The Top Acts from each Decade?

[kmart]

 

Interesting thread, even though clearly there isn't going to be absolute agreement on any decade. I'm surprised no-one's mentioned David Bowie. If we're talking a) influence and b) defining the decade he has to be a contender for the 70's. Every time he redefined himself it seemed to influence a good deal of what happened next in the rock/pop world - at least here in England anyway. .

 

 

Bowie is my favorite performer, bar none.

 

I refrained from mentioning him because he simply can't be contained to a single decade; I agree his impact during the 70's (his own output AND his production for other artists) is amazing, however I couldn't by doing so discount his output before or after...

 

IMO, he 'stands the test of times" too well to be considered decade specific.

[MikeyParent]

Part of the that is probably just there's not yet enough distance from the last decade to really have consensus on what yet "defines" it musically.

 

 

+1 on this.

[TrickyBoy]

 

Part of the that is probably just there's not yet enough distance from the last decade to really have consensus on what yet "defines" it musically.

 

 

I don't know if I agree with this...

 

The 80's were very well defined, and the "definition" was very obvious while it was happening. The second Nirvana came out in the 90's, same kind of thing... The truth is that there has been no common "theme" from the late 90's on till today. I guess if I were to pick a band that "defines" or had the most influence on popular music since 2000, I'd probably go with The Black Eyed Peas, but this is weak at best, as IMO, there are so many genres of what you'd call popular music and they really only influenced a few of them...

[niceguy]

 

I don't know if I agree with this... The 80's were very well defined, and the "definition" was very obvious while it was happening. The second Nirvana came out in the 90's, same kind of thing... The truth is that there has been no common "theme" from the late 90's on till today. I guess if I were to pick a band that "defines" or had the most influence on popular music since 2000, I'd probably go with The Black Eyed Peas, but this is weak at best, as IMO, there are so many genres of what you'd call popular music and they really only influenced a few of them...

 

 

Yeah, that could be the case. I was just reminiscing last night about the old ways...

 

Before the digital era, in order to listen to music, you had to buy the album. You were tethered to a physical product, and it would be insanely costly to have a huge music collection. Portable music players were still rather cumbersome, so listening to music---like, REALLY getting into the music---required focus. I remember setting aside time after school to listen to Weezer, just sitting there and listening.

 

That method of listening led to a more focused general esthetic. That's why there was a defining sound.

 

Now, we have unlimited choices in what we listen to, thanks to the internet and digital downloads. We also are no longer tethered to a home stereo system or cumbersome DiscMan. We can listen to exactly what we want, whenever we want. This leads to complete fragmentation, and that, I believe, is why there is no longer any defining trend in music anymore.

[MikeyParent]

I am not sure what we are going for here? Most influential? Decade-defining? Top sellers? I am pretty sure that decade-defining is NOT the same thing as musically influential.

 

I am going with "decade-defining". I think of decade-defining bands as being ones that had the public mindshare, that the masses think of when they think of that decade. I don't think influence outside of their own decade would be a requirement. It's difficult to choose a single artist for some of these but my list would look like:

 

60's - Beatles. While some might make arguments for other artists but this is pretty much a no-brainer.

Runners Up: Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, Beach Boys

 

70's - KISS. When I think of the musical act that everyone knew about in the 70s it has to be KISS. From the music to the stage performance, makeup, clothes. These guys had their own movie, pinball game, and more. KISS army. Arguably, no band was more visible in the public eye than KISS.

Runners Up: Elton John, The Eagles, Aerosmith, Queen, Pink Floyd

 

80's - Michael Jackson. I would think pretty much defines the 80s from a pop culture/popularity perspective. Big productions, over the top music videos, crazy sales (Thriller is the only album to sell over 50M copies - a whopping 110M, nothing else even comes close), fashion (red leather coat, fedora/sparkle glove anyone).

Runners Up: Madonna, Bon Jovi

 

90's - Nirvana. Basically heralded the grunge movement of the 90s. Kobain's controversial and untimely death pretty much solidifies their spot here.

Runners Up: Green Day, Garth Brooks, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion

 

00's - Nickelback. Love'em or hate em, few bands have had as much sustained success or been as talked about than Nickelback.

Runners Up: Jack White/White Stripes, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Justin Timberlake

[pickinatit]

A lot bands were formed from people trying to be the Beatles as well. And the influence of Dylan's singing style and songwriting style STILL reverberates BIG time even today. As does the Beatles. How many bands in the last 40 years have been referred to as being "Beatle-esque"? A gazzlion. I'm not going to challenge your call that VU was a huge influence on MANY bands. No doubt. Without question. But BIGGER than the other two? Let's call it a 3-way tie?

I don't get this at all. I have heard of the Velvet Underground, but honestly, I had to go look up what they had done.
And I know that the top hits charts are only one measure, but Is wikipedia correct that none of their albums ever reached higher then about # 85 on the Billboard charts? And that can be translated into most influential of a generation? I'm seriously missing something about them. Educate me.

