Michael Jackson

Prince

Whitney Houston

George Michael

Metallica

Tina Turner

Chaka Khan

Bruce Springsteen

Sade

Kate Bush

U2

Tears For Fears

Luther Vandross

Lionel Richie

The Police

Rakim

Big Daddy Kane

Run DMC

Culture Club

Rick James

The talent pool was too ridiculous then and the album's then too. The last era that had originality, artist's played their instruments, MTV was actually great (before Real World made it's debut), broke colour barriers, the last era that had innovative moments and cultural impact musically.

I saw the 70s and 80s and witnessed many great talents in their prime. Hell, I can remember when artist's of my generation were even outspoken about how much music was changing for the worse. Frank Zappa, Michael Jackson, Prince, Gladys Knight, Donna Summer and many more in the 90s

@Peasly:

The 80s not only had a lot of diversity but the talent pool as well. It was clearly the last great decade for music of all genres.

@heathen75:

Music from the 60s-80s was brilliant. Great stuff being released every week. After the 80s. I noticed a massive drop in quality.

I guess many legacy acts were right when they were talking about music changing for worse throughout the 90s

What do you all think killed R&B?

I personally think rap being mixed with it throughout the 90s, sampling and the lyrical content.

What do you all think?

@girlusocrazy:

Is such a shame what happened to that genre from the late 80s - present.

@Peasly:

Lool you're not the only one. I stopped around the 90s too... Early 90s to be specific.

@ghost_of_phobos:

You and I both know that's not true lool

@warmblur:

That's a good argument. The sampling, no instruments, Soundscan (which killed artistry and it was about week 1 sales), the song writing quality became worse. Most genres were dying. E.g. my favourite genre is rhythm and blues. The 60s - early 80s was the pinnacle of this (even Don Cornelius said this) and then the late 80s - 90s sampling took over, rap music killed it etc etc... But that's how I see it

@warmblur:

You were growing up in a time when music was already on a declining throughout the 90s.

Only if you were there throughout the 60s-80s.

Prince was right when he said the 60s-80s were the golden era.

Anywhere between the 1950s-1980s. The days when music was great.

Music started to decline in the 90s and hasn't recovered since. I feel bad for those whose teen years and childhood days were the 90s.