Music of the 1990s vs. the 2000s: which do you prefer? (90s, 00s, Nineties, Noughties, Oughts)

90s

1900s

00s

There is some 90s music that I carry some nostalgia for, but it came mostly in the early part and the latter part is a complete fucking wasteland. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but I don't remember much of it fondly.

00s for sure

90s hiphop >>> 00s hiphop

00s everything else >>> 90s everything else

00s

00s, easily.

Only one of these decades has Andrew W.K. in it, and that is the one I voted for.

The noughties have definitely been better. The only thing worthy from the 90s was Britpop, whereas the 00s had featured a lot of great electropop and also a nice comeback for prog.

00s here too, the 90s look v poor in retrospect

Hoping for pleasant & unexpected revisionism and a high placing for 'Spartacus' in louis's poll.

00s

oos for me too. I should have fond memories of 90s music, considering it covered fifth grade through my sophmore year at college, but I really don't have many, except for some rap records. When I think of the 90s, rightly or wrongly, I think of grunge. I never liked grunge.

I also think of boy bands and Limp Biscuit, unfortunately.

I should have fond memories of 90s music, considering it covered fifth grade through my sophmore year at college, but I really don't have many, except for some rap records.

I see rap as typical 90s music. Surely, it started in the 80s, and it is still around to some extent. But the 90s were the decade when rap seemed to "take over" the world for a while, crossing over into genres like dance/techno and even some of the then pop.

I don't like rap, so I see that as a negative thing about the 90s.

there was some rap in the 00s too iirc

Rap and shoegaze/dreampop are two of the only things I still regularly listen to from the '90s. I was pretty deep into britpop and guitar-heavy indie rock at the time, but there's not much of it I ever listen to anymore. Same with grunge. Same with "electronica." I may get nostalgic for some of that stuff a few years from now, but it currently stirs no happy memories.

Voted for the one Geir didn't. Instinct, I guess.

90s hiphop >>> 00s hiphop

00s everything else >>> 90s everything else

00s

Right on.

Tempted to say that the shifting genre-blog known as "indie rock" peaked in the '90s, what with Pavement, GBV et al. doing all their worthwhile stuff in that decade. But I don't tags '00s stuff "indie rock" as quickly as some lazy critics do (e.g., Animal Collective is NOT indie rock, they are psych-folk with recurring pop elements, damn you).

Regardless... '00s for me.

Meant to say: genre-blob *

this is a difficult question, voted 90's because that's kinda my specialist subject but both were pretty good

90s hiphop >>> 00s hiphop

To which I'd humbly add 90s dance >>> 00s dance

a lot of my favorite records are right at the intersection of the two

One of my strongest associations with "2000s music" is music that wasn't made in that decade, but was rediscovered/rereleased then. I'm thinking of Arthur Russell, disco, all the excavations by Numero Group/Strut/Soul Jazz/lots of blogs that dominated my personal musical landscape of the past 10 years and informed lots of the "new" developments (e.g. DFA, freak-folk, hypnagogic fun).

Disordered thoughts on the 90s:

Probably my favorite genres of all time are grunge and shoegaze, owing no doubt to the fact that I was in middle school at the time I was introduced to them. My most listened-to playlist is just basically a mix of 4AD and Subpop artists, with a few other things tossed in for good measure.

Also, of that era: Smashing Pumpkins and Jane's Addiction are monumentally great. There are a few indie bands from the late 90s that I like too: Built to Spill, Les Savy Fav.

I also experience nostalgic joy at new jack swing, although a lot of the best stuff was from the late 80s. I don't really know much else about R&B from the decade. I mean, you've got Maxwell, D'angelo... Lauren Hill was big, but I didn't care for her.

I didn't listen to any girly pop back then (Cheryl Crow or Alanis?) the way I listen to like, Kelly Clarkson or Avril Lavigne these days. It's kinda different, I know. Have no idea if any of that stuff was any good.

However, I like whatever's on just your general pop radio a lot more these days. There were so many many groups in the late 90s whose music repulsed me the way something like Owl City does now, is the best way I can explain it. Hard to beat Mambo #5 though. That song's a motherfucker.

Cheryl Crow

Who?

I voted for the 00s, by the way. Just felt compelled to blather on about the 90s, is all.

xp:

Sheryl

One of my strongest associations with "2000s music" is music that wasn't made in that decade, but was rediscovered/rereleased then. I'm thinking of . . . all the excavations by Numero Group/Strut/Soul Jazz/lots of blogs that dominated my personal musical landscape of the past 10 years and informed lots of the "new" developments (e.g. DFA, freak-folk, hypnagogic fun).

otm. the only band from the grunge era who i loved is nirvana, and i still love them, maybe more than any act from this decade. but overall, for me, it's no contest.

