Lovers of 60s/70s Music - Your Favourite Acts Post 1990.

The 80s was the decade to forget with a few notable exceptions, certainly for those that grew up in the sixties and early seventies. Since the infamous decade that taste forgot there has been a somewhat diminished resurgence of worthy pop/rock performers. Would like to hear what preferences 'boomers' have had over the last 2.5 decades.

My nominations -
P J Harvey.
Goldfrapp.

 

Top 10:

01: Blur
02: Belle and Sebastian
03: Destroyer
04: Pulp
05: Arcade Fire
06: MGMT
07: Weezer
08: The New Pornographers
09: The Decemberists
10: Curly Tankard

 

Blur
Radiohead
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
Supergrass
PJ Harvey

 

I'm not a boomer, but I'll answer this anyway.

1. Jill Scott
2. The Heavy Blinkers
3. Joanna Newsom
4. St. Vincent
5. Alicia Keys
6. Rumer
7. Jens Lekman
8. The High Llamas
9. Amy Winehouse
10. Paloma Faith

 

I'm not a boomer either:

Jason Isbell
The Hold Steady
Sleater-Kinney
Gillian Welch

are artists that I actively keep up to date with and eagerly await new releases from.

 

The Dexateens
Lucero
The Reigning Sound
Deer Tick
New Pornographers
Ladyhawk
Sleater/Kinney
The Black Keys
Lydia Loveless
Wussy

That list could go on and on. I've always been more interested in what comes out every Tuesday compared to what might get dropped off at the used record store.

 

I am a boomer (born in '61) and yeah, agree that the '80's are my least favorite decade for music.

I'm glad to see The New Pornographers have been mentioned twice already. For my money, they're the best group making music today. They've improved and grown from their first release to now, and just keep getting better at their craft without losing their vision.

I am a big fan of Aimee Mann as well. I wasn't too impressed with her work as 'Til Tuesday (I think the '80's production values really ruins their records) but her solo career started off gang-busters. She's had a couple missteps in her career, but her recent collaboration with Ted Leo "The Both" is definitely worth owning.

Matthew Sweet brought power pop back to life with the "Girlfriend" album and almost outdid it with "100% Fun". He's another artist I enjoy but I wish his output was more consistent.

I'm also a big fan of '70's prog, so groups like Porcupine Tree/Steven Wilson and Neal Morse-era Spock's Beard appeal to me (actually, just about anything Neal Morse related finds its way into my collection somehow.)

For something a bit more obscure, check out Bleu, especially the album "A Watched Pot" or Michael Carpenter's "Baby" from 1999.

 

detroit cobras
black keys(particularly the first four)
samsara blues experiment
smoke fairies
neko case
goat
spoon
joe black lewis
mike farris
the heavy
mark lanegan/screaming trees

 

I'm an earlyish boomer (born 1950) and don't agree with the OP about the eighties! I think the nineties were a bit more questionable, although there was some great music made then as well. My list:

BLUR!!!!!!!!
Kaiser Chiefs
Zero 7
Arcade Fire
Paolo Nutini
London Grammar
Nitin Sawhney
James Blunt
Amy Winehouse
Paloma Faith


Many others I'm sure

 

blur
radiohead

 

A few Britpop albums: the early Oasis, a few from Blur, the Stone Roses. Jack White is OK. Not Radiohead.

 

The Libertines, Arcade Fire, Wilco ... I really like the music David Bowie started doing post Tin Machine, also. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The first two from the Strokes. Roy Hargrove.

 

Nirvana

... the rest in no particular order...

Black Keys
Radiohead
Wilco
Rilo Kiley / Jenny Lewis
Fountains of Wayne
Paolo Nutini
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
Green Day
Blur
Adele
Arcade Fire
Elliott Smith
Sinead O’Connor
Eva Cassidy
Altan
Grant Lee Phillips / Grant Lee Buffalo
Jimmy Rogers (also cut some sides in the 50’s)

.

 

The 'decade that time forgot' - I have to disagree with this very strongly. It's just a cliche that has got repeated that just doesn't stand up at all (I should add I love the music from the 60's and 70's as well). This cliche really needs to be put to bed. If you looked at the charts you maybe might think that it wasn't so good but the fact that the best music wasn't in the charts like it maybe was in the 60's is neither hear nor there. My defence:

Firstly we saw the explosion of rap and hip-hop following the Sugarhill Gang's breakthrough in 79. The 80's were brilliant for this with the likes of Run DMC early on, then Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim, De La Soul, etc etc. This stuff was so interesting and varied and full of ideas at times it made rock music seem a little irrelevant.

What about 'rock' groups? Well initially we had tons of great post punk bands in the early 80's - JD/New Order, the Cure, Killing Joke, Cocteau Twins, the Bunnymen, Teardrops etc etc. All original and very varied. The Fall produced a great number of brilliant records in the decade.

