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

I was being too hard on the 1980’s. That decade was filled with great music continuing to be made by artists and bands who had emerged during the 70’s---Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Ry Cooder, Richard Thompson, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Loudon Wainwright !!!, Marshall Crenshaw, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Petty and Springsteen (assuming of course one likes them), REO Speedwagon (just kidding ;-), plenty of others. Not a good decade for Dylan though.

But the decade also witnessed the emergence of a bunch of great new artists, including Los Lobos, John Hiatt, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Pretenders (a good live band. I saw them on their first USA tour at The Palomino!), Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, The Blasters, The Long Ryders, Prince, U2, Dire Straits, REM, The Bangles (surprisingly good live), The Replacements, Journey (just kidding ;-). Not bad!

IMHO this is a rather strange thread. Good music is good music regardless of genre. There is plenty of good music created today. The main problem is there is way more garbage. You use to have to be good to get a record contract. Now anybody with a computer and an ego can pump out files of rubbish. But then you have Arctic Monkeys, Fiona Apple, Haley Williams, Jack White and many more. 
My kids grew up listening to a vast collection of music. I turned them on to all the older music, they turn me on to new music I did not trip over myself. My kids also listen to Beethoven and Brahms. But the vast masses just listen to the popular music of the day as it has always been.

Urg….. please, do not weep for me. As a former record store owner and musician I missed nothing. In fact I can do you one better- I can cherry pick only what I like as an outsider. I am so happy that punk rolled in and washed all that hippy BS down the tubes where most of it belonged.
Ill take the MC5 , Stooges, Radio Birdman, NY Dolls, Heartbreakers, Ramones,Dr. Feelgood etc. over any patchouli drenched love and flowers. Rock and roll is blue collar and should stay that way. FTW

discopants

"OK boomer"? Like most everything about the overly privileged generations that came after the boomers, even your putdowns are lazy. Learn to put together a good put down, you conceited, lazy, crybaby about literally everything (don't take that personally, it was meant for all generations after the boomers). Boomers didn't sit around complaining, they worked their butts off so you could have a better life. Even your music is lazy, all stripped down, uninteresting, and totally dependent on not much more than a loud beat.