Which decade would you choose?

[Ralif Redhammer]

Cosigned. There was so much happening musically back then - being able to see Sabbath, Rainbow, Bowie. To be there at the start of so many new genres - to catch bands like Bauhaus, The Damned, and Throbbing Gristle when they were new (of which, granted, I've seen all but TG).

But also, to be there at the start of the great 70s fantasy boom - to be able to casually stroll into a bookstore (also, heck, to just be able to casually stroll into a bookstore) and pick up the Ballantine Adult Fantasy line. And yes, to be there at the very start of D&D.

The 70s, so I can listen to those Black Sabbath and Deep Purple albums as they are released and see them in concert, then I could cruise through the 80s, which I have a pretty decent memory of, then check out for a bit in the 90s. Bonus, I could also buy D&D when it first comes out as well.

I wouldn't mind having another go at the 80s as an adult instead of a kid.

Honestly, the only way I'd want to go back in time would be with a memory wipe. Knowing what's coming would just be a burden.

 

[Helldritch]

The 80's.
1) I could get to see all my favorite greatest bands live in their prime!
2) I could get to talk with Gygax and all the other creators.
3) Seeing good (and not so good) music videos!
4) My line of work was great down in the 80's. (Power Engineer).
5) To play Intelivision and Atari again along with the Commodore 64. Ho god...
and Finally...
Arcades and Baseball! I'd get to see great games from the Expos again! (and this time live! not on T.V.)

 

[Sacrosanct]

I think my second choice would be the 70s, because that was a decade where you could still just jump on your motorcycle and ride cross country, staying with local groups along the way and just existing. Overall there were a lot of negative things about the 70s, but there were some good things too, namely in the arts. To be able to see RUSH, Bowie, Queen, Genesis, Alice Cooper, Van Halen, LZ, Black Sabbath, etc before they became megastars, in local venues would have been awesome. If I were an adult in the 70s, I would probably travel around the world just seeing bands.

 

[Tyler Pickering]

90's. Golden era of Rap and still have the internet.

 

[MarkB]

90's. Golden era of Rap and still have the internet.

Ahh, the sweet sound of a 28.8k modem dialing up.

 

[billd91]

That’s the second post now where someone said “when men were men”. What does that even mean? Having grown up on a farm, and spent time in the military, I have an idea of what it’s usually meant to refer to (none of it good), but I don’t want to make assumptions.

I think you can go ahead and make those assumptions. It's pretty much always a red flag phrase, if you ask me.

 

[Haffrung]

It's funny how many of the choices are being made based on music, entertainment, and pop culture. Probably says more about our media-saturated mindset today than anything else.

Non-entertainment factors such as housing affordability, social cohesion, family life, access to jobs and education, etc. shape peoples' happiness far more than the pop music top-40, home technology, or the game systems available . Though I suppose it's difficult to talk about the former without veering into politics.

So I'll go with the 60s. IMHO, it was actually the early 60s through mid-60s, rather than the late-60s, that saw a tremendous creative outburst in film, fiction, music, etc. The films of Kubrick, music of the Beatles and John Coltrane, and the New Wave of science fiction and fantasy must have been heady stuff to experience first-hand.

 

[Gradine]

The 90's did have the choicest screensavers too

 

[Lanefan]

Hard one.

I'd go with the 20's - well, '22 to '29 - were it not for all that prohibition nonsense. If I can't party, I'm not going.

After that, it's cross-decades that work best.

1945-1955 in Canada or the US would be cool, with all the post-war optimism and boom.

1975-1985 in many places would also be cool for the culture aspects, before the internet kinda ruined a lot of things.

 

[CleverNickName]

I'm all over the place. I'd pick the '30s for fashion, the 1970s for television and music, the 1980s for movies, TTRPGs, and video games, and the 1990s for video games and the rest of the music. For food and technology, I think I'd stay right here.