Favourite Musical Genre & Era

[Vincent Vega]

My iTunes has got all kinds of music on it, from classical music like Ravel's Bolero to late 80's rap like NWA, 60's flower power like Arthur Lee's Love to 90's thrash metal like Testament. I've never pigeon holed one type of music and only listened to that style like a few mates I know.

 

Growing up, the big music scenes when I started going to pubs and gigs were house music and indie dance stuff like the "Madchester" bands, like everyone else at that time I went to clubs playing house and dropped chemicals that made me gurn like an idiot and dance like a twat, and saw the likes of The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets and The Charlatans live, but I always knew I'd grown up in the wrong era.

 

If I could have chosen, I would have hit 16 around about 1971, because for me that was when my golden age was starting off, the hard rock/heavy metal of the early 70's through to the early 80's. Lately I have been listening to loads of stuff from that time and it inspired me to start yet another GF music thread, one I don't think we've had before. I love all of the following:

 

Led Zeppelin

Deep Purple (also the likes of Rainbow and Gillan that band members later joined)

Black Sabbath (also like a lot of Ozzy's solo stuff after he was sacked)

AC/DC (especially when Bon Scott was vocalist)

Thin Lizzy

Queen

Iron Maiden (Paul DiAnno's stint as vocalist)

Judas Priest

Motorhead

 

I also like bits and pieces from Aerosmith and Van Halen at that time but prefer AC/DC and the British and Irish rock gods. These bands prepared the way for Metallica, Slayer, Guns N Roses, Faith No More etc.

 

Imagine growing up at that time and watching that lot live, and then going to see the reds on a Saturday as we went through our period of domination.

 

 

[Jairzinho]

Latin Jazz, narrowly ahead of 60s Soul.

[TheHowieLama]

Blackish

[xerxes]

Imagine growing up at that time and watching that lot live, and then going to see the reds on a Saturday as we went through our period of domination.

I did!

[Skidfingers McGonical]

My iTunes has got all kinds of music on it, from classical music like Ravel's Bolero to late 80's rap like NWA, 60's flower power like Arthur Lee's Love to 90's thrash metal like Testament. I've never pigeon holed one type of music and only listened to that style like a few mates I know.

 

Growing up, the big music scenes when I started going to pubs and gigs were house music and indie dance stuff like the "Madchester" bands, like everyone else at that time I went to clubs playing house and dropped chemicals that made me gurn like an idiot and dance like a twat, and saw the likes of The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets and The Charlatans live, but I always knew I'd grown up in the wrong era.

 

If I could have chosen, I would have hit 16 around about 1971, because for me that was when my golden age was starting off, the hard rock/heavy metal of the early 70's through to the early 80's. Lately I have been listening to loads of stuff from that time and it inspired me to start yet another GF music thread, one I don't think we've had before. I love all of the following:

 

Led Zeppelin

Deep Purple (also the likes of Rainbow and Gillan that band members later joined)

Black Sabbath (also like a lot of Ozzy's solo stuff after he was sacked)

AC/DC (especially when Bon Scott was vocalist)

Thin Lizzy

Queen

Iron Maiden (Paul DiAnno's stint as vocalist)

Judas Priest

Motorhead

 

I also like bits and pieces from Aerosmith and Van Halen at that time but prefer AC/DC and the British and Irish rock gods. These bands prepared the way for Metallica, Slayer, Guns N Roses, Faith No More etc.

 

Imagine growing up at that time and watching that lot live, and then going to see the reds on a Saturday as we went through our period of domination.

 

Cracking thread idea VV.

 

My favourite era has changed over the years first it used to be the 60's and the British Blues Explosion with the likes of Cream, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Peter Grenn's Fleetwood MAc. Then it went to 90's grunge and Indie 90-95. Then a trance phase from 97-01.

 

My favourite genre is heavy bluesy rock which just falls short of heavy metal. But I do like all sorts of differrent genres.

 

Favourite era is 90-95 with the Seattle explosion. Which probably follows on nicely from your favourite era as a lot of the early 70's bands influenced my list below.

