Best years in music

[GayFrogs]

This is where my brain goes to, especially when confronted with crappy modern music. When were peak years in music? I've narrowed it down a bit to these two based on how many great albums were released year by year and personal preference mixed in, so you guys don't have to wonder anymore. So, drumroll please.

Spoiler!

1971 and 1994

[Mennonite]

Originally Posted by BigBeauford

1994 is a great year, but I'm a grunge fan.

The Offspring's "Smash" also came out that year, I believe. Very good album, imo.

[lawrenceRaider]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

The good news is that last year, Fender Guitars was on the verge of bankruptcy but due to COVID, sold $700 million dollars in merchandise to have to their best financial year, ever! Ibanez, Gibson, Seymour Duncan and so many others in the MI business literally ran out of parts in order to keep up with the demand and many are still out of parts and electronics.

We can only hope this leads to a new generation of people that want to write and play their instruments live, slinging guitars, basses and drums onstage as opposed to a laptop and a turntable.

What pickups do you prefer? My current favorite set is Black Winter from Seymour Duncan. I'm a pretty terrible player, but man do I love the way those pups sound. My son can properly make them scream.

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by lawrenceRaider

What pickups do you prefer? My current favorite set is Black Winter from Seymour Duncan. I'm a pretty terrible player, but man do I love the way those pups sound. My son can properly make them scream.

I have a DiMarzio P-90 in the neck of my 335, and a DiMarzio Tone Zone in the bridge.

My Tele Deluxe also has DiMarzios - HFH-1 in the neck and I forget what went into the bridge, but it screeams.

Ryan has Seymour Duncan Antiquities in his Les Paul, and I like the Duncan Pearly gates. I have a Lindy Fralin single coil in my 50's style P-bass, so Fralin is always on the table for me now...

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by Dartgod

In Canada.

It was released in the US in 1976.

Fine then.



(I actually looked it up, because I actually thought in my mind that it came out in Canada in 1974, but I was wrong.)

There's footage of super early Heart, Dreamboat Annie era, playing to like 200 people on Canadian TV and man they KILL it. Worth seeking out.

[GayFrogs]

Originally Posted by rabblerouser

But yeah, "grunge" wasn't ever a musical genre to me. It was totally a marketing ploy.

I totally get what you're saying from that angle. And what you're saying about those band's scope of artistry becoming apparent is why 1994 is kind of the peak 90s for me. If you're talking about pure grunge in the form of music (7/4 time, dark, hard) that's cool but not as interesting to me.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by lawrenceRaider

What pickups do you prefer? My current favorite set is Black Winter from Seymour Duncan. I'm a pretty terrible player, but man do I love the way those pups sound. My son can properly make them scream.

I depends on the guitar and what I'm doing with said guitar (or bass) but generally speaking, every guitar is completely different. The main thing that I want from each guitar is a Balanced Sound. Not too bassy, not to midrangey and definitely not too bright. The Classic 57's are pretty much my baseline pickup but then each guitar requires a different pickup in order to achieve the sound I want to hear because all woods, necks and hardware are different, although I tend to go with low to medium output pickups because I want to hear the guitar, not the pickup.

Jaguar: Seymour Duncan Jaguar Antiquities

Mary Kay Strat: Fender 69's

Telecaster: Lollar 52's

Nashville Tele: Duncan Tele Neck, Lipstick in the middle, Quarter Pounder in the the Bridge.

Les Paul Custom: Gibson Classic 57 in the neck, Duncan Pearly Gates in the Bridge. I had a Gibson Burstbucker Pro in this guitar from 2008 until 2 weeks ago The PG is far more balanced.

Les Paul 60's Tribute: Classic 57 neck, Classic 57+ bridge

Custom Charvel - Duncan Jazz in the neck, Duncan Screamin' Demon in the bridge (I just replaced a JB that had been in there for years)

Custom Charvel (Dropped D): Duncan Jazz Neck, Duncan Custom Custom bridge (Same as above. Too much low mid from 200-400 so I swapped it for a CC).

Elitist Casino: Lollar 50's P90's (Freddy King) in both positions

Elitist Sheraton: Lollar Imperial Low Wounds in both positions

ESP Custom Stratocaster: Cool Rails Bridge, Classic Stack RWRP Middle, Vintage Hot Neck

Epiphone Broadway Elitist: Gibson Classic 57's.

Epiphone Prophecy 24 fret Baritone(I rarely, if ever, use this guitar): EMG 81 & 85

Gibson 61 Reissue SG: Lollar P90's

I have a 51 reissue ash body Precision in which Lindy Fralin made a custom, side-by-side single coil/humbucker which is killer.

