The American state was born just as the golden age of classical art was fading. In fact we can blame the American Revolution for inspiring the Romantic Movement. The most Classical country in the world is Japan. Because classicism is all about order, harmony, proportion, the avoidance of excess, a human scale, equilibrium, preservation of the status quo. Whereas today's music industry plays to regimented masses of isolated individuals, all caught up in the same illusions of their own personal difference from the others.
Romanticism is in most of modern pop the same way sugar is in everything at the convenience store.
It's reassuring to the lonely masses. That's why, in 'Fahrenheit 451', the state burned all the books. Forms that stimulate only emotion can. That's why in '1984' everyone chanted at the screen in unison at Goldberg, the 'hate figure'. Critics shouldn't scoff at didactic art or cool art, because people need to learn the kind of distance Brecht tried to build into his 'smoking theatres' and his alienation technique.