Your Top 10 Songs From Each Decade

[jlafrenz]

Post your top 10 songs from every decade starting with the decade you were born through current (10 songs per decade). It doesn't matter what year you were born, just as long as that song was in the same decade. I know it many aren't necessarily big fans of current music, but do the best you can. Just to make sure no one takes the easy road, remasters and re-releases don't count, only the original release date of the song. Let's see your lists!

[ÈlTwo]

Well, I'll try to start with the decade I was born, the 50s, and here it is, in no particular order (my taste is all over the place).

• Little Willie John, ‘Fever’
• The Champs, ‘Tequila’
• Fats Domino, ‘Ain’t That A Shame’
• The Dave Brubeck Quartet, ‘Take Five’
• Bill Haley & His Comets, ‘Rock Around The Clock’
• Everly Brothers, ‘Bye Bye Love’
• Ritchie Valens, ‘La Bamba’
• The Platters, ‘Only You’
• The Isley Brothers, ‘Shout’
• Les Paul and Mary Ford "How High The Moon"

[geeqner]

Good Gawd man! Answering this one would require me to write a book!

Instead - I'll cite a few key performers from the decades as I recall them:

1960's
I was a little young for serious listening,
(too young for the Woodstock stuff, plus I think that my Dad was a Barry-Sax playing former Band Nerd) but what stands-out are:
-The Beatles
-Doris Day (I was a little kid and wanted my Mom to be like her - pretty and a "good singer"...)
-I like and appreciate Jimi Hendrix NOW (it's a shame that he died so young)
-I like Bob Dylan's song writing - but I mostly prefer to hear his stuff sang by more gifted vocalists
-The "Rat Pack" crooners

1970's
I started to listen more seriously, and started playing French Horn / marched in a Drum & Bugle Corps in the Late 1970's
-Roberta Flack
-Carole King
-Tom Petty (also in 80s-90s-00s RIP)
-Dire Straits / Mark Knoffler
-Rush
-Foreigner
-Pat Benatar
-Chuck Mangione
-DISCO (Remember, but that was NOT "my scene" - I was still a bit too young to be out clubbing where that stuff mattered...)
-The Commodores

1980's
My High School years (but I was an official Science Club / Band-Nerd "geek" before being a geek was cool...)
I remember the 1980's as being largely devoid of "serious music", most of the Rock that I craved was from the previous decade.
-Duran Duran (Again, didn't like them much, but their stuff was "the soundtrack of the 1980s)
-Madonna (never liked her music, but it was omnipresent)
-I liked Oingo Boingo for the strange, mystical sounds that they brought together (plus Danny Elfman was getting big on movie soundtracks)
-Mike & the Mechanics
-Phil Collins solo stuff really resonated with me for some reason while the older Genesis didn't so much
-Eurythmics (Ms. Lennox is one of my all-time FAVE vocalists. That woman can sing ANYTHING and she often has.)
-Depeche mode
-AC/DC
-The Fat Boys
-YAZ (liked them better than Depeche Mode - really like Allison Moyet's range)
-The Motels / Til Tuesday (some of their lyrics are really disturbing, but something mystical about their singer's voice)
-The Pretenders (I like their variety of styles and nearly everything that they have recorded)
-The Fixx (1980's sound, but I find it more "artsy" than Duran Duran)
I think that for many - the music from their High School days is the stuff that they remember, and forms the "meat" of their musical preferences

I also love a lot of Jazz and Classical (and the occasional batch of Marches with Bagpipes) but that stuff is hard to classify by decade.