For those of us over 60..

Great question. All of these are good. I'm 61 and being an east coast teen in the early seventies, Springsteen really hit me. I felt like I had lived most of his lyrics. "Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge drinking warm beer in a soft summer rain" takes me back to 17 every time I hear it. I know I've posted it here before as a favorite lyric. I guess that's why it has stuck with me for 40+ years.

The Beatles. 

'50s: Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Lloyd Price'60s: Ray Charles, Janis, Santana'70s: The Band, John Fogerty'80s - present: Americana in general with a tip of my hat to John Fahey

Classical is another topic for conversation...

I think it all depends on the year for me.  So many great artists from year to year makes it impossible for me to pick one group to define 72 years on Earth.

Oh man, I’m only 54 and all this seems completely beyond my time old-guy stuff ;-)

Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Moody Blues....*shudder*....

Not long ago I tried watching some Grateful Dead concerts on line, just to see what the fuss was about. I sure couldn’t figure out what the fuss was all about, nothing even remotely compelling. Seemed like a scrappy old band  outputting bland music.   But, hey, I guess they just weren’t my idiom. I like tons of stuff many here would think of as WTF? So that’s how it goes.