80s? You must be joking. While there was some occassional good music from new bands, most were one hit wonders. The only 80s band worthy of it all by itself was U2. I suppose I should add IMHO.
The 60s were revolutionary. Beatles, Stones, Doors, Who, Floyd, Dead, Airplane, Hendrix, CSYN and the list goes on and on and on.
i lived thru both, and by far the 80’s music kicked the 60’s ass all over the place. the 60’s were more experimental and revolutionary, a slap in the face of the establishment (wow, man!), and that made them seem better, but now, in perspective, the stuff sucked. just think…how many cream songs do people remember? how many rem songs do people remember? pink floyd music from the 80’s is far superior to their 60’s crap. how many of theor 60’s songs do people remember vis a vis their 80’s stuff? and, i am spartacus… csny??? Hie thee home!
The 60s. No doubt about that one.
If I were going to rate the last four decades, it’d be the 60’s, 70’s, 90’s, and then the 80’s, in increasing order of suckiness.
Huh? Bohemian Rhapsody is “that quintesential '80s song”?? Since when?
There was great stuff from both decades. And crap from both decades. I’m not picking one over th other.
What happened to the 40s?
Just off the top off my head, the 80’s had:
Sonic Youth, Husker Du, The Pixies, Tom Waits, Richard Thompson, Nick Cave, Replacements, Flaming Lips, My Bloody Valentine, Slint, The Clash, Cocteau Twins, Galaxie 500, Dinosaur Jr., Joy Division.
The 60’s had:
The Velvet Underground, Tim Buckley, Nina Simone, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Kinks, Love, The Doors.
The advantage belongs to the 80’s, because some of the greatest bands of the 60’s didn’t release their best albums until the 70’s. If we include albums released in the 70’s for artists that were around in the 60’s, then the 60’s would win.
I’m 19.
The 60’s had Simon & Garfunkel.
Enough said.
60’s by far
and 90’s(early) over the 80’s
I’m 29
Looking through the ~900 MP3s I have here at work maybe 15% of them are from the 80’s (Femmes, Dead Kennedy’s, Dead Milkmen mostly with a little Anthrax, Megadeath and the Men at Work :eek: thrown in). Most of them are from the 90’s like:NOFX(some 80s) ,Nirvana, Pennywise, Sublime, Bloodhound Gang, RHCP(a lot is from the 80’s),etc.
I forgot Nick Drake (Five Leaves Left) for the sixties and Nirvana (Bleach) for the 80’s. The 80’s still win. I’m 21.
No question at all- the 60s…more specifically, the mid to late 60s.
I sense more musicianship and attention to taste in this period than the 1980s, in which synthesized instruments and “non-distinctiveness” (for want of a better word) were the order of the day. Of course, let’s not forget that the bulk of hits then were recorded by the same cadre of studio musicians…which is perhaps a little less so in the 1980s, though still common, as it is now.
Of course, I must second Dragon Phoenix as far as his preference for 1970s music above 60s OR 80s music.
I am 22.
I also agree that the 70’s were better than either. The 70’s had:
BIG STAR, Tim Buckley’s best albums, Velvet Underground, Nick Drake, Can, Television, The Clash, Pink Floyd, Suicide, Faust, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Richard Thompson, Joy Division.
A lot of bands from the 60’s released their best albums in the 70’s, and a lot of bands from the 80’s had already released their best albums in the 70’s. I still think the actual albums released in the 80’s were better than those of the 60’s.
Yookeroo,
Well, let me rephrase. Bohemian Rhapsody is the quintesential '80s song for many people my age (early 20s), thanks primarially to Wayne’s World.
The Wayne’s World movie with the Bohemian Rhapsody scene is from 1992.
60s.
Age 43 here. i gre up with the 60’s music and it was a time when the music broke loose and got wild as it were.
Many great bands started and some are still around.
(question: What bands are still around from the 60’s now?)
Though IMHO, the best band in the world -The Ramones, were from the 70’s.
Oh let’s see, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Moody Blues, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Tony Bennett.
That’s all I could think of off the top of my head.
Oh yeah, Bobby Vinton.
Gotta go with 60s.
I’m 27.
Happy
Okay, I’m not saying that 60’s music was bad, but. . . .the 80’s. And here’s why: think about how much more diverse the music scene was in the 80’s compared to the 60’s. In the 60’s there was no rap, no metal, no punk rock of any kind. Love them or hate them, there were people of real talent working exclusively in those genres by the 80s. There were also no synthesizers of any kind in the 60s, and, until late in the decade, not even much virtuosity. I mean, there are people who love The Who’s early stuff, but I’ve known a half-dozen high school kids who could play the guitar melodies of those songs as well as Pete Townshend did then.
Looking back on 60s music, an awful lot of it looks really one-dimensional until 1967 or later, when everyone just started ripping off the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Electronic music was just so NEW, that it hadn’t really been perfected yet by anyone. I’m not sure it’s fair to even compare the eras.
Oh, I’m 26, and I ALSO prefer the 70s. Cat Scratch Fever forever! 
White Room
Sunshine of your Love
Crossroads
Badge
Just off the top of my head. 
I’ll be 38 in less than a week. (Boy, a lot of tail-end-of-the-Baby-Boomers here!). When I was in high school in the 80s, everybody was groovin’ down to the “new wave” that frankly left me cold. (I’ve since come to appreciate some, but by now means all, the music of the 80s). Myself, I was into the British Invasion: Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks, Pink Floyd (more their early stuff – frankly “The Wall” is highly overrated), Jethro Tull, David Bowie, the Yardbirds (and its stepson, Led Zeppelin)…also, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Temptations, CCR…