I think it’s rather fitting that us older generation is leading the way on YouTube. It’s also fitting that the music dies with us since we were exposed to the greatest music ever recorded from the 60’s to the 80’s. Don’t you think? The younger generation listens to all of the crap from today and think it’s an actual hit. Not me. I still listen to everything from the 60’s to the 80’s because that was real music and we were very privileged to have grown up with it!
I’m sure your father felt the same way about your "great music from the 60s and 80s" as just a bunch of poprockracket that wasn’t real music like the music he loved from the 40s and 50s.
They recently did a study that most people’s long-term listening habits regarding what bands and types of music they prefer is from when that person was in their 20s to mid-30s. After 33, they don’t venture beyond that comfort zone to look for new music which explains why my wife and her sisters are stuck on 90s country and hip-hop.
I had the privilege of having parents who owned a record store in the late 70s through the mid-80s. I spent every day after school and summer afternoons in that store listening to all sorts of music. Classical, Jazz, Delta Blues, R&B, Rock, Disco, Punk and New Wave. That set the stage for listening to all sorts of types of music. That curiosity sticks with me.
I listen to new music all the time and I’m 52. Honestly, there are some great artists today that make better music than a lot of the stuff that came out in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I’m not hampered by nostalgia when I say a lot songs in the 60s, 70s, and 80s are lyrically terrible and musically questionable. That includes the Beatles and Stones. The Who has some crap songs, Steely Dan has crap songs. Bands like Devo, Blondie, Fleetwood Mac, etc. have bad songs.
I go back and listen to bands I thought were great when I was younger and find much of it to not be great. I can cherry-pick certain songs or albums that stand out but I would never say an artist’s entire catalog is spotless. I also do some digital crate digging to find old new-to-me music to enjoy as much as I enjoy discovering new bands and artists, including listening to the music my kids like when we have dance parties at home. That’s what makes listening to music an enjoyable and serious hobby for me. My hi-fi system is a means to that end as I’m sure it is for many on this forum. When I pass on to the great concert hall in sky, I won’t care if my wife and kids sell my hi-fi system and music collection. I just want the legacy of my hobby to be that my kids enjoy listening to music and it becomes a lifetime hobby for them.