All kinds of sounds just hit me, like a big hand is reaching inside my body and grabbing hold of my spine. I hear music in bells, car alarms, jackhammers....I'm odd. It's like sound itself just fascinates me. And certain sounds, like a crunchy riff or a cool horn, always seem to grab me more. Hell, I can listen to feedback and dig it. In fact, I do...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtnG6EHh1N4Nothing deep here. No hidden meanings or messages. Just a few dudes engaging in some serious amplifier worship (to be expected from a band named after Sunn Amps). Live, the building literally rumbles underfoot as they play...you not only hear the music, you feel it physically. An actual breeze comes from the speakers, no lie. My ears rang for a week...heaven!
There's also music that's nothing but a message (like everything the Dead Kennedys ever recorded). Both can be cool, both can suck. It's whatever hits you, and that can even vary from day to day and mood to mood. I have music handy to scratch any itch. Sometimes I want something with a point, other times I just want to shoegaze for awhile and feel the music. Music is a free ride.
That is why I can't stand radio. I haven't done radio in over 2 decades, with the exception of an overnight jazz station (no ads, no obnoxious dj). Not a fan of popular music for the most part, and I can't see why I should listen to the radio hoping to hear maybe one song an hour that I like when I have music of my own coming out my ass. Not to mention the dj's who are convinced they're comedy gold but are about as funny as a fire at an orphanage.
I have no idea how anyone can stand hearing the same songs over and over, but my theory is that most people predominantly listen to whatever they were into in high school for the rest of their lives, playing into your nostalgia angle big time. I have no problems with breaking some of that stuff out here and there and getting into it, or even still liking it a lot. I just can't understand not wanting to hear new things. Music is like going for a ride, and songs are like roads. It's always nice to travel a road you know and love, but I'd rather travel a new road and see new sights I haven't seen yet, or in this case, hear sounds I haven't heard yet. I spoke to a guy the other day who had never owned a single tape, cd, or album. It was like talking to a Venusian for me.
Trying to answer these questions is like explaining why I like the color blue. :)
Seriously, I think you are over-analyzing it (and you got me doing it now, too). Music is one of those things that you either feel or you don't. And there's nothing wrong with either one. Some people don't do movies, or politics, or books. Maybe music just isn't there for you. Embrace your non-music ways! :D