Decades

[starman]

No matter how old you are, chances are that you favor a certain decade that you have lived through. Maybe it's the one we are in now. Being very new here, and being just as interested in the individual members of this forum as I am the music information put forth, I figured it would be cool to find out what decade is each member's favorite decade.
Not just with respect to music either, but more so in general concerning the decade that you find favor with.

For me, it's hands down the 70s. I was born in 1962 and people more or less come alive as individuals right around that 9-12 year old period of time. That's when we start "seeing" things through our own individual filtered perception. The 70s was a KILLER place to wake up within let me tell you.

Everything was so vivid. The style of the 70s was all about emphasizing and exaggerating either end of the color spectrum. The dark was REALLY dark and the colors would swallow you whole and leave you feeling intoxicated. At the same time there was this incredibly strong push toward mama earth, father sun and daughter moon. A new buzz word called "ecology" became the outdoor cry of the day along with amazingly cool plastic out door toys made by companies like Wham-O that made the Frisbee. There wasn't all this legal BS like there is now either. There wasn't some sue happy cheap suite waiting in a pool of their own saliva behind every product on the market like there is these days. If you got hurt using a toy in a way it wasn't intended to be used, it was clearly understood precisely why. In a word, it's because you were a moron. Plain and simple. Case closed.

Then there was the music. Man was there ever. There was so much going on with respect to individual style and musical proficiency in the 70s. Musicians within Rock had attained a level of respect and money to do whatever their heart compelled them to. Everything about music was a 100 fold better than it would become the following decade IMO. Holy devolution! The radio was actually run by human beings back then. Those same human beings would play EVERYTHING imaginable. The corporate stranglehold on radio and TV broadcast had not yet choked the life out of the equal opportunity of artistic expression. Back then there wasn't this narrow minded horse poop that dictated that you had to play Metal, Soft Rock, "Oldies", Jazz, Black, White, or whatever. You heard it ALL and the later you listened to the FM radio at night, the cooler and more so strange it got. Then there was the concerts. OMG! 10.00 got you a whole night's (and possible several days) of continuous, KILLER Rock n Roll. It was a very peaceful time too. The race riots had died down, the Vietnam war was over, people were smoking great cheap weed and digging just being alive. People were far more interested in the truly meaningful things in life like Shag carpet, Bell Bottoms, Black Light Posters, Lava Lamps, multi colored Platform shoes (Stacks, remember those!) & custom vans with electric bongs and big fuzzy dingle balls.
Oh how I miss you 70s. Please come back!!:

Then there were the Monster Movies, the Thing Maker Creepy Crawler Troll Machines, Plastic Models of every sort & the holy grail of underground boyhood fun...Swedish Erotica!...OMG, I'm getting emotional. I gotta go...

[Lord Grendel]

I agree the 70's was a great decade and I miss it too.

[eberg15101]

I guess I missed out umm... well, yeah, I'd have to pick 70s as my favorite decade even though I was not around

actually 74 - 84 just because I think thats when the hearts of most americans got a bit lighter, after the late 60s I don't think that would have been too fun being around for hearing about Manson and Vietnam then later Nixon... musta been an ugly scene
but the music, the people and times(from the stories I hear), even the cars, the attitudes towards certain things, everything not being the biggest deal and requiring maximum jail time for every little tiny crime, none of this bullying crap--well these psycho ass guidance counslers on these halrious commericals, the prase "walk it off" applyed to more than football, and it seemed to be about as close to perfect as it can be....at least for me, hmm... maybe I'll be around when time machines are invented though

[Hepcat]

The sixties, easily! For both the music and the pop culture.

[Magic]

The decade that holds the most memories for me musically and with life in general was the 70's. I was in my teenage years and experimented with life as well as music. Disco was so fun! I also got into bands like Rush, Robin Trower, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, The Cars, Journey, Aerosmith, Skynyrd, and Funk along with R & B.

