Just to add my $0,02 worth to this very interesting thread... I totally agree that people listening to classical music are also deeper thinkers and more sensitive overall. However, a few years ago when I still cared to listen to "mainstream" crap, I discovered that certain catchy passages of either techno or hip hop (yes, that "awful" thing) can easily be tranformed into catchy "classical" passages if played on "classical" instruments like violins. At least it is easy when you try to imagine that in your head. Nonetheless, I soon came to realize that the classical provides more depth and complexity than "shallow" genres, especially pop, and the "catchy" phrase which constitutes a whole tune in a pop song would only be one of many elements in the vast richness of a classical piece. Also, I tend to think of classical, jazz and ethnic as "healthier" in that they use sounds that an actual physical object could make, instead of any artificial noise whose effects on the body and mind might be rather erratic. And just to add a bit of perspective - "our" classical is not the ONLY classical there is - there are also things like non-western classical (like Indian or oriental), not hundreds but thousands of years old, and they also seem to be comparably complex and to refer to the deeper parts of the mind and the heart. For instance, I love the complex sound of sitar, definitely more complex and "advanced" than a classical guitar, as well as the sound of tabla and shehnai.