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Best Rock Bands From Each Decade 1960-2000s

Opening Comments

My last piece entitled, “Rosen Report Swag,” resulted in many requests for hats. Initially, they will go to my biggest contributors. Sounds like I need to order more. The most opened links were: 25-year-old tried 23 side hustles before launching a company that brings in $354,000 a month—his No. 1 piece of advice and the Fortune article, A recession might have been simpler than what awaits the U.S. economy.

I went to New Orleans to fish for a couple of days and it was epic. There will be upcoming reports, but here is a little taste. Shockingly, I retore my calf muscle a couple of weeks ago getting my butt beat on the tennis court and fishing for 100-pound tuna, was not a brilliant way to give the calf rest. I was invited by a Rosen Report reader who had entertained his clients along with his team. Great trip and I was lucky to be included. These are not the best pictures from the adventure but give you an idea of the fun. I will do a couple of pieces in the next month about the two days of fishing, which made for a great time with a fun group. If you want to fish in Louisiana for Wahoo, Tuna, Redfish, Snapper, or Tripletail, I have the solution.

If you read the Rosen Report, you know I am a freak about my food. I hate eating a bad meal. I did some research and found Herbsaint, a James Beard award-winning 25-year-old establishment. There are no Michelin Stars in New Orleans which is shocking. Of all the restaurants I have been to in New Orleans, Herbsaint is my new favorite. The short rib appetizer and redfish entrée over crushed cannellini beans with grapefruit and fennel made for a memorable meal. I went for lunch and was blown away by the food. I did not drink, but the wine list was impressive. My only complaint was the short rib appetizer was small. Why do the best restaurants give Lilliputian portions? I decided to remake the redfish dish Saturday night and thought it came out quite well for a first try but fell short of the original (last picture).

My piece on the Best Movies from 1930-1999 gained a great deal of attention and feedback. People had strong reactions and I appreciated the commentary; even the disagreements were welcomed. As a result, I thought about my 10 favorite rock bands from each decade, and I might get down to the song level in an upcoming newsletter. I could not include all music genres as it would have been too hard, but given the response from movies, we could have a series of these (rap, pop, hip-hop, Motown, country…).

  • Beatles, Rolling Stones, Simon & Garfunkel, Jimi Hendrix, Beach Boys, The Who, The Doors, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Pink Floyd, Grateful Dead

The Beatles are clearly #1 for the 1960s and quite frankly, the best of all time. They formed in 1960 and broke up in 1970 with virtually all their songs coming in the 1960s. They had 20 #1 hits and 34 top 10s. The Stones are amazing for so many reasons and have been great since the mid-1960s after forming in 1962. The Who formed in 1964 and I have seen them 4 times in concert. The recent showing last year was pretty weak and Daltrey forgot words to the songs, but they remain one of my all-time favorites. Baba O’Reilly is my favorite Who song.

  • Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Eagles, Stones, Who, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, Queen

I am pretty sure Led Zeppelin would be everyone’s pick for the band of the decade. They formed in 1968 and broke up in 1980. Pink Floyd, The Stones, and the Who made it again on my list. I love the Eagles and saw them a half dozen times. One of my favorite concerts. I LOVE Billy Joel, but to me, his creativity came to a screeching halt in the early 1980s. His 1970s songs were my favorites. Aerosmith has stood the test of time and who can argue with Queen?

Van Halen, Guns & Roses, Bon Jovi, Metallica (not a big fan, but important), REM, Motley Crue, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty, Journey

In the 1980s, there are a few bands who could be band of the decade: Van Halen, Guns & Roses, & Bon Jovi and all were full of 1980’s rockers hair. I was a big Motley Crue fan because my high school friend, Danny, drove me to surf and he blasted the band in his supped-up VW Bug we called, “The Beast.” In my high school, a girl student was the President of the Journey fan club and wore a Journey shirt EVERY single day to school.

  • Nirvana, U2, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Alice in Chains, REM, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden

The band of the 90s has to be Nirvana, but my personal favorite was Pearl Jam. U2 has to be near the top as well. I was lucky to spend some time with Chris Cornell from Soundgarden as his son and my son were in class together and played in the same football league in NYC. Chris was always welcoming to my stupid music questions, and I was blown away with his skills as a musician and songwriter. This link explains how he wrote Black Hole Sun, one of the best Soundgarden songs. Such a shame he is no longer with us.