BUT......my most enjoyable years were the 90's. I was so active then, and not to mention more mature. I had my own business, had my daughter, travelled, built my house, and spared no expense in life. The music was pretty good too.......Alice in Chains, REM, Pearl Jam, U2, Metallica, Clapton, and most of the post grunge bands!

[Truckin]

I can't decide on one decade only as my favorite years were 1966-1974.

[eccentric man]

it's the 90s for me.

then again it was the peak of my adolescence. the most free time i've ever enjoyed. learning to play an instrument, discovering all sorts of new bands new and old. mass ordering new stuff from BMG and Columbia house, raiding the parents record collection for the classics.

the numbers associated with the decade itself are rather irrelevant though. it's what i was able to accomplish during that decade that makes it substantial.

[Kino]

I wish I was alive in the 70's

[eccentric man]

Originally Posted by Kino I wish I was alive in the 70's

so you could enjoy another economic recession? the downturn in rock music and the upswing of disco? all without having the convenience of being able to download anything using the net?

consider the opening post. it's not the 70s they miss, it's their youth.

[eberg15101]

Originally Posted by eccentric man so you could enjoy another economic recession? the downturn in rock music and the upswing of disco? all without having the convenience of being able to download anything using the net? consider the opening post. it's not the 70s they miss, it's their youth.

just like you keep saying the decade wasn't all good, well.... it wasn't all bad either, honestly, I never want to come back to my youth because it sucks ass right now, and well, it has the eintire time, no matter how much my future might suck I'll never feel nostalgic about right now, obviously there is some allright stuff going on in my life, but not really.... but from the stories, music, readings, movies, pop culture, undergroung pop culture, people, and not just stories but just discussing the differences in laws, rules, people, general consensuses, and that kind of stuff it is a much better time to live, even your decade or years of choice as the nineties would have been allright, from what I even remember from being very young, things really didn't start to take a very bad turn till around 2000 to 2002, not even just terrorists and shit but general attitudes towards things and the people, and the way people interact with eachother, even some of the technology took an ugly turn, its not just youth for everyone... seeing as everyone is different.....

EDIT: also, in regard to your comment about being able to download anything over the net.. honestly, I've found music so much more sentimental and more fun to find by either going to a friends house and saying, wow, I've never heard this before who is it? this is cool... or going to the record store and finding an album you've never heard of and saying is this any good? what does it sound like, then you find out you really really like it, I'd much rather find music like that than sit there on limewire or youtube

[starman]

Originally Posted by eccentric man so you could enjoy another economic recession? the downturn in rock music and the upswing of disco? all without having the convenience of being able to download anything using the net? consider the opening post. it's not the 70s they miss, it's their youth.

Equals Fail.


Nope, not at all my man. It has NOTHING to do with my youth. At 47 years old, I am right now today this very minute, more excited, more involved in music as a musician, more alive sexually, more alive artistically and happier in general than I have EVER been.

The 70s completely RULED with respect to full blown artistic creativity. I am a HUGE (note that I wear XXL T-Shirts... ) heavy music fan. Whereas the 90s brought us many wonderful chapters of music, most save the awesome electronic/industrial direction of heavy music, were just rehashes of the best that the 70s had to offer.

Apart from music, no other decade within contemporary time has yielded more free expression within private commercial marketing. No other decade has EVER encouraged the hands on creativity that the 70s did. I'm sorry kiddo, they just have not.

I have no desire at this time in my life to be 14 or whatever younger age. Me thinks you may have missed the real magic described within my OP. It's a culture thing friend, not a disguised hopeful return to my youth.

[Hepcat]

Eccentric Man:

so you could enjoy another economic recession?

On that account we haven't actually been doing that well this decade either.

...all without having the convenience of being able to download anything using the net?

Admittedly that's been a boon to the deadbeats who want something for nothing but downloading has been a bane to the music industry.

[Lord Grendel]

Originally Posted by Hepcat Admittedly that's been a boon to the deadbeats who want something for nothing but downlading has been a bane to the music industry.

