Best and Worst Eras for Music

[Mike Channin]

Old chestnut, but let's just see what you all think...

Is there anything better than what you listened to in your teens, or was that the pinnacle of music?

[Mike Channin]

And I mean decades, folks. Not looking for comments like 'well, the 5th to the 10th century were a bit of a dark age for European Pop'...

[Mike Channin]

Although if you want to debate Mozart vs. Beethoven, feel free.

[Juergie]

I wouldn't limit this formative phase to just the teenage years. For me, the first half of my twenties also counts. That's why for me it's mainly the 80s and, to a lesser extent, the early 90s.

[webberg]

Music is as much about time and place as it is the merits of any particular band or genre.

Most of us had our parents taste in music imposed upon us until such time as we could legitimately escape to our own room and whatever device was available at the time. A Dancette record player was my first before being overtaken by the technology that was a recordable cassette, timing the on/off recording function whilst listening to the Top 40 countdown on a Sunday!

I do however recall my grandmother's (RIP) music selections. She was a Glen Miller fan. She also had a sister who lived in Ghana and would come back from visits with things like African Safari which even today make me smile.

My teenage years coincided with glam rock and reggae/ska. Pressure was on to choose a side! I found good things (and terrible things) in both. I sort of graduated by my early 20's into heavy metal and attended a few festivals memorable for their anarchy as much as for the music. By my mid/late 20's (early/mid 80's) I had moved on to classical music which (in my view) is not that far from heavy metal except perhaps in instruments. Stayed there for a considerable time.

The 90's and noughties were largely taken up with raising kids and music was a luxury. We did go to see the Rolling Stones at Wembley (Voodoo Lounge tour) which I think was 94 or 95? Great gig but I don't have one playlist now with a Stones track.

After that, my music tastes wIere largely driven by my children's playlists. I remember being introduced to Green Day, Yang Lang, Offspring, My Chemical Romance, Busted, Red Hot Chillis, etc.

Perhaps only in the last 8 to 10 years that I've reclaimed "my" music rather than go with the family flow. I'm blessed in that my wife is a keen music lover and we go to a lot of gigs. Highlights would include the Cheltenham Jazz Festival (twice), Muse, Biffy Clyro, various bangra bands, Michael Buble, Green Day, Oasis (in the 90's), Caravan Palace, Kasabian, Sigala, Grand Ole Opry, etc.

For now, I'm happy with what is called "Stomp and Holler" which back in the 70's I would have labelled "folk rock".

This includes Mumford and Sons, The Lumineers, Noah Khan, Of Monsters and Men (seeing them in February), Langhorne Slim, etc. My wife on the other hand is moving into modern country music and artists like Luke Combs, Dirks Bentley, Lainey Wilson (we went to the London venue of C2C last year).

Sticking to one genre or one decade or period, is not - for me -what music is about. I want something that reflect who and where I am today.