You're Stuck on a Desert Island...

[Guest Brian M]

...and you can only listen to music from one decade. Which decade do you listen to?

Me, it has to be the 80s. From Punk to New Wave to New Romantic to Pop to Big Hair metal. It's all good!

[lauren]

70s for me, plenty of 60s bands still making fine music such as the Dead, Airplane, CSN and of course Y, Joni, Traffic, Zep, and then the 70s bands coming through, Dire Straights, punk, plenty of good stuff.

[loz]

Almost imposible to call between the 60s and 70s for me. So many stunning albums in both decades, unlike the 80s which although had some real high points for me, struggled to maintain a high overall standard and also marked the beginning of what the charts have now deteriorated into, a collection of mass produced pap.

70s gave us albums like:

Dark Side of the Moon

What's Going On

Bitches Brew

After the Gold Rush & Tonight's the Night

Moondance

Unknown Pleasures

Hunky Dory Ziggy Stardust (too lazy to type it all!)

American Beauty

Innervisions & Songs in the Key of Life

Quadrophenia & Meaty Beaty Big and bouncy

Catch a Fire & Exodus

All Mod Cons

Parallel Lines

Transformer

Songs of Love and Hate

The Clash & London Calling

Off the Wall

Even in the Quitest Moments

American Pie

Sticky Fingers

Aqualung

Blue

Shaft

Desire

which is a stunning selection however the 60s can also boast the very best albums from the likes of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Ella Fitzgerald, The Kinks, Smokey Robinson, Roy Orbison, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Donovan, The Four Tops, Johnny Cash, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Velvet Underground, Grateful Dead, the start of Joni Mitchells career and arguable her best album in Songs for a Seagull (I know most people would opt for Blue), CSNY, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin etc etc

And that is withut actually thinking too deeply about it. For me it is impossible to choose between the two of them. Maybe if it wasn't for the fact that the 60s saw the very best of Bob Dylan, The Beatles and The Velvet Underground I would be swayed by Lauren's argument and go for the 70s.

[BlueBeard]

This is such a difficult decision! For me it's clearly between the 60's & 70's - I even made a list of my favourite bands/singers from both eras to help me decide.....

1960's

Bo Diddley, Sam Cooke, John Lee Hooker, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Animals, Dusty Springfield, Four Seasons, James Brown, Ronettes, Crystals, Chiffons, Who, Donovan, Butterfield Blues Band, Kinks, Hollies, Manfred Mann, Small Faces, Cream, Johnny Cash, Traffic, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Otis Redding, Spencer Davis Group, Aretha Franklin, Beach Boys, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Pretty Things, Ike & Tina Turner, Joe Tex, Lovin' Spoonful, Prince Buster, Yardbirds, Love, Simon & Garfunkel, Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Country Joe & The Fish, Doors, Ethiopians, Velvet Underground, Upsetters, Derrick Morgan, Blue Cheer, Derrick Harriott, Fleetwood Mac, Desmond Dekker, Maytals, Pioneers, Moby Grape, Free, Jimmy Cliff, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Flying Burrito Brothers, It's A Beautiful Day, Blind Faith, MC5, Joni Mitchell, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Spirit, Zombies, Ten Years After....and Motown!

1970's

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Taste, Grand Funk Railroad, Black Sabbath, Groundhogs, Santana, Sly & The Family Stone, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Ken Boothe, Rod Stewart & The Faces, Allman Brothers, Big Youth, Pink Fairies, Mountain, Hawkwind, T.Rex, Iggy & The Stooges, Humble Pie, I-Roy, U-Roy, Genesis (w.Peter Gabriel), Alice Cooper, Cat Stevens, Al Green, Gram Parsons, Cactus, Dust, Stray, David Bowie, Slade, Ann Peebles, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Mott The Hoople, Family, Chi-Lites, Horslips, Lindisfarne, (early) Queen, Johnny Winter, Curtis Mayfield, John Lennon, Isley Brothers, Rory Gallagher, Status Quo, Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance, Parliament Funkadelic, Cockney Rebel, New York Dolls, Linda Lewis, Heavy Metal Kids, Lou Reed, Dr.Feelgood, Eagles, Barry White, Millie Jackson, Pink Floyd, SAHB, Black Oak Arkansas, Foghat, Max Romeo, Frankie Miller, Ramones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Marley & The Wailers, J.J.Cale, Bonnie Raitt, Patti Smith Group, Bad Company, Thin Lizzy, Rufus, Streetwalkers, Nils Lofgren, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Miller Band, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, ELO, Marshall Tucker Band, Emmylou Harris, Rainbow, ZZ Top, Marcia Griffiths, Ted Nugent, Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Blondie, Stranglers, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Bob Seger, Clash, Ijahman, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Sex Pistols, Linton Kwesi Johnson, AC/DC, Kate Bush, Jam, Dire Straits, Joe Jackson, Undertones, Van Halen

Obviously a lot of these artists spanned both decades, so I just put them into the decade in which I preferred their music.

