2000's "v" the 1970's - Music - Forums : Best Ever Albums

Johnnyo

Gender: Male
Age: 65
Location: London Town

In my old age I'm continually thinking that "today's music" is in no way as good as the 70's (the era when I started getting into music) but am I right?

To test my theory, below compares the two decades. These are my favourite albums from each year in each decade.

1970 - Stephen Stills - Stephen Stills
2000 - All That You can't Leave Behind - U2
Very close but 1970 (just!!!)

1971 - Led Zeppelin 4 - Led Zeppelin
2001 - I Might Be Wrong - Radiohead
IMBW is a great album but it was up again a true classic. 1971 is the winner

1972 - Argos - Wishbone Ash
2002 - Jerusalem - Steve Earle
That's a winer for 2002

1973 - Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
2003 - Static Transmission - Steve Wyn & The Miracle Three
ST would win against most albums but not DSOTM. A win for 1973

1974 - Crime Of The Century - Supertramp
2004 - Aha Shake Heartbreak - Kings Of Leon
1974's the winner here

1975 - Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
2005 - Deadwing - PorcupineTree
Wow!!!! I can't choose. 2 of my favourite albms ever. An hourable draw I think

1976 - Desire - Bob Dylan
2006 - Gypsum Strings - Oakley Hall
Again, really close but Desire wins

1977 - Let The Be Rock - AC / DC
2007 - The Kissway Trail - The Kissaway Trail
That's a winner for 2007

1978 - Darkness On The Edge Of Town - Bruce Springsteen
2008 - Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Again, so close but a winner for 1978

1979 - Live Rust - Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2009 - The Hazards Of Love - The Decemerists
1979 (just!!!)

Wow, that was way closer than I had anticipated. The 70's wins but not by the distance that I thought it would.

What do you think? What's your favourite decade & why?

meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

Jonny, I think it's impossible to compare the 2 decades based on 1 album per year. Part of the greatness of the 21st century comes with the volume of music that we can no access. I love the 70s. Many many of my favorite albums were released then, but I happen to feel that there's just been far more good music being released in the 2000s, because musicians have greater access to studios, and because the world has become far smaller. So musicians from all around the world are more likely to be hear than ever before.And that creates a far greater variety of music being released now than then.

I tend to the of the mid 70s to be a rather weak period. There were undoubtedly masterpieces released in 74-76, but the quantity of brilliant albums seemed to drop from that of the early 70s. Many would credit this to the success of cover bands at the time, and cheap carbon copies of the stadium acts.

samistake2ice
General Grievous Angel

Gender: Male
Age: 37
Location: Houston

Well said mecca, but i also think that this great diversity and volume of music in the 2000s waters down the entire medium. I feel like the greatest albums of the 70s will be remembered longer and with much higher regard than those of the 00s. Not necessarily because they are better, but because they were so much better than their contemporaries.
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davidhuret

Gender: Male
Location: Lille,France

I voted for the 1970s, but really I'd rather vote for the 1960s, my favorite decade (and not just for music) since Ancient Greece.

nutso42

This is tough since these are the two best represented decades on my chart, but I have to go with the 1970s. Between Pink Floyd's creative peak, the Clash, early Bruce Springsteen and Talking Heads, not to mention almost all of Led Zeppelin's output, it's hard to top.

meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

ryanbrun1 wrote:

Well said mecca, but i also think that this great diversity and volume of music in the 2000s waters down the entire medium. I feel like the greatest albums of the 70s will be remembered longer and with much higher regard than those of the 00s. Not necessarily because they are better, but because they were so much better than their contemporaries.

I definitely understand your point. The 70s had monolithic stadium bands who dominated the era. In the 21st century there's far more of a free for all. But I would credit this more to the huge changes in the music industry and way we consume music than the quality gaps between top acts and the rest.

We've become a throwaway society, searching for something new every day to feed our appetites. And this is because we have access to something new every day. Back then, you'd buy a record on vinyl and that's all you'd listen to. So you'd only have enough cash to buy a given number of albums. And you'd be less likely to take chances on something totally unfamiliar, because that's your hard-earned cash. So just about everyone was using their money towards records by the biggest bands.

I don't know if things or better or worse now, but I think the majority of people today have a far shorter attention span, which generally rewards music with little depth but loads of surface value.

SquishypuffDave

Gender: Male
Age: 33

Pretty strange poll, I don't really understand why these two decades are being singled out. Between the two, I'd easily pick 00's. So many more genres to choose from, cultural cross-pollination, more interesting sonic textures being explored, etc.

According to my overall chart, 70s albums comprise 8% while 00s albums comprise 40%. I'm going to try out that year comparison thing though:

1970: Linda Perhacs - Parallelograms
2000: The Avalanches - Since I Left You Exclamation

1971: Comus - First Utterance Exclamation

2001: Matmos - A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure

1972: Can - Ege Bamyasi Exclamation

2002: Boards Of Canada - Geogaddi

1973: Faust - Faust IV
2003: Broadcast - Haha Sound Exclamation

1974: Gong - You
2004: Madvillain - Madvillainy Exclamation

1975: Harmonium - Si On Avait Besoin D'Une Cinquième Saison
2005: Sufjan Stevens - Illinois Exclamation

1976: Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene
2006: Joanna Newsom - Ys Exclamation

1977: Television - Marquee Moon
2007: Radiohead - In Rainbows Exclamation

1978: Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians Exclamation

2008: Deerhoof - Offend Maggie

1979: Talking Heads - Fear Of Music
2009: Fever Ray - Fever Ray Exclamation

samistake2ice
General Grievous Angel

Gender: Male
Age: 37
Location: Houston

meccalecca wrote:

We've become a throwaway society, searching for something new every day to feed our appetites. And this is because we have access to something new every day.

I completely agree with this, and I think its a bad thing. I'm definitely guilty of getting so wrapped up in listening to new music, and trying to decipher what I believe to be the best albums of the year are, that I forget, or don't have time to listen to the music that I really like.

I don't know how much time I've spent this year, listening to music that is "just ok" because I want to see if it will grow on me. Some of it has (and i love that), but some just feels like I've wasted time
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Kiki wrote:

You're chart is sooooooooo american. It's like a diner in here.

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meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

ryanbrun1 wrote:

I completely agree with this, and I think its a bad thing. I'm definitely guilty of getting so wrapped up in listening to new music, and trying to decipher what I believe to be the best albums of the year are, that I forget, or don't have time to listen to the music that I really like.

I don't know how much time I've spent this year, listening to music that is "just ok" because I want to see if it will grow on me. Some of it has (and i love that), but some just feels like I've wasted time

Yeah. I don't really see it as black & white, good vs bad though, since I feel like the access has given me the opportunity to hear a much wider variety of great music and discover far more music outside my usual comfort zone. If everything was still dominated entirely by major labels, we'd have so little variety.

samistake2ice
General Grievous Angel

Gender: Male
Age: 37
Location: Houston

Again, I agree. I think the availability and variety of music is a great thing and forces artists to sort of "raise their game. And, because of that I think better music is being made today. However, when we look back in 30 years, I still think the "great" albums of the 70s will stand out, because they don't have the competition and the cannibalization that the 00s had. Probably an unfair advantage, but "in the land of the skunks the man with half a nose is king." Miss you Chris Farley.
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Kiki wrote:

You're chart is sooooooooo american. It's like a diner in here.

Check out my new review/pop-culture site MAD DISTRACTION