You Pick The Decade(s)

[Nucky Nolan]

This might be fun. In this crazy world, many of us miss past decades for varied reasons. The reasons range from entertainment to political and social issues. What decade(s) would you like to live in for the categories of your choice?

I would pick the '60s for "Mad Men" fashion. The '70s would be my choice for films, as it was the period of my two faves: "The Godfather" and "Star Wars". The "80s had the best music, from pop to rock to country to urban, and that decade's Top Forty charts are like gold compared to this year's poop. The '90s were great for network TV shows, and I would be just fine if technology (for our daily lives) stopped before the start of the new millennium.

[26 horses]

I think I'm going in with you on the 80s for several reasons:

* The music was damned good, both rock and jazz.
* The national penetration of cable made the nasuea of network TV optional.
* Antilock brakes and fuel injection actually made cars reliable, albeit HP was meh...
* Ronald Reagan - say no more.
* Cellphones were rare and drivers less distracted.
* No major wars or conflicts.
* Most sports had not gone full-on showoff at every score or play.
* Manners still existed.
* Millenials were not let loose on society yet.

[KSM]

I was a baby in the 70's but I know enough now to be able to say that without any doubt that the 70's by far had the best bass players. That's a fact, JACK!

Other than that I'll have to agree with 26 for many of the same reasons. Orrrr the 1890's.. those were the good ole days two lives ago. Ooh Fuck, I was great!

[FISH]

November 22, 1963, I was in fifth grade. While in school, our principal, Mother Rose Catherine came into our classroom to annouce early dismissal at 2 PM. Something happened to our president.
As I child in the 60's, TV was my main source for entertainment.  Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, The Flintstones, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, Batman, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and Bonanza. Music started to enter my life. She Loves You (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)
By the 1970's, Movies and music was the happening for me. The Godfather, Jaws, The Exorcist, ROCKY, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Young Frankenstein, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Taxi Driver.
The 1980's and music was my pleasure. Too many and too much to note.
 I became a volunteer/member with a local Vietnam Veterans group (I am not a veteran).
By the 1990's, I was listening to Art Bell on the radio. I was chatting in AOL's Grassy Knoll chat room.
I attended the The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs (1989 to 1993). I learned to dislike John S. McCain.
I registered with the Republican Party. Ronald Reagan became my favorite president and still remains my favorite president. I refuse to discuss politics, because I will become a "nut job".
I am not able to pick just one decade. But a fun topic. And I like fun...

[FISH]

I was a baby in the 70's but I know enough now to be able to say that without any doubt that the 70's by far had the best bass players. That's a fact, JACK!

Other than that I'll have to agree with 26 for many of the same reasons. Orrrr the 1890's.. those were the good ole days two lives ago. Ooh Fuck, I was great!

John Joseph Wardle AKA Jah Wobble, original bass player with Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The "best bass" player, to my ears.

[GravitySucks]

John Joseph Wardle AKA Jah Wobble, original bass player with Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The "best bass" player, to my ears.

Who was your favorite bass player in Jethro Tull?

[FISH]

Who was your favorite bass player in Jethro Tull?

[Nucky Nolan]

I think I'm going in with you on the 80s for several reasons:

* The music was damned good, both rock and jazz.
* The national penetration of cable made the nasuea of network TV optional.
* Antilock brakes and fuel injection actually made cars reliable, albeit HP was meh...
* Ronald Reagan - say no more.
* Cellphones were rare and drivers less distracted.
* No major wars or conflicts.
* Most sports had not gone full-on showoff at every score or play.
* Manners still existed.
* Millenials were not let loose on society yet.

You can pick more than one decade, but that decade also would be my first choice for the "Groundhog Day" experience. I mentioned the music. The movies and the TV shows were great too. Most things were, but the car designs were almost uniformly boring during the '80s. Automobiles seemed dependable, though. Didn't the Ford Escort and the Ford Taurus debut then? We had a blue Mustang then. I was envious of my friend's family's red '64. 

Doesn't it seem like we've gone from the Golden Age of ancient Greece and ancient Rome to a new Dark Ages? Other than needless technology, it seems like we've devolved in most ways. For instance, young men now have lower levels of grip strength, sperm counts, and testosterone than young men then. Scientific studies showed this, but they also found that young women now are stronger than young women then, and there's less strength dimorphism between the genders now. I know that you could write a zillion posts on the reasons why. I also even like the neon and pastel clothes of the '80s (I swear I'm straight) more than the blah and bland fashions now that fit right in with the plain and simple decor. It's like we've gone from bright colors to shades of gray, and not just in the tacky Merry-Go-Round threads sense. Build a time machine, that can take us back to the '80s, and I'll be your first guinea pig! 

[Nucky Nolan]

I was a baby in the 70's but I know enough now to be able to say that without any doubt that the 70's by far had the best bass players. That's a fact, JACK!

Other than that I'll have to agree with 26 for many of the same reasons. Orrrr the 1890's.. those were the good ole days two lives ago. Ooh Fuck, I was great!

I don't doubt it. The '70s was the best time for AOR. It gave rise to some of the best hard rock and heavy metal bands during the Reagan Decade, but so many classic artists produced their best material during the Me Decade. Granted, none of the songs compared to "In The Good Ol' Summertime", but barbershop quartets could always make a comeback.

