I saw your query on this last week and I've been thinking about it since. Its evolved a little more now I see and let me add a thought.....a bit of an odd thing that seems to hold true.

We seem to expect these artists to grow and change, evolve as it were. Some don't. You seem to see that more in the pop world, but it happens across the board I think. What I notice is, the ones who evolve and change we still respect, but continue to "honor" them of harken back to one time period as you mention. Another artist may have some high point, big hit, tremendous album, or whatever, but they DON'T change and continue to do the same thing for 25 years....milking it as it were.

Artist "A" we tend to respect 25 years later although we keep going back to that "great" time/album/song/whatever and aren't often paying attention to or may dislike their newer offerings. Artist "B" we tend to make fun of 25 years later because they DID NOT change and we think they are laughable for going with the one thing. We may have felt equal enthusiasm for each 25 years ago. Why do we make jokes about "B" when our real opinion of each was the same back then and we haven't liked anything "A" did since???

Did I get that out right? Hope so.......

Spaw