Can we all agree that the best metal overall was made in the 80s?

For me, the 70's, thou I grew in the 80's, but the 70's was to me the best decade in music.

Nostalgia plays a massive role, I listened pretty much exclusively to metal, hardcore, punk, post punk in the '80s and still love all of that stuff. In the '90s I got more into electronic, brit pop, alt rock and such and still love all of that stuff too. There was lots of great metal in the '90s and lots of great electronic & alt rock stuff in the '80s but the stuff I still dig is the stuff that reminds me of certain times in my life.

If we are talking about quality rock music then it would probably be the '70s all the way, but I've only really gotten into that in the last decade.

The 80s were really the tail end of two things: labels investing in "new" sounds and artists sight unseen in case they happened to do well (and with a 50/50 chance they wouldn't try to force the artist in question to change their sound to be "saleable"); and recording still being rough and ready enough that what is now considered "sloppy" songwriting or recording could have lent itself to some happy accidents, new sounds, etc.

I don't think the best metal was necessarily made in the 80s, but I do think the 80s were a nice intersection of coincidences that encouraged great music. It's still being made and my mind is still blown at least once every few months when I hear something new (both metal and otherwise), but I think it's unlikely in the quantized and pitch-corrected digital age that we're going to see a huge outpouring of new and exciting sounds from a huge stable of bands unless/until people stop letting the tech dictate what they're making and how.

I was born in '83, so a lot of this stuff passed me by totally when it was "current." Maybe that gives me a bit of objectivity, but we'll leave that up to the critics.

I believe that the 80s was the best era (although I do enjoy the other eras as well). Hell, that music was the soundtrack to my teen years. Nostalgia ? Sure, but I'm damn glad I was there to experience it all, the music,the "scene", etc.

Boris2008 wrote:

Nostalgia plays a massive role, I listened pretty much exclusively to metal, hardcore, punk, post punk in the '80s and still love all of that stuff. In the '90s I got more into electronic, brit pop, alt rock and such and still love all of that stuff too. There was lots of great metal in the '90s and lots of great electronic & alt rock stuff in the '80s but the stuff I still dig is the stuff that reminds me of certain times in my life.

If we are talking about quality rock music then it would probably be the '70s all the way, but I've only really gotten into that in the last decade.

Other then the final sentence, I could have almost written this word for word, in my teen years in the 80's, I almost exclusively only listened to metal (classic, thrash, pop etc) or punk, in my 20's which was in the 90's, my musical taste branched out considerably.

I have fantastic memories or feelings about all the decades.

70's - Seminal - and the sound (meant for vinyl?) is hard to beat/replicate. Many of my favorite bands (or pre versions) were born in one form or another during this decade.

80's - Metal really gets rolling and this is the decade of the "classics" for me. This is also the decade I really got into metal. Those bands/people who in their formative years in the 70's really come to life in the 80's. Maiden, Dio, Twisted Sister, etc...

90's - The Christian metal scene was, of course, established well before this, but this was MY decade to really, really get into Christian metal, and this is the decade when Morty, Tourniquet, VR, Deliverance, some of Bride, Paramaecium, and others really gripped me.

00's - This is the decade I got back into "secular" metal, and this is the decade I discovered Ult's website - which led to the old Christian Metal Realm which led to the Heart of Metal. This was also the decade where I discovered I could buy/sell/trade on the line. And I did, like a mad-man. This is the decade where I first had a real job and actual disposable income and 75% of my collection happened in this decade. Although it had been around, unknown to me, this is the decade I "discovered" European Powermetal a la Masterplan, Blind Guardian, Timeless Miracle, Falconer, and friends. I LOVE the 00's.

10's - Powermetal is still cruising along nicely (I'll never get tired of it), Thrash is still back and I love the modern Thrash sound. Many of the "old" guys are back and better than ever. Doomy, fuzzy, buzzy metal is back, Traditional Metal-sounding bands are cranking out albums. This also seems like the decade of fusion (although a lot of that started in the 00s) of metal with different sounds.

In other words I love it all and can't choose a decade. For me I assume it will continue to be one long, glorious ride. There's something to be said about being a simpleton and not an elitist - I'm open to new sounds and bands all the time.

