"Rock2kid, I would say that music scene today is far more divergent and is teeming with talent and innovation, then in the sixties and seventies."
I would tend to agree, or at least it is much easier to discover new talents and innovations, where they exist.
A lot of modern innovation is built around fusion of more traditional genres, like Steely Dan helped do with rock and jazz back in their day. That is a good thing and opens up a lot of new opportunities for talent to innovate and move in new directions!
Most of the traditional genres, including classic rock, have been beaten to death. THinking in terms of traditional "genres" can be a trap that limits ones exposure to new enjoyable music. Listen first, then categorize what you hear, not the reverse. That is something I used to do as a youth and am learning to do now again better than ever. Plus it all sounds better than ever on a good modern rig! There has never been a better time to be a music loving audiophile!
Avoid traps like "oh I don't like rap or electronic dance music" and never give any a try. You are armed and dangerous! Try it all first, then decide what is good or not.
These days, I listen to pretty much anything again, especially queued up randomly on my music server which I refer to as "mapman radio". Squezzebox even adds a nice fade-out/fade-in effect between tracks that keeps the music flowing. No need for record spinning DJs anymore. THe computer truly does a great job! I never know which of the thousands of tracks in dozens of genres will come up next. THat helps to avoid letting prior judgements or expectations affect what I listen to. There are very few tracks that I skip through. Of course, once you hear a movement from some symphony or some on off cut that you never heard before and like that strikes your fancy, you might want to play the whole album, though album listening now occupies a smaller % of my time than ever. A lot of good music tracks stand best alone.
