folky rock hits from the likes of Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and Niel Diamond. It was also in this decade when Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard were solidifying the "Outlaw Country" genre with their songs splitting from the more conformist "Nashville Sound", Louis Armstrong released the phenomenal hit "What a Wonderful World", Frank Sinatra released "My Way", and Elvis Presley had his comeback show and released the hits "In the Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds", plus Michael Jackson's career started out in this decade with The Jackson Five.
2. 1990s
Early within this decade, there was the grunge and acoustic movements, which were a reactionary force against the marketable bubbly sound of the 1980s, and a call-back to the more sophisticated and lyrical sound of the 1960s and 1970s. Out of this came many great grunge and alt-rock acts from the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cranberries, Hole, and even Metallica I would argue became more grungy with their self titled black album, plus in the mid-late '90s came the advent of skate-punk from the likes of the Offspring, Green Day, and Blink 182. Third-wave ska hit its peak in this decade with acts such as No Doubt, Sublime, and Reel Big Fish, and this decade featured some great reggae and reggae-fusion covers such as UB40's cover of "Can't Help Falling in Love" and Big Mountain's cover of "Baby, I Love Your Way". Plus this decade featured the g-funk era and the peak of gangsta rap music, as well as country music entering into the stratosphere of popularity with Garth Brooks.
1. 1970s
This was hands down the decade when music hit its artistic peak, before the commercialization of the music industry, which large in part started at the end of this decade with Video Concert Hall and "Video Killed the Radio Star".
Motown legends such as Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Aretha Franklin were still going strong throughout this decade, and Marvin Gaye in particular released the socially conscious hit "What's Going On", which was a monumental moment in music industry. Plus there was Al Green's "Lets Stay Together", Lou Rawl's "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine", Dorothy Moore's cover of "Misty Blue", and Peaches & Herb's "Reunited", which are all constructed so beautifully in both lyrical and musical content, this was definitively the peak of funk and soul, and even many disco songs, despite the cheesiness, are orchestrated very well, as disco is essentially a hybrid genre of funk and soul. Speaking of disco, it was out of the disco movement where rap music became mainstream, with the Sugarhill Gang's "Rappers Delight".
Folk-rock and soft-rock hit its peak in this decade with artists such as John Denver, Jim Croce, Kenny Loggins, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and the Bee Gees "How Deep Is Your Love". Country music saw Kenny Rogers hit his peak with "The Gambler", and outlaw country hit its peak in this decade, with musicians such as Kris Kristoffen, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson entering the mainstream.
So how would you rank each of these decades, regarding music?
Let me know down below.
7. 2010s
Purely because the mainstream scene in this decade is absolute trash, filled with virtue signalling rap-ballady pop hits which way too commonly use the gimmick of substituting a "hook" with either electronic beats or an auto-tuned repetition of certain words or phrases, plus the abundance of "trap" rap artists whom only have a flash-in-the-pan amount of success before being forgotten about.
The underground music scene in this decade was great, and there are still great bands one can find on the internet, but unfortunately, it's now a lot harder for these artists to gain a following, thanks to shit like VEVO, as well as the internet becoming more corporate and advertiser-friendly, and they're promoting what is radio-friendly, leaving these underground artists out of luck.
6. 1950s
Granted, this decade is at an unfair disadvantage due to being 60-70 years ago and the standards of the music industry being a lot different back then, but the fact that its rated over the 2010s on this list is worth noting. This was truly a revolutionary decade in the music world, thanks to the advent of teen culture, which saw the music industry becoming more vibrant and youthful, as opposed to the more uniform sound of previous decades. But even the more adult-oriented music such as from the likes of Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darrin I feel were higher quality than what came out in previous decades, the advent of the LP record in the late 1940s was a significant milestone in music quality, and it shows.
5. 1980s
I'll admit, this decade is actually quite overrated, regarding music. The advent of MTV led to the commercialization of the entire music industry, as musical quality began to take a backseat to musicians having a "cool and hip" look and attitude, and out of this came a large abundance of preppy bubbly dance hits from the likes of Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Paula Abdul, and Rick Astley, as well as an overabundance of loud "sex & party" anthems in the rock music scene, most notoriously from glam metal artists.
