Every generation has its own relationship with the music that defines its era, but for those of a certain age, it’s safe to say that no one will quite have as great a music experience as those who grew up in Generation X.

We were introduced to music through our parents or older siblings, subliminally absorbing Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, The Who, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and The Rolling Stones before we even started making our own musical decisions. We were along for the ride when acts such as Van Halen, Queen, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, Journey, The Police, and Heart carried over from the ‘70s and continued to thrive during our formative years, and we witnessed the rare successful second act of Aerosmith that nearly matched their first era.

We grew up in an era where subgenres weren’t necessarily as prevalent; music was more lumped together as a collective experience, and MTV emerged, giving us a visual introduction to a wide array of acts across a musical spectrum that seemed to co-exist in our collective consciousness.

Showmanship and musical prowess were both on display as we had charismatic lead singers who had us hanging on every word, guitarists gracing the covers of magazines, and drummers and bassists making a name for their technical abilities, thunderous beats, and killer low end as well.

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The Gen X generation was swept up in 1980s new wave, donned their battle jackets for the NWOBHM, witnessed the explosion of hair metal in the ‘80s, forged the evolution from underground college rock radio into 1990s alt-rock dominance, broke out our flannel for the grunge takeover, and bopped along to the ‘90s pop-punk revival. And for those of us Gen Xers with an open mind, we even embraced our kids’ fascination with nu-metal, emo, screamo, metalcore, and just about every new subgenre that popped up in the 2000s.

There were many great music moments that were front and center during our coming of age as Gen Xers. So let’s dig into what made the Gen X music experience so great.

And below that gallery you’ll find the Best New Rock + Metal Act for each year of the 1980s.

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