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

When the Beatles first came to the states, my parents started off saying things like “you want to buy a record by bugs?” to words I can’t say here! Although my mom ended up liking Carol King and Abba.  My sister actually took her to see Mamma Mia and she really enjoyed it.

JD

Boomer here.
Yes I regularly went to concerts, relatively cheaply, including The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix, The Beach Boys,  Buddy Guy, Pink Floyd, Albert Collins, Jefferson Airplane, Alice Cooper, Cream, Janis Joplin, The Temptations, Eagles, Bonnie Raitt, etc, etc, etc.  I also remember paying 21 cents a gallon for gasoline. Let's not forget that I was making $1.60 to $4.00 and hour during those times, so no, the concerts were not cheap.
For me, those were a time of coming of age. Growing up, learning new things, getting new freedoms with a great soundtrack is indeed a great memory.
To think that I'm in the only generation to have such an experience would be pompous and closed minded.
GenX had great music, spiraling inflation and a generation of great music behind their own...so they had a larger library to choose from for their "coming of age soundtrack".
I never have delved deeply into music from the 50's...not my thing. You can keep "good golly miss molly" and the like. If anything genX had it better with the previous music being available.
Feeling bad for GenX amounts to looking down your nose at them and placing higher importance on the music of one's own generation over any others. I say BS.

bdp24

I would welcome any advice you have on new (last 20 years) music that you think is great but under one condition. If you honestly think that anything Dylan has done in the last 20 years is as good as anything he did in his first 10, then don't bother because I know anything you suggest will not be great. I've searched for what I consider to be great new music and I just don't have much luck. Not a fan of hip hop or rap, although I've tried hard to understand both.
I've had two people tell me that The Strokes are the last great rock band, so I went and listened to their first album (it's supposed to be their best) all the way through. They use the same mundane, repetitive guitar picking on almost every song, have no backup singers or non-typical rock band instruments, and just generally bore except for the song Last Night. I'm sorry, but one decent song does not make for a great rock band. 

You almost make it sound like the new generation does not have access to the old music. Other than concerts they still have all the same access we do. In fact we also have access to all the new music too. That is what make music the incredible medium it is. It is for ever and it is always changing. I will never say one was better than another. Even back in the 70’s and 80’s there was crap  I did not like. This is like saying that the 1970 Bears could beat the 2021 bears. It is alway a nice argument but in reality the 2021 team would destroy the 1970 team. Like what you like debate all you want for the fun of it and enjoy the music, any music.

I'm happy for folks who appreciate music.

Each one of us has a unique life experience regardless of when we were born.