[jasonkester]

Feel no shame about this. The period between 1980 and 1990 is unique in history in that no matter what form of music you identified with, you should be embarrassed about it today.

As a be-mulletted youth I owned every Iron Maiden, Dio, Judas Priest and Black Sabath album, and would happily play them for you at 140 watts per channel through the obnoxiously distorted subwoofer in the back of my Trans Am. (Seriously. T-tops, screaming eagle and all. It was bitchin').

Today, you'll find a nice black hole in my music collection from that decade. You'll find that same mysterious gap in the collection of the kid who had the Pet Shop Boys haircut back in '85. It was just a bad time for music and there were no easy choices. We did what we could, but now we need to move on.

You kids today don't know how easy you have it.

[mindcrime]

The period from 1980-1992 (or so) was a golden age for heavy-metal / hard-rock. So much incredible music was made during that period that it boggles the mind. And almost all of it stands the test of time incredibly well.

Of course great metal was made in the 1990's as well, it just went mostly unnoticed by most people, as metal retreated back to an underground status (where it probably belongs). "Extreme" metal in particular had a great run during the 90's. From the Florida Death Metal scene of the early 90's through some of the great power metal bands of the era, to the Norwegian Black Metal stuff... lots of great music came out. But gawd, the pop music of the 90's... how utterly rubbish.

[cousin_it]

Funny that. I share your assessment, but many songs from that decade are still with me. "Rebel yell", "Twist in my sobriety", "Rent". Not trendy subculture stuff to identify with, but the timeless guilty-pleasure kind of stuff you enjoy alone. Modern music is just... not the same, somehow. Not as classic sounding.