Kneaded in the late 50's and early 60's, the flame of contemporary music was set on fire in the late 60's and totally exploded in the whole 70's to reach its absolute peak in the 1980's before hard times and decline of the 90's.
No decade supplied to the world culture so many great artists and classic albums.
These were the years of peak in the creative careers of such a giants as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, Metallica, AC/DC, Queen, Def Leppard, Scorpions, Accept, Twisted Sister, Dio, ZZ Top, Dire Straits...
All these were beautifully supported by the so many colorful bands as Mötley Crüe, Guns n' Roses, Europe, The Cult, Cinderella, Bon Jovi, Foreigner and many more.
Even the legends Deep Purple, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Leonard Cohen restarted their careers producing great albums in this fruitful atmosphere.
One of the most talented performers within blues/soul/rock genres also released their best works, just to mention Tina Turner, Joe Cocker and Eric Clapton.
NeoProg reached its peak thanks to the outstanding Marillion.
The most famous kings and queens of pop and close genres totally exploded in the 80's - Michael Jackson, Madonna, Phil Collins, Eurythmics, Prince etc.
Guitar masters were rocked high too - Joe Satriani, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai.
I think, no other period in the contemporary music is even close to this feast.
Thanks to the strong movement of all this creativity, the early 90's were saved for the beautiful music.