Recently two PBS stations were running simultaneous pledge breaks. The premium on one station was cds of pop hits from the 1950s and the premium on the other station was cds of pop hits from the 1970s. The target demographics were obviously baby boomers and generation Xers respectively. TDLLC notes that people usually remember pop songs and automobiles from their youth. Do baby boomer display copies of Jackson Pollok paintings? Do generation Xers display copies of Willem de Kooning paintings in their homes? Probably not. TDLLC notes that pop songs and automobiles are ubiquitous in everyday life while art takes effort to locate. Pop music by definition exists in pop culture. Still, the persistence of memory of pop songs but not art from youth is remarkable.
People who grew up studying "classical" music while ignoring pop music recognize very few of these 50s and 70s pop tunes. However, many can hum a few tunes from Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene.
Jeffrey Sward, July 2019