I vote for the '60’s. It was a true revolution in music.
(The 1780’s were nice too, but I’ll still go with the '60’s.)
1968-1977
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong.
For me it would be from when I was 5-15, in my case 1982 through 1992. The 1950s are a close second. Of course my tastes in popular music are probably different than most people. I like the happy pop music of the 50s and the similar happy pop music that made a comeback in the mid 80s and early 90s.
Edited to add. The music from when I was 15-25 is some of my least favorite, especially the late 90s.
Not true for me either.
I was -3 in 1971 and 7 in 1981. I was 15-25 between 1989 and 1999 and, while I don’t hate music from that era, it’s not my favourite at all.
Hmm. Looking at the modern era, one can over-generalize this way:
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1945 - 1954: New Music Technology - 33’s and 45’s + jukeboxes. Electric guitars (and basses!!) and amps. Decent-sounding-and-sized PA’s.
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1955 - 1964: New Music Based on that Technology - rock and roll
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1965 - 1974 or so: “Classic” period = Rock; followed by Romantic and Baroque periods. Technology “mastered”; rules canonized and overblown. Sgt Peppers --> Dark Side and Who’s Next and Zep --> ELP Prog rock, jazz/rock fusion.
You can go through the same exercise with R&B into Funk; Rap/Hip Hop through its various stages, Punk into New Wave, then indie, then Alternative.
I tend to like the “discovery oriented” stuff - that middle period where new technology is understood and exploited to break some rules.
For me, the mid 60s to the mid 70s is a decade of music creativity that will never be repeated. The Beatles were reinventing themselves with every album, and the rest of the world was along for the ride. Jimi Hendrix was giving us guitar sounds that were never before heard.
Rock and pop music suddenly had something to say, regarding anti-war messages, environmentalism, and race equality. It wasn’t “boy loses girl” anymore, it was fuck this government and their outdated policies.
We’re a new generation, and we’ve got something to say. The protest songs, mixed with psychedelic drug references and peace and harmony and love and acceptance was brand new.
There’s a reason why that era is considered classic rock. There was an explosion of creativity that probably will never happen again. Sorry rap, you don’t come close and classic rock paved your way anyway.
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.
Everyone knows music attained perfection in 1974. It’s a scientific fact!
The 1580s and 1680s were great.
In my lifetime, I’d go for the 1970s–funk, punk, new wave, and a lot of Bowie.
For real? It’s 1965 - 1975. How can you argue anything else? It all comes from or goes through that era. Dylan folk rock hybrids and all kinds of various eclectics, psych, prog, Bowie is part of it. Funk punk and new wave and grunge and dance and techno and on and on all are derivative of it. Notice I said “derivative” It was like this musical peacock that hundreds of great artists fanned out in in all directions. It wasn’t genre imprisoned, but just the opposite. It was a peak of Top 40 music too. How are you going to deny that? The brits motown soul and that early 70s melancholy sound. It never dies.
All the music after that has the whiff of the death of a dream about it. Even good stuff. Genres don’t make an era great. It’s geniuses and open minded souls.
Within the confines of “rock music,” yeah, I can go with 1965-1975.
Thanks. That’s what I meant.
Let me posit that for Jazz it might have been 55 to 65. This is a topic where there could be a lot of disagreements. I can see the arguments for all of them: You got Mouldy figs for the 20s and 30s. Beboppers in the 40s. There’s Cool, hard bop, free, Modal, fusion. I don’t know if there’s anything after fusion.
My prejudice is a focus on modal, and the Blue Note label is a model of quality, and the prime time for these was that decade. You had Miles, Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Ornette, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock.
Each era had their good and bad music.
I’d go with around 65-75. Disco was certainly the end of the Era and the Beatles brought it in.
Yeah, I have to say, for jazz I’m a sucker for modal, as well. Hard bop, too, but those periods do overlap a bit, so 55-65 I can do. And some of the earlier free jazz a la Don Cherry–so, yeah, if I had to pick ten years, I could do worse than 55-65 for jazz. 
Just to get one in. And I really mean this. Approximately 1870 until the Great War. Everything was beautiful (sorry, Ray Stevens), and then it wasn’t. It all became satire.
I think the OP may be suffering from stuttering keyboard effect. I get that a lot, especially here.
The 1960’s introduced a form of music that will live forever.
Try topping that.
Rock and Roll was introduced in the 50s. Or is there another form of music I’m unaware of?
Yes. ROCK music, which is different from rock and roll. And came about in the 60’s.