 

Alice In Chains

Pearl Jam

Soundgarden

Stone Temple Pilots

Nirvana

Fatso Jetson

Mudhoney

TAD

Screaming Trees

Mother Love Bone

Mad Season

 

I also discovered Faith No More during this time period.

 

I would really would have loved to have been around Seattle at that time.

[Bjornebye]

Great thread

 

I’d have loved to have been around from 1965-70. I can imagine myself groping tits down Carnaby Street. That seems to have been the switch period from moralistic Britain to a more rebellious youth culture and a ‘fuck you’ to the establishment. Stringy might be able to correct me but that era always appealed to me. The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones etc…. wow.  

 

However for me my favourite Genre is indie/Rock n Roll. And the Brit-Pop era.

 

I got into music properly in about 95 when I joined senior school and am gutted I wasn’t 18-25 at that time.

 

Oasis

Pulp

Cast

Stereophonics

The Verve

Ocean Colour Scene

Blur

Manic Street Preachers

Space

The Seahorses

The Charlatans

[PestiRed]

I'm pretty happy with my timing. I got Acid House, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays etc at 16, grunge at about 19 and Britpop at 22. Not a bad combination for clubbing and concerts.

 

If I could choose another era, it would either be mid-60's with Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Small Faces etc or 1976 with the explosion of punk. Either would be fascinating

[Lee909]

I cant choose a genre as I listen to too much varied music but for era it has to be the mid 60s to early 70s

 

Blues went electric with the British guitarists, bringing new life to Muddy Waters when he was pushed to do electric mud.

 

The Allman brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd starting the southern rock movement

 

Stax and Motown were prolific

 

The early parts of heavier rock

 

Outlaw country

 

Bob Marley's early record

[Jairzinho]

I cant choose a genre as I listen to too much varied music but for era it has to be the mid 60s to early 70s

 

Blues went electric with the British guitarists, bringing new life to Muddy Waters when he was pushed to do electric mud.

 

The Allman brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd starting the southern rock movement

 

Stax and Motown were prolific

 

The early parts of heavier rock

 

Outlaw country

 

Bob Marley's early record

 

It really does.

 

To have, at one time (just about), The Kinks, Jimmy Cliff, Al Green, CCR, Joao Gilberto, Paco de Lucia, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, and BB King all as current music. The quality and variety was absolutely insane. Fuck off, you lucky old twats.

[Total Longo]

I'm pretty happy with my timing. I got Acid House, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays etc at 16, grunge at about 19 and Britpop at 22. Not a bad combination for clubbing and concerts.

 

If I could choose another era, it would either be mid-60's with Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Small Faces etc or 1976 with the explosion of punk. Either would be fascinating

 

Basically this, i agree with the 88/89 era being an ideal time to be young, music wise (and it was), although 1967 would have been the one i would have liked to have lived through, with all the acid, flower power nonsense and great, great music coming from The Beatles, The Doors and The Pink Floyd.  

[Mook]

It's quite simple for me, the period from Sgt Pepper to just before punk kicked off here ('76).

 

I've got about 600 albums & 95% of them are from this era, the reasons are quite simple too, the artists were generally in control, the record companies threw money at them & told them to go away and express themselves. The Beatles & George Martin had opened up a whole new World of possibilities in terms of writing & recording, different styles of music were mixing together, you had Santana, the Tony Williams Lifetime, Miles Davis, Cream, Hendrix, early Prog Rock, Sly & the family Stone, Woodstock, Altamont, The Stones recorded all their best stuff during this period, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple & The Who were joining them in taking over America & all that's before I even get started on the Soul stuff that was going on from Aretha to James Brown to The Temptations.

 

I wish I'd been alive then.

[stringvest]

Despite my huge age, I wasn't even 10 when the sixties were over so I don't remember too much of the stuff then.  I do remember NEMS, which was the shop the Epsteins owned and run on Whitechapel, as my auntie used to take me in there.  I remember listening booths, where you could ask the shop assistant to put on a single and you could go into a booth and hear it.  The first record I bought was when I was 7, and it was Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da, not by the Beatles, but by Marmalade.  I vaguely remember all the hop-had when the Beatles split up; it was like when Shankly retired but times 1 million.  It was the main news on the TV for what seemed like weeks, and looking back now, it did seem to mark the end of an era, especially in Liverpool.  I do remember when the Beatles Red and Blue albums came out, and thinking these must be the most important albums ever, even though they were greatest hits albums.  There's still an argument to be had there, I guess.  

