I was thinking about this in a discussion with the wife about her generation of being a fan of The Monkees. How she came along when The Monkees hit MTV and Nick at Nite in the mid 80's ('86-87) and the new studio album at that time was Pool It! for her.
It's not exactly a "1st Generation, 2nd Generation, 3rd Generation" (or 1st, 2nd or 3rd Wave, etc) exactly, but more based on the newest album released.
The 1st new album that comes out either after you become a fan, or I suppose it works best, before if it is relatively recently.
There were some fans that reacted to The Monkees album Good Times! in 2016 as being not nearly as good as Justus, which it was based on partially at least, Justus was the new/1st/most-recent album from The Monkees at-the-time they became a fan.
Mind you, some actually did or do prefer Justus, but my wife and many others thought that album sucked. And many like her and myself really liked Good Times!.
And she also likes Pool It more than Justus, maybe a lot of it just based on how much she likes the music, but also she says based on nostalgia for when it came out around the time she became a fan.
So she's a Pool It!-generation fan of The Monkees. Maybe consider 3rd generation or wave by some, but it seems easiest to just label per the album that was out or came out around the time she became a fan.
So I'm gonna make some more of these entries per time/discipline, etc. But here's 10 artists and the Generation I fall under.
Off the top of my head, I think only 2 or 3 artists I would be in the 1st release/album generation (The Dear Hunter, Kimbra, Janelle Monae kind of..and a few others..Hotel of the Laughing Tree).
Oddly enough though, I told her the whole nostalgia for the new/most recent when I got into the artist doesn't always work for me. Open Your Eyes and Calling All Stations are 2 perfect examples of that. 2 of my least favorite albums from those artists.
Kevin Gilbert: (2004) The Kaviar Demo-generation
Marillion: (1995) Afraid of Sunlight-generation
Fates Warning: (1995) Inside Out-generation
Rush: (1992) Roll the Bones-generation
Dream Theater: (1995) Awake-generation
King's X: (1996) Ear Candy-generation
The Dear Hunter: (2007) Act I: The Lake South, the River North-generation
Yes: (1996 or 1997) The Open Your Eyes-generation
Genesis: (1997) Calling All Stations-generation
Pink Floyd: (1991 or 1992) A Momentary Lapse of Reason-generation