This post addresses something I’ve wondered about. What is the favorite music decades among my fellow authors? Is it different depending on your age?
I have satellite radio in my car, which means I can listen to 40’s, 50’s, 60,’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. There are numerous stations with more current music, but we’re not going to count that in this post. I’ve been channel surfing, and I’ve come to the conclusion that my LEAST favorite decade is the 50’s. I really, really don’t like all that doo wap stuff with it’s nonsensical shang a langs, and sha na nas that my parents grew up with. I know a lot of you seem to like the 80’s era. Not really my favorite either, but some of it isn’t bad. I prefer the hair band music of the 80’s over some of the other stuff. Unfortunately, the radio station plays mostly the other stuff. Most of the time I find myself going between the 60’s and the 70’s. I love a lot of the 60’s music, especially the Beatles. That is my absolute favorite band. And when a song I dislike comes up, I flip to the 70’s. I don’t really like the disco part of the 70’s, but then there’s the Three Dog Night, Bread, Aerosmith, Kiss, The Bee Gees (pre-disco), Nilsson, Bill Withers, Eagles, Bad Company, Badfinger, Alice Cooper, and the members of the Beatles going solo. Whew, that’s quite a list and doesn’t come close to everyone I like. Just a sampling of what I could think of. I guess one of the reasons I’m fond of the 70’s is because my high school years were the mid-seventies. Yep, I finally gave away my age. (Not that I feel that old, LOL.)
Btw, I’ve been listening to a little of the 40’s music (waaaaay before I was born) and I kind of like it.
What about the rest of you? In what decade did you attend high school? What is your favorite decade of music? Do you still feel as young at heart as I do, especially when you hear that special music?
lauralynnelliott.com 
Geez! This a tough question. I, too, love the music of the 70’s. Three Dog Night (one of my favorites), Heart (all time favorite!), Kansas, Simon & Garfunkle, Styx, Aerosmith…the list could go on and on…Oh! How about Tommy James and the Shondells – more of a late ’60’s band, but still around in the seventies.
The 80’s fell flat for me for the most part. Rush and a few other bands being the exceptions.
Then, something wonderful happened in the 90’s, and I fell in love with new music once again. Sublime, Tool, Rage Against The Machine, System of a Down, Sunvolt, Rush (…they came back to their roots), Clapton made some great music in this decade……
I continue to sample new music – that’s what happens when you have teenagers in the house – plus, I enjoy many different kinds of music. The only music I can say I flat out don’t like is rap. It gives me a headache…and there’s little music to speak of. I know, I know…it’s popular. Great…it’s just not for me.
I also enjoy quite a lot of foreign music. A French group called Les Orientales has a song, ‘Alger-Alger’, which captured my heart a few years ago. German artist Peter Fox captured my interest (even though he has some songs which are rap). Sudanese artist Rasha’s first albulm had a lovely song ‘Azara Alhai’ that sounds so romantic…’My love, does he recall the past we shared? The nights of yesterday? Or has he forgotten?’ Of course, the lyrics are in Arabic…but I find that language exceptionally beautiful to the ear.
Oh, I certainly don’t want to leave off Tommy James. I have their greatest hits CD. 🙂
I agree with you about rap. It seems like they just talk because they can’t sing. LOL. An exception to that for me is Linkin Park. They combine rap and singing and it works. The lead singer, Chester, has an awesome voice, and Mike is good with the rapping in the background. They can make it come together.
My musical taste is VERY eclectic, just like my reading taste. But I do NOT like most country music.
I was actually just thinking about this topic today as I ran errands. I claim to be a child of the ’80s, having literally been a child in the ’80s, and I love ’80s music…but I was in high school in the ’90s and to me – there is nothing quite like ’90s alternative rock. I pay XM monthly just so I can listen to non-stop ’90s alternative – Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Radiohead, etc….
And then I wonder, do high schoolers today consider this classic rock? Yikes!!
Hi Tiffany. I like the 90’s, too. I’m not exactly sure what high schoolers even listen to right now. My husband says rock music is dead. I was lucky that my boys and I liked the same kind of music. They liked my Beatles and I liked their Linkin Park and Red Hot Chili Peppers. LOL.
I was listen to Lite rock (yeah, I don’t kow why either considering but…) at work and was reintroduced to a lot of great songs I had not heard in a long time. When I first startred reading your blog I was going right along with all fo the heavier rock. I remember seeing Alice in concert (still the best concert EVER!) and Rush. Rainbow, Kiss, Aerosmith. especially Grand Funk. There are several referances to music in some of my books. Lately I have been getting more and more into Heavy Metal, Iron Maiden, Metalica, Slipknot; the things that would make a parent squirm now. Not like the didn’t when I brought home my first Deep Purple 8-track back in 1971! So basicly there is a lot of music I like but the ’70’s has to be one of the best decades yet.