All three of my fretted Jazz Basses have the Fender Vintage 74 pickups while my fretless Jazz has Duncan Quarter Pounders. The only stock bass I own is an Epiphone Jack Casady, which Dave Grohl turned me onto and it's really cool for specific tones, generally what's called Modern Rock today, although I've used it on some uptempo Active Rock tracks as well.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by COchief

Nice to see a strong consensus of mainly early 90's and 70's. I went to HS in the early 90's and the music was pretty incredible but I would have to vote 70's hands down. I mean Stones/Beatles/Zep/George Clinton in their prime (my opinion, miss me with that 50/60s crap and pass the White album please) is tough to argue against.

To me, the early-mid 90s was awful. I hate grunge like I hate the Broncos. To me, it was the death of rock.

Of course, if I had been born in 1980 instead of 1965, I'd probably feel differently.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Frazod

To me, the early-mid 90s was awful. I hate grunge like I hate the Broncos. To me, it was the death of rock.

Of course, if I had been born in 1980 instead of 1965, I'd probably feel differently.

I had a couple of friends that tried to "make it" in Los Angeles who ended up moving to Vegas around 2000. They put in a ton of time creating backing tracks and sequences for a 90's Grunge cover band and spent nearly a year getting the show prepared for clubs and casinos.

After about a year of trying to get gigs but only ending up doing a couple of shows, they called me to ask what they did wrong and if I could make any suggestions in order to help them get more gigs.

My advice: "Nobody goes to Vegas to be bummed out. People want to have fun and party, not listen to people droning on about their shitty lives and drug addictions. My advice is to ditch the whole Grunge thing and do an 80's tribute band or something else that people want to hear".

They broke up and never gigged again. I shouldn't laugh but it's still funny.

[stumppy]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I had a couple of friends that tried to "make it" in Los Angeles who ended up moving to Vegas around 2000. They put in a ton of time creating backing tracks and sequences for a 90's Grunge cover band and spent nearly a year getting the show prepared for clubs and casinos.

After about a year of trying to get gigs but only ending up doing a couple of shows, they called me to ask what they did wrong and if I could make any suggestions in order to help them get more gigs.

My advice: "Nobody goes to Vegas to be bummed out. People want to have fun and party, not listen to people droning on about their shitty lives and drug addictions. My advice is to ditch the whole Grunge thing and do an 80's tribute band or something else that people want to hear".

They broke up and never gigged again. I shouldn't laugh but it's still funny.

I should add, that's too bad it didn't work out for them but that's pretty damn funny.

[golfindude]

WTH....... 70's were great , then Merle Haggard hit the scene in the 80's. Nobody beats Merle. But I'm old and just a good old country boy.........

[lawrenceRaider]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I depends on the guitar and what I'm doing with said guitar (or bass) but generally speaking, every guitar is completely different. The main thing that I want from each guitar is a Balanced Sound. Not too bassy, not to midrangey and definitely not too bright. The Classic 57's are pretty much my baseline pickup but then each guitar requires a different pickup in order to achieve the sound I want to hear because all woods, necks and hardware are different, although I tend to go with low to medium output pickups because I want to hear the guitar, not the pickup.

Jaguar: Seymour Duncan Jaguar Antiquities

Mary Kay Strat: Fender 69's

Telecaster: Lollar 52's

Nashville Tele: Duncan Tele Neck, Lipstick in the middle, Quarter Pounder in the the Bridge.

Les Paul Custom: Gibson Classic 57 in the neck, Duncan Pearly Gates in the Bridge. I had a Gibson Burstbucker Pro in this guitar from 2008 until 2 weeks ago The PG is far more balanced.

Les Paul 60's Tribute: Classic 57 neck, Classic 57+ bridge

Custom Charvel - Duncan Jazz in the neck, Duncan Screamin' Demon in the bridge (I just replaced a JB that had been in there for years)

Custom Charvel (Dropped D): Duncan Jazz Neck, Duncan Custom Custom bridge (Same as above. Too much low mid from 200-400 so I swapped it for a CC).

Elitist Casino: Lollar 50's P90's (Freddy King) in both positions

Elitist Sheraton: Lollar Imperial Low Wounds in both positions

ESP Custom Stratocaster: Cool Rails Bridge, Classic Stack RWRP Middle, Vintage Hot Neck

Epiphone Broadway Elitist: Gibson Classic 57's.

Epiphone Prophecy 24 fret Baritone(I rarely, if ever, use this guitar): EMG 81 & 85

Gibson 61 Reissue SG: Lollar P90's

I have a 51 reissue ash body Precision in which Lindy Fralin made a custom, side-by-side single coil/humbucker which is killer.

All three of my fretted Jazz Basses have the Fender Vintage 74 pickups while my fretless Jazz has Duncan Quarter Pounders. The only stock bass I own is an Epiphone Jack Casady, which Dave Grohl turned me onto and it's really cool for specific tones, generally what's called Modern Rock today, although I've used it on some uptempo Active Rock tracks as well.

