Most overlooked decade of music of the last 50 years

At he moment, 50s or 90s.

Back in the 80s there was such an emphasis on 50s music, but in this super-cornball way. Like that Heathcliff video princess tamtam posted yesterday - it was like amped-up early rock 'n' roll/doo-wop. See also the themes to Muppet Babies and A Pup Named Scooby Doo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ju75XsCO4o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNXdIgnRVqs

I feel like the sixties are slipping out of focus right now

i'd say each era has had adequate coverage in press circles

overlooked by whom?

the 90's

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll makes me want to punch somebody.

"Wait, System doesn't usually . . . oh"

xp
who?

all of these decades had 10 years to prove themselves

The 50s is killer for jazz. 1959 is particularly sick how many good jazz records came out that year.

For me, it would be the 00s, as I have not gotten as much 'new' music from this decade as the 90s. I've found plenty of new things to check out, but they are from the past more often than not.

the 60s are nearly nonexistent for the Pfork generation except for, like, Terry Riley and Incredible String Band and putting "Mouthy" on mixtapes

I disagree, I feel like they'd still hear the beatles quite often

haa

For a long time it was the 80s, but today I guess I would say the 60s. Unless you count nostalgic baby boomers who are still alive after all.

xp
who?

Frankly, myself mostly ;_;

the 60s still get lots of love and attention. beatles, beach boys, zombies, VU, etc. 60s psych reissues have never been a bigger part of the music market, and the decade's classic get lots of play on mixed oldies radio (as opposed to the 50s, which really have begun to fall out of sight). 90s still seem due for reappraisal/revisitation, but maybe that'll have to wait another decade or so.

yeah i feel like there's a lot of 60's fanfare these days. maybe 70's are most overlooked. time for people to chill out on these decades, played out imo

but we're tied to the nineties...

I still say the eighties. All the roots of hip-hop and dance and "alternative" are in there and people who consume the stuff don't care.

I would say the 90s are still around in a lot of ways. Hip-hop is still huge, EDM is currently having a great comeback. Bands like Nickelback and Creed keep the grunge legacy alive albeit in an inferior form. These sound slightly different in the 90s, but are still 90s genres who are very much in the public light. The new thing is that many of those styles have been gotten an 80s influence added that would have been unheard of in 1992.

The 70s I think don't have much appeal to the kids, but still dominate all those "canonical" all-time-best lists, so I guess the 70s are still very much in the public light.

Creed put out one record in 2001 and one in 2009, just fyi

not exactly "keeping the flame alive" more most of the decade

can I vote the first half of the 60s? or maybe like 72 - 76

I know the poll says 1960-2000, but I seriously have to rep for the 50s. The average listener thinks it began with Elvis and it's all about poodle skirts. Even the few overplayed 50s hits have fallen off of oldies radio playlists.

I play in a roots-rock band that covers tons of rockabilly, jump blues and R&B, and there are so many INSANELY great records from that era that so few people seem know or care about. The Smiley Lewis songbook alone has dozens.

Just yesterday I listened to Johnny Burnette's cover of Fats Domino's "All By Myself" five times in a row. It contains everything I love about music, compressed into 2 minutes. Why was this NEVER on oldies radio?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU3xzOZpn78&playnext=1&list=PL255843A225556776&index=3

it's true the 50s are quickly vanishing from the sight of popular culture. I don't know if there's anything unique driving that tho beyond just the passage of time and the death of people who actually remember that decade. Once something passes from living memory, it seems to become exclusively the provision of archivists and obsessives, no matter how great it is. a lot of jazz has suffered the same fate.

well people who obsess over pop music owe to themselves the experience of Louis Armstrong, Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Louis Jordan, Hank Williams, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Professor Longhair, Fats Domino, Lefty Frizzell, The Drifters (both versions), Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Coasters, Howlin' Wolf and Buddy Holly.

in this case, fuck the sight of popular culture.

Actually, interest for the most popular late 50s jazz crossover albums such as "Kind Of Blue", "Time Out" and "Mingus Ah Um" seems bigger than for a long time. It is 50s rock'n'roll that, other than a brief revival in the 70s/80s (Darts, Showaddywaddy, Stray Cats, Shakin' Stevens), is generally seen as music of the past. Which IMO is justified btw.

been listening to a lot of buddy holly lately, never really had, picked up a 2LP comp for cheap...what songs!

the main reason I didn't put the 50's into the poll was because it would probably outright win - it was going too far back. anyways the 50's will probably be reexamined soon since everyone expressed a desire when the best song of 20th century poll results came in.

the main reason I didn't put the 50's into the poll was because it would probably outright win - it was going too far back

And then you could make a case for the 40s being even more ignored....