(second sentence was an xp to someone else)

The 90s for me, but I think a lot of that has to do with being in my high school and college years at the time. I was at an age where I was more impressionable and soaking up more stuff than I am now.

im not exactly an expert on 00s music, but a lot of the highly acclaimed stuff -- eg the top end of the p4k albums poll -- leaves me unimpressed. especially in the latter half. especially in the indieverse. grime and dubstep not really my bag. think of the 00s as the decade america "got" daft punk.

The 90s for me, but I think a lot of that has to do with being in my high school and college years at the time. I was at an age where I was more impressionable and soaking up more stuff than I am now.

See? I too was in high school and college through the '90s (ages 15-25), but I guess I was more impressionable in the late '80s. I hold a lot of that stuff up like its LAW, but think of the music I listened to in the '90s as mostly frivolous and incapable of standing the test of time. I was far more aggressive about searching new music out to like in the '00s (even though I was a digger in the '90s too, I didn't have the benefit of the internet).

The 90s for me, but I think a lot of that has to do with being in my high school and college years at the time. I was at an age where I was more impressionable and soaking up more stuff than I am now.

this is why the 80s still has a magic appeal for me. when i actually hear those songs now, i still appreciate and adore them, but i feel like what i've heard in the 00s is better. maybe i'm more open now to a variety of styles and source materials. it is still special to find an 80s disc i didn't own before and get introduced to new songs that remind me of that era (tho the retro-80s fetishism of some 00s music does this for me, too). but those unearthed 80s finds haven't changed my view yet.

another vote for the 00's. i was 9 years old at the end of the 90's so there's not much i was there nostalgia besides spice girls or aqua for me. although i obviously love 90's rap i think rap in the 00's was also amazing, so that's not even a big sticking point for me.

ilx is getting mad young these days

pretty equal

Indie 90s > 00s
Everything else 00s < 90s

80s > both 00s and 90s tho

ilx is getting mad young these days

― its sad he was a blogger (acoleuthic)

Wait, what? This coming from you?

If you want to make yourself fell OLD, fast, for no reason, start thinking of those 3-4 years younger than you as "mad young."

80s > both 00s and 90s tho

― one boob is free with one (daavid), Wednesday, March 10, 2010 11:20 AM (59 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

To my ears, the 80s had the best pop music, but I'll take the 00s for indie-released rock/electronic/etc music. I can't speak for 80s indie-releases. I'm still ignorant other than some touchstone records.

I really can't decide. I think the 90s were the beginning/emergence of more of the things that interest me. But the 00s probably saw the release of more music I actually love, even if much of that music involves revivals/hybridization of familiar ideas and material.

I turned 14 in 1990, spent the rest of the decade devouring music. Stopped pretty much dead on the turn of the 00s, and just really dabble in new stuff now (always embarrassed by the end-of-year lists).

Although I know the 90s infinitely better, I much prefer the 00s. I don't think it's down to only getting the cream these days, it's more down to feeling the 90s were really weak, unadventurous and complacent, except maybe in their very early years. Maybe it'll look different if the Oasis revival ever comes around, but I doubt it.

I can only really pick the 00s, because it was the first music decade I properly experienced. It is 'my' decade and I have a stake in it.

My 90s was drinking Ribena and watching Star Wars again and again, not getting stoked on jungle/breakbeat hardcore pirate radio broadcasts. Or turning my nose up at Britpop (while secretly liking some of it). Or listening to Warp/Mille Plateaux type things and dreaming of a gorgeous digital future.

Maybe it's just because we're not far enough removed from the 00s yet, but I find very little embarrassing about music and fashion from that decade. It's like (for the most part) the 00s took everything before it, blended it up, and used the results sensibly. Music has progressed, but a lot of stuff coming out this month, for example, sounds not too different from what might have come out ten years ago. Same with clothes. Same with design/architecture. It's not that the 00s were stagnant, instead it's like we finally leveled off and achieved some sense of balance.

the 00s took everything before it, blended it up, and used the results sensibly. Music has progressed, but a lot of stuff coming out this month, for example, sounds not too different from what might have come out ten years ago. Same with clothes. Same with design/architecture. It's not that the 00s were stagnant, instead it's like we finally leveled off and achieved some sense of balance.

also christ, is that what you want? levelling off and achieving balance?

Johnny Fever otm. It will be interesting though, to see what wins this poll.

Is it fair to say ILM is largely made up of people who had their most intense periods of listenership in the 90s and then the 00s?