[Vito Corleone]

I don't get this at all. I have heard of the Velvet Underground, but honestly, I had to go look up what they had done. And I know that the top hits charts are only one measure, but Is wikipedia correct that none of their albums ever reached higher then about # 85 on the Billboard charts? And that can be translated into most influential of a generation? I'm seriously missing something about them. Educate me.

 

 

I think a better response to Kmart's post would have been for me to acknowledge his statement that "everyone who heard a VU album went out and started a band" (actually, a Brian Eno statement about the band and an exaggeration, of course, but I understood his point) and then counter that while that may be true, the fact is that only a fraction of the people who heard a Beatles or Dylan album ever HEARD a VU album. So, how do you measure "influence" in that regard?

 

But VU are pretty much the fathers of the New York underground New Wave movement that spawned Television, Patti Smith, New York Dolls, Talking Heads, Blondie, etc. David Bowie and REM have cited them as a major influence. Without VU we probably don't really have the grunge or alternative music in the 80s and 90s like Sonic Youth, The Pixies, etc. At least not in the same way. They were, in many ways, the first "DIY" band in the regard that they were much more about the content than musicianship.

[Lork222]

 

There were pretty {censored}ing huge before he died. And they pretty much single-handedly killed the big-hair 80s and made grunge popular. I'd have to give them the nod over Metallica and GnR (who were largely 80s bands anyway) for being the biggest band of the 90s. Same with U2. "Achtung Baby" was in the 90s, but they really were an 80s band.

 

 

 

 

Yes Nirvana was big but the fact remains that Cobain's death is what made them the band of the 90's.(This is coming from a huge Nirvana fan) They weren't the biggest band during that Seattle/Grunge era(91-93). Pearl Jam actually had better overall album sales prior to Kurt's death.

 

 

The RIAA certifications prior to April 1994

 

Nevermind 5x platinum

In Utero 1x platinum

 

Ten 6x platinum

VS 5x platinum

 

While they both had huge albums in 1991, you can see Pearl Jam was easily sustaining their popularity in 1993

 

While you give them a nod over Metallica and GnR, there is something to be said that those bands were so big and good that they fit right in both the 80's and 90's.

[Vito Corleone]

They weren't the biggest band during that Seattle/Grunge era(91-93). Pearl Jam actually had better overall album sales prior to Kurt's death.

 

 

True, but wouldn't you agree that Nirvana was more nfluential than Pearl Jam? Pearl Jam made what Nirvana was doing a bit more broad-based and commericially palatable.

 

 

While you give them a nod over Metallica and GnR, there is something to be said that those bands were so big and good that they fit right in both the 80's and 90's.

 

 

True. I just see Metallica, like U2, to be an "80s" band that had continued huge success into the 90s rather than a "90s" band, per se. GnR, for all their huge success, always felt to me more like a "bridge" band, rather than defining any particular era. They were the band that allowed the big-hair bands to throw out the Aqua Net.

 

But all this is just semantics. Just bar-room discussion stuff. There is certainly no definiative right-or-wrong answers here.

[Kramerguy]

Here's two worthy "Alt" lists - POP / Rock

70's - Bee Gee's / KISS
80's - Madonna / Metallica
90's - Mariah Carey / Pearl Jam
00's - Pink / System Of a Down
10's - Katy Perry / (noting new really, mostly splash-over bands from 2005+) I'd guess the Killers

[saturn1]

Odd that only one Rap/Hip-Hop artist is mentioned in the whole thread - and a white guy at that. I don't who it might be, but certainly someone from the '90's has to make the list. Snoop or Tupac, maybe NWA or Public Enemy, Run DMC. It's hard to deny the influence that the genre has had both on popular music and on the culture.

[TrickyBoy]

 

Odd that only one Rap/Hip-Hop artist is mentioned in the whole thread - and a white guy at that. I don't who it might be, but certainly someone from the '90's has to make the list. Snoop or Tupac, maybe NWA or Public Enemy, Run DMC. It's hard to deny the influence that the genre has had both on popular music and on the culture.

 

 

Actually, if I was going to include a Rap/Hip-Hop artist, I'd probably look at the 2000's - Maybe Jay-Z. Or quite possibly The Black Eyed Peas

[BATCAT]

Pearl Jam made what Nirvana was doing a bit more broad-based and commericially palatable.

They both got tagged as "Grunge", they both came from the same city and had a lot of popularity at the same time, and they're both rock bands, but I always think it's kind of odd when the two are mentioned in the same breath, speaking musically. You can draw a pretty straight line from popular 70's rock to Ten era Pearl Jam. (and Soundgarden, for that matter) I don't hear that with Nirvana much at all; to me they sounded influenced by New Wave, punk, and 80's "underground" stuff like Sonic Youth. It's a pretty different lineage.

[BATCAT]

But VU are pretty much the fathers of the New York underground New Wave movement that spawned Television, Patti Smith, New York Dolls, Talking Heads, Blondie, etc. David Bowie and REM have cited them as a major influence. Without VU we probably don't really have the grunge or alternative music in the 80s and 90s like Sonic Youth, The Pixies, etc. At least not in the same way.

 

 

This is very well put.