Will Fly, what you're saying is a bit different - you've moved on to other genres and nationalities of music (and why not?). In each of those genres, you're probably accessing the best 10% of it, because the 90% of it that was rubbish has fallen by the wayside, just as it does with our native folk music and song.

I think the other part of the theory - about our personal attachment to the music of our youth - relates largely to pop music. It certainly explains, in my case, why it doesn't seem to me that anything very worthwhile has developed since the Beatles. I can discuss modern music with my teenage granddaughter (who also likes the Beatles!) but I still find the modern songs and performers that I can relate to are those that have a lot in common with the Beatles' era - performances with an unprocessed, "acoustic" feel about them.

Marje