Music: the greatest generation.

[Bob Duncan]

I can listen to Flogging Molly, the Real McKenzies and the Dropkick Murphys endlessly. (even if it costs me another marriage )

I agree. Anyone who hasn't listened to Flogging Molly should check them out. There are some good videos of them out there like "Seven Deadly Sins". It's like drunk Irish slam-dancing. Frenetic.

[tandfman]

If it was Just the Beatles it would be a special decade.

The Beatles were indeed special. I thought they were geniuses at the time and I still do.

[TN1965]

By and large, we are all stuck in the music of our teens and 20s...

I love my '80s music, but I also love '60s, '70s, '90s and '00s music. I even have some CDs by artists whose prime was earlier. (I don't have any favorite artists who debuted in this decade... yet. I think that will eventually change.) I never stop discovering something interesting... both old and new.

And I have to agree with gh as well. Some of the "pop" music could eventually become timeless classic. Some CDs from '60s and '70s still have strong catalog sales, and they are not just bought by old people who used to listen to their music back in the days. Some old songs are also repeatedly covered by contemporary artists, and given "new life" every now and then. I bet that 50 years from now there will still be people who are listening to some of the "pop" songs from the 20th century either in original recordings or in some cover version.

[TN1965]

Either the 60's are special in the history of music or we will see every decade boast bands as good and memorable as these- Beatles, Stones, Cream, Pink Floyd, Beach Boys,Stevie Wonder, Hendrix, Janis Jopin, Procal Harem, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, James Brown, The Animals, The Temptations,The Doors, Otis Redding,Simon and Garfunkel, The Who ect ect.

If it was Just the Beatles it would be a special decade.

By definition, it is harder for later generations to be "ground breaking" because there are already more things done by previous generations. I think Mendelssohn once said something to the same effect regarding his generation compared to Mozart. I mean, how could Usher or Chris Brown possibly do anything that has not been already done by Michael Jackson?

And the Beatles might have been unique in the same way Mozart was unique. But that did not mean the classical music maxed out in 1790s, and everything composed in the 19th century was meaningless. The same goes for the Beatles and all the rock bands since 1970s.

[DrJay]

Either the 60's are special in the history of music or we will see every decade boast bands as good and memorable as these- Beatles, Stones, Cream, Pink Floyd, Beach Boys,Stevie Wonder, Hendrix, Janis Jopin, Procal Harem, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, James Brown, The Animals, The Temptations,The Doors, Otis Redding,Simon and Garfunkel, The Who ect ect.

If it was Just the Beatles it would be a special decade.

Refine that a little, shift the frame of reference a half-decade and look at 1965 to 1975. Whoa! What percent of truly relevant, ground-breaking, legendary, memorable, they'll-still-be-playing-it in 50 years rock/pop/R&B music was recorded then?

[gh]

most of the music crafted in '60, '61, '62 (Beach Boys notable exception) and most of '63, I would posit, is undistinguishable from the stuff of the second half of the '50s.

in other words, '60s = British Invasion (and what it spawned).

[cullman]

Refine that a little, shift the frame of reference a half-decade and look at 1965 to 1975. Whoa! What percent of truly relevant, ground-breaking, legendary, memorable, they'll-still-be-playing-it in 50 years rock/pop/R&B music was recorded then?

...and then Disco took over...ouch!

[DrJay]

Refine that a little, shift the frame of reference a half-decade and look at 1965 to 1975. Whoa! What percent of truly relevant, ground-breaking, legendary, memorable, they'll-still-be-playing-it in 50 years rock/pop/R&B music was recorded then?

...and then Disco took over...ouch!

And then punk, which at least had some balls.

[dukehjsteve]

All music except between 1955 and 1965 is crap.

[bambam]

All music except between 1955 and 1965 is crap.

Steve - this sentence can be re-written by probably everybody as:

All music except between [when I was between 14 and 24 years old] is crap.

[gh]

Refine that a little, shift the frame of reference a half-decade and look at 1965 to 1975. Whoa! What percent of truly relevant, ground-breaking, legendary, memorable, they'll-still-be-playing-it in 50 years rock/pop/R&B music was recorded then?

...and then Disco took over...ouch!

And then punk, which at least had some balls.

and sex pistols too

[dukehjsteve]

All music except between 1955 and 1965 is crap.

Steve - this sentence can be re-written by probably everybody as:

All music except between [when I was between 14 and 24 years old] is crap.

Check out the big brain on bambam !!!

[gh]

from an xmas day post by me earlier in this thread

<<...Then there's "popular" music and that's tougher/impossible to grow into. And I think you tend to stay stuck with the music that was popular when you were most impressionable. So there's about a 20-year stretch (5-25) that will remain in your wheelhouse forever.>>