I feel bad for GenX'ers that missed out on the 60s and 70s.

@khughes: Being almost as old as you, I can relate. Back in the day my first album was Black Sabbath's Paranoid. And I went to concerts by Heart, Kiss, Styx, Bob Seger, etc. I still listen to some old stuff like Sabbath, Trower, Rush, Zeppelin, The Beach Boys, etc., as well as owning blu-rays of Rush, Styx and Sabbath concerts, but I didn't get stuck in that era. In fact, I added a just-released death metal album to my library this morning.

I'm familiar with all the bands you mentioned and their stunning vocalists. Speaking of vocalists, how many "stuck" people will never discover the stunning vocals of Floor Jansen, or Disturbed's David Draiman singing The Sound of Silence, or Oceans of Slumber's Cammie Gilbert singing The Banished Heart, or the unique ethereal haunting vocals of Trees of Eternity's Aleha, or the shock value of Tatiana from Jinjer on the song Pisces (Live Session video)? 

These days I lean toward death metal with some groove (Aeon - Aeons Black), heavy non-monotonous thrash (Warfect - Exoneration Denied, Sylosis - Conclusion of an Age) or epic doom (Trees Of Eternity - Hour of the Nightingale, Draconian - Sovran). Along with some tangents to non-metal artists like Buckethead, David Maxim Micic, Pentatonix and Sade.

The question and the responses just seem to prove that this is a venue for old men…..   Will this hobby survive when all the old men die off?

The earlier 'catagories' rattled off by some self appionted judge who would only claim "classical music" leaves important questions unanswered:  When the London Symphony Orchestra or the Frankfurt Ensemble or Pierre Boulet in Paris play Frank Zappa compositions along side Jimmy Carl Black what "kind" of music is it?  There are only 2 pure types, Good Music and Not Good Music, with many stops inbetween.  It's just like penguins in bondage, boys!

We're all "self appointed judges", aren't we? ;-)

"The question and the responses just seem to prove that this is a venue for old men…..   Will this hobby survive when all the old men die off?"

Hate to be a bearer of bad news, but when we old Boomers die off, they'll be another generation of old guys right behind us. . . which means even you will be old, one day.