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.