Back in the 80s there was such an emphasis on 50s music, but in this super-cornball way. Like that Heathcliff video princess tamtam posted yesterday - it was like amped-up early rock 'n' roll/doo-wop. See also the themes to Muppet Babies and A Pup Named Scooby Doo.

Not just cartoons/children's music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgoDYK3IlGg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctLA5lEOvhk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKyr25J7D-I

bump

50s aside, I think 90s. Certainly 1964-69 (Beatles to Woodstock) has been examined in excruciating detail; same with 70s from prog to punk, and I think 80s alternative, Madonna, rap and grunge seemed to have their own accompanying media hypes. Maybe I didn't pay as close attention, but for me 90s seemed to maybe have less to look at (or more that could be easily overlooked?)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

lol - 00's 10

I'm amazed anyone voted 80s. the last 10 years has been a big revival in 80s music, methinks they voted for their (and many of ILM's) fave decade.

but yeah lol 00s

The early 90s were when I really started to pay attention to music, so I'm eager to see how the decade endures the twenty-year cycle of cultural reassessment that we are sort of already but really just on the cusp of experiencing. imo we are still at a point from which many aspects of the late-90s seem so deeply unfashionable that the era as a whole cannot be objectively appraised - to say nothing of the 00s, which was basically yesterday.

As for the 60s & the 70s, the perceived zeitgeist elements have been very trumped up, while other equally relevant aspects continue to be sidelined as novelty. Perhaps this is the case with the 80s too, but all the recent nostalgia for that era has been encased in such a prism of irony/reverence that it became a little disorienting.

I voted 60s, for the first half of the decade & all the pre-Beatles doo-wop artists & tracks I'm just now discovering which are totally rad.

early-mid 90s were very different (and so much better) than the late 90s.

you say that now, but you'll be rocking raver pants & frosted tips in '18.

the early 90's have that 80's connection that ILMers like :/

ILM has always been 90s-centric, so no surprise this was the result. IMO, the 90s are still very much around, and they will stay that way until hip-hop has a following roughly like prog had in 1980.

ilm has always been 80s centric

the early 90's have that 80's connection that ILMers like :/

My 80s peaked in 82-83 and ended in 1986-87.

early-mid 90s were very different (and so much better) than the late 90s.

The mid 90s were the best part of the decade, thanks to Britpop, Britpop, Britpop and Britpop.

thats where british guitar music went to shit in the 90s and didn't really recover.

not sure about these results. 70s are def. considered the least "cool" decade musically and stylistically at this point. played out dad classic rock and of course disco, the genre forever shunned as the antithesis of cool.

60s had the beatles and bob dylan, artists which most young people seem to appreciate at least in spirit. the 80s sound had a big influence on many contemporary artists as well. 90s are somewhat unappreciated just because they are so fresh in the public's mind and not quite old enough to warrant nostalgia, however i'd also say that some of the decade's genre-defining rap artists are still very popular and influential, and people have a lot of respect for them.

Disco had its revival in the late 80s/early 90s and glam is largely forgotten (except for Gary Glitter, but.......).

Prog, however, is hotter than for a long time although largely seems to appeal to a still album buying audiences (prog just doesn't fit into the single track oriented world). And punk, through acts like Green Day and My Chemical Romance, should also have some appeal with the kids.

I voted 70s because although it's hardly forgotten, and not as unfamiliar as, say, the 50s, I don't think it is appreciated as much as it deserves, and there are large currents of music from the time that go ignored (notably salsa), along with individual artists who are more obscure than I think they ought to be. A ton of great pop music but also probably the peak of the downtown NYC new music scene. And strong showings from around the world: Greece, Brazil, Nigeria. But I've said before, I'm a huge 70s partisan.

I could see 90s being a reasonable answer, except I think they are more justly neglected than overlooked.

The 80s I feel are everywhere today. Most of today's mainstream pop has a synth sound that is very remiscent of the one that dominated until the mid 80s. It may be the early 80s more than the late ones though (the hair metal revival was very brief and you don't hear a lot of FM synths, Roland D-50's and Korg M1's these days either)

Still, there is still very little to revive from the 90s, as a lot of it is still around in new forms. Eurodance has seen some re-exposure, but that is largely ironic/kitchy/cheesy, a bit like mid 90s movies like "The Wedding Singer" made fun of the cheesiest trends from the 80s.