Badman's lists...

My top 10ish nowadays seems to be:

Aural

01. The Cure
02. Sonic Youth
03. Bauhaus
04. Joy Division
05. The Smiths
06. Cocteau Twins
07. The Sex Pistols
08. pixies
09. Nirvana
10. nine inch nails
11. Marilyn Manson

12. p.i.l.
13. Bjork

14. Placebo
15. Siouxsie & The Banshees
16. The Clash

Interestingly to me, although i'm certain to no one else, my top 10 in the mid-'80s was something like:

police
simple minds
the jam
u2
xtc
roxy music
depeche mode
peter gabriel
talking heads
jane's addiction
the church
cult
smiths
cure

Interesting to everyone else, but not me, this is what i think my top 10 SHOULD be. hahaha

wire (1977)
suicide (1977)
television (1977) <- i HATE this band, wtf is it with tom verlaine and you adoring ppl?
ramones (1976-1977)
neil young (1975-1979)
throbbing gristle (1975-1978)
patti smith (1975)
lou reed (1975)
cabaret voltaire (1974-1978)
kratwerk (1974)
brian eno (1973-1978)
bob marley and the wailers (1973-1977)
new york dolls (1973)
modern lovers (1972-1976)
david bowie (1972)
black sabbath (1970)
moot the hoople (1969-1972)
the stooges (1969-1970)
silver apples (1969)
syd barrett (1969)
captain beefheart (1969)
leonard cohen (1967-1974)
jimi hendrix (1967-1968)
velvet underground (1967)
the doors (1967)
james brown (1965-1975)
janis joplin (1965-1970)
yardbirds (1965-1966)
the animals (1964-1969)
bob dylan (1962-1975)
roy orbison (1956-1968)
ella fitzgerald (1956-1964)
buddy holly (1957-1959)
johnny cash (1955-1965)
patsy cline (1954-1961)

Which really begs the question - the best decade in music really was the '70s, which popular culture (hopefully you're not a part of that, kind reader) invariably associates purely with disco and prog-rock.

So we can conclude that the most important 10 years in music is from 1967-1977.

Which is too bad for me - my favorite 5 year span is october 1977 through october 1982.

Shit, if you like goth/industrial/ebm/trance/electronica/darkwave/
motown/shoe-gazer/drum and bass/noise pop/glam-rock/avant-garde/
newwave/surf/psychedelic/folk (god, i hate folk)/alternative/
drone/swing/blues/garage/ambient/spoken word/modern rock/acid/
soul/synth pop/emo/screamo/underground/ska/speed/techno/reggae/
postpunk/groove/grunge/experimental/funk/indie/rockabilly/metal/
rock/punk/thrash/r&b/dance/hardcore/jazz and you don't realize these bands did everything before and better than any of your 'favorite' bands did after 1978, then you don't know shit.

Yes, i'm intentionally leaving off the huge eight really bad directions music has taken in the last 50 years - house, rap, prog-rock, hip hop, pop, country, western, and disco. if you're looking for the godmothers/fathers of that ilk go elsewhere (ok, so PC and RO have something, unfortunately, to do with country, but we'll ignore that).

Nothing new has been created since 1978. pretty sad. sure, some amalgamations and great tunes you can hum dinger to have been written now and again, but when you go back and listen to this stuff it's all such a pale lameass imitation, really. no, really.

Yeah, right. i don't listen to this stuff - it's so classic, it all belongs in a museum.