But I would be lying if I were to say that this was at all a bad decade for music. This was, in my opinion, the best decade for reggae music, as it was the tail end of Bob Marley's career, the peak for UB40's career, and arguably the peak for Peter Tosh's career. Plus, songs such as "Careless Whisper", "These Dreams", "Kokomo", and "One (Metallica)", plus "Red Red Wine" from the aforementioned UB40, are all in my Top 15 songs of all time, and I even enjoy a few glam metal songs, despite not finding the genre as a whole appealing. A good decade for music, but overrated.
4. 2000s
Yes, I said it, I think that the 2000s were a better decade for the music industry than the 1980s.
The biggest plus in my opinion for the 2000s is the underground music scene in this decade, which exploded thanks to the advent of MySpace and YouTube, until the former became irrelevant and the latter brought about that VEVO shit. Thanks to these sites, it became easier for underground musicians to gain a following, Emo music hit its prime in this decade, large in part thanks to the internet, and honestly, for as much flack emo gets, there are quite a few emo songs, or alt-rock songs with an emo edge, which I feel are lyrically creative and well constructed, and the raw emotion put into these songs is great. Plus, this was the decade when Eminem, whom reintroduced the hip hop genre to a suburban white audience, hit his prime, and it also featured the tail end of No Doubt before Gwen Stefani went solo, plus this was the last decade when rock music was mainstream, before going underground.
3. 1960s
Hands down the most revolutionary decade in music. The British Invasion and the Hippie Movement saw the maturation of rock music, from being a high school dance fad to being a sophisticated and well developed musical genre, and the Motown Sound featured a similar result for soul and R&B music, the musical artistry in this decade arguably began to rival the likes of Beethoven and Mozart. The liberalization of the music industry allowed for musicians to present their art in ways which were otherwise unheard of, with key examples of this including albums such as Pet Sounds, Revolver, Freak Out!, The Cowsills, Disraeli Gears, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Abbey Road are prime examples of this, plus I would even include softer, more folky rock hits from the likes of Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and Niel Diamond. It was also in this decade when Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard were solidifying the "Outlaw Country" genre with their songs splitting from the more conformist "Nashville Sound", Louis Armstrong released the phenomenal hit "What a Wonderful World", Frank Sinatra released "My Way", and Elvis Presley had his comeback show and released the hits "In the Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds", plus Michael Jackson's career started out in this decade with The Jackson Five.
2. 1990s
Early within this decade, there was the grunge and acoustic movements, which were a reactionary force against the marketable bubbly sound of the 1980s, and a call-back to the more sophisticated and lyrical sound of the 1960s and 1970s. Out of this came many great grunge and alt-rock acts from the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cranberries, Hole, and even Metallica I would argue became more grungy with their self titled black album, plus in the mid-late '90s came the advent of skate-punk from the likes of the Offspring, Green Day, and Blink 182. Third-wave ska hit its peak in this decade with acts such as No Doubt, Sublime, and Reel Big Fish, and this decade featured some great reggae and reggae-fusion covers such as UB40's cover of "Can't Help Falling in Love" and Big Mountain's cover of "Baby, I Love Your Way". Plus this decade featured the g-funk era and the peak of gangsta rap music, as well as country music entering into the stratosphere of popularity with Garth Brooks.
1. 1970s
This was hands down the decade when music hit its artistic peak, before the commercialization of the music industry, which large in part started at the end of this decade with Video Concert Hall and "Video Killed the Radio Star".
Motown legends such as Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Aretha Franklin were still going strong throughout this decade, and Marvin Gaye in particular released the socially conscious hit "What's Going On", which was a monumental moment in music industry. Plus there was Al Green's "Lets Stay Together", Lou Rawl's "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine", Dorothy Moore's cover of "Misty Blue", and Peaches & Herb's "Reunited", which are all constructed so beautifully in both lyrical and musical content, this was definitively the peak of funk and soul, and even many disco songs, despite the cheesiness, are orchestrated very well, as disco is essentially a hybrid genre of funk and soul. Speaking of disco, it was out of the disco movement where rap music became mainstream, with the Sugarhill Gang's "Rappers Delight".
Folk-rock and soft-rock hit its peak in this decade with artists such as John Denver, Jim Croce, Kenny Loggins, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and the Bee Gees "How Deep Is Your Love". Country music saw Kenny Rogers hit his peak with "The Gambler", and outlaw country hit its peak in this decade, with musicians such as Kris Kristoffen, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson entering the mainstream.
So how would you rank each of these decades, regarding music?
Let me know down below.