Quality thread. I agree with OP's opinions for the most part.
On the subject of music, having grown up in the late 90's and early 2000's, I found myself listening almost exclusively to The Beatles and The Beach Boys, and some Hardy Boys books on tape because everything else sounded awful. Now I'm very cultured in terms of my knowledge of different music, and that started when my brother coaxed me out of my beloved beatles and beach boys. It started with one mix CD that changed everything for me. It started me down the road to a love of electronic music like dubstep, but even more importantly: it opened the door to metal for me. Since then, 98% of my music has come from my brother who's 31 right now (just btw). I owe my extensive knowledge of classic music from the 60's, 70's, etc... to my parents who both worked in radio (my dad still does), and my knowledge of metal and dubstep to my brother.
That's just my bit. The stuffty music that Op described in his music rant is the stuff I generally avoid to the best of my ability but sometimes I have to suck it up and deal with the terrible-ness if it's played a dance or something.
