I agree, and I thank your dad for his bravery and heroism through you as his proxy. My hat is off to him, and I doff it with great respect, admiration and appreciation for his service.
You've listed many of my favorite musical groups, too. Nothing better than the Beatles, Jeffeson Airplane, the Beach Boys and Simon and Garfunkel. I would add the Mamas and the Papas to the list. Great lyrics and harmony. I liked Mersey beat, too. Your synopsis of rap is right on, and I would add the violence factor in that genre is very bad news culturally, both as a reflection and for what the dark ideas it advances in the minds of our young.
National Geographic channel is superb, as are several others, including the History channel. We watch quite a bit of that stuff. You might be interested in the Blue Planet series being shown weekly on Animal Planet. I wish kids would watch that stuff instead of MTV, which is really nothing more than porn and violence. What a difference that would make, eh? Drumming that garbage into their heads day in and day out is a large factor in the difficulties we are having with our youth. I don't know why kids are allowed to watch. Take away the market, the incentive is gone, and it would dry up. people need to take a stand.