Like lots of other posters I *cared* a lot more about individual releases in the 90s because I was in school, developing my tastes from scratch. Everything was new! I would listen to the newest (or latest-purchased) Pavement/dEUS/Godspeed albums for weeks on repeat, which I'd never do now. But that's more about me than about the music.

For me only genre in which one decade is clearly better than the other is in commercial pop, where the 00s owns from beginning to end. The rest is a wash (Hyperdub vs Warp, Merriweather Post Pavilion vs Loveless, Sonic Youth vs Sonic Youth...)

also christ, is that what you want? levelling off and achieving balance?

If it prevents another Limp Bizkit, mauve as a prominent indoor paint color, and baggy t-shirts, then yes.

xp myself "For me the only genre..." obviously.

Nothing wrong with baggy t-shirts.

I wonder if it's that the 90s aren't far enough away yet xp. I was discovering some 80s stuff all through the 90s, but it wasn't until that decade got revisited properly that the rest stopped seeming embarrassing.

Yeah, there is. haha! xp

I'm pretty sure I'd go with the '00s on this one - the '90s has a slight edge on rap but the '00s wins on pop, r'n'b and dance/electronica (for indie and rock it's about equal). For what it's worth, almost all the 1990s music I like now I either disliked or had never heard at the time. Also the worst music of the '90s remains far worse than the worst of the past decade. So many terrible songs have stayed with me despite not hearing them in over ten years.

I wonder if it's that the 90s aren't far enough away yet

Well, reassessment usually works on a 20 year cycle. In five years, it's entirely possible the 1995 will sound fresh again. But there's not much from it I feel nostalgic for right now.

the 90's were better yet this is 'my decade' too i guess. i was 13 to 23. lots of stuff that blew my mind (nirvana, sonic youth, cult u.s. rock like sonic youth and their ilk, later dance music of all forms, hip-hop, uk 'lost generation' bands) whereas there hasnt been quite that emotional investment with 00's music although lots of stuff i liked.

damn scratch the second SY ref. to mercury rev

My 90s was discovering lots of bands who were niche and who I expected to stay niche, but who one after the other nearly all became huge. I loved that they did, but in retrospect in most cases it made for horribly ossified music. All the 00s stuff I ever hear just sounds more entertaining somehow.

limp bizkit didn't have a hit in the uk till 2000 so...

I wonder if it's that the 90s aren't far enough away yet xp. I was discovering some 80s stuff all through the 90s, but it wasn't until that decade got revisited properly that the rest stopped seeming embarrassing.

― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, March 10, 2010 8:54 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

pretty much how it works, yep.

to get old-ilx about this, im really surprised by how "indie" this thread is! there was a lot more going on in the 90s than pavement.

The 90s was the best decade for dance and electronic music: constant innovation and cool new subgenres and sounds being born ever year. There were some cool new electronic acts in the 00s, but most of the "new" genres sounded like rehashes of stuff that was already done (often better) in the 90s or 80s. Other than the new minimal techno and dub, 00s electronic and dance music hasn't really interested me as much as their 90s counterparts.

As for rap, I guess the 90s and 00s are pretty much equally strong. For non-dancey pop, the 00s were probably a better decade, but I haven't followed 00s pop that closely. As for rock music and stuff like that, I couldn't care less. "Grunge" doesn't sound that different from "emo" to me, it's all crap. So the 90s win.

accordign to noted internet information source wikipedia, limp bizkit didn't go "mnstrm" in the US till 1999 in any case. which is practically the 2000s already.

if "grunge" doesn't sound that different from "emo" to you, you should probably just say "I don't know anything about rock music and have no opinion on it"

You're right the 90s had some absolute dogshit music. Read a criticism from that period lamenting contemporary music, especially 96 and onwards.

Looking back at the 00s though, 2001 absolutely killed -- for basically everything.

I was probably most heavily invested in "indie" through the middle years of the '90s. I would scour promo cd bins looking for albums I recognized from issues of CMJ and Alternative Press, calling labels on the phone so they would send me catalogues and order forms, and actually taking the advice of record store clerks on things I'd never have found myself. I didn't do a single one of those things in the '00s, but ultimately found more music that I'm more passionate about.

90s definitely...The Internet kind of ruined music for me...

Read a criticism from that period lamenting contemporary music, especially 96 and onwards.

yes, this kind of lament only got written in the 1990s! there's been precious little of that kind of handwringing in the 2000s.

^good point

xpost to myself - 'read a lot' of criticism. You can't edit or delete you're own posts here, but maybe that's a good thing in some respects.