[albrecht]

You can pick more than one decade, but that decade also would be my first choice for the "Groundhog Day" experience. I mentioned the music. The movies and the TV shows were great too. Most things were, but the car designs were almost uniformly boring during the '80s. Automobiles seemed dependable, though. Didn't the Ford Escort and the Ford Taurus debut then? We had a blue Mustang then. I was envious of my friend's family's red '64. 

Doesn't it seem like we've gone from the Golden Age of ancient Greece and ancient Rome to a new Dark Ages? Other than needless technology, it seems like we've devolved in most ways. For instance, young men now have lower levels of grip strength, sperm counts, and testosterone than young men then. Scientific studies showed this, but they also found that young women now are stronger than young women then, and there's less strength dimorphism between the genders now. I know that you could write a zillion posts on the reasons why. I also even like the neon and pastel clothes of the '80s (I swear I'm straight) more than the blah and bland fashions now that fit right in with the plain and simple decor. It's like we've gone from bright colors to shades of gray, and not just in the tacky Merry-Go-Round threads sense. Build a time machine, that can take us back to the '80s, and I'll be your first guinea pig!

What blows my mind is when you seen the few old films of old decades that were done in color.  For whatever reason I think almost that everything decade prior to the cheapness/availability of color film everyone just wore gray tones and even life itself was in B&W. It is a weird phenomena and totally not rational considering descriptions in books, paintings, and simple human nature's desire- but still being brought up watching B&W in every thing from war film footage, news broadcasts, movie reels, and movies that things were drab back then. When not so.

[Nucky Nolan]

November 22, 1963, I was in fifth grade. While in school, our principal, Mother Rose Catherine came into our classroom to annouce early dismissal at 2 PM. Something happened to our president.
As I child in the 60's, TV was my main source for entertainment.  Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, The Flintstones, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, Batman, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and Bonanza. Music started to enter my life. She Loves You (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)
By the 1970's, Movies and music was the happening for me. The Godfather, Jaws, The Exorcist, ROCKY, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Young Frankenstein, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Taxi Driver.
The 1980's and music was my pleasure. Too many and too much to note.
 I became a volunteer/member with a local Vietnam Veterans group (I am not a veteran).
By the 1990's, I was listening to Art Bell on the radio. I was chatting in AOL's Grassy Knoll chat room.
I attended the The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs (1989 to 1993). I learned to dislike John S. McCain.
I registered with the Republican Party. Ronald Reagan became my favorite president and still remains my favorite president. I refuse to discuss politics, because I will become a "nut job".
I am not able to pick just one decade. But a fun topic. And I like fun...

I love your post! You mention some great things about the '90s, and it really is an underrated decade and not just because of the great network TV shows ("Frasier", "Seinfeld", "Friends", "Wings"). It has a cool vibe that seems to be gone now. Much of it has to do with the material dealing with conspiracy theories and paranormal events, Art Bell being the Babe Ruth of that missed phenomenon.

We don't have the same sense of hope and possibility, and the loss might not be qualifiable as it seems amorphous and indefinable. I really think that 9/11 did a real number on our psyches in ways that we have yet to grasp. It's like a national death in the family from which it's extremely difficult to recover. I apologize for the downer, and I promise to post more silly replies in the near future.

[GravitySucks]

I love your post! You mention some great things about the '90s, and it really is an underrated decade and not just because of the great network TV shows ("Frasier", "Seinfeld", "Friends", "Wings"). It has a cool vibe that seems to be gone now. Much of it has to do with the material dealing with conspiracy theories and paranormal events, Art Bell being the Babe Ruth of that missed phenomenon.

We don't have the same sense of hope and possibility, and the loss might not be qualifiable as it seems amorphous and indefinable. I really think that 9/11 did a real number on our psyches in ways that we have yet to grasp. It's like a national death in the family from which it's extremely difficult to recover. I apologize for the downer, and I promise to post more silly replies in the near future.

Are you calling Babe Ruth a quitter?

[Nucky Nolan]

What blows my mind is when you seen the few old films of old decades that were done in color.  For whatever reason I think almost that everything decade prior to the cheapness/availability of color film everyone just wore gray tones and even life itself was in B&W. It is a weird phenomena and totally not rational considering descriptions in books, paintings, and simple human nature's desire- but still being brought up watching B&W in every thing from war film footage, news broadcasts, movie reels, and movies that things were drab back then. When not so.

I really thought that when I was a toddler when I looked at old movies and old photos. When I got older, I began to appreciate the look of classy, tasteful old shows, like "The Twilight Zone". I likely wouldn't have enjoyed them as much if they were in color. You're right that colorized B&W film can discombobulate you. In fact, I just watched a clip of the set of "The Andy Griffith Show", and it was in color. It indeed seemed jarring and unfamiliar. Your mind just makes these connections, and they're difficult to disconnect. You intellectually *know* that life was not B&W back then, but colorized film of that period (WWII comes to mind) seems like a collection of scenes from a parallel universe.

[Nucky Nolan]

Are you calling Babe Ruth a quitter?

I'm saying that Babe Ruth is dead. Too soon?

[KSM]

It's funny, and in a way pretty darn cool that threads like this usually go in a musical direction first and foremost. Soundtracks of our lives, gentlemen. A lot to be said in the music of a decade.  You simply must feel sorry for those who will only know the music of the last 20 years as, the classics.  Yikes!!! Fuckin' frightening when you think about it.