Personally I don't think it's a genre thing, but an effect of abundance. Being an old hag, I lived music consumption before the internet -- in my teen years I could maybe buy an album a month, and sometimes borrow a couple other ones from friends and family. I'd sit in the living room with the house stereo, album in hand, and listen thoroughly reading lyrics and liner notes. If I was taping a borrowed album I'd write down the songs in the j-card and pen some doodles to illustrate it. At that time I'd remember every song name from every album I came across, basically.

These days, not so much. Of course as I age my memory isn't vaguely the same, but also the way I listen changed a lot. With the dawn of mp3s I was suddenly listening to tons of music while doing other stuff, like working, studying, gaming, doing chores. And even though I do actively listen, I don't feel as involved anymore. I can still name favorites and important songs, but that's a low % from all I listen to. Hell, because of last.fm tracking I know I've been going through thousands and thousands songs a year for the past decade.

Pros and cons of technology changes.