Most definitive music genre for each generation.

[MyLifeIsYours]

What genres of music would have been the definitive styles that you think defined a generation?

Baby Boomers: Classic rock or folk music?
Gen X: Alt rock
Millennial: Emo or rap
Gen Z: EDM?

[dw93]

Silent Generation (At least the tail end of it): Rock and Roll
Baby Boomers: Folk
Gen X: Either Grunge or Rap
Millennial: Emo
Gen Z: Not sure

[Del Tachi]

War Babies = Rockabilly
Generation Jones = Disco
Generation Y = 2000s singer-songwriter stuff

[Ferguson97]

Boomers: Rock
Gen X: Punk
Millennials: Pop
Zoomers: Rap

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Silent/Boomers: Classic rock and disco
Gen X: Grunge and rap/hip-hop
Millennials: Indie/Alternative
Gen Z: EDM and rap/hip-hop

[Orwell]

Was Emo ever on the same level as rap in popularity? Like I can't think of any 90s emo bands, but I can think of like a bunch of 90s rappers, Eazy E, Jay Z, Ice Cube, Tupac, Biggie, Nas, MF Doom, etc.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Boomers: rock.
Generation X: alternative.
Millennials: hip hop.
Zoomers: trap.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Boomers: rock.
Generation X: alternative.
Millennials: hip hop.
Zoomers: trap.

LOL.

Millennials & hip hop.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Baby Boomers: Psychedelic pop/rock, classic rock & folk
Gen X: New wave & synthpop, also metal
Millennial: Pop rock, indie rock & alternative rock & EDM.
Gen Z: Males: hip hop. Ladies: hyperpop & cloud/emo rap & alt pop/singer songwriter stuff like taylor swift, mitski, clairo, beabadobee & phoebe bridgers

[Orwell]

Baby Boomers: Psychedelic pop/rock, classic rock & folk
Gen X: New wave & synthpop, also metal
Millennial: Pop rock, indie rock & alternative rock & EDM.
Gen Z: Males: hip hop. Ladies: hyperpop & cloud/emo rap & alt pop/singer songwriter stuff like taylor swift, mitski, clairo, beabadobee & phoebe bridgers

I think a big one for Gen X should be a focus on like Glam metal/Hair metal bands, like Ratt, Motley Crue (Great film The Dirt, about them too), and others. I think Millennials definitely need rap to be included, as I said earlier, Biggie, Tupac, Jay Z, NWA, Nas, MF Doom, Snoop, all were big names in the 90s when Millenials started to come of age and then you had Ye, Eminem, and others in the 2000s when the late Millenials came up. Definitely more lyrically focused, but there is some correlation between gangster rap popular in the 90s and the trap of the 2020s. 

[I’m not Stu]

Isn’t Britney Spears the definitive non-rap artist (of both millennials and generation Z) of the late 90s, 2000s, 2010s, and today in the 2020s?

[Orwell]

Isn’t Britney Spears the definitive non-rap artist (of both millennials and generation Z) of the late 90s, 2000s, 2010s, and today in the 2020s?

Britney Spears hasn't been relevant since before most of Gen Z was paying attention to music. she's more of a late millennial star. Since she was at the height of her popularity in the early aughts

[I’m not Stu]

Isn’t Britney Spears the definitive non-rap artist (of both millennials and generation Z) of the late 90s, 2000s, 2010s, and today in the 2020s?

Britney Spears hasn't been relevant since before most of Gen Z was paying attention to music. she's more of a late millennial star. Since she was at the height of her popularity in the early aughts

Really? I thought Britney was extremely relevant and dominant in 2011 and 2012. Didn’t Britney have many #1s then?

[Del Tachi]

Boomers: rock.
Generation X: alternative.
Millennials: hip hop.
Zoomers: trap.

LOL.

Millennials & hip hop.

Yes?  Millennials and hip-hop go together like PB&J.

[I’m not Stu]

Weren't the two biggest hit songs by any artist that defined 2011 "Hold It Against Me" and "I Wanna Go"?

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Weren't the two biggest hit songs by any artist that defined 2011 "Hold It Against Me" and "I Wanna Go"?

I've never heard of these songs.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Boomers: rock.
Generation X: alternative.
Millennials: hip hop.
Zoomers: trap.

LOL.

Millennials & hip hop.

Yes?  Millennials and hip-hop go together like PB&J.

2010s is zoomer music. Millennials are stuck in indie/alt rock 2000s. Sure maybe they listen some hip hop but really it's more like the zoomers who do that.

Also a lot of my classmates were into alt rock (which i didn't like at the time), and than they suddenlyt abandoned alt rock for EDM.

You know our neighbouring nation Netherlands is quite known for that, and we have Tomorrowland and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. I don't like these artists and this music and the festival is so embarrassing that i even wouldn't go if i were paid for it.

That being said i love listening electronic music, but simply other electronic music than hardstyle music which i hate and can't stand.

[I’m not Stu]

Weren't the two biggest hit songs by any artist that defined 2011 "Hold It Against Me" and "I Wanna Go"?

I've never heard of these songs.

It seems like Britney Spears dominated 2011.

