The past is never dead. It's not even past [William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun . ] .

What have we learned? Music, indeed – especially popular music – both focuses and defines an era. Who can remember an event from their teens without a mental musical soundtrack? Tell us what song was playing at your school dance, and we will tell you exactly how old you are. And what country you come from.

Music never really goes away. The pop tunes of the past come back to haunt us   –   this summer's ice cream wagon may be calling little kids with the tune that set the grownups dancing back in 1860.

Musical taste is one of the many, many things that divide us from our forebears. We listen, we roll our eyes. Someday, guaranteed, somebody will be listening to our favourite hit...

...and cringing.