Agree that nostalgia plays a big part.
Also agree that overall the 80's produced (arguably) the best metal if it is being compared to other decades. If I had to give a 10 year span for greatness I'd most likely say 78-88 but then that might also be the nostalgia talking.

If I categorized the music I listen to by decade then I'd say I'm 40% 1980-89, 30% 1970-79, 15% from the sixties and all the remaining years can be the final share.

Late 70s, 80s and current metal is my favorite eras...one thing I will agree on is the 90s was the worst decade in metal... Numetal, grunge and rap metal ISN"T metal....

brokentulsa wrote:

the 90s was the worst decade in metal... Numetal, grunge and rap metal ISN"T metal....

Perhaps not, but it was better than anything with big hair & spandex.

The decade had a lot to offer if you dug deeper than MTV & Rolling Stone magazine. Black & death metal really grew expanded in the 90's.

mc666 wrote:

brokentulsa wrote:

the 90s was the worst decade in metal... Numetal, grunge and rap metal ISN"T metal....

Perhaps not, but it was better than anything with big hair & spandex.

The decade had a lot to offer if you dug deeper than MTV & Rolling Stone magazine. Black & death metal really grew expanded in the 90's.

Hear, hear.

mc666 wrote:

brokentulsa wrote:

the 90s was the worst decade in metal... Numetal, grunge and rap metal ISN"T metal....

Perhaps not, but it was better than anything with big hair & spandex.

The decade had a lot to offer if you dug deeper than MTV & Rolling Stone magazine. Black & death metal really grew expanded in the 90's.

Yeah the 90s wasn't so bad,you just had to go underground to find good stuff.Which is pretty much the case with any decade.

corplhicks wrote:

mc666 wrote:

brokentulsa wrote:

the 90s was the worst decade in metal... Numetal, grunge and rap metal ISN"T metal....

Perhaps not, but it was better than anything with big hair & spandex.

The decade had a lot to offer if you dug deeper than MTV & Rolling Stone magazine. Black & death metal really grew expanded in the 90's.

Hear, hear.

I don't know, I kind of like the barometer that the 80's displayed. I didn't like the majority of the hair metal scene, but it definitely helped me distinguish between that which was "organic/genuine" and that which was "fluff/marketing disaster" (as it pertained to anything that was lumped in as metal). The 80's were an anthropologist's wet dream, and The Decline of Western Civilization Part II was a perfect example of what was wrong about a certain scene in L.A. Ms. Spheeris put the questions out, and the embarrassing answers came back. The articulate bands survived the purge in the early 90's, and the others went by the wayside. I can't think of a decade that better illustrated what was wrong with a music scene, BUT ultimately what was right when its 15 minutes expired. Hence, I think the 80's was the most interesting decade that we've ever had of music, and that stretches beyond that of just metal.

I think 00s may have been the worst decade. It feels like things are slowly getting a bit better.

mc666 wrote:

brokentulsa wrote:

the 90s was the worst decade in metal... Numetal, grunge and rap metal ISN"T metal....

Perhaps not, but it was better than anything with big hair & spandex.

The decade had a lot to offer if you dug deeper than MTV & Rolling Stone magazine. Black & death metal really grew expanded in the 90's.

I don't know about that. Iron Maiden wore spandex and had big hair. Saxon wore spandex and had big hair. etc. etc. It was a look, not a sound. I'll take a band like Cinderella, Dirty Looks or Ratt over any nu-metal, grunge and rap metal any day of the week. But that's just my tastes.

Quote :

I don't know about that. Iron Maiden wore spandex and had big hair. Saxon wore spandex and had big hair. etc. etc. It was a look, not a sound. I'll take a band like Cinderella, Dirty Looks or Ratt over any nu-metal, grunge and rap metal any day of the week. But that's just my tastes.

I agree

Quote :

Black & death metal really grew expanded in the 90's.

I have no use for either genre

ultmetal wrote:

mc666 wrote:

but it was better than anything with big hair & spandex.

The decade had a lot to offer if you dug deeper than MTV & Rolling Stone magazine. Black & death metal really grew expanded in the 90's.

