[zalmo]

Led Zeppelin 1
Who's Next .. the Who
12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonics... Spirit
Abbey Road...Fab Four
Jeff Beck Group....1st Album
Axis:Bold As Love...Jimi Hendrix Experience
for starters...
 

 

[TexasBuck]

Abbey Road, Who's Next and Zeppelin IV are my favorites of that era.  The first Doors album would be next in line.

 

[wuwhere]

Don't forget Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, ELP, CSN&Y, Santana, Allman Brothers, Neil Young, Steely Dan, Rush, Genesis, Moody Blues, Eagles, Yes, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, UFO, Queen, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, CCR, BOC, The Rolling Stones, Traffic, Chicago and many more.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I don't really like pitting eras/genres against each other. I got a lot of 60s/70s from my music geek cousin growing up, so I love all the stuff mentioned so far. But I also got into New Wave while growing up and moved into grunge. When grunge petered out, that's where popular music left me behind in the mid-90s. Guess I got too old. I picked up with alt.country around there and, for whatever reason, I "got" Bach, where he used to leave me cold. Indie pop also got some hooks into me, too.

Anyhow, I don't favor one decade over another. The 80s have a bit of sentimental impact, but I'm more focused on finding music I really enjoy, no matter when it was made.

 

[bigshot]

I've made a point of trying to trace and understand the past century of popular music, and there are definitely some generalizations that can be made. In the late 1920s, with the introduction of radio, popular music exploded, hitting a tremendous peak by the late 30s. With WWII and the recording ban, this tapered off. After the war, it picked up again and the mid fifties marked a high point in both diversity and quality of music. The Beatles established a high standard, but set a terrible example for others. The seventies marked a homogeneity of style which became so boring that punk rock rebelled by trying to destroy all music and replace it with just raw energy. The 80s was a era of austere minimalism, and the 90s tried to recapture the 70s. Today, commercialism is in charge. The two big peaks were from Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives through WWII and from post war to the Beatles. Everything since then has been a gradual decline.

Most people don't have a wide enough frame of reference to be able to see these long term trends. They only know a narrow sliver of the whole story and assume that is as good as it gets.

 

[pigmode]

Quote:

Led Zeppelin 1
Who's Next .. the Who
12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonics... Spirit
Abbey Road...Fab Four
Jeff Beck Group....1st Album
Axis:Bold As Love...Jimi Hendrix Experience
for starters...
 

 
Kind of stacked deck don't you think, choosing the chronological epicenter of classic rock? 

  

 

[pigmode]

Quote:

I've made a point of trying to trace and understand the past century of popular music, and there are definitely some generalizations that can be made. In the late 1920s, with the introduction of radio, popular music exploded, hitting a tremendous peak by the late 30s. With WWII and the recording ban, this tapered off. After the war, it picked up again and the mid fifties marked a high point in both diversity and quality of music. The Beatles established a high standard, but set a terrible example for others. The seventies marked a homogeneity of style which became so boring that punk rock rebelled by trying to destroy all music and replace it with just raw energy. The 80s was a era of austere minimalism, and the 90s tried to recapture the 70s. Today, commercialism is in charge. The two big peaks were from Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives through WWII and from post war to the Beatles. Everything since then has been a gradual decline.

Most people don't have a wide enough frame of reference to be able to see these long term trends. They only know a narrow sliver of the whole story and assume that is as good as it gets.

I see what you're saying but a wealth of good music came out of the 70's, 80s, and 90s. Including punk. 

 

[andyalfa]

Recently acquired on vinyl
 
Abraxas - Santana
Hotel California - The Eagles
Disraeli Gears - Cream
Solid Air - John Martyn
 
 
Vinyl I already had
 
America - America
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
461 Ocean Boulevard - Eric Clapton
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Pronounced - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Bob Marley - Exodus
 
 

 

[Happy Camper]

From 62-76 was my childhood 6-20. There is a lot of music from that era that still gets airplay. The cool part of the era though was that you had the best of the 40s-50s still making playlists. Today's music is so diverse that there has to be something for everyone. In those days, there wasn't a lot of material so you listened to other genre to fill the void. Then the Quarrymen started forming and the rest is a fun ride through music history.

