I was born in 89 and although my day job is in the classical music world, I do very much love popular music. I come from a family that loves music of all genres and decades and it was always expressed to me that I missed the best years of popular music.

More recently I've felt the need to 'catch-up' on what I've missed and although it won't be the same as living in those moments I am hugely enjoying discovering new, different music. My uncle is loving my new interest and buys me lots of new CDs for me to listen to and discover. Some of the recent ones are:

Elton John- Goodbye Yello Brick Road/Dont shoot me, I'm the piano player - LOVE THESE
Rolling Stones - Big Hits
David Bowie - Best of Bowie
James Brown - Godfather of Soul
Ray Charles - Legend: The Early Years

Along with Jeff Buckley, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel to name a few.

Whatever the year you were born in, do you like to discover the music that came before you? Have you anymore iconic albums/artists that I should listen to? Next on my list are Dusty, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and early Tom Waits.

I was born in 1985 and my parents both love classical music, so I had a lot of exposure to different composers growing up. My middle name is Elise after Beethoven's 'Für Elise'.

I'm glad I was born when I was as I grew up during the rave era of the late 80s/early 90s, the Eurodance era and so on. Nowadays, I mainly listen to non-mainstream artists as well as many artists who started their careers 4 or 5 decades ago.

As for iconic albums, I highly recommend 'Violator' by Depeche Mode. It was 22 years ago this month that it was released and it still sounds amazing.

It depends on what type of music you like, but if you want to explore whole movements then try punk. It encompasses so many sub cultures and although I was born 10 years too late for it, I'm thoroughly enjoying discovering it now.

That's so nice about your middle name! I dont have a connection in that way but my Dad was a professional pianist so I always loved to hear him play!

It's funny though, I feel that there's so much to catch-up on but not just music-wise -politically, historically, as well as books and films etc etc. But am greatly enjoying discovering new music so will def check out Depeche Mode!

I like this suggestion! But where would I start? I can't think of a punk band! Although if one is named I hope I would have heard of them!

You've got the obvious ones like The Sex Pistols, New York Dolls, The Damned. But I think a good place to start would be The Clash. This is my favourite one of theirs, very catchy and well known.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ9r8LMU9bQ&ob=av2e

Phew! I've heard of most of those will check them all out and add them to my cd wishlist!

Good stuff. The 80's in general has a wealth of music, bands like The Smiths, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, even Duran Duran had some mega catchy songs. Happy listening.

Kate Bush as well, I must add Kate Bush. If you manage to get her, you'll never regret it.

I was a 90s child, but I'm actually heavily into 80s music. So much so that I rarely both listening to current music nowadays.

But I second the poster who recommended Depeche Mode! They're my ultimate favourite band. They've been very underrated by the UK, which is a shame because they've produced some amazing songs. As well as 'Violator', I'd also check out 'Black Celebration' and 'Music For The Masses'.

Awesome! My uncle will be delighted that I'm listening to Kate Bush as I know he is a massive fan! He's tried to recruit my brother and sister but without fail, third time lucky perhaps? I only know Wuthering Heights so will check out her back catalogue.

Most of the time I end up listening to music from before when I was born is when a song I like samples another song, I always like to listen to the originals aswell out of curiousity. I listen to a lot of rap music, so basically every song I like samples something lol.

I make it my job to explore all old music of all sorts, old music is so much better than most current stuff and I'm 23!

I'm currently really in love with Harry Nilsson, Judee Sill, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Kate Bush, Linda Perhacs, Randy Newman, Klaus Nomi, Nina Hagen, Yoko Ono, Glen Campbell, Devin Townsend.....

I've been listening to a lot of Madonna's 80s and early 90s stuff. I don't know if you'd be interested in her music but she has some classic songs.

Music is still good nowadays if you know where to look, so don't neglect it and just focus on the past. A lot of people slag off modern music but so much is being created that is amazing. A lot of crap too though, I don't dispute that.

I have been rocking to a lot of David Bowie recently! Love Fame, the Jean Genie and Young Americans. I have heard of, but don't know any songs of the other artists (or at least I don't think i do) so will be sure to check them out!

I was born in 1970 so I mostly had great music growing up. However, I also had a great musically influenced dad and so was brought up listening to the classics of the 1950s and 1960s as well as music from the 70s and my own era.

You can't really go wrong with artists like: The Animals, The Kinks, The Doors, Roxy Music, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley and the Comets, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkle, Joe Jackson, The Jackson Five, anything from Motown!

Then stuff like: The Monkees, The Beach Boys, The Everly Brothers, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bread, Supertramp, the Moody Blues, David Bowie, T-Rex, Thin Lizzy, The Pogues, Ultravox, The Damned, The Alarm, Erasure, The Eurythmics, Blondie, Kate Bush, The Proclaimers, James, Suede, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Nick Kershaw, Icicle Works/Ian McNabb, Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, Haircut 100, The Jam, The Specials, Bob Marley, Special AKA, Bananarama, Fun Boy Three, The Bangles, Texas, Fleetwood Mac, Genesis (early when Peter Gabriel was still there).

I haven't listened to any Madonna albums except ROL but I know a lot of her singles. Which of her earlier albums would you suggest?

Eric_Blob - I like some rap and agree about the sampling but there's something about the genre in general that I find difficult to listen to. I'm sure this is a gross generalisation but there is a lot of gangsters, money is everything, women are for sex - kinda views (the rap I've heard anyway) I'm sure there's a lot more to it than that but for me it's hard to get passed it. Maybe I just need pointing in the right direction?

Fabala - I agree about modern music. You just have to know where to look! However I do feel like I've missed out on so much great music so just hoping I can try and capture the essence those times by discovering new music

Sounds like what I do. I'm 23 and it is really good to discover music from before you were born.

Wow that's great! Also from Bowie try and get around to hearing the albums "Lodger", "Outside", "Station To Station" & "Scary Monsters".

My favourite Paul Simon album at present is "Hearts & Bones" and his most recent one "So Beautiful or So What?" try them!

Harry Nilsson has 3 great albums, try all of them!

I'm starting to ramble, so I'll shut up for now.

No it's great! I love new recommendations and it's always nice when somebody says 'Hey I enjoyed this album, maybe you will too' Makes it more personal I guess! It's the same with books I find, I think I'm more open to new books if they've been recommended by somebody.
I can't promise I'll get round to all of these albums immediately but I'm making a list and I'm gonna work through them
The only problem with doing this is I'll get sad for not being around at some of these acts career heights - for example, I'll never get to see Elton John at his craziest, or Rolling Stones at their zenith or T.Rex etc etc. Thank god for YouTube!!

I know what you mean there. I always wish I could've been around when my favourites were in their glory days. Even though they're still doing gigs now, it's not the same.

i'd suggest checking top 100 best album lists like q and rolling stone produce. also checkout the artists you like on allmusic.com and see what other similar artists it mentions. also checkout the artists on wikipedia to find out what influenced them

if you find you like certain genres you can then google up top 100 rnb albums or whatever

This is such a fantastic list!! Brilliant stuff, thanks!
Although I must say I'm a fan of Genesis pre and post Peter Gabriel (is that blasphemous to say? )

I'd also say check out The Human League, Pet Shop Boys and Wham!