83 then saw the debut of one of the greatest bands of all time - The Smiths, who produced a wealth of brilliant music.

85/86 saw the explosion of the UK indie scene with loads of great bands (that you may not have heard as they were not on Top of the Pops) - The Wedding Present, Primal Scream, The Wolfhounds.

US rock music had Guns and Roses to offer as well (not a fan myself, but they seemed to be very popular).

The US alternative scene also brough us two of the great US bands in The Pixies and Sonic Youth, as well as the birth of grunge.

The greatest artist of the 80's - Prince I think. What a run of records he had in the 80's.

Great pop music came from Michael Jackson and Madonna.

The Madchester scene in the later part of the decade gave us The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, James, Inspiral Carpets etc.

Some great sould music as well from the Jam and Lewis production factory, as well as people like Bobby Womack.

So you have a decade that was full of great music, perhaps more varied than any decade previously, and some of the best music ever made. I am sure I have forgotten many of bands as this is just of the top of my head.

Prince, Public Enemy, The Pixies, Sonic Youth, The Smiths, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen - the decade that taste forgot, don't make me laugh!

rant over.

 

Agree 100% -- made even worse by those awful synthesized drums.

.

 

Jim B you actually misquoted me. I'm sure you can draw up a list of good bands from the 80s and there were a few acts I liked that don't immediately spring to mind. Most of the genres quoted and band names mentioned I had little time for. The emergence of Baggy scene is more associated with the start of the 90s though it started well before. Unfortunately 80s was dominated by Indie rock I didn't much care for and synth pop not to mention Rap. My statement referred to a general dislike of the decades music by music lovers of a certain age (even if they were barely in their 30s at the time). Mostly was listening to bands that started in the 70s and non mainstream (acoustic) music. Also production values in general stunk by the middle of the decade.

 

The National, Tame Impala, Coheed&Cambria, Katatonia, Riverside, Porcupine Tree, Trivium, Machine Head, Children of Bodom
Rob Zombie, Carcass, Tool, Anathema

 

Wilco
She and Him
Trigger Hippy
Fleet Foxes

REM, XTC, Paisley Underground bands from the 80`s and beyond.

 

Alt-country is my main interest, so the last couple of decades have been wonderful:
Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Jayhawks, Bottle Rockets, Wilco, Whiskeytown, Blue Mountain, Ryan Adams (solo and with the Cardinals), New Multitudes, Alejandro Escovedo, Hiss Golden Messengers...my goodness, the list could go on and on.

 

Jellyfish
The Dandy Warhols
Beastie Boys
Beck
Foo Fighters

 

Radiohead
Bjork
Stereolab
some of Beck & Wilco
Slayer (as it carried forth into the 90's)
Alison Krauss & Union Station
David Grier
Del McCoury Band
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
Keith Jarrett Trio (as it carried forth into the 90's)
Pat Metheny (as it carried forth)
Ween
Phish

 

Joss Stone
Some of the songs are great.
What a voice!
Definite throwback to earlier times.

Natasha Bedingfield a runner up.
Great voice, but little in the way of good songs.
Her version of Tracks of My Tears at the White House was stunning.

 

I'm a late boomer, though I don't have the extreme nostalgia for the music of the '60s and '70s as some seem to. Some artists I've really responded to and to the extent that they're still active look forward to every new work from include who came up in the last 25 years include:

The Hold Steady
Ryan Adams
Conor Oberst/Bright Eyes
The Libertines
Vampire Weekend
Hole
Drive-By Truckers
Outkast
Norah Jones
Joshua Redman
Joe Lovano
Dave Douglas
Pink
Taylor Swift
Brad Paisley

And I thought the '80s produced some incredibly great artists too: Madonna, The Smiths, Run DMC, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, James Blood Ulmer, Husker Du, Linton Kwesi Johnson,

 

Blur
Haim
Nirvana
Fiona Apple
Tame Impala
Broken Bells
Ron Sexsmith
Foo Fighters
Massive Attack
Ladytron
Florence and the Machine
Mazzy Star
Pavement
Lighthouse Family


I like some of the songs by Jamiroquai, The Cardigans, Sarah McLachlan, Norah Jones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, The Strokes, The Verve, The Handsome Family, Delphic, Polica, Travis, Keane, Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo, Texas, James Blake and The Charlatans (UK), as well.

I am also a big fan of the Stone Roses, Crowded House, Guided By Voices and R.E.M releases since 1990.

 

Phish
Mr. Bungle
Wayne Krantz
White Denim
Fiona Apple
Tracy Bonham
Cibbo Matto
A Tribe Called Quest/Q-Tip
Erykah Badu
Ween