I've spent ages pondering this, and have finally come to a decision! Naturally there was also a lot of crap music released in both the 60's & the 70's, but......the 70's was the decade that spawned Disco music - so the 60's is my choice, by default

[Scott]

Can I choose the decade 1973-1983? Also known as 13 to 23.

1973

Dark Side of the Moon

Catch a Fire

Band on the Run

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Billion Dollar Babies

House of the Holy

Brain Salad Surgery

Innervisions

Quadrophenia

.

.

.

.

. And everything in between

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.

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.

1983

The Final Cut

Duran Duran

Japanese Whispers

Kill 'Em All

Murmur ...REM's first LP

Labour of Love

Let's Dance

Madness

Speaking in Tongues

Punch the Clock

[lauren]

Bluebeard and Loz, you both have great music tastes.

I went to see It's a Beautiful Day in September here in Florida. Actually it was billed as the music of It's a Beautiful Day as David LaFlame is still in litigatioin over the band's name. They were a band I wished I had been able to see in the late 60s and whilst this time around Patti Santos and the original Linda Laflame are gone to that great music world in the sky, just sitting outside in the pouring rain listening to White Bird and Hot Summer's Day etc was fricking fantastic, LaFlame still amazing on violin. At the same gig was Big Brother and the Holding Co without JJ, QMS and lastly Jefferson Starship without Grace. A blast from the past nonetheless.

If I could stretch Brian's decade a bit I would probably go 66-76 so I could have all the bands and favourite albums with me.

[Jayhawk]

it would have to be the 70's for me

[bjd]

yep 80s for me

i think the order would be

80s

60s

00s

90s

70s (sorry lads! though the clash, joy division and bowie are notable exceptions)

[mad_mac]

great question, and tough for me too. I really like the 60's, but I think I would hvae to go for 70's. Despite being a huge Beatles fan, I think that the 70's offers more variety. From the evolution of Metal, Sabbath and Zep. To Punk and all that lays in between. Also, there are some great bands of the 80's who were actually formed in the 70's..does that count?

[Gem]

60s for me, but also like a lot of 50s stuff... born after my time.

[e!!iot]

the 80's. But just the Smiths.

Then after a while i'd probably kill myself, not because of the Smiths, but because i'm stuck on a desert island.

[Nibs]

the 80's. But just the Smiths.

Then after a while i'd probably kill myself, not because of the Smiths, but because i'm stuck on a desert island.

Although listening to just The Smiths when stuck on a dersert island is probably not a great move - enough to make anyone want to tie some rope around their neck and find the nearest (and tallest) palm tree!!!

70's for me (although that would probably be late 76 onwards). You can loose all that glam / glitter crap and just go with The Jam, The Clash, Stranglers, Buzzcocks, Pistols, Elvis Costello + all the two tone stuff....................

[andy]

Slightly obscure but the 1920's, the 1930's depression killed off paramount records and along with it probably the best guitar music ever recorded. My particular favorite is Blind Blake, could listen to him for the rest of my life and still not work out what he was doing.

Anyone with more than a passing interest in this music, get in touch it is apart from Chelsea it is my passion in life ! :-)

[Mike O]

The 1960's by a country mile.

Possible the last decade in which anything truly original came to fruition in popular music (possibly apart from hip-hop which doesn't count because it's bollox).

Everything that followed in the ensuing decades was just variations on a theme.

Whether you're a fan of soul, punk, metal, reggae, folk rock etc, you can typically hear it's purest and least convoluted expression in the 60's.

I'm also going to guess that most meldoies (with their limited no. of note combinations) were first aired in that decade.

[Maksimov]

Possible the last decade in which anything truly original came to fruition in popular music

Back in the day when even nostalgia was better...

[yorkleyblue]

68-78 for me

Classic Motown

Classic Soul

Funk

George Clinton

Reggae at it's Finest

Zep

Bowie

Floyd

Quo (yes Quo)

Glam rock

Dylan

Stones

The Kinks

Purple

Sabbath

Isleys

Santana

Ashton Gardner and Dyke

The Band

so many more - blah blah blah!

Kev