Great post and an interesting question. I absolutely think that people define their generation by the music they deem representative. Do I think that it's a uniform answer for a specific generation? No. But I do think some generalities can be made. Also, what ends up happening is that many music lovers will continue to enjoy the emerging sounds of the generations to come. I'm not sure what would music/style would be considered my generations? Probably grunge or something like that. But that absolutely doesn't encapsulate me, as much as I liked it when I was 16. Thank you for the Tiny Desk Concert link, I'm a fan of the series. While in DC we toured the NPR studios and met Bob Boilen. Pretty cool to see the "tiny desk". Wish we could have heard some music too. edit: That first song from Kronos Quartet is absolutely amazing. Dark, full of energy and amazingly in time/tune with one another while seemingly just enough out of tune to make it interesting. Great stuff. edit: Owl, you might be interested in this tiny desk concert.
Fun anecdote about meeting Bob: My housemate's friend works for NPR and always releases the list of the upcoming Tiny Desk concerts, and they can give out a ticket or two to friends. Always fun. But apparently my housemate went to a show with their friend at one point and didn't know they were going specifically because it was one of Bob's favorite bands. My housemate LOVES Bob, but had never seen a picture of him, and ended up talking to him for a while about how much he thinks the band sucks. Oops.
Ha. I didn't get to talk to Bob much. I told him that I loved the TDC and that when I was a kid MTV's Unplugged was really exciting because it presented music I liked and was already familiar with in a new way. I told him I thought TDC filled this role today. I don't think it went over well.