I tell folks I like anything played by actual talented humans on actual musical instruments.
I do profess to a special fondness for the hard rock/heavy metal genre, though, featuring the hot dog guitarists
of that time - George Lynch, Jake E Lee, Reb Beach, et al. All those guys still putting out awesome stuff today.
Kings X - ANY Kings X.
Also a big fan of Alison Krause and Union Station - all master musicians there, awesome stuff.
Secret guilty pleasure is Tom Petty, especially his "deeper" stuff; Mike Campbell (Heartbreakers' lead guitarist) is a favorite.
Latter-day stuff is pretty much "meh" for me - exceptions are Alter Bridge (Mark Tremonti is a BEAST on guitar),
Probably have in the neighborhood of 2,500 songs in my collection.
It's gotta have balls, gotta have talent and must be melodic while kicking ***.