While there is no doubt downloading has affected the music industry, the actual Greed of the big media conglomerates is also to blame for the state of malaise in the business.

Fact they pay their artists less than 15% of the revenue generated by the music sales, which in today's world is insane and must change to at least 50-50 to be acceptable.

Fact two, they retain ownership in perpetuity of all the music recorded on their labels, which is scandalous, reminds me of the publishing houses of the old composers whose families rarely saw any revenue from their masterworks, and yet the publishing companies have made untold profits on some of their works for centuries.

The music industry Must change Hep, simple as that, they can no longer act like Gangsters and bully the artists forcing them to accept terms that are lopsided to the extent they are now.

[eberg15101]

I don't have any problem with downloading illegally, its rediculous that they want over ten dollars for an 8 dollar cd, and recently i've noticed records going up from some of the online distributors

[starman]

With respect to downloading: The ONLY thing I have against downloading in a black and white sense is that it means that an artist has zero say in whether their material is downloadable or not. Some artists/groups (David Bowie, Todd Rundgren, Primus, Fish & Wilco just to name a few) fully support downloading music. The problem is that most do not. For me as a music LOVER, ultimately that "love" has to logically be placed with those most responsible for it. IE. People. I believe in respecting the artist. To me, no music is great enough to merit theft if that's what the inventor/originator of that music believes it is with respect to illegally downloading their music.

Secondly: The price of a CD is VERY fair with respect to inflation and the rising cost of living. That's REALITY. I hate to be so dryly factual about the whole thing, but that's just the truth. In 1977 an LP cost an average of 5-7 dollars each. Go look up how much the cost of most anything has gone up sense that time frame. You won't find practically anything that is not roughly 4 to 5 times as expensive. I am sure as hell not defending that escalation, nor am I pretending that the cost of living is somehow proportionate to the average income's growth factors. I'm just stating for a fact that to pay 15-25 for a CD is very fair as compared to the history of commercial music pedaling. Everyone knows perfectly well why they download illegally. It's for one reason. It's because it's FREE.

Third:This is most likely the biggest problem or observation that I have concerning the down loading of music by real music enthusiasts. I state "enthusiast" because there is a HUGE difference between a passing fancy of music and a REAL "enthusiast". We on this forum and others like it are "enthusiasts". Another word that describes this level of devotion to music is "collector" and some wacko's cases like mine, total FREAK.

There is a real chance that downloading music will eventually devalue it as a collectible, and worse, serve to dilute the human element of enthusiasm for it. I mean, how can anyone state that because they have a drive full of MP3s that they are a REAL collector. What the hell effort is involved in sitting there like a coach potato and pushing a button to get your rare finds? That's an extremely lame approach to collecting anything. Unless you have the "real deal", what do you REALLY have? Kind of tough for me or anyone else to honestly get fired up about ones and zeros. For instance: There was just a thread started about showing off your collection. I can just see someone taking a digital snap shot of their 79.90 external drive. "There it is folks, WHAT A COLLECTION!"

I don't honestly think downloading music is the absolute "doom" of musical history and archival preservation. I see it more or less like the McDonald's effect. It's fast food music and we all know how nutritious that crap is. If it becomes a staple in anyone's diet, they get sick, obese and possibly even die as many have from trying to live off that tasty slop.

The bottom line (for me) is that downloading music, unless it's OK with the original artist, isn't exactly cool. I know that some people make the argument that it allows them to "try out" the music so that they can determine if they want to really purchase it or not, but any music that's commercially available can be easily sampled at very least in part via online vendors that sell the product, than looked for within an illegal online torrent.

I say keep the quality and value registering at it's best by purchasing REAL collectible music in it's original intended format. This being as opposed to pretending that you have a collection of music when all you really have is a hundred dollar hard drive filled with ones and zeroes. In my opinion, I feel deserves much better than that, but that may just be my wacky nature at work.