I'm a 00s guy, and while I've had a lot of wonderful record store/real world type music experiences, it all comes down to checking in on places like ILM and mediafiring away!

"The Internet kind of ruined music for me..."

BLASPHEMER. HERETIC.
j/k. actually, why?

xpost that was sarcastic wasnt it? I'm leaving

^xxpost (to history mayne)

Oh COME ON, history mayne. I was just saying that to illustrate how much terrible music I remember from the nineties. Also, link me some articles from this decade which outright slam 00s music, for what it's worth.

I kinda agree with Internet ruining music. Having 10000 times more stuff available at any time is sorta cool, but it makes those special tunes and records feel less special. They get lost in the sheer quantity. Maybe you get more enjoyment on a general level, but the highs don't feel quite as high.

you can't write off a whole decade. but the famous music critic simon reynolds has been among those saying that dance music kind of lost steam in the 00s. there's been a fair amount of "rap is dead" commentary too iirc. no-one thinks indie is dying but *that's because it's fundamentally dead already* amirite?

I mean, Internet is great for discovering old gems, when you know what you're looking for, but as for new music, the fact that anyone can put any crap out there makes the signal to noise ratio much worse.

I dunno, I have a definite set of cherished albums from the last 10 years that I cherish as much as any of my favorites from the 90s, despite hearing 50x as much music.

I kinda agree with Internet ruining music. Having 10000 times more stuff available at any time is sorta cool, but it makes those special tunes and records feel less special. They get lost in the sheer quantity. Maybe you get more enjoyment on a general level, but the highs don't feel quite as high.

― famous music critic (simon reynolds), Wednesday, 10 March 2010 21:10 (1 minute ago) Bookmark

Is there a consensus around SR's 00s dance decline theory though? If I'm not mistaken, and to be very reductive about such a though-out thing, his gripes are that in most cases, dance music lost it's hardcore energy base in the 00s that was the force of its progression. Supposedly, this robbed the music of something very special, and dance culture plodded through the decade devoid of anything really new.

But if you read say, any of Tim Finney's passionate, articulate post on ILM this whole decade, you're given a brilliant flipside.

*posts

and *thought out xpost.

re: internet killjoying
The thrill of finding a gonzo record in the half-price bin and can't wait to get home to hear it -- that kind of thing?

Is there a consensus around SR's 00s dance decline theory though?

no, of course there isn't. and younger critics are honour-bound to prefer their own times to someone else's. but dance music did kinda lose its chart popularity, and that was part of what was exciting in the 1990s.

I dunno, I have a definite set of cherished albums from the last 10 years that I cherish as much as any of my favorites from the 90s, despite hearing 50x as much music.

For me, I guess it's a combination of getting older and the sort of stuff I listen to (dance, electronic, rap, etc) getting less innovative and more hybridized during the 00s, but during that decade there much fewer records that felt totally new and shiny to me, that didn't sound like a rehash of something I'd already heard in the 90s. I miss the sensation of a record opening up a totally new, unheard of sound-world to me. It still happened in the 00s (with stuff like Cannibal Ox or Burnt Friedman or Fever Ray), but less often.

While the 80's seem way better than anything that followed, I can't really make any major distinction between 90's and 00's. 00's seemed a little bit boring in the sense that there was this weird story arc going on in the 80's into 90's where "real, independant" music was going to take over the world. And then it did, and it was pretty boring. Maybe the story arc continues, but I'm not privy to it anymore...

but dance music did kinda lose its chart popularity, and that was part of what was exciting in the 1990s.

Well, if popularity skips a decade, it'll be back strong in about four years. '70s -> '90s -> '10s?

Voted 00s mostly because of the Internet. The 90s is the decade I graduated high school and college, so in theory they should be full of nostalgia and fond memories of discoveries, but in reality I grew up in a backwater an hour drive from the nearest chain record store. So my 90s discoveries came mostly from Columbia House catalogues and Rolling Stone. The Internet introduced me to the world of music I love, both in terms of the music produced at the time, and music from the 80s or 90s that I never heard on TV or radio at the time.

Is there a consensus around SR's 00s dance decline theory though?

I think there's a certain truth to it, but only if you were heavily into dance/electronic music in the 90s. IMO dance music didn't really lose its energy in the 00s, and if you only came to it during the 00s, it was bound to sound fresh to you. But for us old geezers who remember the times when this stuff was only being gestated and hadn't set into familiar forms and conventions, the 00s felt like a time of "solidification" and "hybridization" as compared to the "innovation" period of the 90s (especially the first half of the 90s). Now, I don't think there's anything wrong with solidification... But if you came to this music when it really felt like it was the future, like it was gonna replace all the boring music of the past (especially rock - and looking at the charts in the 90s it really felt like this could happen) like there were no boundaries and anything could happen, it felt a bit disappointing when it did hit those boundaries, just like every other musical revolution of the past had done.

the "innovation" period of the 90s

"Innovative" music is the most likely to fall by the wayside though. I bet you couldn't give away a Roni Size cd now.

