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I love this thread. We all have our 'best' and we have great arguments to back them. It's really hard to have any kind of objectivity because the music we love is so deeply rooted in who we are at any given time. It does seem people show the most affection for the music they listened to during their childhood or teens. It was the soundtrack of their formative years, so it's understandable. It's a generational thing.
I think there were certainly periods in modern music in which there were some significant breakthroughs. In its place in culture and commerce, its production values, the tastes of the average listener, the minds of producers and executives, and certainly the talent.
Personally, I'm most fond of the music recorded and produced from the late 60s to mid 70s. That's entirely based on my own experience of growing up when I did and having the tastes that I've cultivated. But if I remove myself from personal feelings of nostalgia and examine why this era is so attractive to some people I can think of a few factors that put things into context.
-The baby boomers. More young people, more possibilities for new thinking and fresh talent. It's that simple.
-The business of Rock. From its inception, well into the 60s, rock and roll promotion was largely a low-investment/quick-buck scam. Performers were not seen or treated as artists, but as circus acts. Paid little and often cheated out of the rights to their own music.
After record executives started realizing that rock n roll wasn't some 'flash-in-the-pan teen craze', and actually began investing in it, we started hearing some very interesting music (FZ speaks of this period in his critique of the music business, and conversely how dangerous 'modern, young, hip' record executives can be).
-The evolving of the music itself. Up to a certain point, recorded popular music stayed fairly genre-specific with little exception. C&W, Standards, Jazz, Classical, etc. Rock and roll had already begun to hybridize country, blues and jazz into something new, but there wasn't much deviation from that basic formula until artists began stretching it in new directions and incorporating other influences. Like it or not, rock music became cultivated into its own art form.
-Production Values. Artists were beginning to experiment with sounds and arrangements, putting less into playing live and creating more in the studio environment. Recording technology was already advancing rapidly, but engineers were working hard to keep up with the artists and capture it with the the latest tools at their disposal.
-Drugs. Hello. Albeit always a component with music, but the use and attitude of all those rebellious baby boomers who experimented and accepted drugs like pot, acid, heroin and cocaine was a HUGE influence on how music evolved during the 60s.
..There were some amazing things going on during the 60s-mid 70s. I think during the later 70s the music industry kind of imploded on itself, from excess and simple bad taste. Seriously, it became too industrialized. Of course there have been new waves of talent and some wonderful music over the last few decades. There will always be mavericks and brilliant new talent that puts the listening public on its collective ear, but more and more of what's marketed to us is increasingly derivative and pop culture is consuming itself at an alarming rate these days.
What is most exciting about what's going on right now musically?
-Stylistically, all bets are off and anything goes. We're living in a global culture who's popular music draws from an increasingly wider number of other cultures, genres, and even eras.
Are you an artist who's into post industrial folk-thrash? ..You have an audience.
Are you a retro 60s chanteuse with a horn section? ..You have an audience.
The average music listener/record consumer is more sophisticated than they used to be. There is simply more in the well from which to draw.
-The tools to compose, create, record, produce and distribute recorded music have never been cheaper or more accessible. The resources are there. All that's required now is the creativity, vision and talent.
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