The Golden Age...

[nadroj1985]

If you could pick any 5 year period in the history of rock music, what 5 years would you consider the "Golden Age" of rock music?

 

[Arwen Undomiel]

Just one 5 year period, or can we pick several 5 year periods? ()

 

[nadroj1985]

Just one 5 year period, or can we pick several 5 year periods? ()

Hahaha, I know, I have a few periods that I think were good. Perhaps you could rank them, is that good enough?

 

[Arwen Undomiel]

That's a plan!
I'll be back later tonight with my picks. Otherwise, right now I'd say 1952-1994.

 

[nadroj1985]

Otherwise, right now I'd say 1952-1994.

Hahaha! What killed rock music in 1994? Cobain's shotgun?

I've got my "golden age" picked out, but I'm interested to see what everyone else's ideas are first.

 

[Arwen Undomiel]

Hahaha! What killed rock music in 1994? Cobain's shotgun?

LOL, no it must have been Courtney.

 

[nadroj1985]

LOL, no it must have been Courtney.

But I thought the music died way back in the day. Some guy named Don told me. But then again, right after that, he started talking a bunch of gibberish about "american pie" and "whiskey and rye," so maybe he's not the most reliable source

 

[Arwen Undomiel]

And it was right after he drove his Chevy to the levy, so it's obvious he wasn't thinking clearly.

 

[Arwen Undomiel]

OK, I lied, I have my five-year period. Brief synopsis now, details later.

And my years are.......

1964 - 1969

Starting with Beatlemania and ending with Woodstock amd Altamont; includes the British Invasion, the birth of folk-rock, the beginning of the California sound, Motown, blues rock, the Doors, psychedelia rock, etc. etc. etc.

Everything now stems from that era.

 

[draper]

Oh, Courtney definitely killed rock www.justiceforkurt.com

Erm, what do you mean by "California rock", if you'll pardon my teenage ignorance

 

[Rufus T Firefly]

OK, I lied, I have my five-year period. Brief synopsis now, details later.

And my years are.......

1964 - 1969

Starting with Beatlemania and ending with Woodstock amd Altamont; includes the British Invasion, the birth of folk-rock, the beginning of the California sound, Motown, blues rock, the Doors, psychedelia rock, etc. etc. etc.

Everything now stems from that era.

And Frank Zappa, never forget Frank Zappa

 

[stonetoflesh]

Hmm, tough question...

I'm going to go with 1967-1972. I don't know if this would be a "Golden Age" per se; I think though that it's possibly the most dynamic, expansive and influential 5-year period in 20th century popular music. Some characteristics as I see them: greater experimentation with combining different cultural and/or historic musical forms and styles (prog rock, jazz fusion, psychedelia, etc.), birth of heavy metal (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Hawkwind, etc.) and proto-punk (Stooges, MC5), "theatrical" elements keyed-up (the Doors, Genesis, shock-rock a la Alice Cooper, glam), incorporation of synthesizers into the sonic palette, emergence of cut-and-paste and other new recording/engineering techniques in pop music, etc.

My two bits anyways...

edit: oops! can't have any of those nasty old incomplete sentences...

 

[Qyöt27]

Well, to rank them (I really do think that in retrospect, the most influential period in music is the one immediately prior to the current one, which would make increasingly preceding generations more important as time goes on):

1. 1962-1967: The foundation laid for British Invasion artists and bubblegum pop; sexual revolution begins, making music less formal and putting more emphasis on pushing limits; Beatlemania and the subsequent growth from bubblegum pop into psychedelia.

2. 1968-1973: The Experimental Music era (normally I'd use 'movement' but I've been rethinking it lately). Emergence of organic experimentation through proto-punk and "cold" experimentation through synthesizers and avant-garde electronic techniques.

3. 1974-1979: Birth of Punk rock; Birth of Industrial; Second-wave Ska Revival; Decline of Punk rock; beginnings of California hardcore; beginnings of post-punk; American 'hard rock' era; Disco.

4. 1980-1985: New Wave; emergence of Industrial Dance (EBM or First-Wave); Post-punk begins to split into clearly defined styles; emergence of Alternative Dance; foundations laid for Eurodance and Hi-NRG; foundations laid for Emo and Third Wave Ska Revival; hip-hop established as legitimate style.