But Roni Size was already all about hybridization: "see, we can mix real instruments with this drum'n'bass music" blah blah blah...

Basically I think the most creative period in dance music was maybe from 1991 to 1996, from rave to techstep. Big beat was the first new thing that felt like it was already treading water.

Yeah was about to post, doubt Size was ever part of dnb's vanguard. Though I'm not familiar with any of his stuff beforehand.

How about this theory: although the music wasn't qualitatively worse, just like the late 90s, the late 00s definitely experienced a drop off of innovation. Compare with the late 70s and late 80s which were phenomenal and set so much groundwork for a lot of what is taken for granted today.

Goodness, I wonder what the 10s hold, we could be in for such a treat.

Voted 00s mostly because of the Internet. The 90s is the decade I graduated high school and college, so in theory they should be full of nostalgia and fond memories of discoveries, but in reality I grew up in a backwater an hour drive from the nearest chain record store. So my 90s discoveries came mostly from Columbia House catalogues and Rolling Stone. The Internet introduced me to the world of music I love, both in terms of the music produced at the time, and music from the 80s or 90s that I never heard on TV or radio at the time.

― sofatruck, Wednesday, March 10, 2010 4:26 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

see, but that's the thing...this is very similar to my own situation, but for some reason, I feel very much alienated by current musical trends...I've been getting into a lot more older stuff, and the Internet has enabled a lot of that process of discovery, but at the same time, I'm nowhere near as interested in current music as I was even in 2004...

maybe I'm just getting older...or maybe I'm using the Internet wrong...

How are any of these decades more or less innovative or groundbreaking than the technologies around allowed them to be?

I kinda agree with Internet ruining music. Having 10000 times more stuff available at any time is sorta cool, but it makes those special tunes and records feel less special. They get lost in the sheer quantity. Maybe you get more enjoyment on a general level, but the highs don't feel quite as high.

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 21:10 (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

don't listen to as much random things then? the internet is not making you have lots of music.

this is a stupid qn

How are any of these decades more or less innovative or groundbreaking than the technologies around allowed them to be?

But the thing is, in the late 80s and early 90s the sort of new technology became rapidly available that allowed a lot of people to do fresh and never-heard-before kind of stuff, and that was felt strongly in 90s music. Whereas in the 00s the effect of technological progress on musical innovation has slowed down: there aren't so many things done in 00s music that weren't already possible in the 90s.

alright maybe mashups aren't a good example, but collaboration/editing seems far more easier today, and I feel like the amateur/pro distinction is largely being torn down, which is a worthy enough innovation for the 00s, nevermind that all those things could have been done, just with much more effort in earlier times.

there aren't so many things done in 00s music that weren't already possible in the 90s

Part of the reason is that the tech became more affordable (commercial software, etc.) and more people had a go at it. On one hand, this resulted in a bunch of absolute garbage. On the other hand, though, it stripped things back from becoming bloated and useless and moved electronic music (be it dance or drone or what have you) back to its absolute basics in a lot of cases.

xpost Tuomas. Like all technological advances across the decades in popular music, it's usually the technology which isn't necessarily the highest definition, of the most innovative new thing which spurns exciting unique sounding new music. People from say the mid 70s in NYC misusing turntables, discovering breakbeat science. The 303, which I believe was originally developed as a stand-in bass tool for learning guitarists to play along with. Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr and MBV finding new ways to play the most ossified of rock and roll instruments, the guitar. And the 00s as been no different. I will probably get shit for this, but I believe Panda Bear showed people a brand new way of doing electronic pop, with his use of Madlib's sampler for cueing up this endless found loops. Everyone from the mainstream to depths of the underground, misusing and fucking with yesteryear's technology to produce today's music. (see also, early 00s producer-auteur chart pop copping ideas from 90s rave, the lo-fi revival in its various form across the 00s, the availability of multitrack recording facilities on most computers to cite a newer development.

)

I will probably get shit for this, but I believe Panda Bear showed people a brand new way of doing electronic pop, with his use of Madlib's sampler for cueing up this endless found loops.

I actually like Panda Bear, but he's really never done anything that Eno didn't do first on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.

more mistakes: '90s HAS been no different'. Forgetting to mention acid house alongside my 303 point.

