The 70s popular music was disco. For at least a decade or two, the 70s was looked back with a cringe on the face. I think for many they wanted to forget the bell bottoms and platform shows and disco was very much associated with that.
As we all moved forward, we began looking at the 70s with a goofy look on our collective face. It was no longer, "ack! what were we thinking," it's now more, "OMG! what were we thinking LOL." Disco dominated, but other musical styles made a move. Rock was there in all its forms, from the whole arena style to glam to alternative - though alternative was never really given the name until later. The B-52s and Talking Heads were so different the only thing is to call them alternative. Punk was also coming around giving the middle finger to pop culture. The 70s also gave rise to funk. Though to varying degrees funk was what brought disco around, funk was also the precursor to hip/hop and rap.
As the disco era began to fade in the 80s, a new pop music phenomenon made its mark on the decade. New Wave music, with the heavy use of synthesizers, odd hair styles, and colorful clothes churned out the hits. Most of the alternative styles of music fell into that catagory. For instance, the B-52s were thrown in there with Kajagoogoo. But no matter how much we were told we were too shy shy, we decided to stay in the Love Shack with the B52s and let them make more records even to this day. Rock decided to take elements of its arena days, throw in the glam of David Bowie and the campyness of new wave and gave us those dang hair bands *blech!* I disdain, but i have my guilty pleasures. Hip/hop and rap also became more mainstream in the 80s, towards the later part of the decade gangster rap became a dominating force in the hip/hop movement.
As the 90s approached, new wave music began to ebb, the hair bands were being looked at as a musical effrontery, and hip/hop rap became less about the hardships of life and more about the life of a rockstar. Early on in the decade though, a style of music took precedence among all - grunge. Take some heavy metal sounds, throw on a flannel shirt, and look disillusioned and you have grunge. It's probably that disillusionment that fueled grunge. I definitely found myself brooding and sarcastic during those times and it wasn't a response to the music, it was more the music resonating my feelings. As grunge faded, music took a weird detour as popular music leaned to boy bands and female pop artists like Britney Spears. I can trace this phenomenon with two words: Spice Girls.So where are we now musically? The whole boy band thing faded for now... but they always seem to come back. There seems to be no giant movement either commercially or underground. Country for a while had mainstream success, but nothing awe inspiring. Something I have noticed is a retooling of music.
Rather than creating a musical movement, it seems like artists are tweeking what we have now. Some artists Popular music now spans many genre. One day the most popular song could be hip hop, the next it could be a country song - Black Eye Peas to Taylor Swift. A few years back, I said that music seem to be stagnant, that nothing is happening. Now I'm beginning to wonder if this is a transitional decade. With everyone mixing up musical genres and experimenting with what we have now, I think something is on the horizon.
