Wicked-arse discussion!
Merely some observations here about those stinking labels and badges, if I may
I don't give a flying one what the genre is called. Give me HOOKS. Toss me some Mozart. Sling me out some Screaming Trees. Stagecoach me some Don Gibson. Have taxis drop me off at the intersections of Oscar Peterson & Billie Holiday, or at Itzhak Perlman & Ornette Coleman. Let me snort some Three Dog Night and get sand in my ears from the Beach Boys, or let me inhale those bus fumes from the corner of The Chiffons and Dion and the Belmonts. Lock me in the elevator of a 70-story building and play me some Frank Chacksfield or Jackie Gleason Orchestra.......
Thanks to the pre-mentioned Napster and Lime Wire and other sources, legit or otherwise, I've got enough music for a No-Repeat Retirement now, me being in that 55+ demo (in fact, I'm even older than 55 +). For those tolerant of classifications, there are Standards here, and early 90's Grunge, Chicken Rock, AoR's Country Rock, Bossa Nova/Bacharach, 50's crossover pop, Ed Zeppelin-era rock, Classical, late 60's C&W. There's even a file folder where all of that delightful racket is bundled all together ......
The last great American pop-songwriters to me were Lionel Richie and Dan Fogelberg. Your mileage definitely will vary,

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I haven't read yet about Beautiful Music in this thread ; my oversight if that's the case. But when I started hearing things on WPAT like 'Thriller' by the Longine's Symphonette Orchestra or 'We're An American Band' by the Billion and One Tubas, that ended the magic for me. Gimme the previous stuff, please. If radio can't, or won't, then 'harrumph'. I have enough of the real stuff for a pacifier ......
Oldies / schmoldies.
You've provided some great points to ponder there, gang! Terrific summaries of eras and styles and predispositions and accord and memories, and well, communications based on music. For many of us, that's what this terminal radio addiction was always what communications was all about, eh?