Growing up on a soundtrack split between new wave shimmer and hair metal swagger — shaped by the UK’s weekly chart show Top of the Pops , and later by Dial MTV ’s daily countdowns — my teenage years blurred by in a rush of synths, solos, and the unshakable belief that no music could ever rival the ’80s. Then the decade flipped over, and with it, I tipped into my twenties. My music taste grew from my own discoveries rather than what pop culture fed me. The Stone Roses kicked off the Madchester wave, then the Charlatans and Inspiral Carpets arrived, before Britpop’s Blur, Oasis, and Pulp took over. Threaded through it all were nights of raving, the sounds of the Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Daft Punk, Moby, and the DJs who scored those events: Andrew Weatherall, Sasha, David Morales, Danny Tenaglia, Junior Vasquez and the like. Anthony Kiedis maintains firm eye contact with Flea in Belgium, 1996.…