I feel bad for GenX'ers that missed out on the 60s and 70s.

There is a good argument to be made that right now is the best time to be a music fan. We now have available all the music made from the beginning of recorded music to now, we have better systems to play it on, with performers in room sense of my system, a concert is available to me everyday, and I get to control the songs.  We have much greater access to all this great music, so many obscurities, and we can stream it at amazingly low cost. The magical experiences continue for me, just in a different way. Nostalgia sometimes fools us.

slaint

Of all those bands you listed, maybe only The Police and Prince could creep onto the list given by the OP (BTW, he forgot The Who). This in no way means that the bands you listed didn't each produce a few songs that might measure up to the songs of the bands in the original list, it just means the others didn't have the longevity and as large a catalog of great songs as those on the original list. Your list collectively? Absolutely great stuff. Individually? Good but not quite on par with the original list. Elton John had 6 straight #1 albums. Go listen to Stevie Wonder Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingess' First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life in order. And that doesn't even mention the five greatest rock bands of all time in order (my opinion):
1. The Beatles
2. Led Zeppelin
3. The Who
4. Rolling Stones
5. Queen

I agree we were fortunate to have such amazing music during our formative years.  I would include lots of one or two hits wonders on that list.  I would differ about the quality of the actual live performances.  I saw nearly every touring act that hit the eastern seaboard.  I would not put a quality enjoyable show at above 50%.  Bad sound systems, muddy mixes, excruciating volume (and I like it loud), drunk/wasted performers, no seat seating, songs played triple time due to coked out drummers and bass players.  But, I always went because the other half of the time, the experience was fantastic.
Best show I ever saw was a triple bill of Golden Earring, Earth Wind and Fire, and the JGeils Band. Great sound, great crowd, all killer, no filler.

For those who may not realize in this age of easily obtainable music, back in the day we had to spend our hard earned money on albums (and before that on 45s) if we wanted to hear music we liked on demand and that was the differentiator between good and great music. We almost always waited for the third song from an album to be played on the radio before we spent that hard earned money. If you bought the album after the first song off an album was played on the radio, too often you got burned by one good song and some filler. But if there were 3 good songs, usually the entire album would be good. So there are plenty of bands (Dire Straights being one example) that I might have liked and thought were good, but they didn't get me to spend my hard earned money on an albums because I may not have heard that 3rd great song on one of their albums. Spending that money was the great differentiator.

Hello,
I am a Gen X and did not miss out on anything. I was born in 1970 and feel I was the luckiest because I was smack dab in the middle. It made me appreciate music even more. When I was 7 or 8 I would ride my bike up to the record store that was 4 miles away to spend my hard earned allowance. I know I did not miss a beat (pun intended) because I listen or can listen to anything. Some of my vinyl is classic rock (Floyd, Queen, Elton, Rush) but the other half is all classical and Jazz. Last night I spun Mahler and Miles KOB. I just got back in from a two week vacation a few days ago. When I listened to my system I could not stop smiling because it sounded so good. It is making me wonder if I really need to upgrade my main system like I wanted to two weeks ago.