5. 1986-1991: Alternative Dance, Hi-NRG, Industrial Dance, and Goth Rock explosions of varying degrees; large burst in Contemporary Christian music and Christian Metal; Third Wave Ska Revival; birth of Emo; emergence of Industrial Metal and Industrial rock (Second Wave); Grunge; Alternative Metal; Teen pop acts rise and fall; Gangsta rap emerges; Eurodance progresses.

6. 1992-1997: Grunge era; Gangsta rap hits mainstream; Industrial era; Huge Eurodance/Techno craze in US in 1995/96, segues into another Teen pop explosion in 1996/97; post-Grunge; Goth-Industrial emerges; Electronic Rock truly given specific boundaries and differentiates itself from Industrial; Pop-punk gains tremendous popularity but then starts to fade around late 1996; CCM becomes big business; Adult Alternative becomes popular, and remains so.

7. 1998-2003: New surge of Teen pop rises and falls; predominance of R&B and rap on Top 40; Alternative Metal/Nu-Metal skyrockets in popularity; Rap-metal era; Goth Metal begins to get mainstream appeal (Lacuna Coil and Evanescence); Pop-punk regains popularity circa 2001, stays popular for about 2 years.

8. 2004-2009 (I'm predicting this one): Not much to speculate on, just to hope for when it comes to Top 40 preferences; Goth Metal becomes more prevalent; Neo Post-punk surge in popularity due to growth out of Pop-punk or Indie genres (Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol, Modest Mouse, Electric Six, Hot Hot Heat, Interpol, new Blink-182 leanings); hopefully another wave of Industrial music.

 

[KristianJ]

Dude, great thread! I gotta have a big big think...

 

[ps139]

I'm gonna go with 1968 - 1973.
Why? Because we cant leave Dark Side of the Moon out of this one. And we have Jimi Hendrix (although I think the Experience came out in 67??? not sure). The Grateful Dead also rocked...I've been listening to some of their shows from this era and well, I cant describe them and do them justice. And I think Cream was together in this period. And frankly I dont know what Zeppelin was doing but the ideas were surely brewing . Andthe Doors. And of course Woodstock. This was a time when "pop music" actually carried positive connotations with it.

 

[stonetoflesh]

Nice breakdown... !

Not much to speculate on, just to hope for when it comes to Top 40 preferences; Goth Metal becomes more prevalent; Neo Post-punk surge in popularity due to growth out of Pop-punk or Indie genres (Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol, Modest Mouse, Electric Six, Hot Hot Heat, Interpol, new Blink-182 leanings); hopefully another wave of Industrial music.

I'm imagining that mainstream pop music will continue to be more bland, soulless cookie-cutter trash (regardless of its genre), marketed with some new packaging and hip millenium "attitude". Blech...

Don't forget that in the last 5-8 years we've also seen a huge rise in the availability of home recording software; coupled with the rise of the internet and mp3 this makes possible the (relatively) widespread dissemination of one's music without really having to go through traditional music industry channels, whether "corporate" or "indie"...

Maybe in the next five years we'll see the collapse and purging of the music industry's parasitic elements, followed by a dramatic rebirth and renewal... a nice thought, but an unlikely one.

 

[ps139]

Maybe in the next five years we'll see the collapse and purging of the music industry's parasitic elements, followed by a dramatic rebirth and renewal... a nice thought, but an unlikely one.

First we need to blow up MTV's headquarters.....who's with me?~!?!

 

[KristianJ]

First we need to blow up MTV's headquarters.....who's with me?~!?!

Start with wherever they record TRL...that show is just

 

[ps139]

Ok I might have to add 1964 to my era somehow.....
One of the greatest events in music history took place on September 30, 1964:

The birth of this great man!!!!

No its not Chuck Norris with a guitar, its Trey Anastasio!!!!

Ok enough derailing from me! Back to the topic!

 

[Arwen Undomiel]

Erm, what do you mean by "California rock", if you'll pardon my teenage ignorance

Y'know, at first I was thinking of surf music but then I realized that started up before '64, with Dick Dale, The Ventures, and their followers. I suppose it's Pet Sounds era Beach Boys, the Mamas & Papas (though they're pop), and Buffalo Springfield to name a few.

And Frank Zappa, never forget Frank Zappa

Never!