Since the 1960s and '70s, food has replaced music's centrality to American culture. In the earlier era, new albums were eagerly awaited and bought in the hundreds of thousands upon their release.
Diversity in the musical world was relatively low, as genres such as rap, heavy metal, techno and ambient either didn't exist or weren't well developed. It was also harder to access the music of the more distant past — no Spotify or YouTube — and thus people listened to the same common music more frequently.
That was by no means a good deal for every listener in terms of pleasure, but it did give music a powerful social influence. Bob Dylan, the Beatles and various forms of hippie music shaped political debates, introduced many people to drugs or long hair, and were a touchstone for the age.