J Fever is on a similar wavelength here.

Okay maybe Eno and Byrne did it first, but Person Pitch perfected it and influenced so many people. I believe you can trace so much of the late 00s trends in indie music (and maybe some others) to that album.

Yeah, Person Pitch is really good. Didn't mean to sound like I was disparaging it.

Person Pitch perfected it and influenced so many people. I believe you can trace so much of the late 00s trends in indie music (and maybe some others) to that album.

then it needs defending from its defective epigons if it's responsible for so much of the regressed twee nonsense of the late 00s

panda bear is great but that album does its own thing well enough to be left alone

I feel like the amateur/pro distinction is largely being torn down, which is a worthy enough innovation for the 00s

Agreed. I know the thread is talking more about musical innovation than straight chart pop, but from that perspective this is the key thing for me. The way that genuinely popular pop got manipulated in the 90s, with film spinoffs and all kinds of dullity dominating early on, before indie labels and marketeers cracked it circa 95 and made it all dull in their own way, almost totally sucked the element of surprise out of things. I enjoy Freaky Trigger's Popular blog, and it's been genuinely enlightening sometimes working out why some trends hit and others didn't - but it is going to be carpet-chewingly boring when it goes through the 1990s.

In the 00s, much as I theoretically hate the concept of American Idol/X-Factor and all that gatekeeping shit, I can't actually bring myself to care about it because it's so obviously just a sideshow part of celebrity, and not music except coincidentally. Yeah, I wish some other music got that level of popularity instead, but tbh it's not like people who phone in for these things would be into UK Funky if Simon Cowell didn't exist.

don't listen to as much random things then? the internet is not making you have lots of music.

― There's Always Been A Prance Element To (a hoy hoy), Wednesday, March 10, 2010 1:49 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yeah, the 00s was the first decade one could legitimately burn out on finding new music due to the internet(I guess if you were rich, you could've done this in the other decades as well). I put self-imposed limits to how much time I spend checking out new music to guard against this (I know me all too well). It seems to work, because the highs of discovering a great new record haven't diminished at all compared to previous decades.

Person Pitch perfected it and influenced so many people. I believe you can trace so much of the late 00s trends in indie music (and maybe some others) to that album.

Wake me when the revolution ends, plz.

I just wish many of the bands would cut out all of the self conscious hipness there seemed to be not much of in the 90s (indie rock wise). Seemed like the scene was dominated by music loving guys and girls from the suburbs, not a bunch of Bat for Lashes trying to somehow work wolves into everything. Style over substance seems to be the fad right now.

xpost The revolution's only getting started, there's no escape! Fleetwood Mac are apparently writing their new album around Lindsey's purchase of a Boss-SP 303.

^ is that a joke or not? I can't tell any more, and I wouldn't put anything past Lindsey.

Don't know about his songwriting chops and fire for it these days, but I would welcome Merriweather Post Rumours with open arms.

His last two solo albums have been peppered with songs that are anywhere from 10-20 years old with a couple new ones thrown in (and they're decent, but not revolutionary). It's probably time for him to get on a writing tear again.

Merriweather Post Rumours

Uh...

Uh...as in I can't even begin to comprehend how amazing that could be?

No Christine, no revolution.

Christine is concocting a revolution of her own...with The-Dream and John Zorn co-producing her comeback LP!

o_O

Yeah this question is lame

Still 00s. That said, 80s > 70s > 60s > 00s > 90s.

there aren't so many things done in 00s music that weren't already possible in the 90s.

Except what you needed to visit a record studio if you wanted to do in 1995, you can now do in your own bedroom on Cubase or Cakewalk.

the Olivia Tremor Control recorded their classic debut (1996) on a 4-track tape recorder.

If you can remember the 90's, you really weren't there.
Some of the pop/rock that I remember loving in the 90's

PJ Harvey
Nirvana
Pavement
Guided By Voices
Built To Spill
Ween
Beck
the Flaming Lips
the Olivia Tremor Control
Neutral Milk Hotel
Palace (Will Oldham)
Dog Faced Hermans
Stereolab
Mercury Rev

Cat Power
Modest Mouse

there aren't so many things done in 00s music that weren't already possible in the 90s.

Except what you needed to visit a record studio if you wanted to do in 1995, you can now do in your own bedroom on Cubase or Cakewalk.

Er, no. I personally know people who were doing electronic music in their living rooms in the 90s. This trend may have gotten bigger in the 00s, but it was definitely common enough in the 90s already. Terms like "bedroom producer" were already being used in the mid-90s. The fact that the amateur/professional split started to evapourate in the 90s due to technological advances is one of the biggest things that influenced 90s music. Of course this trend just continued even stronger in the 00s, but it wasn't something that was new to the 00s.

people were talking about bedroom producers in the late 80s, even. bomb the bass etc.

