Questlove, from The Roots, is a great source of music history. He thought the 80's were the best, musically,
This is what he said about the '80'
>>This decade was the best for both pop and metal. This decade was ruled by the pop king, and the best pop musician Michael Jackson. As well as by Madonna and Prince. But these are only the most famous artists of this decade. If we dig deeper, we'll see synthpop ( the best pop subgenre along with indie-pop, art-pop and dance-pop). Magical sounds. If we speak about rock, I consider it the best decade for metal. NWOBHM bands were pretty cool both lyrically and musically, it was really new for rock, and very different from traditional hard-rock. It also spawned Metallica the most popular metal band, and probably my favourite one, as well as spawning thrash metal to a full potential, although proto-thrash songs like Stone cold crazy by Queen were released in 70s. There is much more to say about 80s music, but I think these explanations would be enough.
I think there's one reason why I like the 80s musicwise. It's all those hidden gems that were forgotten by the sands of time and then dug back up again by hardcore popular music enthusiasts. Many artists like Kim Wilde, Animotion, Level 42, Spandau Ballet and the like are some great hidden gem artists from the 80s. However, I am more intrigued by the more popular artists of the time. It's no wonder these music artists were mostly forgotten, that's mostly because of people that chose to ignore all those underrated musicians and go with something else instead. But that's just my opinion. In the end, the 80s had so many underrated songs and musicians that were almost completely overshadowed by the more popular artists of the time.<<
His thoughts on the "70's
>>
Absolutely fantastic Decade for music. You have such a broad list of different musical genres. It was such transformative decade for music. I would say that the only time period to have such diverse music would only be the early eighties. Rock split into many new genres from popular progressive rock to the far reaching enthusiasm of classic and hard rock. Furthermore, though disco gets a lot of hate due to its repetitive nature, disco music not only kick-started the now disturbingly simplistic electronic and rap music industry, it was one of the most inclusive genre of music since Jazz. Many people honestly forget this decade due to its lack of music videos which the eighties had. It had True music you could dance to. It really was spectacular. Does that mean I would want to live in those times, maybe not. But I pray more artists pay tribute to this decade of music, as did Daft Punk and some others...
Honestly, I like 70s music more than 80s music. Even if Classic-jack radio stations are slowly letting them go now, they're the most timeless songs that I've listened to. Music through the 70s really progressed and grew into a bigger inspiration among many throughout what came, and even for what's there to come. The Eagles, Steve Miller, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Cars, Elton John, Boston, Isley Brothers, Bob Marley, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, Commoders, and so many more influential artists became famous since the 1970s. Even if the decade had an unfortunate beginning with the Beatles splitting up in 1970, it really shows that music shows growth from inspiration, and the best of what we can all enjoy.
70s was best. I listed all the best songs I ever heard and grouped them by decade of release. 70s was by far the best. 80s and 60s were next. I think many people who say the 80s don't realize most of those great 80s songs were released in the 70s.
And it doesn't matter what year the band started. I think it should be the year the songs were released when you categorize music by year or decade. For example, Led Zeppelin started in 60s but most of their songs/great songs were release in 70s, so I thing they contributed more to the decade of the 70s. Same with a lot of other great bands.
Pink Floyd Dark side of the moon, Led Zeppelin's physical graffiti, Queen's a night at the Opera, John Lennon's imagine. Deep Purple's machine head, Meat Loaf's bat out of hell, Clash's London Calling, Black Sabbath's paranoid, Joy Division's unknown pleasures, never mind the bollocks here's the sex pistols, the who's who's next, Elton John's goodbye yellow brick road, rolling stone's sticky fingers, Bob Dylan's blood on the tracks, eagles hotel California, Rush's 2112, ramones' rocket to Russia, AC
DC's highway to hell, wire's Pink flag, beatles' let it be, Fleetwood Mac's rumours, Blondie's parallel lines, Saturday night fever, and so much more.<<
Band in the World in the 70s and the band that literally spawned the entire decade of the 80s music 
wise !