Peace.
Oh, yeah, I forgot about Deep Purple! I also like Metallica and SOME of Slipknot. I love Slipknot’s Vermillion Part 2.
Oh, I just went to YouTube and watched the video for Vermillion Part 2. I think I’ll just stick to listening to the song. The video is very disturbing…I had to turn it off.
Wow. this is actually a difficult question for me. I love music so much! I am a huge Metal Head, love the 70’s rock and disco, oldies & beach boys, Bee Gees (thanks Mom!) .. write to Chopin and Beethoven..
But my favorite decade of all time is the 80’s.. The whacky pop/rock (The Cars, Talking Heads) Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, U2. All those one hit wonders and then bands like Simple Minds and Depeche Mode.
But the HAIR BANDS OWN ME!!! 😀 Dokken, Skid Row, Motley Crue, Ratt.. I could go on forever.. that is what I grew up on.
Thank you for writing this post.. time to go get my Aqua Net out!!
😉
Poison, Def Leppard, Cinderella, White Snake, Queensryche….
I didn’t really like the 80’s pop rock so much. And I think I’m the only person on the planet that doesn’t like U2.
Wow, Aqua Net. LOL
Ahhhhh…music. I can talk about that 🙂
My default answer without thinking about it is the 80’s. I was a college and small town radio DJ then and really into hard rock and metal. ACDC and Guns & Roses wind up in my writing a lot. (My last gig at a pop music radio station really burnt me out on the bubblegum music of that decade. Sorry, Madonna, Janet Jackson, and Tone Loc! I also worked at a ‘Contemporary Adult’ music staion and I get a serious gag reflex every time I hear Barry Manilow or Whitney Houston.) I guess I did get into the early 90’s grunge a bit, and I still love Tool, Alice in Chains, and Stabbing Westward. Lately, I’m finding myself fonder of the heavier and southern rock of the 70’s and early 80’s like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bad Company, and Aerosmith. Five Finger Death Punch is probably the newest band on the 00’s list. (Needless to say…my parents were never very fond of my music choices! One of the Scorpions posters in my teenage room had them considering if I needed therapy. LOL!)
I’m going to agree with most of what you’re saying. Except Lynyrd Skynyrd. I really don’t like southern rock even though my husband likes it a lot. I love Bad Company and Aerosmith. My husband just recently obtained (bought for a high price) a gold record of Holy Water by Bad Company (although that was the post-Paul Rodgers era). It’s framed and has a gold album, gold cd, and gold cassette. 🙂
I was also a teen in the 70’s and while I have spent a lot of time in bands performing and emulating music from the 80’s and 90’s, I recently find myself looking for all the albums I had in the 70’s. There seemed to be much more honesty in the music back then. Aerosmith didn’t write Dream On because they were looking for the next big hit, they wrote it because they felt it. And bands weren’t TRYing to be different, they were just being themselves. There was also so much more freedom, Led Zeppelin could do heavy riffage songs like Whole Lotta Love, then a folk song like “Over the Hills…” There was a little bit of that same honest feel in the 90’s alt. & grunge music but it seemed to fade fast and tons of bands jumped on the bandwagon, diluting the sound.
Zep, Aerosmith, ZZTop, Sweet, Rush, Boston, Deep Purple, Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Kiss, Cooper, BTO, Skynyrd, Ramones, early Preist, 1st VH album, Rainbow, Kiss, the Cars, early Scorpions, Bad Co., Heart, QUEEN,… All completely different, all writing songs for their own expression, not the money machine!
and AC/DC, too!
Oh yeah! Thanks for naming even more of the bands I love. I had forgotten about Sweet. Those are all great bands you mentioned. And I understand what you mean about the honesty.
Oh, I can’t forget about Johnny Winter. I saw him in concert several years ago. It was awesome!
Oh yeah, saw Johnny Winter live 2x, his “And Live” album rocks. Edgar Winter w/Rick Derringer album”they only come out at night’ (Free Ride, Frankenstein) was a classic. On the Blues Rock side we got Pat Traverse and Frank Marino/Mahogany Rush. But the 80’s gave us Stevie Ray, so can’t knock the 80’s!
I loved Sweet, “Ballroom Blitz”, everybody needs a peice of the”Action”, “Set Me Free”, “Into the Night”, “The Healer” … great music. Recently bought ‘Desolation Blvd.” and “Give us a Wink” on CD.