Listening to music I don’t particularly like

I still listen to the music I love. I just find myself listening to more music than I would have in the past. I just can't shake the feeling that no matter how good it sounds it doesn't have the same reaction if I haven't heard the song a hundred times before. Possible exception is a jazz vocal cover of one of my favorites. 

"For 6 weeks every year I crank up the Victrola and listen to 78s .. I don't care what it sounds like, it reminds me of my Father In Law, one of the greatest men I ever new.. I can see his wonderful smile.. Foxtrotted untill he was 92 then he slowed down. Ton of fun.."

Sounds like a wonderful man and a real music lover. 

I also prefer excellent sounding content.

Happily I like Jazz, and both early Mono and most Stereo (not reprocessed) Jazz includes great engineers that knew what they were doing. I do put in the 'sell' shelf, albums from artists I like with crap engineering. So many new to me artists to discover, and additional content of favorites.

I play fun memory type LP's, 60's, 70's  like you describe, great songs and beat but nothing special accoustically, using a separate MM replaceable ML stylus, avoiding wear on non-replaceable MC SAS stylus. My MONO is also replaceable stylus. CDs of course are and stay however good/bad they sounded.

Great sounding stuff, i.e. Eurythmics, Melissa Etheridge, .... I buy new LP's to replace my beat up ones. Not serious audiophile 45 rpm versions, just decent condition, near mint or new. 

Never

It is a pretty common trap for audiophiles. I was in that mode, and only after I broke away from the audiophile approved recordings did I really get to enjoy and learn. Good sonics can be found on LPs that are musically enjoyable, entertaining or challenging listens-- my ears opened up figuratively to all kinds of stuff I never explored. I now have a palate for things I would have never listened to before and written off as cacophony-- although I do find some "free jazz" remains a challenge.

I used to do these threads on other audiophile boards that were labelled "non-audiophile records" as a sort of counterpoint to the warhorses-- sometimes common stuff that was fun (lots of the Warner Green label and beyond was really well produced). Other stuff has gotten more recherche as my taste has evolved. Snob factor- not really- listen to what you like, the problem I confront is that a lot of this stuff is now in collector territory, but if you are patient and perhaps live with a CD or lesser copy until you find the OG copy, you don’t always have to pay a fortune. I just got a copy of Steve Reid’s Rhythmatism, which, while not exactly rare, isn’t so easy to find in top condition. Not cheap, but not crazy money, from an honest seller online.

I guess people use streaming services to discover stuff. I had this complementary trial of Qubuz, and looked up Cecil McBee- a very prolific jazz bass player in the ’70s who, as of this writing, is still with us. There was very little of his material on Q. So, for that, unless Tidal or one of the other streaming services has a deep catalog of what you are interested in, that may not be the best route to exposure.

Classic rock- still have a ton of it, most of the stuff I care about i went to the trouble to buy multiple pressings. I do have a thing for early heavy rock-- what would now be labelled proto-metal, but it was at the time, just hard rock. Like biker bar stuff. Juxtapose that with some cello solo recordings or soul jazz-- The Visitors- a/k/a The Grubbs brothers- cool stuff, well recorded, again not easy to find a mint copy unless you live near some good used record stores, but the hunt is also part of the fun.