Stephane Ascoet via Dng <dng@???> wrote:

>> Of course, the 80's were better, and the 90's were even better than
>> that, but the 70's were no slouch when it comes to music. If you skip
>> disco.
>

> Hi, it's a joke? 70s are considered by lot of people to be the best decade in music, just some examples: Crosby Stills Nash and Young(and every various related combination of these four guys), Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Elton John, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, former Beatles in solo, Dire Straits and Michael Jackson debuts...

I think it's a case of two things :

1) Everyone has different tastes - what someone might think of as rubbish is someone else's favourite.

2) All periods had some good music, and all periods also had some ... lets just say not so good music. Where "good" depends on preference - see 1 above. If you mostly didn't like the music that characterises a period, then you will tend to remember the stuff you didn't like - and hence "all music from ${period} is rubbish". Similarly, there's a tendency to forget the best forgotten stuff from a period you otherwise liked - and hence "all music from ${period} was great", as long as you forget the stuff you couldn't stand ;-)

And added to that, people's preferences change. I now listen to stuff I would never have dreamed of listening to a couple of decades ago - but find myself thinking that "hmm, actually I quite like that now". It can also work the other way round, but I can't immediately think of any in my case.


In my department at work, the fortnightly new letter has a Desert Island Disks section where someone from the department picks 8 tracks, gives a little bit about themselves, and a little bit about why they chose each track. I was on a few months ago - and boy, was it hard picking those 8 tracks.
But, it's interesting to look at people's selections, and often I'll be thinking "yes, I like that" and "hmm, I'll give that a go - not thought of listening to that before". It has slightly broadened my taste in music - which was already rather wide and eclectic to start with. After this morning's list, Eminem is still not on my list of stuff to listen to though !


Getting slightly on-topic for this list, there's parallels with taste in software. Clearly most people on this list are a self selected group who put freedom (of init) above other considerations. There are others who put "ease of use" first. Some who put absolute "free and open" above all else. Some who are more pragmatic and accept that sometimes non-free or non-open is acceptable when it comes to getting work done.
There isn't a right or wrong - just a "best for your preferences" compromise.

Sorry, couldn't resist this quote : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVygqjyS4CA

Simon