To be clear: it's fine to say you wish the music were more like it used to be. (Duh.) It's fine to criticize, as long as keep a level head. But it's not fine to make a fetish of your own 'veteran' status, trading away fulfillment for satisfaction.

I used to joke that hating bad movies is more rewarding than loving good ones -- because if the movie sucks, then your enjoyment (at the bar afterward, say) is limited only by your own creativity in dissing it. You can always work harder to spin the wheel faster. Whereas after a good movie, you feel as good as the movie let you feel.

That was wrong. I was wrong.

The point of all my comments in this thread is that we should stop treating 'jadedness' as if it's the same thing as 'experience' or 'perspective.' It's not. It's almost exactly the opposite of those things.