In one corner you have the '70s, which was: the decade that birthed arena rock; when Led Zeppelin became rock gods; when the Rolling Stones both still mattered and started regularly playing stadiums; when punk and disco were born; when the outlaw country movement (and Willie ‘n’ Waylon’s careers) came to prominence; when radio started to strictly regiment music into different formats; when the Concert for Bangladesh took place.
In the other you have the '80s, which was: the decade where rap crossed over into the mainstream; when synth pop became a viable commercial force; when such seminal groups as R.E.M., U2, and Midnight Oil (yes, Midnight Oil; always Midnight Oil) started achieving mainstream success; the decade of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, “We Are the World”, “Hands Across America”, “I Ain’t Gonna Play Sun City”, Farm Aid, and, of course, Live Aid; when MTV was born and still played music videos (that’s all they played, in fact) and was a marketing force to be reckoned with.
So? What say you?
I have to go with the '80s, primarily because that’s the decade wherein I came of age.
The eighties, I like the major trends better (new wave, electro, synth-pop) and it’s when all four of my favourite artists (Michael Jackson, Madonna, Kate Bush and Prince), plus two of my favourite groups (Pet Shop Boys, Culture Club) released their best work. Not to mention the countless other songs and albums I count among my favourite ever that were released in the eighties.
Do love the seventies, but the eighties by a long way.
I think the contrived, cheesy hair metal of bands like Dokken, Motley Crue, Ratt, Poison, Warrant, etc pretty much cancels out most of the positive stuff from the rest of the 80’s genre, so I’ll have to go with the 1970’s on the strength of bands like Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, The Stones, Wings, Elton John, Pink Floyd, etc.
Ha, I know. I used to love those bands when I was a teenager. I find them painful to listen to now. I do believe honestly that the 1970’s music has “stood the test of time”, if you will, better than most of the 80’s stuff…
I started high school in 1981, so I consider myself a ‘child of the 80’s’. So for me, the answer was incredibly simple; give me the music of the 70’s please. PLEASE!
Is that really worse than disco, and/or the schlockiest of 70s AM-radio lite rock?
I voted for the 80s, mainly because, like the OP, that’s when I musically came of age; and because (in addition to the 80s-specific bands) plenty of the greatest artists from the 60s and 70s were still making music that was interesting and vital enough that it caught my attention and got me to go back and check out their earlier masterworks.
The 70s had disco counting against it, but it also had fine work from the 60s bands (Rolling Stones, the Who, Pink Floyd, the Kinks, the Grateful Dead) plus Progressive Rock, Punk and New Wave.
The 80s has Squeeze and a general blandification of music that continues to today.
I hated disco, and was so glad when punk came along – it was almost the antidote to disco. Unfortunately, after the Sex Pistols misfired, punk morphed into New Wave, and became extremely commercialized (give me The Clash from London Calling on back instead of what they turned into from Combat Rock onward) leading into an embarrassing collection of one hit wonders, such as The Romantics and Dexy’s Midnight Runners, etc.
As to pre-disco, I hated the whole singer/songwriter thing in the early 70s, but there was promise from about 1973 with groups like The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, the Stones, etc.; it was just too bad about the Arena Rock thing.
Now, see, I look at disco as a largely positive musical force. I certainly don’t have the knee-jerk (possibly racist/homophobic (not accusing you or anyone else here of same, though, you understand)?) reaction that a lot of people have concerning that style of music (e.g., “disco sucks”). I think it’s a genuinely interesting musical genre that, just like any other, rewards serious investigation, and that has influenced a wealth of really good, creative bands that came in its wake.
I think that a lot of the early punks found disco more interesting than, say, Pink Floyd or Yes or ELP, and as such would’ve (and maybe still would) characterized their music as more an antidote to that than to disco.
Voted 70’s mostly because even the records of good bands started to sound shit from overproduction in the 80’s. Most of my favourite 80’s records are cheaply recorded or good despite the heavy studio effects.
For the type of music I like, real bands playing instruments, disco was a negative force. I love 60’s dance music, and I can admit there are tons of great disco songs. But disco seems to have helped the trend away from live music and away from dance music made by bands.
I was a kid in the '70s and a teen in the '80s. My favorite band was the Police (aside from the Beatles), and favorite singers were solo Sting and Billy Joel. Clearly, advantage: '80s.
And yet… when I listen to the '70s and '80s stations on the radio, I think my chief enjoyment of the '80s stuff is born of nostalgia, of the “aw man, I remember listening to ‘Bette Davis Eyes’ while working at my first job at the frozen yogurt shop! I remember watching videos & dancing along w/‘Straight Up’!” variety.
Whereas the ‘70s is the music I still love either rockin’ out to (Led Zeppelin!) or singing along with (The Eagles! Steeley Dan! Donna Summer!) or dancing to (disco, baby).
So I guess my choice is the '70s. But it’s a damn close call.
I went with the 80s–although it’s really close–the late 70s/early 80s are my favorite music era; if I could pick the music era from about 1978 to about 1982, that would win. But, since I can’t, I’ll go with the 80s for: The Smiths, XTC, The Stone Roses, Sonic Youth, the Pixies, My Bloody Valentine (although my favorite album of theirs was '91), New Order, Jesus & Mary Chain, the Replacements, R.E.M., the Pretenders, Metallic, Slayer, etc.
No, you’re on the mark. That’s why Blondie recorded their disco homage “Heart of Glass,” John Lydon used disco beats all throughout his Public Image Ltd. project, The Clash recorded the discoish “Magnificent Dance” and “Rock the Casbah,” Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks recorded “Homosapien,” and on and on.
The 70s featured too many of the worst songs ever written to be taken seriously: “Feelings” “Muskrat Love” “Billy Don’t Be a Hero” “One Is the Loneliest Number” “You Light Up My Life” "One Tin Soldier"et ectera ad nauseum. Arena rock was an embarrassment, aptly lampooned in Spinal Tap. And the 70s cannot possibly overcome the stigma of disco.
The early 80s were an era when music videos allowed creative musicians/artists to take back the music from the hands of tasteless corporate executives (for a brief time, until MTV came on the scene and videos went corporate). The late 80s gave us a thriving college radio/alternative music scene (that gave rise to the great acts catalogued by pulykamell, and many others).
The only thing I’ll say for the 70s is that the late 70s gave birth to the acts that influenced that burst of musical creativity in the 80s-- such acts as The Clash, Talking Heads, The B-52’s, The Sex Pistols, Devo and the Ramones.
It’s such a stigma that contemporary artists like Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga, Scissor Sisters, and who knows how many others are doing their damnedest to put '70s disco flavor into their new recordings.