 

A lot of music in the 60s and 70s was shit, but I do believe that there were more riches - more groundbreaking stuff, more diversity, and more quality - than we get today.  I used to think, when it was happening, that punk/New Wave would forever be my choice of musical genre, but eventually I realised that good music can emanate from any genre, or none.  

 

i can get emotionally drawn deeply into classical music (though I hate opera); there's nothing more exciting than listening to a big band under someone Count Basie winding up for the musical break in a fantastically written Cole Porter song,  The sheer physicality of being in the same room as an orchestra or a big band is so much more visceral than listening to amplified music, even though I've been to gigs by the heaviest of bands.  I love prog, reggae, motown, soul, funk, and am a massive fan of the perfect 3 minute pop song, whether from the sixties or from last week.  I love songwriters with something to say.  I love acoustic music, electronic music, and I love the artistic freedom and creativity that technology and the new technical, delivery and commercial platforms it provides.  I love singers who can sing, and some who can't sing.

 

I can even get behind some of the derivative stuff that came out in the 90s - Oasis, grunge of various flavours, though the pickings are somewhat slimmer.  Oasis, for example, released two fantastic albums. but the rest is patchy.  Grunge bands, and I include Nirvana, and almost any rock bands coming out of the 90s, well they were derivative as well, but produced fewer truly decent albums, and very little actually worth listening hard to.  I'm also not a fan of hip-hop and sample heavy beats, as I don't think there's much merit in it apart from the skill of monetising other peoples creativity. 

 

my kids force me to listen to current stuff; some I like, some i don't - same as it ever was.   

 

i guess what I'm saying is that I can't decide what musical genre I like most.  Opera, 90's rock/grunge, rap, hip-hop aside, I love them all.  

[Bjornebye]

Despite my huge age, I wasn't even 10 when the sixties were over so I don't remember too much of the stuff then.  I do remember NEMS, which was the shop the Epsteins owned and run on Whitechapel, as my auntie used to take me in there.  I remember listening booths, where you could ask the shop assistant to put on a single and you could go into a booth and hear it.  The first record I bought was when I was 7, and it was Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da, not by the Beatles, but by Marmalade.  I vaguely remember all the hop-had when the Beatles split up; it was like when Shankly retired but times 1 million.  It was the main news on the TV for what seemed like weeks, and looking back now, it did seem to mark the end of an era, especially in Liverpool.  I do remember when the Beatles Red and Blue albums came out, and thinking these must be the most important albums ever, even though they were greatest hits albums.  There's still an argument to be had there, I guess.  

 

A lot of music in the 60s and 70s was shit, but I do believe that there were more riches - more groundbreaking stuff, more diversity, and more quality - than we get today.  I used to think, when it was happening, that punk/New Wave would forever be my choice of musical genre, but eventually I realised that good music can emanate from any genre, or none.  

 

i can get emotionally drawn deeply into classical music (though I hate opera); there's nothing more exciting than listening to a big band under someone Count Basie winding up for the musical break in a fantastically written Cole Porter song,  The sheer physicality of being in the same room as an orchestra or a big band is so much more visceral than listening to amplified music, even though I've been to gigs by the heaviest of bands.  I love prog, reggae, motown, soul, funk, and am a massive fan of the perfect 3 minute pop song, whether from the sixties or from last week.  I love songwriters with something to say.  I love acoustic music, electronic music, and I love the artistic freedom and creativity that technology and the new technical, delivery and commercial platforms it provides.  I love singers who can sing, and some who can't sing.

 

I can even get behind some of the derivative stuff that came out in the 90s - Oasis, grunge of various flavours, though the pickings are somewhat slimmer.  Oasis, for example, released two fantastic albums. but the rest is patchy.  Grunge bands, and I include Nirvana, and almost any rock bands coming out of the 90s, well they were derivative as well, but produced fewer truly decent albums, and very little actually worth listening hard to.  I'm also not a fan of hip-hop and sample heavy beats, as I don't think there's much merit in it apart from the skill of monetising other peoples creativity. 

