I'd have to pick the Big Band era of the 40's! The world was afire, but people still had great music to listen/dance to to escape their woes, even if for just a little while!

Had to be the 70's!

Well, as a Rock fan, I have to say the 70's and, to a lesser extent, the 80's.
In the 70's there was total freedom, it was maybe the last period that saw true ground breaking originality: speaking about rock and metal, every band and sound that came out in the last 40 years or so, owes something to the 70's and that's a fact!

Well, as a Rock fan, I have to say the 70's and, to a lesser extent, the 80's.
In the 70's there was total freedom, it was maybe the last period that saw true ground breaking originality: speaking about rock and metal, every band and sound that came out in the last 40 years or so, owes something to the 70's and that's a fact!

Hands down the 70s

The late 60s were exciting, but I'd have to say that the acme of popular music was in the 70s. I further contend that it was MTV that sent things south.

Initially, MTV was a powerful POSITIVE force. They were actually a music video channel at that time, and when they chose to play their OWN playlist, rather than a playlist that reflected the public's tastes, MTV deliberately steered pop music straight into the ground.

Got to be the 70's, you had Glam rock in the beginning & the punk rock / new wave towards in the later part of the 70's, an exciting time in music

I was born in the 60’s and brought up listening to 60’s music. No contest and I am not even an Beatles or Elvis fan, but what an era that I reckon will never be matched.

By FAR, the 70's. In pop music, musicianship, arranging and playing skill actually mattered back then. But more importantly, the emergence of fusion and progressive rock in the early 70's, which crashed and burned in a fiery death in the late 70's. For some reason during that era, a large enough percentage of the general public were open-mined enough to enjoy forward-thinking music and those players could make a decent living at it (think Return to Forever, Yes, Mahavishnu, Gentle Giant, Weather Report, etc.) Music has been circling the drain ever since

I think each genre of music would have different answers (decades) ?

80s - the full synth between music and video, and rise of new genres like Heavy Metal and New Wave , synth more in use.

Also you got a lot of those groups like Cocteau Twins, Smiths,

and the rock music really rocks! motley crue, 'tallica, def leppard etc

You also have work of artist like Leonard Cohen, Van Morrisson and the like releasing albums 80's or early 90's too which are great works.

The birth of rap musics and the evolution of Funk / Disco ....

Italo Disco in europe

I can find something I enjoy from any decade, but I think 60s is my favorite. It seems like the first decade where fearlessly aggressive intent to mutate music was kind of rampant. I know it existed before and after, late 70s punk is also one of my favorite eras. I like periods of time when popular music had a heavy mallet taken to it.

70s and 80s. 60s had its moments though.

...well for me it is the 1970's !

no question the 70s young people today still listen to it

Maybe the 60's, highlighted by The Beatles

I'm divided on it. I think each decade had its bright spots. And as time passes, it's easy to look back and go "wow, that was the best era!" But they all had their waves. I'm a rock fan primarily so I tend to view the decades through that prism.

I miss the sunny vibe of the 80's. Bands like the Fixx, Police, Flock of Seagulls, Balaam and the Angel, The Cult, Pete Shelley, Peter Murphy, Julian Cope -- all this great alt rock. The album rock stations were loaded with great music -- Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Ozzy, etc. Then you had the Oz music of the era: INXS, Midnight Oil, Rose Tattoo, Australian Crawl, Dragon, the Angels, AC/DC, etc For a while it seemed that continent could do no wrong.

I miss the 90's. Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Korn, and a gazillion other bands of the era. There was an Oz band, the Screaming Jets -- they were awesome.

I also miss the turn of the century and the Nu Metal era. There was a lot of great music being produced from bands like Linkin Park, Saliva, POD, Skrape, StaticX, Disturbed, Slipknot and industrial bands like Apartment 26 and Filter. A lot of hard hitting rock.

Then things sort of went south. Rock radio began to disappear, and rock bands don't sell out big venues so much anymore, unless they're big classic acts like Metallica, the Stones and U2.

There was a small wave of good electronic pop music at the start of this decade... But overall, the 10's have been kind of a dull blur. There are a handful of alt bands that are OK, and two or three rock artists out there that are good -- Mastodon, Greta Van Fleet, PopEvil, etc., but not much really slams the radio speakers anymore. With everyone going to internet streaming for music, it seems to be less of a shared experience and more fragmented anymore.

My favorite decade will always be the 70's...Queen, zeppelin, skynyrd, bad company, Aerosmith,sabbath, ac/dc etc...

from the 1400's Renaissance music, through baroque, then classical to romantic, to the present day, classical music gave you what all pop /rock.punk/ etc musicians use to write create melody/tunes.

Felt that there was a lot of effervescence music-wise in the 1980s.