  • Green Day, Nickleback, Blink 182, Creed, Coldplay, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, U2, White Stripes

Of the decades I am writing about, the 2000’s were the least memorable for me from a rock music perspective. I am a big fan of Coldplay and Chris Martin. When my kids were little, we went to Chris and Gwyneth Paltrow’s house in the Hamptons and a musician would play songs for the kids. My kids had a blast and I thought Martin was a down-to-earth guy despite literally being a rock star. My son Jack was probably in Kindergarten and threw a ball and I swore it almost broke a window in their house. I wanted to cry. I am a big fan of the Foo Fighters and David Grohl who was the drummer for Nirvina. Great story; he was primarily a guitarist and Nirvana needed a drummer and he was so talented as a musician he passed the audition.

I did not mention one of my favorite songwriters of all time, Bob Dylan. I was not sure where he would fit, but Tangled Up in Blue is my favorite song of his. Other mentions would be Springsteen, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Heart, AC/DC, Rush, Cheap Trick, Jane’s Addiction, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Lenny Kravitz, ZZ Top, Boston, Bob Seger, Judist Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, The Ramones, Janis Joplin, The Kinks, Elvis, The Band, David Bowie, Steve Miller, Dire Straits, The Doors, The Police, and Genesis. Tell me what I missed. I am bracing for impact.

  • More Americans are falling behind on their car loan and credit card payments than at any time in more than a decade, a troubling signal of consumer stress as higher prices and rising borrowing costs are squeezing household budgets. The pain is most acute for lower-income earners, who have largely used whatever they managed to save during the pandemic with the help of government stimulus checks and breaks on obligations such as rent and student loans. Now, as the economy finds its post-pandemic footing, there are signs the hardship for millions of consumers will get worse before it improves. Another red flag: Shoppers are turning to buy now, pay later services to cover necessities such as groceries. Usage surged 40 percent in the first two months of 2023, according to data from Adobe Analytics.  An increasing share of low-income Americans are behind on rent and struggling to afford food, adding to signs of growing financial distress in the economy. Among households using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s boosted pandemic benefits, 42% skipped meals in August and 55% ate less because they couldn’t afford food, more than double last year’s share. I have been non-stop on this topic for over 6 months. I was early and it is now becoming mainstream. I am shocked at grocery prices. I was traveling this summer and had not done much grocery shopping. I bought a dozen organic eggs at Whole Foods last week for $8.79/dozen. The regular eggs were $4.59. Check out the 2nd chart showing the average monthly car payment is now $733/month relative to 2019 when it was $540/month. How much is $200/month after tax squeezing the US consumer?

  • A five-bedroom condo in the supertall at 432 Park Avenue has gone into contract after asking $92 million.  If the unit sells near its asking price, the deal would be among New York City’s most expensive sales of the year, according to The Wall Street Journal. The sale also includes two storage units and two adjacent studio apartments. The full-floor unit spans over 8,000 square feet. It was designed by Japanese architect Hiroshi Sugimoto for the seller, hedge funder and collector of Asian art Mitch Julis. He bought the apartment for roughly $59 million in 2016, according to property records cited by the Journal. He first listed the unit in 2021 for $135 million.  If it sold for $90mm, it would be $11,250/ft. I do not like this location and would never live in the 50s on Park Avenue despite the amenities.

  • This Financial Times article is about the Citadel migration to Miami. The migration of New York financiers to Miami has created a shortage of luxury housing in upmarket suburbs, where buyers have purchased multimillion-dollar homes in search of easy commutes, more space and proximity to prestigious schools. Real estate agents say one firm stands out for driving demand: Citadel. Citadel, the $59bn hedge fund and market maker run by Ken Griffin, in June 2022 announced it would move its headquarters from Chicago, citing lower crime in Florida and the sunshine state’s lower taxes. “They’ve been buying here aggressively,” said Michael Martinez, a real estate agent with Sotheby’s in Miami, who recently brokered the sale of a $5mn home in Coconut Grove, a quiet salubrious suburb, to a Citadel employee. Most of the luxury homes he has sold in recent months have been to hedge fund buyers, half of them from Griffin’s firm, he estimates. “The Citadel migration is definitely occurring.” Citadel has moved almost 300 employees to Miami during what the hedge fund describes as a multiyear effort to shift its operations out of Chicago. One employee said the relocation benefits on offer were “generous”, helping to cover the higher cost of living in a city that has boomed since the pandemic. Finding homes is challenging. Getting your children into schools is even more difficult. When I moved 6 years ago, it was easy. In 2023, not so much.

  • The community in Boca Raton called Royal Palm is where I moved in 2017. I put this chart together using closed-home data since 2017. You can see volumes peaked in 2021 during the COVID boom. Things are definitely cooling off as high-end homes stay on the market longer and inventory is rebuilding. When I moved down in 2017, 71 homes were for sale. It got down to a handful in December 2021 and back up to 32 are listed today. I still think too many sellers are asking unrealistic prices in the new world. Check out volumes with 27 homes sold YTD relative to 2021 with 103.

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Almeda Bohannan

Update: 2024-12-02