Based off the number of absolute bangers from that decade, I can only conclude that there were either more musicians or fewer bad songs.
Seriously: there are more legendary songs than months in that decade; And there are more songs which are merely incredible than there were weeks in the decade.
Maybe all that asbestos in the air caused better music.
Probably I just like rock-inspired sound from that era. Music shifts all the time and it’s just a matter of personal preference. It feels like rock splintered into fractile sub-genres which never quite hooked me in the same way.
Punk and metal had a lot of progress in later decades, but their wellspring feels like the 80s.