I'm quite the bedroom producer, if you know what I mean ...

lol

Some of the earliest recordings on Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works" were also recorded in his own bedroom, as early as in the mid 80s. They were hardly top hi-fi-quality though.

early Aphex is pretty lo-fi really. but there's been a critics' meme that says there is no music you could take from nowadays and go back in time to 1994 to convince people you're from the future. of course this was said some time ago. i think perhaps some dubstep stuff might convince 1994 people though.

they would then want to stay in 1994 though

no one can elude the unstoppable ravishes of time.

The autotune sound would've sounded futuristic in 1994 I reckon

futuristic like the ice caps melting

The autotune sound would've sounded futuristic in 1994 I reckon

I dunno, it isn't that different from vocoder or talk box, both of which had been around since the 70s. When Cher's "Believe" came out in 1998, it sounded a bit different, but not mind-blowing or anything.

"there is no music you could take from nowadays and go back in time to 1994 to convince people you're from the future"

That axel-f frog ringtone is pretty good Blade Runner dystopia evidence.
(I guess you'd need to play it on your future cell-phone to convince them though)

http://www.soysaucecarnival.com/haiku_images/zig_a_zig_ah.png

voted 90s but what I'd really like to see is four choices:

90s and I am over 30
90s and I am 30 or under
00s and I am over 30
00s and I am 30 or under

Normally, when you get to a certain age, one should expect that you reckon music only gets worse and worse.

But actually, I think that the 00s were better than the 90s. This goes for both mainstream pop music and music overall (the latter being of more interest for me than the former by now).

00s and I am over 30

Same - 00s and I'm over 30

90s hiphop >>> 00s hiphop

00s everything else >>> 90s everything else

this is pretty true which makes it hard for me because 90s hip hop was SO GREAT I can't decide if it outweighs everything else

Guayaquil, I like the demographic version you suggest, because one reason I was even interested in this poll question is that I liked the 00s (musically)quite a bit more than the 90s, despite being well over 30.

I'm well over 30 and I can say without question that the music was better then, at least as far as bands with guitars go.

30 or under & I prefer the 90s

The early 90's were incredibly promising: shoegaze, indie-dance, trip-hop, electronica, even grunge sounded promising for like 5 minutes. But then somehow EVERYTHING went wrong.

43 albums from the 90s in my top 500, and 24 from the 00s. Not the only way to measure, but big enough difference that it's an easy decision.

over 30 and the 90's, but it's not cause i wasn't engaged in the 00's. dance music then was new, fresh, changing a mile a minute, and raving was SO much funner than clubbing. rap in both decades was, to me, about equally strong, and neither nineties nor naughties were watershed years for guitar/rock stuff but i thought the 90's were a hair stronger in that scene as well.

i think so far the internet actually kinda had a bad effect on musical innovation - yeah, sure anyone can make a decent sounding recording on a home computer nowadays, but there's little to no financial reward for it. in the 90's those bedroom producers could sink $300 into pressing up a 12" themselves, if it sold they could easily and quickly make thousands of dollars. these days you make your magnum opus on your laptop, upload it to myspace, and it's like a fart in a windstorm, with nary a hope of seeing a dime off it...

i'm hoping the 10's will finally see a new genre of music emerging, something as new and different as rap was in 84 or techno in 87... i suppose it's quite possible the next generation, having grown up with the concept of music being free and easy, won't really give a damn if they make money off their home recordings, and will be happy to just get props/laid off of the sheer status of getting 1,000,000 youtube hits or something.

xp Okay, I'll bite. How did everything go wrong? Are you going by bad popular music? Because compare the Billboard charts and I don't think it was much different or better in the 00s. Mid to late 90s I was listening to Tricky, DJ Shadow, Disco Inferno, Tortoise, Björk, Portishead, Radiohead, PJ Harvey, Laika, Chico Science & Nação Zumbi, Spiritualized, Arto Lindsay, Neutral Milk Hotel, Stereolab, Dirty Three, Dr. Octagon, Asian Dub Foundation, Labradford, Tom Zé, Magnetic Fields, Cornelius, Oval, Massive Attack, Amon Tobin, `O'rang, God, Fugazi, Gallon Drunk...and I still like 99% of it.

90s indie rock just seemed so much more devoid of all the forced hipness musically and beyond.

The early 90's were incredibly promising: shoegaze, indie-dance, trip-hop, electronica, even grunge sounded promising for like 5 minutes. But then somehow EVERYTHING went wrong.