 

my kids force me to listen to current stuff; some I like, some i don't - same as it ever was.   

 

i guess what I'm saying is that I can't decide what musical genre I like most.  Opera, 90's rock/grunge, rap, hip-hop aside, I love them all.  

 

Why do you have to come in here just to be a twat 

[Jairzinho]

Despite my huge age, I wasn't even 10 when the sixties were over so I don't remember too much of the stuff then.  I do remember NEMS, which was the shop the Epsteins owned and run on Whitechapel, as my auntie used to take me in there.  I remember listening booths, where you could ask the shop assistant to put on a single and you could go into a booth and hear it.  The first record I bought was when I was 7, and it was Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da, not by the Beatles, but by Marmalade.  I vaguely remember all the hop-had when the Beatles split up; it was like when Shankly retired but times 1 million.  It was the main news on the TV for what seemed like weeks, and looking back now, it did seem to mark the end of an era, especially in Liverpool.  I do remember when the Beatles Red and Blue albums came out, and thinking these must be the most important albums ever, even though they were greatest hits albums.  There's still an argument to be had there, I guess.  

 

A lot of music in the 60s and 70s was shit, but I do believe that there were more riches - more groundbreaking stuff, more diversity, and more quality - than we get today.  I used to think, when it was happening, that punk/New Wave would forever be my choice of musical genre, but eventually I realised that good music can emanate from any genre, or none.  

 

i can get emotionally drawn deeply into classical music (though I hate opera); there's nothing more exciting than listening to a big band under someone Count Basie winding up for the musical break in a fantastically written Cole Porter song,  The sheer physicality of being in the same room as an orchestra or a big band is so much more visceral than listening to amplified music, even though I've been to gigs by the heaviest of bands.  I love prog, reggae, motown, soul, funk, and am a massive fan of the perfect 3 minute pop song, whether from the sixties or from last week.  I love songwriters with something to say.  I love acoustic music, electronic music, and I love the artistic freedom and creativity that technology and the new technical, delivery and commercial platforms it provides.  I love singers who can sing, and some who can't sing.

 

I can even get behind some of the derivative stuff that came out in the 90s - Oasis, grunge of various flavours, though the pickings are somewhat slimmer.  Oasis, for example, released two fantastic albums. but the rest is patchy.  Grunge bands, and I include Nirvana, and almost any rock bands coming out of the 90s, well they were derivative as well, but produced fewer truly decent albums, and very little actually worth listening hard to.  I'm also not a fan of hip-hop and sample heavy beats, as I don't think there's much merit in it apart from the skill of monetising other peoples creativity. 

 

my kids force me to listen to current stuff; some I like, some i don't - same as it ever was.   

 

i guess what I'm saying is that I can't decide what musical genre I like most.  Opera, 90's rock/grunge, rap, hip-hop aside, I love them all.  

 

Agree with most of that apart from the bit about Oasis releasing two fantastic albums.

[Vincent Vega]

I did!

I'm pretty jealous of that sexrex, but it does mean you're almost drawing your bus pass.

[KMD7]

Mid 60's early 70's. 

 

Late 80's early 90's.   

[Skidfingers McGonical]

Why do you have to come in here just to be a twat 

 

Haha!

 

The truth always kicks you hard doesn't it Stig?

[Skidfingers McGonical]

Despite my huge age, I wasn't even 10 when the sixties were over so I don't remember too much of the stuff then.  I do remember NEMS, which was the shop the Epsteins owned and run on Whitechapel, as my auntie used to take me in there.  I remember listening booths, where you could ask the shop assistant to put on a single and you could go into a booth and hear it.  The first record I bought was when I was 7, and it was Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da, not by the Beatles, but by Marmalade.  I vaguely remember all the hop-had when the Beatles split up; it was like when Shankly retired but times 1 million.  It was the main news on the TV for what seemed like weeks, and looking back now, it did seem to mark the end of an era, especially in Liverpool.  I do remember when the Beatles Red and Blue albums came out, and thinking these must be the most important albums ever, even though they were greatest hits albums.  There's still an argument to be had there, I guess.  

