heh, your wife sounds wise Dale.  I often think that about myself these days when it comes to music.  I'm an over-the-hill 43 y/o myself (hey wait, does that mean Pat and DB are over the hill too?)

...forget everything I just said.

seriously though, I can't remember my parents liking Steppenwolf when I was a kid and I don't recall liking any of the albums my Dad had in his 1969 era 1/2 ton Fischer stereo cabinet  (I liked his set-up however, it was "da bomb" as today's kids say.).

I still believe there's good music being made out there though, and plenty of it. But I do agree that a lot of it isn't getting played enough on the radio.  Instead, we are force fed a steady diet of the same thing over and over and over again in the music industry's effort to build a brand out of a group or an individual that may have a wider appeal (even if it's just a large group of neophytes unfortunately) and consequently sell more CDs.  Not much incentive for the artists that don't get the exposure though I would think.  Radio, is in my opinion the real problem. That, and the fact that perhaps our tastes are more diverse or considered eclectic when compared to most people's.   HCTNFU, Triage and BTS are all prime examples.   All of us here know they blow away most of the crap that we hear on the radio today, but for a lot of folks, having to think about the music is just too much like work.

But hey, I still buy CDs.  I just bought Donna Mogavero's "Out of The Nest" this morning (click the title for a link)