1990s music vs. this decade

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

what DO you call this decade?  the "aughts?"  

anyhoo, i've realized that the pop culture machine is still in full on 80's mode, with this decade emulating the 80s in a bad, BAD way...so I'm wondering how y'all feel about the 90's in terms of music.  good, bad, indifferent?  and was it "better" to you than this decade?

[EC]

well, for me there is great music and crap music in any decade.  i have no idea what's happening in the severely ridiculous realm of popular music (charts and stuff), but there is a lot of damn fine music being made today.  but there was a lot of good music in the 90s, too - there was a lot of groundbreaking stuff.  there's so much stuff out there now, i would find it hard to generalize "music".  does that make sense?

but the music that i listen to, i think is wonderful.  it seems like there's a trend to do things your own way and break out of the silly conventions that exist.

i think that's awesome.  but i think maybe that always exists.

i'm not good at answering this question.  ;)

duh, music is nice.

[primushead]

duh, music is nice.

Yup...that about covers it.   ;)

I dunno...from my perspective, there are already so many classic albums from the '90's (Ok computer, In the aeroplane..., loveless, nevermind, etc.), so naturally I consider 90's music to be better than this decade.  There are plenty of good bands making plenty of good music right now, but I don't think I'll realize the significance of it until, say, a decade from now....if that makes sense.

Um...music is nice?

[tomEisenbraun]

Okay, so Spin Doctors vs. Good Charlotte.

I rest my case.

Seriously, 4 Non Blondes, the aforementioned Spin Doctors, Will Smith when he was young (and better) rap when it was fun and not about bitches and ho's, rap when it was angry and somewhat more justifiably so. and hell, even if it wasn't, it was more legit than the angry rap that comes out now. Public Enemy/Rage Against the Machine vs. Kanye? C'mon. Kanye may be a great musician, but those guys had passion.

And I'm listening to Metallica's ReLoad right now. Anybody ever pay attention to the song "Carpe Diem Baby"? Holy shit. That song has power.

I don't know where I'm going, but I'm dissatisfied with the state of affairs in pop media right now.

At least the production is better than the nineties, I'll give it that.

However, I can tell a Spin Doctors song just from hearing their snare drum. I did it yesterday. I couldn't even remember hearing the song before, but the snare completely gave it away. And I grew up with 4 Non Blondes, so I don't know, maybe I'm biased cuz I was listening to a lot of that stuff as a kid, or MTV's just out-done itself and gotten what it really wanted, which sucks for the rest of us.

[ali]

i've heard it called the "naughties" - which sounds a bit dumb, but better than the "tens" or "teens" which is up next!

i don't know that i'd call the 90's "better" than the 00's, but i'd have to say it was probably the most influential decade of my life in terms of music - the decade 12 - 22 - the music that i discovered in that time i think has kind of made me the person i am...

U2, radiohead, beck, tricky, massive attack, gomez, manics, jeff buckley, mercury rev, powderfinger, primal scream, spiderbait, sfa, blur, oasis, soundgarden, supergrass, pulp, the verve, you am i, just to name a few... just looking at the list, i can probably say the 90's were my "british period", where as the 00's are kind of looking like my "american period"....  ;D

[Clarkwork]

I think the 90's had great music that was easy to find.  You could actually turn on MTV and see great rock videos!!  

Today's music is equally good, but it is harder to find.  If I hadn't been listening to my local NPR station a few years ago I would have never stumbled onto My Morning Jacket.  I wish there was another 24 hour all music video channel and wish there wasn't just one or two record labels that control what we get to hear on the radio.  

[MMJ_fanatic]

what DO you call this decade?  the "aughts?"  

anyhoo, i've realized that the pop culture machine is still in full on 80's mode, with this decade emulating the 80s in a bad, BAD way...so I'm wondering how y'all feel about the 90's in terms of music.  good, bad, indifferent?  and was it "better" to you than this decade?

grunge was definitely a good time for me back in the 90s.  I still vividly remember Lollapalooza '92 at Great Woods with:  
Main Stage: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ministry, Ice Cube, Soundgarden, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Pearl Jam, Lush, Temple of the Dog

Side Stage: Jim Rose Circus, Sharkbait, Archie Bell, Porno for Pyros, Basehead, Cypress Hill, House of Pain, Sweaty Nipples, Arson Garden, Seaweed, Seam, Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., The Look People, Stone Temple Pilots, Vulgar Boatmen, Truly, Skrew, Tribe, The Authority, Samba Hell, Rage Against the Machine, Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder

This one tore up Great woods and got the festival banned from Mansfield MA for the next decade or so...the best festival I've been to

[SiOuxTribe]

In terms of modern radio/top 40, the 90's owned.  Today music I cant think of one good band in the top 40, to the best of my knowledge.  The 90's appealed to a more 20's crowd, while the 00's tend to appeal to the pre-pubescent teenagers.

[marktwain]

I don't know.  I remember quite a bit of shit on the radio in the 90s.  Yeah, there was Nirvana, etc., but then there were a lot of cheesy imitators.  And then there was Boyz 2 Men, Color Me Badd, , etc.  That shit pretty much ruled the airways.  At least where I was living.

[primushead]

"I'll make love to youuuuu, when you want me to.  And I will not let GO, TILL YA TELL ME TOOOOOOOOOOOO AH OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Yeah, Boyz 2 Men...the middle school dance soundtrack for sure. :)

[wellfleet]

this reminds me of the gorgeous, curly redhead in "dazed and confused" talking about the every-other-decade theory...
she says, the 50s were boring, the 60s rocked, the 70s, well, they obviously suck, so the 80s are going to be amazing... i'm not sure if she's right or wrong. but by her calculations, the 90s are supposed to have been terrible and the 00s great.
i think the great thing about the 90s and 00s is that there are many different types of music being played. many more dimensions, avenues being explored. and there isn't one sound necerssarily dominating the decade. the 90s were big for "grunge" but also for the return of brit-pop, and it's pretty much a free for all now.
the 90s had some of my favourite albums that have withstood the test of time, all mentioned here already.

as an aside... do any of you public enemy fans think that flav has lost his freakin mind with that show?

[ratsprayer]

flav once had a mind??

 ;)

[dragonboy]

He had a fucking big clock, that much is fo-sho!

[wellfleet]

well, you know, PE was *about* something. at some point, i think many black people looked up to PE as messengers. if they were just there to sound cool and make money, i don't think i'd care.
but seeing him degrade himself, PE's image, even with all the trouble he went through with them, AND see all those women debase themselves for him, it was disgusting...

[ratsprayer]

oh fuck yeah , public enemy meant quite a lot back in the day, probably more than any other rap or hip hop group.  i love/loved NWA, but PE had a more intellectual, well read approach about them that spoke to me.  most people think of flav when they think of PE, and thats a bit sad because chuck d is the reason they were great.  

[wellfleet]

i guess the guy with the giant clock gets all the attention  ;)

[dragonboy]

Nation of Millions & Fear Of A Black Planet are stone cold classics. The last PE CD I bought was Muse Sick...

[sonysucksdonkeydic]

The 90s were a great time for music.  One of my fondest music memories from the 90s would have to be in 93 when I was 14.   My friends and I went to go see Radiohead in the Duke Ellington Ballroom at Northern Illinois University.  The really cool thing was that the venue was real small and in the student center, so you had access to where the bands walked from their bus, or what have you, and backstage. After the show me and my friends happened to find our way to said location and got to meet the band and get their autographs.  Definately cool, especially because it was before they hit big and were not the rock gods they are today.  

[MMJ_fanatic]

chuck d is the reason they were great.  

No shit there--the most distinctive voice in the genre