Thanks man. Really appreciate the listing. I love guitars and have learned a ton about them. Love picking up non-functioning guitars and fixing them. Mostly they just get placed in the guitar rack in my kids room. He mainly sticks with his Epiphone 1984 Explorer. He currently idolizes Hetfield and loves playing metal. Though he has played in his schools jazz band. Picked him up an inexpensive MIM Fender Strat HSS a few years ago that he uses for that.

I picked up this bare Warlock off Ebay a couple years ago and just dropped some cheap china pickups in it. They sound surprisingly good, and it is super easy to play.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by lawrenceRaider

Thanks man. Really appreciate the listing. I love guitars and have learned a ton about them. Love picking up non-functioning guitars and fixing them. Mostly they just get placed in the guitar rack in my kids room. He mainly sticks with his Epiphone 1984 Explorer. He currently idolizes Hetfield and loves playing metal. Though he has played in his schools jazz band. Picked him up an inexpensive MIM Fender Strat HSS a few years ago that he uses for that.

I picked up this bare Warlock off Ebay a couple years ago and just dropped some cheap china pickups in it. They sound surprisingly good, and it is super easy to play.

That's awesome, Dude! And yeah, guitars have come a long, long way in terms of quality, playability and sound in the past 40 years. You can find a $200-$300 dollar Mexi or Chinese made Fender guitar or bass, swap out the pickups, do a nice setup and have an instrument a million times better than when I was a kid when all the cheap guitars were Hondo and other trashy off brands.

Enjoy and have fun!

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by Frazod

To me, the early-mid 90s was awful. I hate grunge like I hate the Broncos. To me, it was the death of rock.

Of course, if I had been born in 1980 instead of 1965, I'd probably feel differently.

I was also born in the 60's, so I was too young to enjoy 60's rock as it was happening. But I spent a lot of high school and even college listening to late 60's (into some early 70's) rock. Main stream stuff like early Stones, Led Zeppelin, early Pink Floyd, and Velvet Underground less main stream stuff psychedelic and progressive rock. King Crimson, Yes, etc. I mostly ignored mid and late 70s rock (outside of some punk and Grateful Dead) and ignored 80's stuff except to the extent that it obviously got played around me (I got into Rush because my Dungeon and Dragons buddies were way into it) and at parties. Sure, there was some fun dance music, Boston, Cars, and even the Go Go's and so on. And the occasional group would catch my attention. REM, Talking Heads, etc. But it was a lot of late 60's music when I was picking the albums.

I had left KU/Lawrence by the early 90's but I liked grunge. I hated it when rap took over but I enjoyed the 90's rave scene and enjoyed all the Dead shows that were easy to get to in the NorCal area.

You can find good rock from 1965 on. Each to their own, but I guess I would still choose something in the 1968 to 1972 or so window. Especially given how ground breaking it was at the time, which is a little hard to appreciate now.

[R Clark]

Originally Posted by golfindude

WTH....... 70's were great , then Merle Haggard hit the scene in the 80's. Nobody beats Merle. But I'm old and just a good old country boy.........

Lol Merle hit the scene long before the 80’s

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

I was also born in the 60's, so I was too young to enjoy 60's rock as it was happening. But I spent a lot of high school and even college listening to late 60's (into some early 70's) rock. Main stream stuff like early Stones, Led Zeppelin, early Pink Floyd, and Velvet Underground less main stream stuff psychedelic and progressive rock. King Crimson, Yes, etc. I mostly ignored mid and late 70s rock (outside of some punk and Grateful Dead) and ignored 80's stuff except to the extent that it obviously got played around me (I got into Rush because my Dungeon and Dragons buddies were way into it) and at parties. Sure, there was some fun dance music, Boston, Cars, and even the Go Go's and so on. And the occasional group would catch my attention. REM, Talking Heads, etc. But it was a lot of late 60's music when I was picking the albums.

I had left KU/Lawrence by the early 90's but I liked grunge. I hated it when rap took over but I enjoyed the 90's rave scene and enjoyed all the Dead shows that were easy to get to in the NorCal area.

You can find good rock from 1965 on. Each to their own, but I guess I would still choose something in the 1968 to 1972 or so window. Especially given how ground breaking it was at the time, which is a little hard to appreciate now.

I pretty much loathe late 60s-early 70s progressive/psychedelic rock, particularly the Doors and Led Zeppelin. And while I don't hate the Beatles, I'm definitely not a fan. I guess I do like some early Stones stuff, but that's about it. For the most part, only things from that era I like are Star Trek, muscle cars and war movies.

You and I should never take a long road trip.