#1 "Hold It Against Me"
#1 "I Wanna Go"
Honorable mention "Till the World Ends" #1 dance song
#1 album Femme Fatale

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Weren't the two biggest hit songs by any artist that defined 2011 "Hold It Against Me" and "I Wanna Go"?

I've never heard of these songs.

It seems like Britney Spears dominated 2011.

#1 "Hold It Against Me"
#1 "I Wanna Go"
Honorable mention "Till the World Ends" #1 dance song
#1 album Femme Fatale

I only remember scream & shout from that era. But that was probably 2013 or something.

[Del Tachi]

Boomers: rock.
Generation X: alternative.
Millennials: hip hop.
Zoomers: trap.

LOL.

Millennials & hip hop.

Yes?  Millennials and hip-hop go together like PB&J.

2010s is zoomer music. Millennials are stuck in indie/alt rock 2000s. Sure maybe they listen some hip hop but really it's more like the zoomers who do that.

Millennials dominated the 2000s?  I'd be interested to hear who you're calling a Millennial

Since we tend to already think about pop culture, music, events, etc. on a decadal scale so too should generations be ~10 years long.  This is defensible since we've long abandoned the concept of a cultural generation having anything to do with a biological generation of ~20 years.  My proposal is something like the following:

--G.I. Generation (b. 1915 to 1925)
--Silent Generation (b. 1926 to 1936)
--War Babies (b. 1937 to 1945)
--Baby Boomers (b. 1945 to 1953)
--Generation Jones (b. 1954 to 1964)
--Generation X (b. 1964 to 1976)
--Generation Y (b. 1977 to 1985)
--Millennials (b. 1986 to 1996)
--Zoomers (b. 1996 to 2005?)

Doing it this way allows generations/decades to line-up quite nicely.  Boomers are the school kids of the 50s, teenagers of the 60s, twentysomethings of the 1970s, etc., etc.  This gives you a decade where each generation "peaked" in terms of its pop culture influence (assuming people in their 20s best represent what's cool):

--G.I. Generation (1940s)
--Silent Generation (1950s)
--War Babies (1960s)
--Boomers (1970s)
--Jones (1980s)
--X'ers (1990s)
--Gen Y (2000s)
--Millennials (2010s)
--Zoomers (2020s)

[Progressive Pessimist]

Boomers: rock.
Generation X: alternative.
Millennials: hip hop.
Zoomers: trap.

LOL.

Millennials & hip hop.

In my experience my middle school years were defined by crunk being very prominent on the radio. And for older millennials you had the beginnings of gangster rap in the late 80's and early 90's and other sub-genres like New Jack Swing. I stand by hip hop being definitive in all its different incarnations: I was just putting it under a broader term.

[MyLifeIsYours]

Boomers: rock.
Generation X: alternative.
Millennials: hip hop.
Zoomers: trap.

LOL.

Millennials & hip hop.

Yes?  Millennials and hip-hop go together like PB&J.

2010s is zoomer music. Millennials are stuck in indie/alt rock 2000s. Sure maybe they listen some hip hop but really it's more like the zoomers who do that.

The first half of the 10s is Millennial based. The second half culminates with Gen Z rise, just as they were graduating high school around say 2017.  Hip hop was huge for the entire Millennial age range, and reached minorities unlike Indie rock.

[I’m not Stu]

Boomers: rock.
Generation X: alternative.
Millennials: hip hop.
Zoomers: trap.

LOL.

Millennials & hip hop.

Yes?  Millennials and hip-hop go together like PB&J.

2010s is zoomer music. Millennials are stuck in indie/alt rock 2000s. Sure maybe they listen some hip hop but really it's more like the zoomers who do that.

The first half of the 10s is Millennial based. The second half culminates with Gen Z rise, just as they were graduating high school around say 2017.  Hip hop was huge for the entire Millennial age range, and reached minorities unlike Indie rock.

So Taylor Swift is more popular with Gen Z than Britney Spears is?

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Boomers: rock.
Generation X: alternative.
Millennials: hip hop.
Zoomers: trap.

LOL.

Millennials & hip hop.

Yes?  Millennials and hip-hop go together like PB&J.

2010s is zoomer music. Millennials are stuck in indie/alt rock 2000s. Sure maybe they listen some hip hop but really it's more like the zoomers who do that.

The first half of the 10s is Millennial based. The second half culminates with Gen Z rise, just as they were graduating high school around say 2017.  Hip hop was huge for the entire Millennial age range, and reached minorities unlike Indie rock.

So Taylor Swift is more popular with Gen Z than Britney Spears is?

Unsurprisingly, yeah.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Boomers: rock.
Generation X: alternative.
Millennials: hip hop.
Zoomers: trap.

LOL.

Millennials & hip hop.

Yes?  Millennials and hip-hop go together like PB&J.

2010s is zoomer music. Millennials are stuck in indie/alt rock 2000s. Sure maybe they listen some hip hop but really it's more like the zoomers who do that.

The first half of the 10s is Millennial based. The second half culminates with Gen Z rise, just as they were graduating high school around say 2017.  Hip hop was huge for the entire Millennial age range, and reached minorities unlike Indie rock.

So Taylor Swift is more popular with Gen Z than Britney Spears is?

Yes.