The early 90s were what I disliked most about the entire decade. It then got better in the middle, and worse again towards the end.

90s indie rock just seemed so much more devoid of all the forced hipness musically and beyond.

Sure, I guess if there is something that Britpop didn't have "forced hipness" was surely among it. :)
I mean, Britpop bands were shamelessly wanting to be pop artists, and even did the kind of compromises in songwriting and production that actually made them hit #1. For me, being a classic pop fan, it made them better.
But the rest of the 90s were nothing much saving. Even grunge got quickly worn out.

The early 90s were what I disliked most about the entire decade.

I probably shouldn't even ask, but what in particular about the early years of the decade (which are my favorite years) do you like so much less than the other sub-eras?

00s and I am over 30 40

Geir, I have a feeling - and i could be wrong here - that Evan wasn't including britpop in his definition of 90s indie rock. to me at least, britpop is more equivalent to the spin doctors or the counting crows or matchbox 20 - bland radio rock.

I like this old thread, which (necessarily?) drifts into general discussion of music in the 90s: 1994

Overall, the hip factor was pretty unbearable these last ten years, with the Wolf craze, and the emphasis on image, and the forced musical quirks... The 90s really lacked a lot of that kind of stuff, but I would never say completely.

the Wolf craze

It's actually pretty easy to ignore all those bands. I've never even listened to 75% of them.

the emphasis on image, and the forced musical quirks

Hello, 1980s.

side poll: how much of the music that you value actually sounds representative of the decade in which it was recorded? I can't think of a one.

tons

oh i take it back; weird al is pretty definitively 80s.

early Aphex is pretty lo-fi really. but there's been a critics' meme that says there is no music you could take from nowadays and go back in time to 1994 to convince people you're from the future. of course this was said some time ago. i think perhaps some dubstep stuff might convince 1994 people though.

― dog latin, Thursday, March 11, 2010 10:47 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I remember back when Missy Elliot's Get Ur Freak On came out, I knew I was listening to some shit I had never heard before. There've definitely been tons of other hits that you could take back to 1994 and blow people's minds with, I'm sure. What would someone from 1994 think of Hey Ya? Of Single Ladies?

I like Hey Ya, but if I were an alien Star Trek computer, "What decade was it from?" would be the kind of question Kirk would ask me to make my compubrains blow up.

That's a fair response.

How 'bout Imma Be? : )

Overall, the hip factor was pretty unbearable these last ten years, with the Wolf craze, and the emphasis on image, and the forced musical quirks... The 90s really lacked a lot of that kind of stuff, but I would never say completely.

― Evan, Friday, March 12, 2010 2:59 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

OTM x 1000

the emphasis on image, and the forced musical quirks

Hello, 1980s.

― Johnny Fever, Friday, March 12, 2010 12:45 PM (Yesterday)

That is why I started this thread.

I probably shouldn't even ask, but what in particular about the early years of the decade (which are my favorite years) do you like so much less than the other sub-eras?

The complete domination of the mainstream by musical genres that didn't have proper melodies, i.e. hip-hop and dance. Also those awful harsh and metallic digital synth sounds that had dominated since the late 80s and didn't last much longer until they got forever unfashionable.

90s laid down the rules, 00s picked up the pieces

The best music from the 00s has usually been picking up musical rules laid down in the 80s or earlier.

history mayne sounding a little bit dj martian ITT, i'm surprised!

musical rules?

What would someone from 1994 think of Hey Ya? Of Single Ladies?

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Friday, March 12, 2010 7:03 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

hey ya in particular is nothing special, sonic innovation-wise.

i've never dug 'get ur freak on' because it's boring, but timbaland did represent s.thing new, but in the late 90s, not in the 00s.

yeah, like notes and... drums and stuff

were you put the quiet bit and that

xpost

musical rules?

oh boy here we go

hey ya in particular is nothing special, sonic innovation-wise.

Oh, I wasn't thinking in terms of sonic innovation. I was thinking in terms of composition.

Hey Ya would shock and appal most ppl digging on Southernplayalistcadillacmusic

I don't care about hiphop, rnb and dance music (for the most part)
anyways

Indie 90s > 00s
Everything else 00s < 90s
― one boob is free with one (daavid), Wednesday, March 10, 2010 7:19 PM (3 days ago)

90s indie rock just seemed so much more devoid of all the forced hipness musically and beyond.
― Evan, Friday, March 12, 2010 5:02 AM (Yesterday)

*crab crab crab*

xxpost I just realized I used the wrong ">" . I meant:

Everything else 00s > 90s

I can't quote you now

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