I don't know about that. Iron Maiden wore spandex and had big hair. Saxon wore spandex and had big hair. etc. etc. It was a look, not a sound. I'll take a band like Cinderella, Dirty Looks or Ratt over any nu-metal, grunge and rap metal any day of the week. But that's just my tastes.

brokentulsa wrote:

Quote :

Black & death metal really grew expanded in the 90's.

I have no use for either genre

I feel the same way Ult and Brokentulsa feel. It all comes down to one's personal tastes.

I just did a look through my iTunes library to see how it balances out by decade. The count doesn't include some of my CDs, LPs or other media and it includes all musical genres except classical which I keep in a different library.

1970s - 524 albums
1980s - 202 albums
1990s - 163 albums
2000 to Present - 429 albums

My split goes like this:

60s - 2
70s - 173
80s - 1047
90s - 742
00s - 778
10s - 285

This is physical media only.

Witchfinder wrote:

My split goes like this:

60s - 2
70s - 173
80s - 1047
90s - 742
00s - 778
10s - 285

This is physical media only.

Earlier decades for me:

1960s - 302 albums
1950s - 111 albums

I also have recordings from the 20s, 30s & 40s but most of them are compilations or collections so it's hard to get an accurate count.

I didn't realize I had over a hundred more albums from the 1960s than the 80s.

Here's what I have by decade, counting only full-length albums (maybe minus 1 or 2 tracks) not the albums where I only have a handful of songs. Also, I was careful not to include greatest hits, compilations and reissues (i.e. albums that came out originally in one decade but re-issued, re-mastered or w/ extra tracks in a different decade).

1950s-2
1960s-60
1970s-98
1980s-383
1990s-129
2000s-55

I do have some 1910s music on CD from Archeophone which are cool. I used to have a small collection of 78 rpm records.

Here's my split

1960s - 2
1970s -27
1980s - 92
1990s - 266
2000s - 461
2010s - 132

It doesn't include any greatest hits albums, most of which contain songs from the 60s to the 80s. So while I may only have two albums from the 60s, I've got more than two albums worth of music from the 60s.

For the most part, I would agree that the 80s was the best. But I do also like a lot of music from the 70s and early 90s too.

I was gonna do the count for my collection of each decade too, but past the 70's, I have so many duplicates, different pressings of certain titles, that it became a struggle.

That aside, some thoughts on the subject. Metal as a phenomenon really came to be in the 80's, even though it kinda started a bit in modesty in the late 70's with Priest and certain bands, for example the NWOBHM movement and other stuff that would lead the way for Metal in the the following decade. The 80's were a great era for sure, it was a decade that very much celebrated life, fun times, and Metal in the form of Traditional as well as Thrash, Glam etc thrived. However, it was also a very corporate and superficial decade in the sense of record companies often pushing bands to change its music and catering to MTV by making silly videos. Superficial trends will always be there though, but the 80's were kinda crazy. On the other hand, I kinda miss the days when Metal bands didn't exlusively wear black all the time.

The 80's will always have, in amount the greatest number of classic Metal releases for me, but it was also a time when bands seemed very encouraged to really try a career in music, seeing as the possibilties were very much there, whereas now its harder than ever to survive by creating music exclusively.

In terms of Rock music and Hard Rock in a broader sense, I guess I would say the 70's were a better decade for me. Now, as an adult, I appreciate the open mindness that seemed more dominant, whereas the 80's were the decade that started to pigeon hole music to the point of dividing people. Ever since, a good percentage of Metal fans have acted stuck up and overly serious about genres, instead of, in my view anyway, actually enjoying music for what it is. That doesnt account too much for this particular forum though, which is why I check this place out every once in a while.

So for me, yes Metal were in its strongest state in the 80's, looking at amount of classic releases. However, for (Hard) Rock in general, and I'm more of a general (Hard) Rock fan nowadays anyway, I would say the 70's were the strongest decade for GREAT music.

Beyond those two decades nothing comes close in amount of great releases. I never really liked the 90's, the 00's were better but the 10's (and late 00's) so far is probably the best for releases for me since the 80's actually. Maybe it does has something to do because of the already mentioned fact that music as a career is not really there anymore, hence new bands just create music for the sense of being artists and enjoying it. It's more modest and for the actual love of just making music, kinda back to basics I guess, in that sense. I hope it stays on that path.