(For the purpose of this tread, "youth" is until grade 6. Once people hit puberty, their body and tastes usually change radically).

Having grown up during two decades (and in another language than English), the soundtrack of my youth has quite a bit of variety - about 300 tracks on Youtube, about 50-50 French and English.

One of the most popular artists was Madonna. Probably because of the language barrier, our parents didn't mind seeing me and my sister listening to her songs (although I doubt they let my sister watch Justify my Love). Still today I believe she is THE Queen of Pop. She is my father's age (56) and yet she's still out there. Unlike many artists she has been able to reinvent herself over and over again. Like a Virgin, the Immaculate Collection, Vogue... all these albums have yielded some of the best songs of these years.

With respect to the KING of pop, Michael Jackson wasn't as much of an enjoyment as Madonna. Thriller came out when I was one AT MOST, and it didn't seem to have been that popular in Quebec. However I do remember Bad well, especially the main song. It had nice arrangements and he didn't look like a lab experiment. Plus Weird Al Yankowich gave an excellent caricature of the song I still love today. Black or White was interesting but Vogue had better arrangements.

One artist that I really loved - my father loved her too - was Enya. Her music videos were always so beautiful and artistic; Orinoco Flow looked like she was on a painting and Caribbean Blue was done in a story book. She has such a beautiful voice and songs; too bad she didn't inspire more "soft rock" artists; I might have leaned towards that style had she have a greater influence.

Speaking of soft songs, Phil Collins was an excellent artist of my youth. Not only in Genesis - my father played Invisible Touch quite often - but also during his solo carrier. "Another Day in Paradise" is a very sad and touching song while Sussudio was more joyous.

Whitney Houston was also an excellent artist. Although her music videos were overly colorful, her voice and music made you want to listen to her. "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" is still one of my favorite songs of the era.

Céline Dion was also an excellent artist of my youth. Of course, considering her planetary success she was played on every pop stations in the province. Nevertheless, she was lucky her manager (and now husband) found great song writers, as the end result was spectacular. "Unisson", "Where Does my Heart Beat Now", "If You Asked Me to" in English and "Des mots qui sonnent", "Ziggy", "J'aurais voulu être un artiste" were all excellent interpretations, and sometimes better than the first performance of the song when it comes to "Artiste".

For other French songs, there were many artists for whom I only remember one or two songs although their discography is much larger. "Voyage Voyage", Rita Mitsouko, "Ella elle l'a" (France Galle), Patricia Kaas, "La légende de Jimmy" (Diane Tell), Jean Leloup, Vilain Pingouins, Mauranne ("Pas gai la pagaille), "Donne-moi du feu" and "Cache ta joie" (you HAVE to watch that music video!) were all very good songs that represent the richness of Molière's language.

Scandinavia also produced "great artists" (for my innocent ears) like Roxette and Ace of Base. Even today, I still enjoy "It's a beautiful life" (which I'm listening to right now) and "She's got the look".

Finally, as I wrote in my 1990s tread, Eurodance was probably the most influential style of my youth. I can't pinpoint any specific artists, my songs like "Tonight is the night", "Rythmn is a Dancer", "Informer" and "What is Love" all bring me back to this period of innocence (and bullying ).

So, what are the influential artists of your youth? Do you still enjoy their songs or you're facepalming yourself for even acknowledging you ever like them? It happens to me for New Kids on the Block...

This song really rocked my world when I stayed up really late for the first time in my life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmUZ6nCFNoU

Brigand : man, it must be pretty old; Billy Corgan has hair!

Smashing Pumpkin was one of the greatest groups of the decade! But I only started linking them in high school.

Hmm. Sixth grade only? For me that would be rock. Particularly stuff like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Smashing Pumpkins. By the way, I'm in Grade Eight now (high school). I still like that stuff though.

Up until grade 6? Man, I am dying remember the  2 songs I listened to all the time during my youth, as you put it. This might come to a shock as a lot of people, but I always listened to " Man, I Feel Like a Woman " and " Honey, I'm Home " by Shanai Twain. 

Kanye's "The College Dropout" came out when i was in third grade and I still love it. Good times.

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thing1 : Ah yes, Shania Twain. The one that almost converted me to country music. I liked her a lot... in high school. I still like her style, although her third original album (after Come on Over) wasn't as interesting.

janus : I don't listen to country anymore though. That's what I used to listen to. 

thing1 : Even when I was listening to Shania Twain I wasn't much into country either. I would listen to CMT only to hear Twain. In between her rare appearances I would enjoy *some* songs like Terry Clark (she had humorous lyrics) or Garth Brooks. But for the most part I felt estranged.