yesterdays's music better than today's

[peppercitra]

Is the music of yesteryears(1960-1975) better than the music of today?

[B00]

I've had this argument many a time with folks, and I've come to conclusion you believe the music you listened to as a teenager has the fondest memories for ya- hence you believe this to be the best music.

Myself I'm a 80's child and I still love Duran Duran, Paul Young, Spandau Ballet...........

Ahhhhhhhhhh the memories :-)

[Glossopswift]

Yep, for the same reasons as BOO. I would go for 1840-1988 as being, generally, better than 1989 to the present.

[Robbiesos]

Surely a personal choice thing. Much of the music I love now I wasn't aware of when I was a teenager even though the music had already been produced. It's a wonderful thing, music, and the wide variation makes it something for everyone.

[itsallyellow]

I believe the 'good music' has stayed consistently good over time but as the time progresses, the quagmire of **** music you have to listen to and trawl through to get to the good music has just deepened.

[surfer mike]

Don't think you can beat the 50s and 60s for the wide range of quality artists and endless classic tracks...i mean elvis, buddy holly, chuck berry, beatles ,the stones, dylan, stax, motown, the who, hendrix, the kinks,miles davis, velvet underground, yardbirds, cream, aretha franklin, sam cooke, eddie cochran, joni mitchell, janis joplin and culminating with led zeppelin..the list is endless and captures the very best of virtually every musical genre....

Frankly with a few exceptions 80s music was the weakest decade by far..

[Octavius]

I don't know, but I reckon a young medieval bard clad in tights a la Robin Hood sitting on the branch of a tree playing his lyre and singing The Haymaker's Song, would give The Edge and Slash a run for their money.

I think personal taste spans many generations of music, so I don't have a particulalry favourite era. Although I am sure I enjoyed it at the time as I was out dancing in clubs and buying 80's music, when I hear some of it now it makes my ears weep.

[gary baldy]

I think the memory has way of making you forget the rubbish that cluttered up the charts in your own 'golden era' (whenever you consider that to be). You are obviously only going to remember the good stuff that you liked. Remember the biggest selling artists of 1974 were The Wombles. Just check out the charts from the 1960's and with the Beatles and the Stones there was plenty of Val Doonican and Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

[Octavius]

It is also a memory thing, contrary to what Boo & Glossopswift have said above, 1989 launched classics such as Ride on Time (Black Box), Lambada (Kaoma), and several fabulous hits by Jason Donovan, Too Many Hearts Get Broken, Sealed With a Kiss and Especially for You (with Kylie). And who can forget the very slightly naughty, mum gets shocked when you play it out loud.. French Kiss by Lil Louis..... - It was banned by the BBC because of its female �vocal� (heavy breathing) being too near the knuckle. ?

I'll get me coat.

[sfsorrow]

well im also a child of the 80s but i thought the music was awful,im a total 60s head i have to say,especially psychedelia,garage and freakbeat,whether its better than todays music is impossible to say,its all a matter of preference

[mushroom25]

it's not better, it's different.

there's always been stuff that sounds great, and there still is. There's also always been cheesy, tuneless, cacophanous, unimaginative, ****, I could go on..

Of course the listener will have a fondness for anything that is memory-laden, good or bad - but that doesn't detract from those talents that are at the forefront of music today.

You may notice I've not named any one artist or style. That's a matter of preference - yours may or may not be in fashion, that's probably how you, individually, will judge better, or not.

[maggie01]

I think the 60's music was far better. You still keep hearing a lot of 60's music played today. I can't quite see the 80's or even 90's music being played in years to come apart from the odd song here or there.

[Octavius]

maggie, alot of 80's and 90's music is still played on radio, and many songs are re-released by a different band (Eternal Flame & Stop) to name a couple of songs.

Saying that 60's music has lomgevity doesn't mean anything either, as if I tune in to Classic FM you wouldn't believe how old some of that music is!

[Sooper]

As previous good people have said its all about musical preferences and probably age too that have an impact on musical tastes but i think every decade has something to offer. I presonally love the Disco tunes of the seventies which for me will never be bettered .I love the early hip hop scene as it was so new and fresh and different and it wasnt played on Radio 1 so not everyone new about it and you had to go and find the tunes you liked which wasnt easy and still isnt now! Also House music and all its other sub genres it now has , i love it and think it it shows how inventive and clever a lot of the so called unknown artists/DJ's that make it are. But at the end of the day thats my choice i guess but what annoys me is people who say they dont like something but havent really ever heard any of it and just dismiss it outright . I think music of any nature is excellent and without it what a miserable place we would live in.

[surfer mike]

I of course take the point about preferences but i don't think anybody is saying that any decade didn't possess enough good music, all have, including the 80s, but imho the sheer depth and range of influences that came out of the 60s is hard to beat. but i guess it all is down to individual tastes.

[Mortartube]

I too am a child of the 80's and I like most types of music. I would say that it took more talent (with some exceptions), to be a 50's or 60's artist as sales depended much more on the music, rather than videos, awards ceremonies and huge concert lighting rigs with moving head lights and pyros. Most 50's and 60's banfs performed under static theatre style lighting and still managed to whip the crowd up into a frenzy. Also often lyrics meant much more in the past than they do now. Hip hop and rap often depends on meaningless rhymes rather than meaningful lyrics. So whilst I like nearly every type of music, i think the older stuff generally took more talent to produce.

[Sooper]

I still have to disagree with the comments that somehow the 50's and 60's produced more talent or more depth than the eighties! I think there was a huge range of new music that came out of the eighties that has conveniently been forgotton or disregarded by many and all people seem to remember is the cheesy SAW produced pop music that we all had to endure. There was so many differenet and new genres that emerged that were new and exciting just as much as the 50's and 60's were groundbreaking too. I will gladly name musical genres , bands etc that i think many may have forgotton about! I feel i have to defend the eighties as it was a very special musicall era in my book!