 

A lot of music in the 60s and 70s was shit, but I do believe that there were more riches - more groundbreaking stuff, more diversity, and more quality - than we get today.  I used to think, when it was happening, that punk/New Wave would forever be my choice of musical genre, but eventually I realised that good music can emanate from any genre, or none.  

 

i can get emotionally drawn deeply into classical music (though I hate opera); there's nothing more exciting than listening to a big band under someone Count Basie winding up for the musical break in a fantastically written Cole Porter song,  The sheer physicality of being in the same room as an orchestra or a big band is so much more visceral than listening to amplified music, even though I've been to gigs by the heaviest of bands.  I love prog, reggae, motown, soul, funk, and am a massive fan of the perfect 3 minute pop song, whether from the sixties or from last week.  I love songwriters with something to say.  I love acoustic music, electronic music, and I love the artistic freedom and creativity that technology and the new technical, delivery and commercial platforms it provides.  I love singers who can sing, and some who can't sing.

 

I can even get behind some of the derivative stuff that came out in the 90s - Oasis, grunge of various flavours, though the pickings are somewhat slimmer.  Oasis, for example, released two fantastic albums. but the rest is patchy.  Grunge bands, and I include Nirvana, and almost any rock bands coming out of the 90s, well they were derivative as well, but produced fewer truly decent albums, and very little actually worth listening hard to.  I'm also not a fan of hip-hop and sample heavy beats, as I don't think there's much merit in it apart from the skill of monetising other peoples creativity. 

 

my kids force me to listen to current stuff; some I like, some i don't - same as it ever was.   

 

i guess what I'm saying is that I can't decide what musical genre I like most.  Opera, 90's rock/grunge, rap, hip-hop aside, I love them all.  

 

Soz stringers but that is wrong.

 

You're half right about Oasis too.

[King Emlyn]

Don't really have a favourite genre but era wise definitely the 70s for me.

[xerxes]

I have always loved music and still do, so working out “my era” is no easy task.

 

I was a teenager when punk broke so identify with the end of the classic rock era when I was seeing the likes of The Who, Zep and Thin Lizzy and the whole of the punk, new wave thing when I saw pretty much everyone of note ( and lots that were not) except the Pistols. I used to buy MM and NME every week for tour news.

 

Although I have kept buying, listening and gig going, the Brit Pop era including Madchester was the second era which really caught my attention.

 

Now, with you tube, Spotify, and dozens of digital channels it is virtually impossible for musical movements to gain traction and momentum as they did.

 

But I think the thread demands one era, so here goes:

 

Black Sabbath ( up to Technical Ecstasy)

Thin Lizzy

Led Zep

David Bowie

Lynyrd Skynyrd (pre plane crash)

Doobie Bros

Elvis Costello

The Clash

Television

New York Dolls

Lou Reed

Boomtown Rats ( a very good live act for the first two albums)

The Stranglers

The Jam

[stringvest]

Soz stringers but that is wrong.

 

You're half right about Oasis too.

 

listen, my colours are not mailed to the mast here. I'm always willing to learn something new.  Tell me what I should listen to.  In fact, send me links.

[stringvest]

Agree with most of that apart from the bit about Oasis releasing two fantastic albums.

 

they were a band of their time - two years. where the music fitted the time.  Yes it was derivative, but it was a genuine homage, it wasn't cynical.  

[s(k)aturation]

The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, The Kinks, Eric Clapton... 

... then my childhood in the 70s was very enjoyable with consistently good music throughout...

I put a full stop around 1985.

 

Oh, and Mozart.

[Jairzinho]

they were a band of their time - two years. where the music fitted the time.  Yes it was derivative, but it was a genuine homage, it wasn't cynical.  

 

I think they were/are shite.

[s(k)aturation]

they were a band of their time - two years. where the music fitted the time.  Yes it was derivative, but it was a genuine homage, it wasn't cynical.  

 

Everything is derivative, String. 

Being in an ideas business myself, the lamest criticism people level at you is being "derivative".

Oh, that been done before... you often hear said.

Yep, it has... and this is my version of it.

 

Everything's been done before.