You've Only Got 5 Bands To Describe An Entire Decade

[Tha1ChiefRocka]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, because I just made a huge 80's pop playlist on Spotify (that I'm pretty proud of).

If someone had never heard music from the 80's, or any other decade, what bands would you choose to describe the kind of music that was made?

Here's my choice for the 80's.

Talking Heads
Duran Duran
R.E.M.
U2
Van Halen (they describe America in the 80's almost too perfectly)

Keep in mind that this only includes the output the artist had in whatever decade you choose.

[glynspsa]

60's

the beatles
the stones
james brown
otis redding
hendrix

70's

black sabbath
led zeppelin
p-funk
stevie wonder
clash

80's
prince
michael jackson
u2
rem
run dmc

90's
pearl jam
nirvana
2pac
biggie
phish

00's
jay z
alicia keys
eminem
beyonce
pink

10's
Kendrick
lady gaga
taylor swift
ed sheeran
drake

[Repo]

Great idea!

here's mine for the 80s...

The Cure - College Rock/Post-Punk/Goth
Motley Crue - Hair Metal (More in line with other hair metal bands than Van Halen who r also a great choice)
Duran Duran - New Wave (No better choice for New wave)
REM > The Smiths (since already have The Cure)- College Rock/Jangle Pop
Metallica - Thrash

[Repo]

[theblueboy]

[theblueboy]

This should be difficult to top

90s
The Prodigy
Pulp
Smashing Pumpkins
Beck
Snoop Dogg

[Fischman]

1970s (the only decade where there is some overlap between the ones that best describe the decade and ones I actually listen to, and even here it's not a lot of overlap)

Led Zeppelin
Fleetwood Mac
The Eagles
Pink Floyd
Black Sabbath

[PurpleHazel]

1960s
Beatles
Stones
Jefferson Airplane
Supremes
Bob Dylan

1970s
Led Zeppelin
Pink Floyd
Sex Pistols
Eagles
David Bowie

[RoundTheBend]

There's no way I could really figure this out objectively - although I think all ya'll's have done a great job giving it a go.

I'll just cheat from my decade chart summaries for the qty:
(I only kind of agree with this)

1950s
Chuck Berry
Elvis Presley
Leonard Bernstein
Frank Sinatra
Ray Charles
(sorry Jazz)

1960s
The Beatles
The Doors
Credence Clearwater Revival
Aretha Franklin
Simon & Garfunkel
(Sorry Bob and Jimi)

1970s
Pink Floyd
Led Zeppelin
Rolling Stones
Stevie Wonder
Black Sabbath

1980s
R.E.M.
U2
Talking Heads
The Cure
The Police
(Sorry Paul Simon, RHCP, Beastie Boys, Minor Threat)

1990s
The Smashing Pumpkins
Beck
R.E.M.
Nirvana
Pearl Jam
(Sorry U2/Foo Fighters)

2000s
Radiohead
Beck
Coldplay (geez, really?)
The White Stripes
Muse
(Sorry Elbow/U2/Arcade Fire)

2010s
The Black Keys
Tame Impala
Arcade Fire
Streaming services?
IoT?
Shit... I don't really think there's a way to really explain the 2010s... ahahahahahaha
And do you know what - that's actually what's great about this decade. It doesn't fit in a box. Idk if any one genre or one artist or 5 artists or music at all dominated this decade. I'm not saying there wasn't good music, because there was, but I don't think this decade fairs well with nice little boxes.
Here's the chart, maybe you can figure it out for me... hahah (Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s by sethmadsen)

[YoungPunk]

I don't feel like artists like Pink Floyd for the 70s should be used because they are so exceptional they don't really describe the other music. Even Fleetwood Mac is pushing it... Just my feelings on the matter...

P.S. I guess I wasn't alive in the 70s but they had good music