 

[Spyro]

Most people are biased to the time where they grew up and discovered music....usually high school and college years.
 
I would say that pop music is at it's absolute worst RIGHT NOW because (as was mentioned above) it is driven completely on commercialism which is never good. 
 
I still prefer the 70's since FM radio was able to dig down into deeper tracks within a given album release.  Plus just the diversity in pop music from Chicago, to Rush to ELO to Pink Floyd to The Who to David Bowie, Queen, etc...  All totally different, all totally good.

 

[Sordel]

Not sure that o/p is making much of a claim. Wouldn't it be equally true to say that "best albums of the 80s/90s leave the 60s/70s in the dust MOSTLY"? Much as I admire several of the albums that he lists, I wouldn't trade Jeff Buckley's Grace, Radiohead's OK Computer for an average album from the earlier period.
 
Indeed, there are a great many albums from the later period that I would actually think of as better albums than some of the acknowledged "classics" from that earlier period. I think that Tears For Fears' Songs From The Big Chair, for example, is a much better album than Disraeli Gears or Layla, even if I'm in a minority in holding that view. I'd pick Springsteen's Nebraska over John Wesley Harding. Elvis Costello's Spike over Electric Ladyland. Remain in Light over The Velvet Underground and Nico. Peter Gabriel 4 over L.A. Woman. Thomas Dolby's The Flat Earth over Trout Mask Replica. There were plenty of great albums in the 80s/90s: certainly too many to list. If you simply want to say that none of them were as influential or "seminal", then maybe, but who knows where Thriller will be rated in fifty years' time? Or, at the other end of the popularity scale, who is to say that in 20 years some Head-Fier in twenty years won't be listing 69 Love Songs to prove that the 80s/90s have got the 00s/10s beat?
 
If you want to say that the very best albums of the earlier period are better than the very best of the later period, well, okay, that's a common opinion, but it isn't a slam-dunk. A lot of the reverence shown to very good albums of the 60s/70s has a lot to do with their iconic status rather than that they were much better, musically, than what followed. Hand on heart do I think that Pet Sounds is better than The Unauthorised Biography of Reinhold Messner? Nope, and it's not as though I don't like both albums. I adore Abbey Road but I'd probably pick David Sylvian's Secrets of the Beehive in preference.
 
I'd tend to think that the albums that I value most highly are spread through musical history and since I don't have to choose a decade, why bother?

 

[pigmode]

The way I see it, starting a thread with such a title and putting Led Zeppelin 1 at the top of your list, in the first post--basically you win. 

 

[Carlsan]

Quote:

Led Zeppelin 1
Who's Next .. the Who
12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonics... Spirit
Abbey Road...Fab Four
Jeff Beck Group....1st Album
Axis:Bold As Love...Jimi Hendrix Experience
for starters...
 

Granted most of these albums are good. But there are many excellent albums  in the '80, and they don't sound like classic rock.
 
Personally I don't like Led Zeppelin, prefer Tommy to Who's Next, not into Spirit, agree with the Abbey Road, don't think the Jeff Beck belongs in the top twenty of any list, and always thought Jimi was overrated as far as albums were concerned.
 
As for the 80's The Clash's London Calling started off the decade (released late '79 in Uk, '80 US)
Joy Division - Closer
Pixies - Surfer Rose
Smiths - 1st album
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Love and Rockets - 7th dream
never mind excellent albums from Dead Can Dance, Nick Cave, the Fall, Cocteau Twins, Replacements, Husker Du, Feelies, R.E.M. and countless others.
 
Every decade has it's stars, and who's to say if one is better than the other. All one can say is that they personally LIKE one decade over the other.
 
Oh yes, Gang of Four - Entertainment came out in '79 - one  of the greatest rock albums ever, imho.
 
 
Quote:

I'd tend to think that the albums that I value most highly are spread through musical history and since I don't have to choose a decade, why bother?

 I have to agree, love many classic Jazz albums from the 40's-60's.
Some of the classical music that I love is centuries old!

 

[Happy Camper]

In comparing eras, remember, those 60-70s groups were doing their thing with little "hands on" from the record labels. There was nothing before them to model and they figured it out as they went.

But I will concede that there are genuine "classics" in every era.

 

[Spyro]

Sordel...great post.  Pretty much nails it.